Just as men have always sought after precious stones, so they have always prized curious ones, those that catch the attention through some anomaly of form, some suggestive oddity of color or pattern. This fascination almost always derives from a surprising resemblance that is at once improbable and natural. Stones possess a kind of gravitas, something ultimate and unchanging, something that will never perish or else has already done so. They attract through intrinsic, infallible, immediate beauty, answerable or no one, necessarily perfect yet excluding the idea of perfection in order to exclude approximation, error, and excess. This spontaneous beauty thus precedes and goes beyond the actual notion of beauty, of which it is at once the promise and the foundation.

桜を栽培し、観賞する文化は京都で生まれたと考えられ、京都御所や寺社などには、関東ではあまり見られない桜が植栽されています。多摩森林科学園サクラ保存林では、京都の桜守・収集家の佐野藤右衛門や京都府立植物園などが収集を行った桜が植栽されています。
多摩森林科学園では、サクラ保存林に植栽されているさまざまなサクラの中から、毎年一つのテーマを決めて紹介してきました。2015年は、「みやこの桜を愉しみましょう」と題し、京都ゆかりの桜に焦点をあててご紹介します。京都の桜の由来や歴史を解説パネルで紹介するとともに、園内の京都ゆかりの桜を散策できるよう「桜めぐりマップ」を配布します。

We still talk in terms of conquest. We still haven’t become mature enough to think of ourselves as only a tiny part of a vast and incredible universe. Man’s attitude toward nature is today critically important simply because we have now acquired a fateful power to alter and destroy nature.
But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself. The rains have become an instrument to bring down from the atmosphere the deadly products of atomic explosions. Water, which is probably our most important natural resource, is now used and re-used with incredible recklessness.

Ohne meine Bemühungen in den Naturwissenschaften hätte ich jedoch die Menschen nie kennen gelernt, wie sie sind. In allen anderen Dingen kann man dem reinen Anschauen und Denken, den Irrtümern der Sinne wie des Verstandes, den Charakterschwächen und -Stärken nicht so nachkommen; es ist alles mehr oder weniger biegsam und schwankend, und läßt alles mehr oder weniger mit sich handeln; aber die Natur versteht gar keinen Spaß, sie ist immer wahr, immer ernst, immer strenge; sie hat immer recht, und die Fehler und Irrtümer sind immer des Menschen. Den Unzulänglichen verschmäht sie, und nur dem Zulänglichen, Wahren und Reinen ergibt sie sich und offenbart ihm ihre Geheimnisse.

The Appalachian trail became my therapist. As a way to recover from a friend’s suicide, I set out on the trail that extends more than 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine. I needed time to follow my thoughts to completion and find peace in nature. What I found instead was a motley crew of diverse people who entertained, challenged, and accepted me with no questions asked, merely because I was walking in the same direction.

「無為自然」は、人間にとって「どう生きるべきか」の指標となるものです。「自然」は「自ずから然り」、他からの影響を一切受けることなく、大昔からそれ自体がそのようであるさまを意味しています。「無為」はというと「なんら作為をしないこと」という意味になります。つまり「無為自然」は「なんら作為をせず、あるがままの状態」をいいます。
『老子』の第三十七章に、「無為而無不為」とあります。 「作為的なことはなにもしていないのに、すべてを為している」とは、どういう状態か。天地を例にして考えてみると、天や地は意思をもたないから常に「無為」の状態といえますが、無為でありながらも、その働きは常にこの世界全体に行きわたっています。季節はめぐり、太陽は大地を照らし、雲は雨を降らし、大地の上では植物や虫や動物がそれらの恩恵を受けて育っていく。つまり「なにかをしようとわざわざ考えずとも、天地はすべてのことを為している」ということになるわけです。
そう考えていくと、「無為」とは、意図や意思、主観をすべて捨て去って、天地自然の働きに身を任せて生きているありようを意味しているといえます。『老子』はこの「無為自然」を理想のあり方としました。

