Prigozhin Blues The fallout from the recent plane crash in Russia continues. Amid the tidal wave of speculation, our indefatigable associate Mr Peter Seymour has judged that this piece from Time stands out
https://time.com/6308185/yevgeny-prigozhin-death-vladimir-putins-power/
Hats off to India While their former colonial masters languish in continuing decline and irrelevance, India marches boldly into the future. Whatever the motives, this is a remarkable achievement The Conversation explains
Get some revenge on the Planet-burners Is it possible to start making polluters pay? Early days so far, but one brave and determined group of Swiss ladies have made a start. Here’s Nature Briefings older female activists fight climate change
A group of more than 2,000 older women has taken the Swiss government to the European Court of Human Rights over its climate-change policy. They say that, because heatwaves disproportionately affect older women, Switzerland’s inaction on climate change is violating their right to life and health. Research into the effects of climate change on health will also be key to two other lawsuits — one against the French government and one against 33 European countries. Decisions about all three cases are expected by early 2024.Nature | 7 min read
Digestive Mysteries Following the lead of publications like New Scientist, we’ve covered stories about the deepening interest in evidence that links part of the digestive system (gums, microbiomes, etc) with the health of the nervous system (we’ve mentioned things like Alzheimers and so on) A further intriguing straw in the wind comes from this article in the Mail
The key to Loch Ness Monster hunters are gearing up for the biggest hunt for their elusive quarry for 50 years. It will be quite a media fest, while the pubs and souvenir shops on the shores of the famous Loch Ness will no doubt see a roaring trade. We don’t want to spoil the fun. But if the beast really is a dinosaur or plesiosaur or something, didn’t they all die out 65000 000 years ago? And isn’t Loch Ness only 10 000 years old? OK we were terrible at maths-but even we can see how this may present a problem
A song from Scotland (Sort of) Talking of Loch Ness and things Scottish, we could wax lyrical on the many bands we’ve admired from north of the border-Travis, Texas, and Eurythmics all spring to mind but there have been many more. Just to be a bit different, we’ve picked out Garbage(well, the singer was Scottish) and this reminder of the heady, glorious days of the 1990s when Mr Clinton and Mr Blair seemed to have everything sorted out. Look how that ended, Stupid Girl
Learning, Science and Society 