Practice 10

Evolution isn’t supposed to run backwards – yet an increasing number of examples show that it does and that it can sometimes represent the future of a species. The description of any animal as an ‘evolutionary throwback’ is controversial. For the better part of a… Read More »When evolution runs backwards

Your personality isn’t necessarily set in stone. With a little experimentation, people can reshape their temperaments and inject passion, optimism, joy and courage into their lives A Psychologists have long held that a person’s character cannot undergo a transformation in any meaningful way and that… Read More »Second nature

Drought, housing expansion, and oversupply of tinder make for bigger, hotter fires in the western United States Wildfires are becoming an increasing menace in the western United States, with Southern California being the hardest hit area. There’s a reason fire squads battling more frequent blazes… Read More »The megafires of California

Ancient voyagers who settled the far-flung islands of the Pacific Ocean An important archaeological discovery on the island of Efate in the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu has revealed traces of an ancient seafaring people, the distant ancestors of today’s Polynesians. The site came to light… Read More »Beyond the blue horizon

Canadian writer Jay Ingram investigates the mystery of why leaves turn red in the fall A  One of the most captivating natural events of the year in many areas throughout North America is the turning of the leaves in the fall. The colours are magnificent,… Read More »Autumn leaves

A   Travel has existed since the beginning of time, when primitive man set out, often traversing great distances in search of game, which provided the food and clothing necessary for his survival. Throughout the course of history, people have travelled for purposes of trade, religious… Read More »The Context, Meaning and Scope of Tourism

The fact that people go to the Louvre museum in Paris to see the original painting Mona Lisa when they can see a reproduction anywhere leads us to question some assumptions about the role of museums of fine art in today’s world. One of the most famous… Read More »Museums of fine art and their public

A  Internationally, ‘giftedness’ is most frequently determined by a score on a general intelligence test, known as an IQ test, which is above a chosen cutoff point, usually at around the top 2-5%. Children’s educational environment contributes to the IQ score and the way intelligence… Read More »Gifted children and learning

A Cambridge professor says that a change in drinking habits was the reason for the Industrial Revolution in Britain. Anjana Abuja reports A     Alan Macfarlane, professor of anthropological science at King’s College, Cambridge has, like other historians, spent decades wrestling with the enigma of the… Read More »Tea and the Industrial Revolution