Readers Digest AU 02-03-2024

MEMORY MAKING IS
ON THE MENU
y Au s t r a
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•2024 ★ ★
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H O L I DAY I N E V E R Y WAY
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66
humour
Stretching The Truth
Sadly the tape measure
may not agree with
your self-image as
being tall and thin.
RICHARD GLOVER
68
environment
Beneath The Sea Ice
Diving in sub-zero
temperatures below ice
floes, marine scientists
CONTENTS 68 are expanding our
knowledge of the Arctic
Ocean.
MEAGHAN BRACKENBURY
Features 44 FROM UP HERE
art of living
26 Flying The Nest 76
interview Here’s how to cope inspiration
Harrison Ford with feelings of distress The Fix-It Revolution
Lauded for his action when your children Turning away from
hero roles, the actor leave home. waste, the growing
SUSANNAH HICKLING trend to mend aims
PHOTOS: (COVER) GE T T Y IMAGES; (SE A ICE) JILL HEINERTH
talks about his return

as the iconic Indiana to repair everything
Jones. 56 from appliances to
VICKY DEARDEN health phones and clothes.
Dementia VANESSA MILNE
34 Breakthroughs
Offer New Hope 84
health
7 Global Sleep Tips As experts better 13 things
Cultures from around understand the Mighty Mushrooms
the world share their progression of Fungi fans love their
distinctive ways of Alzheimer’s, potential earthy flavour.
COURTNEY SHEA
getting a good night’s treatments are
rest. emerging. ON THE COVER:
VANESSA MILNE 7 GLOBAL SLEEP TIPS
VANESSA MILNE
– PAGE 34
readersdigest.com.au 1
all shapes and sizes.
130
88 How well do you know
them? KIRSTIN VON ELM
bonus read
heart Lives In The Balance
She Defied All
The Odds 114 A brain surgeon’s
personal journey
art of living
Born with disability, and the patients
How To Get Along
young Hallee who changed his
With Anyone
McCoombes is perspectives.
Turn the tables
determined to become DR CHRISTOPHER HONEY
on chatterboxes, FROM THE TENTH NERVE
an athletics champion.
SABRINA ROGERS- complainers and
ANDERSON drama queens.
ROSEMARY COUNTER
Departments
96 124 the digest
art of living 16 Pets Corner
travel
Unique Ways To Give 20 Health
Innovative ideas to Full Steam Ahead! 24 News From
help those in need Join the world’s last The World Of
scheduled steam train Medicine
even if you don’t
have a lot to spare. service as it puffs regulars
PENNY CALDWELL along its route. 4 Letters
MARTIN FLETCHER FROM 5 Editor’s Note
102 THE FINANCIAL TIMES 8 My Story
13 Smart Animals
animal kingdom
52 See The World
The Great
Wildebeest 88 Differently
113 Quotable Quotes
Migration
humour
Every year millions
of herbivores cross 42 Life’s Like That
74 Laughter, The
the vast African Best Medicine
plains in search of 122 All In A Day’s
PHOTO (HALLEE): SABRINA L AURIS TON
better grazing. Work

VINCENT NOYOUX FROM the genius section
LE FIGARO MAGAZINE
146 Planting
Memories
108 150 Puzzles
quiz 153 Trivia
Animal Extremes 154 Puzzle Answers
Nature’s weirdest FOLLOW US 155 Word Power
creations come in @ReadersDigestAustralia
2 february/march 2024
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R E A DER’S DIGE ST
LETTERS
Reader’s Comments And Opinions
Elder Independence ART OF LIVING
After reading ‘Golden Girl’

(June 2023), I felt a great
deal of empathy for us ageing
Golden
parents. In both Eastern and
Western societies, children My mum’s
80th-birthday
WHEN YOUR MOTHER ENTERS HER
ninth decade, you make a point of being
a little extra vigilant for any signs of de-
are concerned about their elderly tattoo is just the

latest example of
her wild newfound
cline – memory loss, bouts of repetition,
a general acceleration of age-related de-
terioration.
Thankfully, my mother has been
blessed with good health, and her men-
parents and feel that when they independence
ILLUS TR ATIONS: MARCOS CHIN

tal faculties seem to have remained
largely intact. But when she got tattooed
BY Mark Angus Hamlin after turning 80 two years ago, I had to
FROM THE GLOBE AND MAIL
wonder.
get to a certain age, they should

To celebrate Mum’s landmark birth-
day, we were planning a large party –
but then, of course, everything had to
74 june 2023
not try challenging things.