日本では「自然である」ということはよいことで、「自然」という言葉は、なにか理想的な状態、ないしは望ましい状態を示すものとして用いられることが多いですね。「自然体」とか、「自然に生きる」というのは、どちらかといえばプラスの価値を持っています。一方、西洋ではどちらかというとマイナスのイメージ、「陶冶（cultivate）されていない」とか、「洗練されてない」という含みを持っています。
日本における自然の肯定的なイメージの問題は、自然と人工の区別の曖昧さとも関わっていると思います。長いこと自然の中に浸っているという状態で過ごしてきた日本人には、未だに自然と人工のはっきりした区別が欠けていて、両者の境界線も曖昧です。日本の庭とか箱庭は、自然を再現しているから自然だと思っている。それらを人工的なものとはあまり感じないわけです。
こういう人工と自然の区別の曖昧さから、次のような言葉が平気で使われるようになります。例えば「自然食品」。農薬や添加物などをあまり用いないものを「自然食品」と呼んでいるわけですが、食品というのはもともと人工物であって、英語ではそう言いません。それから、ラジオの道路交通情報などで「自然の渋滞」というのがありますね。道路を造ること、自動車を造ること、それらを走らせること、これらはすべて人工であるにもかかわらず、事故でない渋滞は「自然の渋滞」と呼ぶのです。さんざん人工を加えた公園でありながら、草木が植えてあったり、池や川があったりすると、「自然公園」と呼ばれたりします。そして丁寧にもそこに建物を建てて、「自然観察センター」と呼んだりするわけです。

単調で荒涼な砂漠の国には一神教が生まれると言った人があった。日本のような多彩にして変幻きわまりなき自然をもつ国で八百万の神々が生まれ崇拝され続けて来たのは当然のことであろう。山も川も木も一つ一つが神であり人でもあるのである。それをあがめそれに従うことによってのみ生活生命が保証されるからである。また一方地形の影響で住民の定住性土着性が決定された結果は至るところの集落に鎮守の社を建てさせた。これも日本の特色である。
仏教が遠い土地から移植されてそれが土着し発育し持続したのはやはりその教義の含有するいろいろの因子が日本の風土に適応したためでなければなるまい。思うに仏教の根底にある無常観が日本人のおのずからな自然観と相調和するところのあるのもその一つの因子ではないかと思うのである。鴨長明の方丈記を引用するまでもなく地震や風水の災禍の頻繁でしかも全く予測し難い国土に住むものにとっては天然の無常は遠い遠い祖先からの遺伝的記憶となって五臓六腑にしみ渡っているからである。

人間が自然の一部だとすると、核戦争で放射能だらけになり荒廃してしまった地球も、その時代が作り上げた自然だということになる。自然保護運動などにより甦らせた自然もまた、自然のひとつにすぎない。
**
じつは私はずっと、自然環境保護などの運動には直接関与したくないと思ってきた。自然保護のため人的に関与するということは、自然を破壊することと同義語だと思ってきたからだ。
**
人間と自然とが対立するものだとしたら、自然を守るためには人間は全く自然に関与してはいけない。一方、人間が自然の一部だとしたら、核戦争によって変わり果ててしまった世界も立派な自然だということになる。
**
人間の手と足が大量に加わって、植生などがメチャクチャになってしまった自然も、それはそれで立派な自然で、けっこう美しかったりする。私はそれで良いと思っている。

If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive…

Many people wonder if the earth’s climate has become more extreme in recent years. People ask themselves: “Was last summer really the hottest ever in the West? Were the floods in the spring unprecedented?” The answer to these kinds of questions would be an unqualified “no.” After all, at one time a glacier sat on Chicago’s doorstep; at another time palm trees grew in northern Canada. A more relevant question to ask ourselves is whether recent extreme weather was the worst in recorded history. It’s the recorded history of the past century or two that provides a benchmark against which we measure what happens today.
Scientists, of course, have many ways of estimating the earth’s temperature and climate in past millennia, including dendrology and the study of ice cores and ocean sediments. What they can’t do is provide details of specific extreme weather events in eons past.

Parts of the US are braced for potentially record-breaking low temperatures as a “polar vortex” brings more freezing weather.
Forecasters say temperatures in the north and central US could feel as low as -60F (-51C) with the effect of wind chill.

