Axis of Eco

I have launched an independent environmental news website, www.axisofeco.com. Have a look at the ‘About’ for a sense of the mandate. Almost all of my work will now be published there first, so please consider that my home base from now on.

Copenhagen: Unmissable

I will be embarking from London this Friday, December 11, and arriving in Copenhagen on the evening of the 12th, after more than 24 hours of trains, ferries, and reading. The decision to go was fairly last minute – I miraculously found accommodation with a friend of a friend (the city is fully booked for something ridiculous like a 100 kilometre radius), and a space on the ferry with some colleagues. It’s been an effort making the arrangements, but I realised that I simply couldn’t not go – there has never been any event like this, and quite possibly never will be ever again.

The evolution of music

I will be speaking with Cafe Scientifique and Spirit of Play in Leeds tonight, 8pm at The Wardrobe, 3 St Peter’s Square. From the poster:

“Making music is one of the weirdest things we do – and the more you think about it, the weirder music becomes. How can some compositions sound “happy”, while others “sad”? Why in the world should ordered collections of notes give us goose-bumps, or stir our hearts just like the feeling of love? How you can you explain the fact that we are undeniably drawn to gathering in dark nightclubs with complete strangers just to experience noises – or that we collectively spend more money on music than on pornography or prescription drugs every year?

And yet every human culture makes music – not all have writing, or agriculture, but all make music. Why? Could it be something that we evolved to do for a reason? Could it predate language, and might other hominids have been musical too? And could music even hold the key to what makes us human in the first place? Change the way you think about music – and science – with Guerilla Scientist Zoe Cormier”

Food packaging chemical linked to heart disease