Tag Archives: Santa Fe Institute

Environment, Evolution, Journalism

Death and the Artic char

TO the east of Amsterdam lies a tract of reclaimed marshland, the site of an epic rewilding project called the Oostvaardersplassen. It is sometimes nicknamed the Dutch Serengeti because of the profusion of large herbivores that graze there. But during the bitterly cold winter of 2017-18, deeply shocking images began to emerge. Thousands of deer, cattle and horses lay dead or dying of starvation. Desperate onlookers threw bales of hay over fences in an effort to help – clearly something had gone badly wrong…

Nature has a “requirement for mortality” – André de Roos. Credit: Alexia Khruscheva/Getty Images

This article first appeared in New Scientist on 18 October 2022. To continue reading, click here (paywall).

Archaeology, History, Journalism

Royal women revisited

ELEANOR of Aquitaine is often portrayed as one of the most powerful queens in history. Wife, mother and counsellor of kings, crusader, landowner, patron of the arts, her power eventually grew so great – at least in the eyes of one royal husband, Henry II of England – that he chose to lock her up. But what if Eleanor wasn’t exceptional? What if, in the manner and the degree to which she exerted power, she was very much in line with royal women throughout history…?

This essay first appeared on Aeon on 12 July 2019. To continue reading, click here.