What happens when an amusing idea gets wildly out of control. So, a while back some of us vazaha types in Fort Dauphin got to talking about the classic board game Monopoly, and the criminal lack of a Fort Dauphin themed version. It’s just not the same playing with a board that has fancy foreign […]
Stitch Sainte Luce is a sustainable embroidery project in South-East Madagascar. Supported by SEED Madagascar, it provides local women with a livelihood of their own which pays fairly, is not affected by seasonal weather, and spares the environment. The embroiderers produce beautiful handmade goods featuring local flora and fauna, as well as patterns and geometric […]
In early 2018 I was back in my second home, Madagascar, to get my fix of sambos, lemurs and other wildlife. Once again I had the pleasure of spending some time with SEED Madagascar’s conservation programme in Sainte Luce. SEED provide unique volunteering experiences working with the fabulous endemic wildlife and people of Madagascar – […]
Barely twenty minutes had passed before we had unexpected visitors: a herd of six elephants coming up fast behind the loudspeaker car. Frantically, we signalled to cut off the recording, as the elephants didn’t look happy. Seeing our urgent semaphore, the occupants turned, and noticed the herd approaching. Cutting the sound off they froze, the […]
Earlier this year I embarked on a daft quest to defy social norms, experiment with a new diet… and stop eating “real” food. Why on earth would you do that? Cooking bores me. Eating isn’t particularly interesting either, or washing up. If someone devised a cybernetic upgrade or Faustian contract which did away with the […]
A single, curious, process may underlie addiction, brain training and much of our ability to learn. How do we learn new skills? How do we recover brain function after debilitating injuries? To adapt to our surroundings, explore, discover and grow is what makes us human. What allows us to do all this? It sounds more like a question for a philosopher than a scientist1, but neuroscience […]
A few weeks ago I wrote about my experiences with face blindness and my inability to picture things mentally. I confess I was more than a little nervous writing the piece, but the response has been amazing. I’ve heard from people who’ve had similar experiences and fascinating insights. I’ve also been asked some interesting questions, […]
Close your eyes and imagine yourself in a forest clearing, surrounded by towering trees. A patch of brilliant blue sky is visible through the leafy boughs above; the floor is a carpet of golden leaves. You can hear birdsong and the faint gurgle of a stream in the distance. The air is crisp and clean, and you feel a […]
I’ve finally finished uploading photos from the last year in Madagascar over on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/danielgwood/collections/72157639075496673/.
Perhaps naïvely, I didn’t think the situation was anywhere near this bad. In fact, of the 13 lemur species I saw last year in Madagascar, only one is listed as “Least Concern”, i.e. the green slice of the pie chart. Most of the rest are listed as Endangered or even Critically Endangered by the IUCN […]