The Kernewek success storyby Linda BaxterIn the first lesson of any language course you'll probably learn a mini dialogue like this. You'll find the translation at the end of this article, but can you guess what it means? A: Dydh da! Fatla genes? B:...
Wormholesby Linda BaxterHave you ever read Carl Sagan's 1985 science fiction novel 'Contact'? Or have you seen the film of the same name starring Jodie Foster? If you have, then you will remember the scene near the end of the film, when the heroine t...
AWARDSby Chris RoseThe Nobels are the originals, of course. Alfred Nobel, the man who invented deadly explosives, decided to try and do something good with all the money he earned, and gave prizes to people who made progress in literature, science, e...
Waltzing Matildaby Paul MillardMost countries have a unique piece of music that means something special to its people. For many of those celebrating Australia Day this week, its a song called Waltzing Matilda, written in 1895 by a song-writer and poe...
Rainforests rule!by Claire PowellA world like no other perhaps this is the best way to describe the world of the rainforest. No rainforest is exactly the same yet most rainforests are now distributed in the small land area 22.5 degrees north and 22.5...
Goodbye Great Aukby John KutiIn those days, people still lived on the islands of Saint Kilda. Two men from the village went out on the rock. They found a big strange bird. It was sleeping. They decided to bring it home to the village. Far out into th...
Mary Seacoleby Linda BaxterThe most famous nurse of all time must be Florence Nightingale, the lady with the lamp, who became famous for her work during the Crimean War in the middle of the nineteenth century. But have you heard of Mary Seacole? I ho...
Physical educationby Richard SidawaySchool days are supposed to be the best days of your life and part of that experience usually involves some strenuous physical activity. I asked some colleagues to give me their recollections of what happened to th...
Universitiesby Richard SidawayCairo, Bologna, and Paris have been offering them the longest. What am I talking about? A university education, of course. So who goes to university and what do they get out of their experience? More than a quarter of th...
Magicby John RussellDouble, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake; A. From the witches in Shakespeares Macbeth, to Gandalf the Wizard in Lord of the Rings books and films, it i...
