FEAST OR FAMINE

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MARTINA NICOLLS Website Martinasblogs Publications Facebook Paris Website Animal Website SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

My festive table decorations

New Scientist Christmas Special - subscriber event with Brussels sprouts!

New Scientist , based in the United Kingdom, presented a virtual subscriber event on 17 December 2020. It was the science-based magazine’s second subscriber-exclusive event. The host, Rowan Hooper, asked questions to the guest panellists – science journalists. They gained points by answering host and viewer questions in an informative and fun way. The topics included eating Brussels sprouts, hang-over free alcohol, and socially-distanced vampire bats. MARTINA NICOLLS Website Martinasblogs Publications Facebook Paris Website Animal Website SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir...

The World Beneath by Richard Smith: book review

The World Beneath: The Life and Times of Unknown Sea Creatures and Coral Reefs (2019) is set in the coral reefs and lagoons in the tropical waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans in 23 countries. It covers the author’s experience and research from 2007 to 2019. The British author takes a multi-layered exploration of coral reefs – ‘the rainforests of the sea’ and the epicentres of biodiversity. He begins at the very beginning – the Triassic period, some 24 million years ago, and the formation of the reefs. He writes of animals that move – from the ocean floor to mid-waters to surface swimming – and animals that are sessile – attached to the sea floor or elsewhere that never move. He writes of photosynthesis, metamorphosis, and symbiosis. He writes of the shift from coral dominance to algal dominance. He looks at creatures great and small, from larvae to worms to sea stars and molluscs, and from crustaceans to cetaceans. Even reptiles, such as sea sna...