An enormous alien planet — one that is 11 times more massive than Jupiter — was discovered in the most distant orbit yet found around a single parent star.
The newfound exoplanet, dubbed HD 106906 b, dwarfs any planetary body in the solar system, and circles its star at a distance that is 650 times the average distance between the Earth and the sun. The existence of such a massive and distantly orbiting planet raises new questions about how these bizarre worlds are formed.

In the past, humans hesitated when they took lives, even non-human lives. But society had changed, and they no longer felt that way. As humans grew stronger, I think that we became quite arrogant, losing the sorrow of ‘we have no other choice.’ I think that in the essence of human civilization, we have the desire to become rich without limit, by taking the lives of other creatures.

Philippines: typhoon Haiyan kills more than 1000 people
A day after the category 5 “super typhoon” churned through the Philippine islands, rescue teams are struggling to reach far-flung regions, their efforts hampered by roads destroyed, ferry services cancelled and fallen trees.

Every year we celebrate Look Up At The Sky Day on 12th April, it is a wonderful event to us. So look up and see the bright and sunny side of life or just gaze at the stars. Brighten up the world of your sweetheart, loved ones, family and friends also make them happy on this beautiful day.

When you look outside, what do you see? The market, wagons, horses, people- all running in different directions. Fifty years from now this market will be completely different. There will be different horses and wagons, different merchandise and different people. I will no longer be here and you will no longer be here.
So let me ask you as you stand here now- how can you be so busy and preoccupied that you don’t even have time to look up at the sky?

『古事記』の中にあらわれる自然は、神として表現される場合が少なくない。万物に霊が宿っているとするアニミズム（精霊信仰）が、日本の神の根底をつくっていると解釈されてきたからである。
しかし『古事記』は史書である。史書に登場する神々のすべてを、単純にアニミズムという枠内に収めることはできない。なぜならば、純粋な自然の霊への信仰だけでなく、『古事記』という政治的色合いをもった史書に収められている自然と神の関係からは、創作性をぬぐいさることができない場合もあるからである。そのため、本書では、無垢の自然に宿る神と、政治性をおびた人格神的なものとを交錯させながら述べることになる。
本書で述べる「自然」とは、山や海、植物・動物をはじめとする、英語でいうネイチャーを含むのはもちろんだが、それだけでなく、人間をつくっている身体、あるいは肉体もまぎれもない自然的存在である。歩く、走る、歌う、踊る、食べるといった行為は、人間の自然性を純粋に表現している。本来、人間の身体の外にある自然と、身体という自然との間には明確な境界はないのだ。『古事記』にも、歌謡や演劇的語りが、随所にちりばめられている。だが、『古事記』は文字で書かれたために、このような人間の自然性が、臨場感をともなって直接伝わらなくなってしまっている。文字で書かれた書巻の宿命である。

Иркутская область. Медведь украл борщ у дачников под Усть-Илимском в Иркутской области. Зверь вышел из леса на запах свежесваренного супа, сообщает пресс-служба регионального ГУ МВД.
Хозяева в этот день сварили борщ, оставили его на веранде остыть и ушли спать в баню, так как дом ещё не достроен. Ночью они проснулись от грохота и увидели, как медведь выламывает окно на веранде. Испугавшись, люди вызвали полицию.
Прибывшие правоохранители заметили гуляющего по участку зверя и испугали его выстрелом в воздух. От страха медведь сразу ушел обратно в лес. Как выяснилось, он успел съесть всю кастрюлю супа.
Как говорится в сообщении пресс-служба регионального ГУ МВД, это уже не первый случай, когда косолапые выходят на приусадебные участки под Усть-Илимском в поисках пищи. Однако ни одного случая нападения на людей не зафиксировано.

I have always believed that any plant is a “weed” until we find a use for it. Herbs, for instance, are basically just weeds. They grow in ground that hasn’t been prepared, under conditions that our pretty, hybridized show plants can’t tolerate. They are mostly drought proof, insect resistant, and deer repellent. Some of them spread like wild fire. They love benign neglect. They just happen to taste good and be good for us. But until we knew all that, they were, well, just weeds.

