Immortal Life
The date 1 August 2020 marked the centenary of the birth of Loretta Pleasant, an African American woman, in Virginia, USA. In a tumultuous and eventful year, where virtually every part of the world has been touched by a
Almost 10 billion people
By the year 1800, just over 200 years ago, there were 1 billion people in the world. By 1960, just 60 years ago, there were 3 billion people. There are now over 7 billion people. By 2050, our children
Stopping climate change?
Extreme weather events have recently been experienced in many parts of the world. Torrential rains have brought floods and high temperatures uncontrollable fires. Many hundreds of people have lost their lives and homes have been destroyed on a vast
Male and female
Most people know whether they are either 'male' or 'female'. But for some the situation is not so clear. Whether for biological or psychological reasons, they have a problem clearly identifying their gender. In which case, and with medical
An open window
The health of Christianity in the West is often measured by church attendance and it sadly reveals a steep decline. Generally speaking, Western society is disenchanted with religion. The alarming violence displayed by Islamic extremism hasn't helped. However, the
Many sparrows
Thousands of visitors come to London to admire the grand architecture. But keeping the outside of the buildings clean is a problem - because of all the sparrows that try to roost on the walls!! One of the oldest
Ladybird Origami?
“Ladybird, Ladybird fly away home…” (English Nursery Rhyme) As one of the so-called ‘baby-boomer’ generation, one of the things I grew up with after World War II was Ladybird Books. This was a series of small books for children,
The Balfour Declaration
The Balfour Declaration, sent as a letter to Lord Rothschild by A J Balfour, on November 2nd 1917, proposed a 'national home for the Jewish people' in Palestine. But when it was written, on behalf of the British government,
Something more valuable
Anyone who has seen a graph of world record times will understand why athletics is considering a bold proposal. Steady improvement across the sport has clearly been altered by the development of anti-doping tests. In some disciplines, changes to
Striving lawfully
The Olympic Games in Rio have come and gone. But like many sporting events before and since, those Olympics were tarnished by doping, with individual athletes and even whole national teams being banned from competing because of systematic use
Earth’s twin?
Scientists at NASA have announced the discovery of a group of seven earth-sized planets travelling round a star much darker than our Sun. The planets closely circle a dwarf star named Trappist-1, which at 39 light years away from
Alternative facts
“Its easier to believe a lie that one has heard a thousand times than to believe a fact that one has never heard before.” (Robert Wilson Lynd: 1879-1949) This quotation, by the Irish writer Robert Lynd, is very true
Better than fiction
You don’t often see them and you certainly don’t hear them as they fly over your head at night. And for some people, the thought of holding one sends a shiver down their spine! But, for all of us,
A God of love?
Although we might often worry about our civilisation’s potential to destroy the planet (see: The most dangerous moment), we easily forget that the planet also has an untamed ability to destroy civilisation too. For example, the earthquakes that have struck
The most dangerous moment
In a recent article for The Guardian newspaper, Prof.Stephen Hawking made the following statement: “We are at the most dangerous moment in the development of humanity. We now have the technology to destroy the planet on which we live,