But like the mother in the story,
it’s important for us to prove that we I left home, but I soon fell in love
can take ownership of our lives in with my independence. I will
our latter years. Last year, I embark on my second solo trip in
travelled abroad for the first time. I a few months’ time and sincerely
was alone and not able to speak the hope that I can continue to plan a
language. I was a bit nervous before ‘big event’ every year. PEI LINE HO
Animals Predicting Weather swat flies with their tails; when bees
I agree with the author of ‘All About and butterflies disappear from the
Extreme Weather’ (Oct/Nov 2023) flowers, you can expect heavy rain;
who said “animals can predict the and in preparation for bad weather,
weather”. Spiders, caterpillars and ants build up their mounds. The
ladybirds predict cold weather; when animal kingdom could be another
birds fly high, the weather is clear; way for meteorologists to predict
PHOTO: GE T T Y IMAGES
when cows sense bad weather, they weather. RIFAQUAT ALI ➤
Let us know if you are moved – or provoked – by any item in the magazine,
share your thoughts. See page 7 for how to join the discussion.
EDITOR’S NOTE
Frontiers Of The Brain
AFTER SEVEN YEARS of fighting
a daunting illness, and two years
of intensive treatment and finally
round-the-clock care, my brother-
in-law, Alistair, passed away
peacefully last year. The condition Subscribe to the world’s best loved
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This month, we have advice
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➤ Robots On The Loose

I was thrilled to learn in ‘High
Tech Helpers’ (Aug/Sep 2023) that
many countries are using robotics
to help humanity. Then, I recalled
the article ‘Robots Gone Wild!’
(September 2022) that mentioned
a branch of the Henn na Hotel in
Japan had experienced so many
problems with their robots they had A FERTILE MIND
to ‘fire’ half of them! Hopefully, the We asked you to think up a funny
robots in the South Korea branch caption for this photo.
(mentioned in ‘High Tech Helpers’) Some things just grow on you.
are preparing for other job options if JOHN SPENCE
all goes haywire. AUSTIN LOO Talk about a growth mindset.

KYLER KOH
On The Bright Side Nurturing green ideas.

PAUL BALIN
As an animal lover, I am always This will give me a head start in the
curious about their quirks (‘Pretty garden competition.
Colourful’, Oct/Nov 2023) Our HELEN GILLETT
world would be so much the poorer I’ve an idea, let me grow it!
without these colourful critters and KAMALA DECY ALAGARATNAM
their photographers. CL AIRE JOLLIFFE

Congratulations to this month’s
winner, John Spence.
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gold nib. $100. To enter, email
editor@readersdigest.com.au
or see details on page 7.
Letters
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MY STORY
Yellow Dog’s Travels

Years and vast distances couldn’t break their bond
BY Libbie Escolme Schmidt
I
was eight years old and oblivious ‘Hamilton Park’ near Wallumbilla,
to all the arrangements being in south-west Queensland.
made for our journey as a family The day before we boarded
from Toowoomba to London in the ship SS Orion, Father bade a
1950. My mother was in great pain tender farewell to his five-year-old
from the 1950s epidemic of polio. red heeler (Australian cattle dog),
She had been told that she would Spider, who was loved by us all.
never walk again without callipers, Father’s friend Sandy had been
and wished to visit specialists in getting to know Spider for many
London and Switzerland. My father weeks, as Sandy was to be his
reluctantly had to sell our property guardian while we were overseas.
My Story
We didn’t know how long my search for Spider. The newspapers

