In the past 25 years the average temperature has increased by half a degree centigrade and the growing season of the northern hemisphere has been extended by almost 11 days. Warmer soils will have encouraged greater microbial activity so more rapid decay of organic matter in the soil, leading to greater discharges of gases. … [Read more...] about Loss of soil carbon ‘will speed global warming’
Science
Everything You Ever Wanted by Luiza Sauma review – a digital detox too far
Luiza Sauma’s second novel puts a science-fiction spin on a well-worn narrative of early midlife crisis. Iris, a Londoner nearing 30, is wondering how much longer she can spend Thursday nights trying not to throw up on the bus home after drinking with colleagues from the branding agency where she works as a “digital innovation architect”. … [Read more...] about Everything You Ever Wanted by Luiza Sauma review – a digital detox too far
Releasing people aged 20-30 years-old who no longer live with their parents could be the best route out of lockdown and avoid an ‘extraordinary recession’, experts suggest — but at the cost of around 630 extra deaths
Coughing Sneezing Being in the same space for a long period Touching the same surface Social distancing also refers to limiting physical contact with each other as much as possible which has led to authorities encouraging people to work from home, avoid crowded spaces and public transport as much as possible. … [Read more...] about Releasing people aged 20-30 years-old who no longer live with their parents could be the best route out of lockdown and avoid an ‘extraordinary recession’, experts suggest — but at the cost of around 630 extra deaths
Lockdown watch: Garth Marenghi creator Matthew Holness on appropriate horror – and its antidote
Music emerges as the true solace of lockdown, courtesy of Ken Russell’s 1960s documentaries on Elgar, Debussy and Delius for the BBC’s Monitor and Omnibus series. These wonderful and stylistically innovative films lead me inevitably to the veritable haven of their subject, which succeeds more than any other art form, I discover, in settling the anxious mind. … [Read more...] about Lockdown watch: Garth Marenghi creator Matthew Holness on appropriate horror – and its antidote
When the dye was cast
In 1856, at the age of 18, William Perkin of Shadwell, east London, a student of the newly founded Royal College of Chemistry, set out to make artificial quinine from coal tar (malaria was still rampant in England during the 1850s). Instead of quinine, his experiment resulted in a reddish powder. Further tests, this time using aniline as a base, produced a powder which turned purple in alcohol. In spite of the fact that aniline had been linked with colour-producing reactions for 30 years, Perkin was so excited by his discovery that he immediately stained some silk cloth a striking purple. … [Read more...] about When the dye was cast