自然は認識の対象でもなく、意志の素材でもない。
自然はそのうちに人間を包んで生きているのである。

The Atlantic current that gives western Europe its mild climate is dramatically slowing, and Britain, Ireland and parts of the European continent could be plunged into bitter winters a decade or so from now, scientists say.

Un terrible orage a touché la station balnéaire de Knokke-Le-Zoute, en Belgique.

La tempête a été filmée par de nombreux amateurs. Les images sont impressionnantes.

有害物質を持たない / 育成のとき化学肥料を必要としない / 廃棄のとき有害物質を発生させない /
三～四年で成長する / 優れた抗菌作用がある　竹

竹は切られてからも息をしている。10年・20年と使い込むほどに趣のある飴色に変わっていく。

Time Reborn: From the crisis in physics to the future of the universe

What is time?

This deceptively simple question is the single most important problem facing science as we probe more deeply into the fundamentals of the universe.

Is nature discrete or continuous? Is the universe infinite or finite? Is life inevitable, or is it a lucky accident? Will we ever find company in the cosmos?
Is the truth of the world to be found in the ways things change, like the river that you cannot step into twice, or the ways they remain the same, like the law of gravity or, indeed, the name of that river?
I could go on all day. Feel free to write in with your own.
A final answer to any of these questions would be a landmark of human progress. But it might be in the nature of being human that we will never answer them but have to hug them both in a kind of Hegelian surrender. And so we live in the tension between opposites.

It all depends on how you look at it.

十分に成長できる環境が整わない限りは、うかつに芽を出さない。暑さ寒さをタネの姿で何百年も耐える。いざ芽生えたら、全体に光が当たるように、群落の端は背が低く、真ん中は背が高くなる。よりよい花粉を運んでもらえるように、色や香りの魅力を磨いて熱心な婚活を展開。同じ株の花粉では受粉しない。子孫を残したら、自ら潔く散る――どんな逆境でも与えられた命を生ききるための、驚くべきメカニズム。植物たちのあっぱれな一生。

植物は動き回わらないから下等」というのは、短絡的な考え方ですね。動かないのは、その必要がないからです。
植物の進化をごく簡単に言えば、「いかに水との縁を断ち切って生きられるか」ということに尽きます。水との縁を断ち切ることが進化という見方もできます。

A team of researchers has discovered evidence that an planet may be forming quite far from its star – and much further than has been seen before.
Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope say they have discovered evidence of a planet forming 7.5 billion miles away from its host star – about twice the distance Pluto is from our Sun.
Planet formation far away from a small parent star goes against conventional planet-making wisdom.

ハッブル宇宙望遠鏡による新たな発見は、天文学者らの頭を悩ませてしまった。今回発見された惑星について、誕生の経緯が現代科学では説明できないのだ。ハッブル・サイトで明らかとなった。
これは地球から176光年離れたTW Hydraeの観測中に発見されたもので、TW Hydraeからは120億キロメートル離れている。例えば地球は親星から1億4900万キロメートル離れている。
学者らはいくつかの矛盾に直面している。例えば、TW Hydraeの年齢は800万年に過ぎないが、これは星が惑星になるためには不十分だと考えられている。また質量は太陽の55％に過ぎない。またTW Hydraeの周りを回っている今回発見された天体は、地球の6個分から28個分の質量に匹敵しうる。
カーネギー研究所のアラン・ボス氏（天文物理学）は、「理論上、今回発見された惑星は存在できるはずがないことになる。」と指摘している。
今回の惑星が例外なのか、それとも惑星形成理論が不十分であるのかは今後の研究を待たなくてはならない。

The trees are the first thing one notices upon entering the rainforest. They are huge – up to 150 feet (45 m) tall!
Trees in the rainforest must grow rapidly to reach the sun at the canopy. To be competitive, they grow tall without growing as wide as trees in moderate climates. They have developed several methods of supporting great height without requiring great width. Having “prop roots” is one method of doing this.

