Kevin McCloud’s Big Town Plan: Castleford’s Potential Architectural Revolution
Castleford, Yorkshire, is a large English town. Run down and neglected, it was a victim of Margaret Thatcher’s radical 1980s reform when its mining operation was shut down. Now it sits, decaying, dilapidated, an austere eyesore. Enter Kevin McCloud and Channel 4 with a highly ambitious plan for the town. With £100,000 worth of seed [...]
Great Wall Builders: The Incas And Machu Picchu
Walls are invaluable things. They hold up roofs. They provide shelter and protection. And like fences, as Robert Frost keenly pointed out, they make good neighbours. So who built the greatest walls? The Chinese probably spring to mind the fastest with the Great Wall of China. Undoubtedly, the myth that the wall can be viewed [...]
Great Architecture: Buildings That Can Make You Instantly Happy
Buildings are iconic symbols of mankind. They provide one of the essential needs for survival, shelter. However, buildings also do much more than that. Upon first sight, they can stir deep emotions within us. We can love them with every fibre of our being or we can despise them with what seems like illogical zeal. [...]
Life Saver: The Perfect Pen Lid
Have you ever wondered why the lids of pens have holes on the top? Perhaps it is just an aesthetic choice that has become the de facto design? Or the idle fancy of someone who wanted to make pen lids more sleek, more attractive? No, the real reason is something far more important, vital in [...]
About Mercury: The Strange Planet That Supported Relativity
A strange planet in many ways. Eerily like our Moon in both appearance and scale, Mercury is a dull, grey planet that bares a remarkable past. Mercury is the smallest of all the inner terrestrial planets. Yet, despite its size, it has earned its place in Greek and Roman mythology. Deified as the Messenger God, Mercury, the [...]
About Lunar Voyages: Man’s Exploration, Strange Phenomena And The Moon’s Rewards
It has been over 40 years since Neil Armstrong’s famous 11 word utterance. Those seemingly innocuous words: ‘That’s One small step for man; one giant leap for mankind’ have now become a fundamental cornerstone in human evolution. For centuries, mankind has glanced upwards at the sky and contemplated what it would be like to walk [...]
About The Moon: Our Lunar Fascination And A Future Gateway To The Stars
We have a close relationship with the Moon. It still remains the only place that humans have visited outside of the Earth. Not only is it responsible for life on Earth but it still holds our fascination. Our senses are stirred as we gaze upon its unknowable history and serene beauty. Pock-marked and scarred from [...]
About Our Home Planet Earth: Third ‘Rock’ From The Sun
Our home planet is something that perhaps, at times, we take for granted. However, we owe our entire existence to this third ‘rock’ from the Sun. Upon viewing pictures of the ‘Blue Planet’ one almost instantly realises what a misnomer the word ‘Earth‘ truly is. It would be far more appropriate to call our home [...]
About The Inner Limits Of The Solar System: The Terrestrial ‘Rocky’ Planets
The Solar System is, so far, the only known star and planetary system to contain life. Yet few if us are actually aware of what lies outside of our small round sphere. Fewer still try to place our own existence in a context. Without context there cannot be understanding. Without some knowledge of the bigger picture [...]
About The Moon: Vital In The Creation And Preservation Of Life On Earth
The Moon is something we take for granted. A large grey disc silhouetted against the night firmament. It is almost so familiar to us all that it raises no eyebrows. We ponder no questions as its tranquil presence casts its immense shadow upon us. Yet, it is this all too familiar rock that is responsible for nearly [...]
About Nuclear Fusion: The Next Economics And Mining The Moon
Nuclear Fusion is heralded as the solution to our energy crisis. It is what powers stars and it is what powers our own star, the Sun. Nuclear Fusion may lead to the Moon being mined for a very valuable resource. A substance so rare on Earth that it makes the cost of purchasing gold and [...]
About Energy: The Most Fundamental Part Of Life
Energy is invisible and intangible. You cannot see it, you cannot touch it, you cannot grasp it. Yet, it is everywhere. It surrounds us, it is part of us, and it is us. From the scorching sun, to the rotation of the earth, from the movement of water to nuclear reactors, energy comes in many [...]
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