off-beat

By combining GPS data with waterbird counts, and analyses of regurgitated pellets, scientists have estimated that an average of 400kg of plastics, plus more than two tonnes of other debris such as glass, textiles or ceramics, are deposited by this gull species into the lake each year.

Feral and free-roaming pets increasingly threaten wildlife conservation. There is a legislative gap to address the impacts of pets on wildlife. Harmonised EU legislation is needed to align animal welfare and conservation aims.

Traditional circumcisions can carry fatal risks, including poorly trained practitioners and cutting tools that are unsanitary or used more than once. Dehydration and badly managed septic wounds are among the main causes of death, and the remote settings mean help is usually far away.

Recent research explores a very different possibility: using sunlight and an iron-based catalyst to convert common plastic waste directly into acetic acid—the key component of vinegar and an important industrial chemical.

In early 20th century American life, women might not have been able to vote or to serve on juries in most states, but in the ring, they commanded the audience’s attention riding bareback on horses, displaying strength and stamina, and performing gravity-defying acrobatic feats. Stark was acutely aware of the path she was paving. “I deliberately chose a field in which no other woman had specialised,” she wrote in her autobiography.

The picture for 2026 is complicated. Although flooding can kill overwintering eggs and adults, a mild wet winter will have reduced slug mortality. It may also affect slug predators.

There are upsides to this modern soundscape. In busy workplaces or homes, shaping the auditory environment can restore a sense of control and reduce disturbance – especially from intelligible speech. What we listen to can be a key tool for emotional self-regulation.

After being abandoned by his mother and rejected by the rest of his troop, his zookeepers provided Punch with an orangutan plushie as a stand-in mother. Videos of the monkey clinging to the toy have gone viral worldwide. But Punch’s attachment to his inanimate companion is not just the subject of a heart-breaking video. He’s a reminder of the importance of emotional nourishment.

This species was once abundant along the coasts of South Africa and Namibia. But the population has fallen by about 78 per cent over the last 30 years.

The elephant, located in the Piazza della Minerva in front of the basilica, holds the obelisk on its back.

The Kalevala, a poetic masterpiece of nearly 23,000 lines, first appeared in 1835. Now, nearly 200 years later, those “luckless lands of the North” are an increasingly tense border zone. On one side sits Finland, affluent and famously “happy.” On the other side sits the Republic of Karelia that today is part of the Russian Federation. But on February 28, both will unite in celebration of Kalevala’s anniversary and the cultural-political independence it helped achieve.

Mini-sabbaticals. Adult gap years. Micro-retirement. Extended career breaks go by many names and take many forms. Creating space for a reset, whether mental, physical or spiritual, is the common thread.