New research is revealing surprising complexity in the minds of goats, pigs, and other livestock
Biomedical microrobots could overcome current challenges in targeted therapies
Sustainable management approaches are needed to protect coastal environments
Graphic design Patte&Besset, stamp “Fêtes du cinquantenaire de la tour Eiffel”, 1939, creation by Henri Cheffer (c) adagp Paris ; Stamp “Gustave Eiffel 1832 – 1923” creation by Marie-Noëlle Goffin.
Myint Zan compares different ways of denying free will.
Grant Bartley wants to know what the problem with freedom is all about.
Nurana Rajabova is wary of an attempt to dismiss determinism to keep free will.
Philip Badger constructs a materialist ethical theory, with the help of John Rawls.
Basil Gala on what it takes to free ourselves from our formative factors.
The massive buried structures at Gunung Padang in Indonesia would be much older than Egypt’s great pyramids — if they’re even human constructions at all.
Ancient humans painted scenes in Indonesian caves more than 45,000 years ago, but their art is disappearing rapidly. Researchers are trying to discover what’s causing the damage and how to stop it — before the murals are gone forever.
Tumours respond more readily to radiation and other therapies in mice without a specific protein in their dendritic cells.
Country Life Magazine – December 6, 2023: The latest issue features ‘George Harrison’s Garden’ – Friar Park rescued by the former Beatle; Folklore of the Rowan ‘Wizard’s’ tree; the best and worst gifts in classic literature and Travel – From the Caribbean to Concorde….
Charles Quest-Ritson visits Friar Park in Oxfordshire and marvels at the topiary garden rescued by former Beatle George Harrison
Kate Green meets the distinctive and much-loved Belted Galloway
Country Life advertisements in 1923 capture Britain’s evolution, as Melanie Bryan discovers
Harry Pearson takes to the high seas to chart the fascinating history of the figureheads that keep ships safe in stormy weather
The rowan tree is a symbol of safety across the world — Aeneas Dennison delves into the folklore of the wizard’s tree
Kate Green meets the distinctive and much-loved Belted Galloway
Country Life advertisements in 1923 capture Britain’s evolution, as Melanie Bryan discovers
Harry Pearson takes to the high seas to chart the fascinating history of the figureheads that keep ships safe in stormy weather
From cursed jewels to diamond-encrusted tortoises, Felicity Day reads up on the best and worst gifts in classic literature
Lady Glenconner’s Mustique memories and much more, plus Rosie Paterson uncovers the real Barbados and Pamela Goodman goes supersonic
The gallery curator loses herself in an expressive, exuberant work
Carla Carlisle reflects on the legacy of the Irish poet Seamus Heaney — ‘a truly good man’
Steven Brindle is full of praise for the refurbishment of Chartered Accountants’ Hall, an architectural jewel in the City of London
Ian Morton examines how Father Christmas was transformed from a sozzled figure riding a goat into the jolly fellow we know and love
Pheasants, leopards, parrots and reindeer are all welcome at Melanie Johnson’s festive table
Editor Mark Hedges picks his favourite luxuries of 2023
The capital’s Christmas lights dazzle Emma Love (page 83), Gilly Hopper shares her must-see seasonal suggestions (page 86), Carla Passino views London in a new light with Sir John Soane (page 92) and Emma Hughes hails the survivors of the restaurant scene (page 98)
From the Caribbean to Concorde
Ian Morton looks at the merits of ground elder and ground ivy, an unloved and misnamed duo
Times Literary Supplement (December 8, 2023): The latest issue features ‘In her shoes’ – Powell and Pressburger’s ballet classic; Seamus Heaney and the price of fame; Modern warfare; The Tory endgame and Walter Kempowski’s youth under Hitler, and more…
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In 2019, American journalist Will Grant embarked on a five-month, 2,000 mile journey on horseback from Missouri to California. His goal: to follow the historic route of the Pony Express, a legendary frontier mail system operating between April 1860 and October 1861, which used a series of horse-mounted riders and relay stations to deliver mail from one end to the other in just ten days. Although the express service went bankrupt after only 18 months, it remains an iconic symbol of America’s Old West.
The latest in the Unforgettable Journeys series by DK Eyewitness, a publisher of nonfiction books known for its visual travel guides, Unforgettable Journeys Europe highlights the notion that travel really is all about the “getting there.” This inspirational tome details 150 of Europe’s best slow adventures, such as kayaking through Lithuania and crossing the Arctic Circle by train.
An extremely well-researched story of three ancient trade routes that helped define a continent, Chris Aslan’s Unravelling the Silk Road “merges trauma with textiles to track the past and present experiences of the people of Central Asia,” writes author Clare Hunter. He explores the roles played by wool, a textile used by the region’s nomads for both yurts and clothing; silk, a commodity that was once more valuable than gold; and cotton, the cause of Russian and then Soviet colonization, since it provided cheap material for the global superpower.
From 1936 to 1967, the Green Book served as an annual travel guide for African Americans, helping them to identify welcoming hotels, restaurants, gas stations and other businesses across the United States during the Jim Crow era. Compiled by Black New York City postman Victor Hugo Green, this essential reference publication included places like Manhattan’s Hotel Theresa, once considered the “Waldorf of Harlem,” and the Moulin Rouge Hotel in Las Vegas, frequented by celebrities like Harry Belafonte and Ella Fitzgerald during its five-month stint in 1955.
After the Civil War, Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, was to be tried for treason. Does the debacle hold lessons for the trials awaiting Donald Trump?
By Jill Lepore
Jefferson Davis, the half-blind ex-President of the Confederate States of America, leaned on a cane as he hobbled into a federal courthouse in Richmond, Virginia. Only days before, a Chicago Tribune reporter, who’d met Davis on the boat ride to Richmond, had written that “his step is light and elastic.” But in court, facing trial for treason, Davis, fifty-eight, gave every appearance of being bent and broken. A reporter from Kentucky described him as “a gaunt and feeble-looking man,” wearing a soft black hat and a sober black suit, as if he were a corpse. He’d spent two years in a military prison. He wanted to be released. A good many Americans wanted him dead. “We’ll hang Jeff Davis from a sour-apple tree,” they sang to the tune of “John Brown’s Body.”
The companies had honed a protocol for releasing artificial intelligence ambitiously but safely. Then OpenAI’s board exploded all their carefully laid plans.
At around 11:30 a.m. on the Friday before Thanksgiving, Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, was having his weekly meeting with senior leaders when a panicked colleague told him to pick up the phone. An executive from OpenAI, an artificial-intelligence startup into which Microsoft had invested a reported thirteen billion dollars, was calling to explain that within the next twenty minutes the company’s board would announce that it had fired Sam Altman, OpenAI’s C.E.O. and co-founder. It was the start of a five-day crisis that some people at Microsoft began calling the Turkey-Shoot Clusterfuck.
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