What is important about all this is that the social behaviour of atoms – the branch of science known as chemistry -depends largely on how many atoms there are in the outer orbit. It is as if atoms are more comfortable with filled orbits, and are constantly searching for partners to swap electrons and achieve peace. For example, if one atom has seven electrons in its outer circle, it behaves like a collector trying to fill that yawning gap on its shelf and snaps up any electron around.

The universe is big. We often say that we live in a small world, but the 25,000-mile trek around the planet Earth is still a longer trip than most of us have ever attempted. The farthest location ever reached by humans is the moon, about 240,000 miles from the earth. While the luner landing was a spectacular achievement, we would have to travel 400 times farther if we wished to extend our exploration to the sun. This glowing sphere is so large that if a map of the earth were drawn to cover the sun’s surface, the entire area of our planet would fit comfortably within the outline of the Dominican Republic. The sun is not uniquue, but is one of many stars. A journey to our nearest stellar neighbor, a three -star system called Alpha Centauri, would carry our astronauts a hundred million times faster than a trip to the moon, a distance so great that even light requires four years to traverse it. If the astronauts looked homeward from Alpha Centauri, the separation between the earth and moon would look no bigger than a thumbtack viewed from 400 miles away.

The fireball then continues to expand by inertia, but now it consists of normal matter, its gravity is attractive, and the expansion gradually slows down. The decay of the antigravity material marks the end of inflation and plays the role of the big bang in this theory.
The beauty of the idea was that in a single shot inflation explained why the universe is so big, why it is expanding, and why it was so hot at the beginning. A huge expanding universe was produced from almost nothing. All that was needed was a microscopic chunk of repulsive gravity material. Guth admitted he did not know where the initial chunk came from, but that detail could be worked out later. “It’s often said that you cannot get something for nothing,” he said, “but the universe may be the ultimate free lunch.”

In cold regions on earth, negative temperatures on the Fahrenheit or Celsius scale can often occur in winter; in physics, however, they were so far impossible. On the absolute temperature scale that is used by physicists and also called Kelvin scale, one cannot go below zero – at least not in the sense of getting colder than zero Kelvin. According to the physical meaning of temperature, the temperature of a gas is determined by the chaotic movement of its particles – the colder the gas, the slower the particles. At zero Kelvin (-460°F or -273°C) the particles stop moving and all disorder disappears. Thus, nothing can be colder than absolute zero on the Kelvin scale. Physicists of the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching have now created an atomic gas in the lab that has nonetheless negative Kelvin values. These negative absolute temperatures lead to several striking consequences: Although the atoms in the gas attract each other and give rise to a negative pressure, the gas does not collapse – a behavior that is also postulated for dark energy in cosmology. Also supposedly impossible heat engines can be realized with the help of negative absolute temperatures, such as an engine with a thermodynamic efficiency above 100%.

Superstring theory is an attempt to explain all of the particles and fundamental forces of nature in one theory by modelling them as vibrations of tiny supersymmetric strings.
General relativity typically deals with situations involving large mass objects in fairly large regions of spacetime whereas quantum mechanics is generally reserved for scenarios at the atomic scale (small spacetime regions). The two are very rarely used together, and the most common case in which they are combined is in the study of black holes. Having “peak density”, or the maximum amount of matter possible in a space, and very small area, the two must be used in synchrony in order to predict conditions in such places; yet, when used together, the equations fall apart, spitting out impossible answers, such as imaginary distances and less than one dimension.
The major problem with their congruence is that, at Planck scale (a fundamental small unit of length) lengths, general relativity predicts a smooth, flowing surface, while quantum mechanics predicts a random, warped surface, neither of which are anywhere near compatible. Superstring theory resolves this issue, replacing the classical idea of point particles with loops. These loops have an average diameter of the Planck length (about 10⁻³³ cm), with extremely small variances, which completely ignores the quantum mechanical predictions of Planck-scale length dimensional warping.
Singularities are avoided because the observed consequences of “Big Crunches” never reach zero size. In fact, should the universe begin a “big crunch” sort of process, string theory dictates that the universe could never be smaller than the size of a string, at which point it would actually begin expanding.