mother’s treatment would take or and radio were inundated by his
how long we would be away. repeated calls to the people who had
Six weeks later, a flimsy blue said they had seen his dog. Many
airletter arrived from Sandy, giving false calls and sightings meant that
my father the news that Spider had a huge aura of disappointment hung
run away just two weeks after we over our household. My mother was
had sailed. I will always remember fed up with all this and impatient for
my father’s face crumbling and his my father to accept the inevitable.
eyes glistening as he The dog was gone –
read this news. My SHE’D HAD possibly shot or dead
mother and I tried to GLIMPSES OF A from starvation and
DINGO-TYPE DOG
console him, knowing exhaustion.
in our hearts how One cold winter’s
useless this was. Our IN THE SHADOWS Saturday morning
excitement at finally OF HER DISUSED eight months after our
TENNIS COURT
arriving in England return, my father had
was quickly dispelled. a call from Gin Gin,
Sandy had advertised 375 kilometres from
constantly on ABC radio and in the Toowoomba. An elderly lady living
Toowoomba Chronicle and other on her own on the outskirts of the
regional newspapers. Despite many town was putting food out “for a very
‘sightings’, the dog was never found. old yellow dog”. In the night the food
It seems Spider just kept running disappeared. This had been going
and searching for us. As he was a on for a few weeks. As she told my
red heeler, almost yellow in colour, father on the telephone, it was “just
my father thought he would be shot glimpses of a dingo-type dog in the
or dingo-trapped, because of his shadows” of her disused tennis court.
appearance. But our family thought That was enough for my father
that Father held a secret hope that to interrupt my homework. My
Spider was still alive. mother said to him, “Ian, this has
We sailed back to Australia two to stop. You will be driving miles
years later and re-established in the bush!”, but we set off in his
our home in Toowoomba. My low-slung, blue and black Jensen
father immediately began his own car which he had brought back
from England. It was hardly the
Libbie Escolme Schmidt lives in Brisbane. right vehicle for the rough roads we
She is a keen reader and enjoys public travelled that day.
speaking, the arts and travel. Five and a half hours later, we
found the run-down old property. Once home we had the task of
The lady invited us into an old bush getting all the burrs and prickles off
kitchen for tea and damper. My him, before he was put in a tin tub
father was anxious to see this yellow and we gently cleaned him up with
dog and so we followed her to the Neeko soap. Spider stood stoically
tennis court, its fencing bowed over, through all this as my father also
covered in creepers and weeds, with examined his teeth and ears.
a ragged old tennis net waving in We had ignored so many of those
the wind. sightings – for example Gayndah,
Sadly, she then told my father 299 kilometres from Toowoomba –
that the ‘dingo dog’ hadn’t been but my father never lost hope that he
around for a few days. My father had would find his dog.
a strange look in his eye. He put two Spider spent the rest of his days
fingers to his lips and did his special – years – on the front verandah,
whistle for Spider. content and satisfied, always in wait
Suddenly there was a rustling in for my sister and me coming home
the bush. Out of the growth flew this from school where he would give us
battered dog right into my father’s a lot of licks to make sure we were all
arms. Spider had leaped over the right. He then waited for my father
tennis court fence with great force by the garage door. We never left him
and certainty. My father’s eyes shone, anywhere alone again.
and the old lady and I stood there Note: Crossing native dingoes with
with tears in our eyes. collies and other herding dogs was
He kept licking my father’s face first done by Australian George Hall,
and making choking noises. He who developed the red heeler breed
smelt dreadful. We wrapped him in on his farm in 1840.
an old blanket and I held him on my
lap all the way back to Toowoomba. Do you have a tale to tell? We’ll pay
He never once took his eyes off my cash for any original and unpublished
father as we drove home. Every so story we print. See page 7 for details
often I received a lick of gratefulness. on how to contribute.
See You Later, Alligator

