Stone of the Month: Emerald | Birthstone of the Month: Rhodochrosite
• June 2008
In recent years, tea has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. There's nothing better than a hot cuppa to relax the body and restore the soul after a long day, as Kim O'Hare reports... [more...] • May 2008
If Britain’s most senior police forensics expert has his way, primary school children could be required to submit DNA samples to be kept on file for all time. The proposal hasn't gone down well with civil liberty campaigners... [more...]Website of the Month • May 2008
This month's weblink of the month is right here - a fantastic YouTube video of the amazing Chinese State Circus performing scenes from Tchaikovsky's evergreen ballet Swan Lake. [more...]Birthstone of the Month • May 2008
Rhodochrosite is the stone of love and balance. Usually rose pink, it can come in various shades - from a light pink, sometimes with an orange tint - to a colour that’s nearly red with white banding... [more...] • May 2008
UK experts have developed a chocolate bar that can help save your life. To fend off heart disease, new research recommends eating this cocoa-rich chocolate every day. Cocoa contains high levels of antioxidants called flavenoids, but when you turn it into chocolate these compounds can be destroyed... [more...] • April 2008
Unlike a lot of the special days we regularly observe, the origins of April Fools’ Day is a bit of a mystery. Also called All Fools’ Day, no-one seems to know when the first fools’ day took place. It seems to be a reasonable assumption that it was originally observed as some sort of spring ritual. [more...] • April 2008
On 1st April 1980 the BBC reported that Big Ben, in order to keep up with the times, was going to be given a digital readout. We remember this wind-up - and others - in this month's technology column.
[more...]Birthstone of the Month • April 2008
The stones of the Zodiac sign of Aries are diamond, garnet, red jasper, carnelian, red tiger-eye and finally heliotrope - which we are featuring this month. Heliotrope is also known as bloodstone. [more...] • April 2008
Are we out of ice? Well not really, but we soon could be. British researchers recently reported that an iceberg about the size of Dubai, and about 70 storeys high, has broken away from an Antarctic ice shelf. [more...]