昭和62年に当時の建設省に山崎川が「ふるさとの川モデル河川」に指定された。それを受け、中流域の護岸の修理・橋のかけなおしとともに、住民と山崎川の距離を縮めるために川と川全体が整備しなおされている。鯉を放流し、川の片方の道を遊歩道にし、公園の前に階段を設け川に降りられるようにした。これらの工事のために、桜の木を切り工事が終わるとそこに若い木を植えている。護岸の表面をコンクリートから岩にかえ一般的な都市河川よりも自然の川らしく化粧直しした。しかしながら、このような変身は自然のようにみえて全く自然から程遠いものになっていることを意味している。人間が計画してそのとおりになることを義務づけられた川は本当に自然の川になれるだろうか。

日本列島の植生の変遷

Biomes are the major regional groupings of plants and animals discernible at a global scale. Their distribution patterns are strongly correlated with regional climate patterns and identified according to the climax vegetation type. However, a biome is composed not only of the climax vegetation, but also of associated successional communities, persistent subclimax communities, fauna, and soils.
The biome concept embraces the idea of community, of interaction among vegetation, animal populations, and soil. A biome (also called a biotic area) may be defined as a major region of distinctive plant and animal groups well adapted to the physical environment of its distribution area.

This table from Foster’s paper (Evolution of Mammals on Islands, Nature, April 1964) shows relative sizes of island-dwelling mammal species and subspecies as compared with their presumed mainland relatives.

Europeans visited and colonized remote islands beginning in the 1500s. They sometimes caused harm. For example, they brought devastating diseases unknown to islanders, who had no resistance to them. Many island people perished from diseases such as measles.
On their ships, Europeans also brought animals—including cats, dogs, rats, snakes, and goats. These invasive species preyed on native island plants and animals. They also took over native species’ niches and destroyed the natural ecological balance of the islands.
Since the days of the early explorers, islands have been important as places for ships to take on supplies and for their crews to rest. Later, islands became part of ocean trade routes, linking distant parts of the world. Islands became particularly important to seafaring thieves known as pirates.
Like stepping stones, islands have helped people migrate over vast expanses of ocean from one continent to another.
Today, millions of people live on islands all over the world. Some even own them—islands are available for purchase just like any other piece of real estate.

Mimulus flower photographed in visible light (left) and ultraviolet light (right) showing a nectar guide visible to bees but not to humans.
Under ultraviolet, the flowers have a darker center, where the nectaries are located, and often specific patterns upon the petals as well.

Italian white truffles

i. Bologna, Via Nicola Sardi, 4 – 14030 Rocchetta Tanaro (Asti), Italia

週末を森の中で過ごした。一緒にいたラトビア人の女の子が、夜、森の中で地面を探り探り、色んなものを見つけて見せてくれた。風と、木々の揺れる音だけが響く中、「森の中には自然界の本当に美しいものがたくさんある。でもそれは待っててもだめ、こうして自分で見つけなくちゃね」と言ってくれた。

(素敵なエピソードですね。ノルウェーの森、ラトビアの森、どこか違いますか？)
ノルウェーでトナカイが食べる苔を探したけど、こっちでは見つからなかった。。でも、もしかしたら生えてる森もあるかもしれません。きっと生きている森はどこも暖かくて厳しくて、冷たくて恐いところかもしれません。

The solar spectrum peaks in the green part of the spectrum, right? Wrong! It only peaks in the green when plotted in wavelength units. It peaks in the nearinfrared when plotted in frequency units.
Many people believe that the solar spectrum and the color sensitivity of the eye both peak at around 0.5 μm (500 nm) in the green. The notion is sometimes stated even more strongly, i.e., that evolution has produced a human eye whose color sensitivity has been optimized to match the solar emission spectrum. But this apparent wavelength coincidence between the solar spectrum and the eyes’ sensitivity is an artifact resulting from the units in which the solar spectrum is plotted. Comparing irradiance to sensitivity is like comparing apples to oranges: they are fundamentally different quantities and their shapes and peaks should not be likened to one another although they can legitimately be multiplied together.

