Who Was The Real Ophelia?
A new piece of historical scholarship suggests that William Shakespeare might have been inspired by the tragic death of a flower picking toddler. OPHELIA There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray,love, remember: and there is pansies. that’s for thoughts. LAERTES A document in madness, thoughts and…
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Year of the Rat Pollinator
Bees and bats do it, as do mice—pollinate flowers, that is. Some of South Africa’s most marvelous low-to-the-ground species should have a banner year. Happy New Year to all our Far Eastern readers, and anybody else who’s ready to start over… Year of the Rat…
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Hovirag: Hungary’s Hot Snowdrop
The cherished emblem of early spring in Hungary is now off limits to sellers and embroiled in a national dispute over genetically modified plants. Our man in Budapest, journalist Gabor Miklosi, took a break from political muckraking this week to hunt for hovirag. Also known…
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Floral Long-Necks and Bat Sippers
A biologist comes upon the longest-tongued mammal in the world and its evolutionary companion—a flower. Chiropterophilous is a tongue twister. It means “bat-pollinated” and describes not only tremulous damsels but many intriguing flowering plants. Tomorrow in Nature Magazine, Nathan Muchhala—a chiropterophilous-phile, if ever there was…
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