Monthly Archives: June 2012

A first ever peek at what was on the dinner table two million years ago.

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Shaun Smillie

It is the stuff dentists scrape off teeth every day and now it has allowed a bunch of scientists to take a peek at what was on the menu two million years ago. The embargo has just broken on the … Continue reading →

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Rock hard benches and telling it as it is for 300 years

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Shaun Smillie

The stenographer nodded off to sleep. No one could blame her, even in the public gallery the journalists were getting fidgety. Court benches became real hard when you sit on them for a couple of hours. Labour court isn’t as … Continue reading →

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Catching Amur falcons.

Posted on June 17, 2012 by Shaun Smillie

Amur hunting begins just after the call goes out for evening prayers at the Newcastle Mosque. By then the sun has dipped below the horizon and the first Amur falcon tumbles into a high altitude mist net set up amongst … Continue reading →

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Just one of the flock

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Shaun Smillie

Eno almost took one for the herd. The Anatolian shepherd got into a tangle with a leopard last week. I wrote the story about this amazing dog today. The leopard got Eno around the neck, and it was nearly tickets … Continue reading →

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Premonitions of death in a fox hole

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Shaun Smillie

  Private Dick Borain went to war believing he was going to die. He was only 24, but could sense death waiting for him in the desert, outside of the dugout that he shared with my grandfather. Their dugout was … Continue reading →

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RIP Prof Tobias

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Shaun Smillie

I met Prof Tobias in 1996 and back then he spoke about his fears for the human race. I still have some of those quotes he gave me that day. One of them was:” I am concerned about the plight … Continue reading →

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Vampires and headless corpses

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Shaun Smillie

In Bulgaria archaeologists exhumed two medieval vampires. Rusted iron stakes still lay driven through their bones, the desperate hope of a community that the dead person would not return. The belief was that the rods would pin the corpse in … Continue reading →

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