Biologists have long known the corvid family – it includes crows, ravens, rooks, magpies and jackdaws – to be among the smartest of all birds. Corvids, and other birds, have been seen to solve problems by insight and learn by example, as human children do. On the Pacific island of New Caledonia, crows have demonstrated… Continue reading
Posts tagged Attenborough
Attenborough promotes Global Apollo Programme to halt climate change
In a flurry of interviews on the opening day of COP21, the UN climate talks in Paris, Sir David Attenborough, speaking with the authority few interviewers dare to counter, outlined the simple premise of the Global Apollo Project. Media coverage of the climate crisis has been lamentably low (with the honourable exception of The Guardian… Continue reading →
David Attenborough talks to President Obama
In May this year (2015) President Obama welcomed broadcaster Sir David Attenbrough to the White House for a televised discussion. In the interview, broadcast in the UK and US , Sir David asks the President why he cannot show a commitment to tackling climate change in the way previous presidents strived to put men on the moon. Obama… Continue reading →
Leicester savours a Richard III-inspired tourist boom
Leicester struck touristic gold in 2013 when experts concluded that human bones discovered under a car park belonged “beyond reasonable doubt” to Richard III. The King Richard III Visitor Centre opened in 2014, and the king’s mortal remains are being interred in Leicester Cathedral on March 26th in a tomb of Swaledale fossil stone limestone,… Continue reading →
City of elegance and festivals, and "birthplace" of Harry Potter
This is one of Britain’s grandest destinations, all proud history and elegant architecture, set against the commanding backdrop of the Castle Rock and Arthur’s Seat. I was swept off his feet by Auld Reekie’s bagpipe blast of things to do. My list includes the “birthplace” of Harry Potter, a tour devoted to the wee dram, a jolly skater, one of Britain’s oldest gardens, as well one of the world’s biggest arts events – the Edinburgh International Festival.
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