bilingualism in children A One misguided legacy of over a hundred years of writing on bilingualism is that children’s intelligence will suffer if they are bilingual. Some of the earliest research into bilingualism examined whether bilingual children were ahead or behind monolingual2 children on IQ tests. From the 1920s through to the 1960s, the tendency was …
Seed vault guards resources for the future Fiona Harvey paid a visit to a building whose contents are very precious. About 1,000 km from the North Pole, Svalbard is one of the most remote places on earth. For this reason, it is the site of a vault that will safeguard a priceless component of our …
The Brain and Intelligence Human intelligence is an elusive quality. We all think we know it when we see it but try to pin down that quality to a firm, testable definition and suddenly, even for the most experienced researchers, the concept disappears. But now a team of British and German scientists believe they have …
britain set for heat wave in 2050 A As you sit in your home or office and look at the rain running relentlessly down the window pane, you will almost certainly be thinking, “This is more like February, when will summer arrive?” This summer seems to have been colder and wetter than ever. So here is …
a spark, a flint; how fire leapt to life The control of fire was the first and perhaps greatest of humanity’s steps towards a life-enhancing technology. To early man, fire was a divine gift randomly delivered in the form of lightning, forest fire or burning lava. Unable to make flame for themselves, the earliest people …
Sharks – face extinction Professor Robert Law, bead of Marine Biological Ltd, which monitors the ocean environment, and a leading governmental advisor on marine pollution, is claiming today that sharks are in danger of extinction. Professor Law’s main point is that worldwide the number of sharks of most species is dropping rapidly. Exact figures about …