A US baseball fan and his leathery emotional support animal, an
alligator named Wally, were recently denied entrance to watch
a Philadelphia game. Owner Joie Henney describes the razor-
toothed reptile as “just lovable” and enjoys sharing hugs. AP NEWS
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SMART ANIMALS
Know how to make the best of a second chance
Bella, The Fishing Dog Once the line is cast and the bait
JACQUELYN WARD
is in the water, Bella zones in on the
We didn’t know if our rescue dog, pole, as any good angler should.
Bella, would like the boat when When there’s a bite, she wags her
ILLUS TR ATIONS: GE T T Y IMAGES
she first joined us for a lake fishing tail and yips as if she’s coaching us
trip. But she’s adventurous for a while we reel in the line.
Shih Tzu, so we strapped her into
a canine life jacket and put on You could earn cash by telling us
goggles to protect her eyes from the about the antics of unique pets or
wind, and it turns out that she’s a wildlife. Turn to page 7 for details
natural angler. on how to contribute.
Once the catch is landed, Bella
is the first to inspect it, eagerly
sniffing as the fish flops across
the deck. Occasionally, she picks
up the fish, but she is always
gentle and drops it on command.
Even when we release what we’ve
caught, Bella leans over the edge
and stares at the water, tracking
the fish until it is long out of sight.
At home, Bella loves to watch
TV, especially shows with dogs,
and comes running when we
say “Puppies on TV!” She even
checks behind the screen when
one runs out of frame. It’s hard to
believe this extraordinary dog was
returned to the shelter twice.
Taking A Shine To company. Gizmo gave Sunshine

Each Other a tour of the best sunbathing
MARNIE SPERLING spots in the house. When it was
Sunshine’s bath time, Gizmo sat
We rescued our cat, Gizmo, from on the edge of the tub to ‘help’.
a shelter at the 11th hour. He was They’ve had five happy years of
very skittish when he came home napping, soaking up vitamin D
with us and rarely emerged from and watching me garden through
our wardrobe. It wasn’t until the front door together. Such
we got Sunshine, a surprisingly an unlikely pairing in nature,
gregarious bearded dragon, that but our cat and pet lizard are so
Gizmo really began to shine. companionable in our home.
Gizmo was intrigued by the
lizard, so we placed Sunshine’s
tank by the lounge where the cat
sometimes napped. They’d spend
hours gazing at each other. Gizmo
was pretty docile, so we thought it
safe to let them meet paw to claw.
And they delighted in each other’s
Did you know?
Cats, just like humans,
can get sunburnt.
Cats are particularly prone to sunburn
on areas where their fur is thin (such
as their ears and nose). White cats are
most at risk, but cats and kittens with
pale pink noses and light-coloured ears
are especially susceptible to the harsh
sun as well. Extra care needs to be
taken as repeated sunburn can lead to
skin cancer.
Protect your cat with these handy hints:
• Keep your cat indoors for the

hottest part of the day (or all day)
• Apply a pet-friendly sunscreen.

Never use human sunscreen as
it is toxic to cats
• Check your cat regularly for visible

signs of sun damage and keep up
with yearly vet checks. Your vet will
be able to identify any potential
skin cancer and treat accordingly
All cats are at risk of heatstroke and dehydration when the temperature rises. Always
ensure plenty of fresh water is available for your kitty and remember our feathered
friends in the heat as well - put out bowls of water in different locations around your
garden. Follow these simple sun-safe tips and enjoy the summer months!
For more information, advice and assistance

on cat care and everything feline, visit
www.catprotection.org.au
or call us on (02) 9557 4818
PETS CORNER
Why Do
Dogs Bark
At Other
Dogs? park and know your dog generally
plays well with others, now is the
time to let him off-leash so he can
engage in some positive playtime.
While challenging, it’s
totally normal THEY’RE BEING DEFENSIVE If your
loyal companion senses a (real or
imagined) threat to either himself
BY Elizabeth Heath or his family members (human,
canine or otherwise), he may emit a
D
ogs bark at each other bark that essentially says, “Back off,
for a variety of reasons, buddy.”
according to Trevor Smith,
a dog trainer. “But mainly,” THEY’RE BEING AGGRESSIVE A
he says, “dogs use barking as their dog that aggressively barks at other
primary communication tool to dogs may or may not ever get to the
express their needs.” point where he can play with other
It may be especially difficult when dogs. For some pups, the aggression
they bark at their fellow four-legged is based on fear. Others just aren’t
friends – which begs the question: friendly with other dogs.
ILLUS TR ATION: GE T T Y IMAGES
why do dogs bark at other dogs?

