![]() ![]() Manuka honey is the result of bees foraging on the manuka bush (Leptospermum scoparium), a plant that produces a compound with strong antimicrobial properties. UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has lodged a patent application revealing that the honey could be used as 'glue' to 'capture and neutralise' poisonous toxins, chemicals and viruses, such as Covid-19. Antimicrobial agents are designed to prevent the growth or kill various microorganisms, making them effective against a broader spectrum of pathogens. The term antimicrobial encompasses substances that can act against a wide range of microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and some parasites. They would harness the antimicrobial qualities of the honey - which is seen as a special superfood that can ward off colds and banish sore throats - by creating a 'manuka gas mask' to defend against airborne biological and chemical attacks. ![]() British scientists at Porton Down are making plans to use the antibacterial qualities of Manuka honey to create specialised chemical attack resistant gas masks. ![]()
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![]() ![]() The two would together attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled their ends. Already she was the wealthiest ruler in the Mediterranean the relationship with Antony confirmed her status as the most influential woman of the age. Cleopatra had a child with Caesar and - after his murder - three more with his protégé. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day. Cleopatra appears to have had sex with only two men. Ultimately she dispensed with an ambitious sister as well incest and assassination were family specialties. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She was married twice, each time to a brother. Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator. Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnets, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer brings to life the most intriguing woman in the history of the world: Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() King nicely puts the novels in literary context, for instance playing them off against the acknowledged giant of 1930s American horror, H.P. To this end, NYRB Classics did well to secure Stephen King's short introduction to the text. Sloane's novels are a perfect storm of pulp sensibility and overall good writing. They stand out rather on account of their not inconsiderable literary qualities. The novels stand out not so much by their narratives - which today seem rather formulaic and too obvious, even if at the time they were inventively reworking the existing formulae. Both are genre-blending narratives which borrow elements of horror, hardboiled mystery, and science-fiction (then a burgeoning genre in its own right). The latter was adapted into a Boris Karloff movie, The Devil Commands (1941). Novels, recently collected by NYRB Classics as The Rim of Morning, were To Walk the Night (1937) and The Edge of Running Water (1939). World as an editor and publisher than as a novelist. A quick scan of William Sloane's biography reveals that he contributed more to the literary ![]() ![]() Beautifully written, it's a book for anyone interested in the roots of creativity and innovation, for coders and non-coders alike." -Steven Johnson, author of Everything Bad Is Good for You and Emergence "The great software genius Bill Joy likes to say that writing software is like building a cathedral: It's art, science, architecture, and manual labor all rolled into one. Dreaming in Code is a fascinating and sobering exploration of how the challenges of programming both inspire and undermine our human drive to create new tools. Dreaming in Code is stellar reporting and writing." -Dan Gillmor, Director, Center for Citizen Media and author of We the Media "We live in a world increasingly governed by the near-invisible logic of software, and yet most of us know almost nothing about that hidden world inside our computers. He plainly admires the people who create code, but shows them as the complex, flawed beings we all are- and how human talents, quirks and passions become part of what people create. "Technology people like to call complicated problems 'nontrivial.' Scott Rosenberg has taken an extremely nontrivial topic and made it accessible. ![]() ![]() ![]() Reflect back on first thing this morning. They grumble about their wonderful life instead. Wouldn’t it be a shame to have a wonderful life and not notice? A lot of people do. ![]() At its simplest level, someone smiles because they feel happy – you mimic the smile and also feel happy. We are biologically driven to mimic others outwardly and, in mimicking their outward displays, we also end up adopting their inner states. If I’m walking my mutt and she sniffs a rabbit, the bunny’s off like a rocket, white tail bobbing, alerting all the other rabbits to scamper too. This puts us in line with just about every species on the planet. Next up, our superior brains give us massive processing power but they are also constructed to facilitate the transfer of emotions. They’re triggered by events ‘out there’ but exist as mental construct, in your head. You can’t put your feelings in a wheelbarrow and cart them around. By that, I mean emotions aren’t a ‘thing’ at all, they don’t have a form or a shape. ![]() ![]() The thing about emotions is that they’re hugely important, but not actually real. Everything you do you do for a feeling and, at the most basic level, we’re driven towards good feelings and away from bad ones. ![]() ![]() ![]() Over the course of the triptych, I’ve been trying to write about an apocalypse that