MANY ANIMALS find safety in herds, colonies, schools or swarms. But few species opt for the technique of the stringy, water-dwelling blackworm Lumbriculus variegatus, a creature that at a few centimetres in length is far longer than it is wide.
TopMaking money from Nelson Mandela’s name
One room is named “Rolihlahla”, his forename at birth. Another is “46664”, his prison number on Robben Island. A third is “Madiba”, his clan name. And the most luxurious suite? That is simply “Mr President”.
TopIndian cows (and buffaloes) are going online
SIX COWS munch on dry grass in a barn in Vajeghar, a village some five hours from Mumbai. Ajay Shilimkar, a dairy farmer, beams as he introduces them to your correspondent. One, named Laali, is his most recent acquisition.
TopCalifornia wants to lead the world on climate policy
In addition to releasing 1m barrels of oil a day from America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the Interior Department will resume new lease sales for oil and gas drilling on public lands, reneging on Mr Biden’s campaign promise to end the practice.
TopWhy Egypt isn’t open for business
EGYPTIANS OFTEN complain that their country produces little of value. Juhayna, the country’s largest dairy and juice maker, has been a notable exception. Its red and blue cartons are a staple in Egyptian homes. Its milk and yogurt are sold across the Middle East and Africa.
TopSongbirds get more colourful the closer they live to the equator
WHEN THE Prussian naturalist Alexander von Humboldt arrived in South America in 1799, the colours astonished him. “Look at the blossoms, the birds,” he wrote. “Even the crayfish are blue and yellow.”
TopGeorgians back Ukraine, but their government is more hesitant
IF ANYONE FEELS Ukrainians’ pain, it is Georgians. In 2008 Russia invaded Georgia and garrisoned the self-declared statelets of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, leaving a fifth of Georgia’s territory under de facto Russian occupation.
TopTariffs on Russian energy are a smart way to hobble Vladimir Putin
THE INDUSTRIAL outskirts of Lubmin, a town on the windswept Baltic coast of what was once East Germany, feature in no tourist guide. Nor is the port of Rotterdam, the grittiest part of a city already struggling for charm, much of an attraction.
TopThe classification of films is changing
“FUCKING” IS NOT what it used to be. Where once the mere presence of a “fuck” would be enough to merit a “15” rating in a film, and an “18” if said often enough, today the guidelines of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) have softened.
TopCould the West punish China the way it has punished Russia
“WOULD THE US really dare to freeze or confiscate China’s reserve assets?” asked Wang Yongli, a former director of Bank of China, in an article last month. Good question. After Russia invaded Ukraine, America and its allies imposed crippling sanctions on Russia’s central bank, removing from its reach about half of its foreign-exchange reserves.
TopA sound way towards reversible vasectomies
THE MOST reliable means of contraception for men—and one that cannot fail or be forgone in the heat of the moment—is a vasectomy. But the procedure is largely irreversible: it involves stopping the flow of sperm from the testes by cutting conduits known as the vas deferens and sealing them or tying them off.
TopSir Keir Starmer’s transformation of the Labour Party
THREE YEARS AGO Momentum seemed to be riding high. The left-wing activist group had been formed to support Jeremy Corbyn, the radical leader of the Labour Party.
TopHotLatin America is becoming more secular
ALEJANDRA LEMONNIER joined the convent of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus when she was 20. She came from a religious family, attended a Roman Catholic school and lived in a conservative part of Buenos Aires.
TopThe race to be the next president of France enters the final stretch
THERE WERE 12 candidates to pick from, but in the end the French chose the same presidential fin...
TopCan Silicon Valley still dominate global innovation
TAKE AN EVENING walk on 17th Cross Road in Bengaluru’s HSR Layout district, and you bump into tech types stepping out of their startup’s office and into one of the local microbreweries.
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