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Darwin’s
Theory
No monkey business
A hundred and fifty
years after Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species, there is
no certainty about the ‘Heavenly Father’ not having had a role in
Creation, writes A.J.
Philip
WHILE promenading at the
Sydney harbour, I accidentally stepped on a copper plaque that
commemorates Charles Darwin’s visit to Australia to collect material
for his magnum opus, The Origin of Species. Of course, I did
not cause any sacrilege, as the plaque was one of several on what is
called the "Writers’ Path". The plaque reminded me
of the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s theory on
July 1, 1858. When he presented his theory at the Linnaean Society in
London on that day, it did not set the Thames on flames.
City of churches and beer bars
Voted as one of the 10
most liveable cities in the world, Munich is celebrating its 850th
year,
reports Anurag
Yadav
MUNICH evokes different
images for different people. For some it brings back memories of the
attack on athletes at the 1972 Olympics, for others it is the venue of
beer-swigging Oktoberfest. Many auto enthusiasts know it as the city
that manufactures the BMW cars, while for sport lovers it is the home
of the football club Bayern M`FCnchen.
Hitler sites draw
foreigners
Dorothea Huelsmeier
Tourists can’t get
enough of Adolf Hitler tours in Munich, where the dictator nurtured
his Nazi Party .The guided walking tours include sites, which had
significance in Hitler’s life like where he gave his first public
speech upstairs at the world-famous Hofbraeuhaus beer hall in 1918.
Tiny
robot that jumps
SWISS
researchers have developed a new robot inspired by a grasshopper. The
miniscule seven grams robot unveiled by researchers from Laboratory of
Intelligent Systems at EPFL at the IEEE International Conference on
Robotics and Automation in Pasadena, California, can jump 1.4 metres,
10 times farther for its size and weight than any existing jumping
robot.
Story of a civilisation
TIRED of watching
endless ‘saas bahu’ dramas on television? A new serial on the
ancient civilisation of Mohenjodaro will take viewers back in time to
show the culture of these highly evolved people and how they lived and
dressed. To be made on the lines
of serials like ‘Discovery of India’ and ‘Chanakya’,
the serial titled ‘Sambhav’ will depict the lifestyle of people of
the ancient civilization with various dramatic elements.
Mothers aim to scale Mt
Kilimanjaro
Forty-five year old
Premlata Aggarwal, a mother of two is all gung-ho about climbing the
world’s tallest freestanding mountain, Mt Kilimanjaro. Aggarwal is the second
oldest member of the 10-member team led by Bachendri Pal (54), the
first woman to scale Mt Everest, which will attempt to climb the
19,000 ft high mountain in Tanzania. At 54, Pal is the oldest.
No laughing matter
Derek
Bose checks out why not a
single rib-tickler has made its mark this year
THE way comedies are
bombing at the box office is not funny. While way-out mindless action
dramas like Race and Jannat are turning out surprise
hits, not a single rib-tickler has made its mark this year. Even
serious, issue-based films like Black and White, Shaurya and
now, Aamir are finding eager audiences.
King of comedy
Mehmood is the only
comedian in post-Independent India who commanded equal billing with
the top heroes of his time. He debuted in 1943 as a child artiste in Kismat
and made his mark in 1958 with Parvarish. But it was not till
the mid-1960s with films like Love in Tokyo, Bhoot Bangla and Gumnam
that he got into his elements.
I enjoy making films: Rajat Kapoor
AN actor in Khoya
Khoya Chand, industrialist in Corporate, music producer in Bheja
Fry and now a journalist in Via Darjeeling, actor-director
Rajat Kapoor says, he enjoys playing different roles in his films. "That is what one
tries to do all the time — be different — isn’t it? In my forthcoming films, you would see me playing different roles,"
says Rajat.
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Bird watch
A hunting falcon is shown before a national competition of hunters with birds in Taldykorgan in this file photo. The largest study ever of bird genetics has uncovered some surprising facts about the avian evolutionary tree, U.S. researchers said recently, including many that are bound to ruffle some feathers. Falcons, for example, are not closely related to hawks and eagles, despite many similarities, while colourful hummingbirds, which flit around in the day, evolved from a drab-looking nocturnal bird called a nightjar. And parrots and songbirds are closer cousins than once thought. The findings challenge many assumptions about bird family relationships and suggest many biology textbooks and bird-watchers’ field guides may need to be changed — Reuters |
Struggle for a fair deal
Domestic workers have
little bargaining power over their wages. They have neither job
security nor entitlement to paid leave. The Domestic Workers’ Bill,
if passed, will be an important step towards securing their rights,
writes Anuja
Agrawal
THERE is no prize for
guessing what two middle class women talk about whenever they meet.
Invariably, the topic of maids and servants dominates their
conversation. It will be no exaggeration to say that the middle class
can barely imagine life without domestic workers.
Look young with a thin
tie
Prabhakar Tembe
WHEN you buy a tie for
yourself, you can be very choosy. The trick lies in mixing old with
new—-sort of combining classic patterns with slimmer modern shapes. Ram
Malhotra, chief
executive of Atlanta Dresses, Bombay, says it has become an industry
joke that a seemingly small detail such as tie width or lapel style
could be considered a drastic shift.
Bear
hug & tears
THEY
met after nine days at what was a tearful renunion. He fed the
one-year-old milk and hugged her tight. And, no, that was not a father
meeting up with his daughter, but Ram Singh Munda meeting Rani, the
sloth bear who had been snatched away from him and kept in a zoo.
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