is relatively devoid of violence, and to focus on regular people dealing with everyday interpersonal concerns made far more complex because they’re taking place before/during/after an apocalypse. (Interview by Georgina Kamsika) What was your inspiration to write this story? Interview with Will McIntosh about “Dancing with a Stranger in the Land of Nod” ![]() Following on The End is Nigh, and The End Is Here, The End Has Come contains 23 stories about life after the apocalypse. In collaboration with editors John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey, A Dribble of Ink is proud to introduce a series of interviews with the authors of The End Has Come, the final volume in the The Apocalypse Triptych. ![]() Buy The End Has Come, edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey ![]() ![]() Then he gave me his trademark smirk once again and asked if I wanted to consummate our marriage. We argued the entire four-hour flight to his hometown, failed to make a convincing impression with the welcoming press, and right when I was about to knock that arrogant look off his face in real life? He purposely dropped his bath towel in front of me, distracting me with his nine-inch cock to “show me who the bigger person was” in our relationship. ![]() I signed my name and started counting down the seconds to when I would never have to deal with his special brand of ass-holery again. I definitely didn’t need to think twice about this. Just pretend to love each other for the press, even though I’ve secretly wanted to knock that sexy smirk off his face since the first day we met. The rules were pretty simple: No intimate kissing, no actual sex. If I agreed, he would let me out of my employment contract with a “very generous” severance package. ![]() ![]() Wolf of Wall Street, came to me with an offer I couldn’t refuse: Sign my name on the dotted line and pretend to be his fiancée for one month. I should’ve never agreed to this arrangement… ![]() ![]() Brilliantly original in concept, wryly observant and deeply researched, The Wizard and the Prophet is essential reading for readers of Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens or Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel, for anyone interested in how we got here and in the future of our species. Mann tells the stories of these scientists and their crucial influence on today’s debates as his story ranges from Mexico to India, across continents and oceans and from the past and the present to the future. The Wizard of Mann’s title, he believed that science will continue to rise to the challenges we face. Borlaug’s research in the 1950s led to the development of modern high-yield crops that have saved millions from starvation. Vogt (the Prophet) was the intellectual forefather of the environmental movement, and believed that in our using more than the planet has to give, our prosperity will bring us to ruin. ![]() Mann illuminates the four great challenges we face – food, water, energy, climate change – through an exploration of the crucial work and wide-ranging influence of two little-known twentieth-century scientists, Norman Borlaug and William Vogt. 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created 5 out of 5 Mann delivers again 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus 4 out of 5 Who are the. Can our world support so many people? What kind of world will it be? In this unique, original and important book, Charles C. ![]() In forty years, the population of the Earth will reach ten billion. 'Does the earth’s finite carrying capacity mean economic growth has to stop? That momentous question is the subject of Charles Mann’s brilliant book.' Wall Street Journal ![]() Two Groundbreaking Scientists and Their Conflicting Visions of the Future of Our Planet ![]() ![]() The first section, entitled "Mom & Me", centers on Angelou's early years, before the age of 17, and her transition from resentment and distrust of her mother to acceptance, support, and love towards her. Mom & Me & Mom is an overview of Angelou's life and revisits many of the same anecdotes she relates in her previous books. The book also chronicles Angelou's reunion and reconciliation with Baxter. The book explains Baxter's behavior, especially Baxter's abandonment of Angelou and Angelou's older brother when they were young children, and fills in "what are possibly the final blanks in Angelou's eventful life". It focuses, for the first time in her books, on Angelou's relationship with her mother, Vivian Baxter. The book was published shortly before Mother's Day and Angelou's 85th birthday. ![]() ![]() ![]() Mom & Me & Mom (2013) is the seventh and final book in author Maya Angelou's series of autobiographies. ![]() ![]() It is his second, following his bestselling 2003 debut, The Kite Runner. Genre: Late Historical Fiction or Early Contemporary (it spans over many years)Ī Thousand Splendid Suns is a 2007 novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. Let’s dive into A Thousand Splendid Suns! (sounds a bit suicidal) And then there’s the reviewing side – If you join their programme, there are opportunities for you to be sent books for free in exchange for an honest review by a given date. ![]() ![]() This is basically a site that compares all the different prices of books from different retailers, showing you where you can buy each book for the cheapest price. ![]() This is the 3rd book I’ve reviewed for them. This book has been on my radar for a while now – all of Khaled Hosseini’s books have been – so when the lovely people at SocialBookCo contacted me through their review programme, asking if I would like to review this for them, of course, I said yes! ![]() |