THEY WANT TO JOIN THE PACK If
THEY’RE BEING PLAYFUL A dog on your dog comes upon a new group
a leash may bark at other dogs to try of dogs – say, at the dog park – he
to engage in play. He’s essentially may bark or even howl to get their
calling the other dog, trying to get it attention. It’s his way of asking to
to join in the fun. If you’re at the dog join the pack.
Pets
THEY’RE FEELING ANXIOUS Your pace. Keep control of your dog, and
dog may be anxious by nature, swiftly walk away from the other
and being around other dogs may dogs, praising him as he complies.
heighten his sensitivity. And he
may respond with his primary REMOVE THEM FROM THE
communication tool: barking. SITUATION If the dog park or the
Dealing with a dog whose barking regular route you walk your pooch
develops into a persistent and becomes fraught with stress for both
negative behaviour pattern can of you, it’s time to change course –
be frustrating. But with time and literally. Take a different route, one
patience, most dog-barking issues can you know has fewer dogs.
be managed and modified.
LEARN TO DECODE YOUR
EXPOSE THEM TO OTHER DOGS DOG’S BARKS If your dog’s facial
Smith suggests exposing your expression, tail position and
dog to situations in which he barking indicate he’s feeling
encounters the stimulus, such as playful, the solution to stopping
another dog. “For instance, if you him from barking may be to let
observe your dog barking at another him play or socialise with other
dog in the park from a distance pups in an environment where he
of three metres, take a step back feels safe.
to a distance of ten metres, or an In contrast, Smith says that if
appropriate distance that allows your dog barks out of extreme fear
your dog to remain calm without of other dogs, you should give him
barking while still being exposed to more distance from them. “By
the stimuli,” he says. consistently positive reinforcement,
He suggests that you reward them your furry friend will learn which
with high-value treats when they behaviours are rewarded, avoid
don’t bark, and don’t reprimand those that receive no rewards and
them when they do bark. “Repeat become comfortable in situations
this process and gradually decrease where they encounter the disrupting
the distance while adjusting stimuli.”
accordingly, until the barking
response is minimal,” he says. CONSIDER A DOGGY TRAINING
CLASS Your dog’s barking
KEEP MOVING If you’re out for a issues may call for professional
walk and your dog starts to bark intervention in the form of one-on-
at another dog, a simple solution one obedience training or a group
may be your best bet: pick up your dog-training class.
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BY Taylor Shea
ingredient was studied by the Journal
of Ethnopharmacology in 2019 as a
SESAME SEEDS are one of remedy for paediatric constipation
the best constipation remedies, with successful results. Blackstrap
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fibre include bran cereals, beans,
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Health
vegetables, and fresh and dried fruit. the inside of the body to generate
All of these things can be home more heat; herbalists say this can
remedies for constipation. If you’re help speed up sluggish digestion.
constipated and taking in additional Dr Stephen Sinatra of Heart MD
fibre, be sure to drink more water Institute recommends ginger in
than usual to keep your stool soft and either capsule or tea form. In tea,
easy to pass. the hot water will also stimulate
digestion and provide constipation
relief. Dandelion tea is also a gentle
laxative and detoxifier.
LEMON WATER The citric

acid in lemon juice acts as
a stimulant to your digestive
system and can help flush
toxins from your
MINT AND GINGER are body, providing
both proven home remedies constipation relief.
for constipation among other Squeeze fresh
digestive problems. Peppermint lemon juice into a
contains menthol, which has an glass of water every morning, or add
antispasmodic effect that relaxes the lemon to tea; you may find that the
muscles of the digestive tract. Ginger refreshingly tart water not only acts
is a ‘warming’ herb that causes as a natural constipation remedy
but also that it helps you drink more
water each day. This will improve
your long-term digestion. And don’t
be afraid to warm it up, says the
American Cancer Society, sharing
that warm or hot fluids can also be a
helpful constipation treatment.
A Real Dummy
To avoid being detected by CCTV in a Warsaw shopping centre,
a 22-year-old man pretended to be a shop window mannequin.
The sly fox robbed a jewellery stand when the shop closed, but he
wasn’t cunning enough to avoid the long arm of the law. ABC.NET.AU
approach of vegetarianism, instead
HEALTH providing a flexible framework for

