Forged in the fire
It’s our ability to control fire that made us human. This is the message of Richard Wrangham’s new book, ‘Catching Fire’, which was published last year. It’s the latest big idea in evolution, the one that Darwin ignored. Wrangham approaches the subject from the perspective of an anthropologist and primatologist; he has worked at Gombe with Jane Goodall. His hypothesis extrapolates from three sets of observations. First, when food is cooked, nutrients are more easily digested and assimilated into the body. Cooking softens meat, loosening connective tissue and allowing enzymes... Read more »
How to keep your shape when all about are losing theirs; is there an answer to the obesity epidemic?
For the last twenty years, we have been getting noticeably fatter. Rates of obesity in America and Western Europe have more than doubled since the nineteen eighties. And the problem shows no sign of diminishing. If trends continue, it has been estimated by 2050, one in two adults and one... Read more »
It’s summer; so follow the geese, go north!
Exhausted with the pressure of work, the bustle and clutter of city life? Then don't head for the crowded beaches of the Mediterranean, follow the geese; go north to Finland. Arola farm is in the region of Eastern Finland known as Suomussalmi, just south of the Arctic Circle and within sight... Read more »
From Mount Wehni to Kentish Town
‘They say you will all die!’ Mulu’s cries add a chill to the low afternoon sun. The villagers had been on the hillside opposite the ambo, the basaltic stele that we were attempting to scale, all day, laughing and shouting cries of encouragement. But now it was late, night was imminent and... Read more »