The light from the Sun looks white. But it is really made up of all the colors of the rainbow. All light travels in a straight line unless something gets in the way to: reflect it (like a mirror); bend it (like a prism); or scatter it (like molecules of the gases in the atmosphere).
Sunlight reaches Earth’s atmosphere and is scattered in all directions by all the gases and particles in the air. Blue light is scattered in all directions by the tiny molecules of air in Earth’s atmosphere. Blue is scattered more than other colors because it travels as shorter, smaller waves. This is why we see a blue sky most of the time.

Californian surfer Greg Long caught this wave at the north shore of Maui.

Lioness adopts baby antelope in Uganda national park after eating its mother
When I got there, I saw the lionesses feeding on a Uganda antelope’s carcass.
I followed them for a while and they went up a tree to rest from the sun.
I was watching them when I heard a noise. It was the antelope’s fawn that had been hiding in the long grass.

Dogs are very different from a lot of other animals we work with because they are hyper-social and hypersensitive to everything we do. Dogs are so tuned in to people that they are the only animal that can follow a person’s gaze or pointing finger to figure out where a piece of food is hidden. Wolves can’t do it, and neither can chimpanzees.

Dogs are genetic wolves that evolved to live and communicate with humans. That’s why dogs are so easy to train compared to other animals.

Vivre à l’image de cette beauté, c’est cela que je voudrais savoir faire. La netteté de ce pays, la transparence, la profondeur et le miracle de cette rencontre de l’eau, de la pierre et de la lumière, voilà la seule connaissance, la première morale. Cette harmonie n’est pas illusoire. Elle est réelle, et devant elle je ressens la nécessité de la parole.

Ayant passé mon unique matinée à revoir mille choses, avec une mélancolie toujours croissante, sous ces nuages d’hiver, – j’avais oublié ce vieux jardin et ce berceau de vigne à l’ombre duquel s’était décidée ma vie, et je voulus y courir, à la dernière minute avant le départ de la voiture qui allait m’emporter pour jamais.

La cour était déserte encore lorsqu’il descendit. Il fit quelques pas et se trouva comme transporté dans une journée de printemps. Ce fut en effet le matin le plus doux de cet hiver-là. Il faisait du soleil comme aux premiers jours d’avril. Le givre fondait et l’herbe mouillée brillait comme humectée de rosée. Dans les arbres, plusieurs petits oiseaux chantaient et de temps à autre une brise tiédie coulait sur le visage du promeneur.

Many children (and adults) have heard Aesop’s fable about the crow and the pitcher. A thirsty crow comes across a pitcher partly filled with water but can’t reach the water with his beak. So he keeps dropping pebbles into the pitcher until the water level rises high enough. A new study finds that both young children and members of the crow family are good at solving this problem, but children appear to learn it in a very different ways from birds.

For most species, conservation efforts are being determined by qualities that humans admire or dislike, including economic importance. The most universally admired physical characteristic is size: huge creatures elicit great respect, whereas the majority of species, which are small, tend to be ignored. Glamorous appearance is critical for sympathetic attention, and there are numerous features such as colour and impressive architecture that contribute to what makes a species attractive. However, bizarre or ferocious appearance, if entertaining, can also be a key to conservation. We are hard-wired to admire many of the larger mammals, provided that they have features reminiscent of health and intelligence in humans, or are “cute and cuddly” like human babies. Most bird species also possess many admirable traits. However, most animals distantly related to humans, particularly invertebrates, usually have few characteristics considered attractive. The majority of the world’s threatened species are insects, but except for butterflies and bees, most are usually perceived very negatively. Unfortunately, numerous animal groups in dire need of conservation, such as frogs and snakes, are decidedly handicapped by both their appearance and behaviour. The majority of species are undiscovered, and so are hardly in a position to compete for conservation attention. While there are advantages to conservation focussed on particular species, preservation of diverse habitats is preferable in order to benefit the planet’s life-sustaining ecosystems and their constituent biodiversity, including humans.