reducing the consumption of meat.
Vegetarianism is growing in
popularity around the world due
to the significant health benefits
associated with a vegetarian diet,
as well as environmental and
ethical reasons for not eating meat.
Reducetarianism celebrates every
plant-based meal because of the
commitment you are making to
reduce the consumption of meat.
The Reducetarian Foundation (RF)
encourages people to make “healthy,
Should You sustainable, and compassionate food
choices” and is piloting research on
Be A the most effective ways to encourage
the reduction of meat consumption.
Reducetarian? Their first in-house study found
that just by reading a news article,
people were motivated to modify
If you flirt with how much meat they eat and change
vegetarianism but like their opinions with respect to the
burgers and bacon, this treatment of animals and the factory
farming/food production system – at
might be the ideal solution least for a period of up to five weeks.
Reducetarianism isn’t new, even if
the phrase was only recently coined.
BY Lauren Cahn
B
Although vegetarians remain in the
rian Kateman, author of minority around the world, people in
The Reducetarian Solution, many countries have been eating less
first coined the phrase meat every year, with more people
‘reducetarian’ in 2015. opting for meat-free or plant-based
Reducing meat from your diet meat meals more often.

by just ten per cent is enough to According to RF, becoming
make someone a reducetarian, a reducetarian is as easy as
says Kateman. Reducetarianism committing to eating less meat over
backs away from the all-or-nothing the next 30 days.
“ AGEING
IS IN YOUR
HANDS ”
HILARY O’CONNELL
Occupational Therapist
There are many myths and stereotypes

when it comes to ageing, but the truth is,
it’s in your hands.
Science shows up to 25% of how we age is due
to our genetics, which means the remaining
75% can be attributed to our lifestyle choices.
With over 35 years specialising in how
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how you can control the effects of ageing.
LiveUp is your free healthy ageing guide
providing expert advice, personalised support
and community connections.
It really is in your hands. Learn more
about what you can do when you LiveUp.
Call 1800 951 971 or visit liveup.org.au

News From The
WORLD OF MEDICINE
KNOW THE SIGNS OF German-led review, combining the
COLORECTAL CANCER two types brings more relief than
Unlike people over age 50, younger NSAIDs do alone. The study found
adults aren’t screened regularly that while NSAIDs alone can help,
for colorectal cancer (CRC). But acetaminophen by itself doesn’t work
their CRC rate has risen steadily better than a placebo for this kind of
since the 1990s, possibly because of pain. To find out what might be the
unhealthy diets. best combination for you, speak to
A US study revealed four red flags your family doctor.
that should prompt untested people
to see their doctors: abdominal DEMENTIA AND THE
pain, rectal bleeding, diarrhoea and DIGITAL FACTOR
iron-deficiency anaemia. Spending time online may prevent
Study participants with one of or delay cognitive issues, suggests
these ailments were twice as likely US research. In a study that followed
to have CRC, compared to those people over age 50 for an average of
without them. With three or more of nearly eight years, those who spent
the ailments, risk rose more than six six minutes to two hours on the
times. The symptoms should not be internet daily had the lowest risk of
dismissed in younger people. developing dementia. The group who
rarely or never logged on was around
OPIOID-FREE BACK PAIN RELIEF twice as susceptible.
If you’re looking for a painkiller to Being online offers mind
relieve lower back pain but want to stimulation, from staying socially
avoid potentially addictive connected to finding
opioids, the main options interesting things to read.
are paracetamol Still, beware: Though

