The Doolittle Moment Whales have an emotional range larger than humans can possibly imagine. The part of their brain responsible for emotion is immense. Its size means that whales are likely to have stronger and far more profound emotions than we damned dirty apes could ever fathom. In the same way that our turns ofContinue reading “The Doolittle Moment: Talking to Animals”
Author Archives: Alex Martin
Friendship
Read time: 3 mins Our friends inspire significant emotion when we think about them. But when we are pressed to actually define friendship and express what makes our friends our friends, it can often be difficult to find the words. The poet and author David Whyte wrote a book in 2014 called Consolations. In it,Continue reading “Friendship”
Heat Seekers: How Spice Shaped Modern Cuisine
Read Time: 15 mins We take spice for granted. It’s safe to say that modern humans have the most varied palates in history, enjoying cuisine and flavour from every corner of the world. These flavours have mixed and melded, creating brand-new fusion cuisines. We have also created our own artificial spice, things like MSG orContinue reading “Heat Seekers: How Spice Shaped Modern Cuisine”
The Anatomy of Lying
We seem to be enthralled by liars. We all know lying is bad but there’s something dangerous and captivating about deception. Famous liars pepper literature; spies like James Bond, sociopaths like Sherlock Holmes, fantasists like Gatsby or capitalists like Jordan Belfort. You can go back to the story of Adam and Eve and see thatContinue reading “The Anatomy of Lying”
Dependency
Author: Alex Medd | Read Time: 8 mins I recently had a conversation with a friend who described her ex-partner as too needy. This was a real turn-off and grounds for termination. Independence was cited as a central requirement in a partner. While a part of me agreed, I was also aware of my ownContinue reading “Dependency”
Thalidomide and the problem with Isomers
Read Time: 8 mins On Christmas day, 1957, a baby was born to an employee of Chemie Gruenthal, a German pharmaceutical company. This baby was the first of nearly 10,000 infants who faced a tragedy that would change the way that the world tested, marketed and sold drugs forever. In 1956, Chemie Gruenthal developed aContinue reading “Thalidomide and the problem with Isomers”
Good – by Cecil Philip Taylor
Read time: 3 mins Have you ever imagined yourself as a guard in a concentration camp? Have you ever thought about what would have to happen, the intellectual and moral corruption that would have to be inflicted upon you and that you’d have to inflict upon yourself? Have you ever considered under what circumstances youContinue reading “Good – by Cecil Philip Taylor”
5 reasons to learn a new language
Read time: 6 minutes It’s very likely that the first words humans learned to understand were “I”, “we”, “who” and the numbers 1, 2 and 3. These are the oldest words in almost every language if you go back far enough. And it makes sense. One of the reasons that we humans have taken overContinue reading “5 reasons to learn a new language”
Swiped: How stealing ideas made Dating Apps millions
Read Time: 25 mins Swiping. A word that used to be used to describe a theft (or a sudden and vicious attack), has taken on an entirely new meaning. Swiping left, swiping right. People are now swiping to decide their reproductive future (or not, as the case may be). Recent perspectives on dating apps areContinue reading “Swiped: How stealing ideas made Dating Apps millions”
Agile – The Fatal Slip
Author: Sweyn Martin / Read Time: 4 mins “The truth,” wrote Oscar Wilde “is rarely pure and never simple”. It’s a truism that has fallen somewhat out of fashion in recent decades, as the emergence of ever more complex challenges in a world of accelerating change has, paradoxically, driven an almost universal appetite for simple,Continue reading “Agile – The Fatal Slip”
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