(acetaminophen) and there was no proof
non-steroidal anti- of cause and effect,
inflammatory drugs subjects who were
(NSAIDs), such as online for more than
ibuprofen or naproxen. six hours a day had the
According to a highest dementia risk.
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INTERVIEW
HARRISON FORD
“I Love
Being Older”
The screen legend opens up about his success, ageing
and his final Indiana Jones film
BY Vicky Dearden
I
n a Hollywood journey filled Born in Chicago to Dorothy, a
with serendipitous twists and radio actor, and Christopher Ford, an
unexpected luck, few actors actor-turned-advertising-executive,
have experienced a career as Harrison got disillusioned with pur-
diverse and prolific as Har- suing a career on the silver screen as
rison Ford. From the fearless Indi- a young man, having failed to land
ana Jones to the sardonic Han Solo any significant parts after multiple
and the world-weary Rick Deckard attempts. Instead, he turned to profes-
in Blade Runner, Ford’s portrayal of sional carpentry as a means to support
iconic characters has left an indelible his then-wife and two young sons.
mark on cinema. Yet, the irony lies But fate had other plans. While
in how many of his career-defining working as a carpenter in Hollywood,
roles fell into this self-proclaimed Ford crossed paths with numerous
“late bloomer’s” lap by chance. celebrity clients such as Joan Didion
and John Gregory Dunne. One of

them was legendary producer Fred
Roos, who hired him to build a door
in the American Zoeotrope offices,
where director George Lucas was
holding the casting call for Star Wars.
Little did Ford know that this chance
encounter would lead to his break-
through role as the charismatic Han
Solo. Lucas was captivated by Ford’s
reading and offered him the iconic
role, catapulting him to stardom.
“I had to wait for luck to come
along,” says Ford with his trademark
curmudgeonly charm. “But during
that time, I had the opportunity to
learn a bit of craft. Because luck won’t
Top: Harrison Ford and director Steven save the day. There’s a skill involved
Spielberg on the set of Raiders of the Lost in what we do, and the art that sur-
Ark (1981). Above: Ford and Sean Connery faces in our work is a spirit we all
on the set of Indiana Jones and the Last seek. My luck has been to find my
Crusade (1989) way into this crowd of geniuses – and
Harrison Ford
not get my ar*e kicked out

when I didn’t do as well as
I wanted to!”.
Ford’s next lucky break
came when he auditioned
for the role of Indiana
Jones in a colossal project
concocted by Lucas and
Steven Spielberg, Raid-
ers of the Lost Ark, about
the globetrotting archae-
ologist who embarks on
daring expeditions to
uncover ancient artefacts.
Spielberg initially wanted
Ford for the role, but Lu-
cas was hesitant as he had
already collaborated with
Ford on Star Wars. Before
eventually giving in, the
production team had to
look at other possibilities,
including many big action
and comedy names of the
1970s like Tom Selleck
and Peter Coyote. The
role eventually went to
Ford, cementing his status Top: Ford as Han Solo, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia,
and Anthony Daniels as C-3PO pose for a portrait on the
as a Hollywood legend.
set of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
Above: Ford on the set of The Empire Strikes Back
OVER 40 YEARS and four
films later, Ford found himself com- a five-minute standing ovation af-
pleting the series with the fifth and ter the screening of the film at the
final instalment, Indiana Jones and Cannes film festival last year, and
the Dial of Destiny, alongside Phoe- previous to the premiere, he picked
be Waller-Bridge starring as his god- up an honorary Palme d’Or for his
daughter, and Mads Mikkelsen play- achievements in film.
ing a former Nazi working for NASA. “It was indescribable,” the film icon
Eighty-one-year-old Ford received says, clearly moved by the response.
depended so much on his

youth and vigour, I wanted
to see the weight of life on
him. I wanted to see him re-
quire re-invention, re-sup-
port,” muses the actor.
As the character of In-
diana Jones aged over the
cou rse of fou r f i l ms, it
hadn’t really crossed Har-
rison Ford’s mind that his
Above: With Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Indiana Jones
age would become a pivotal
and the Dial of Destiny (2023). Above: Ford’s face was
digitally de-aged in Dial of Destiny consideration – until now. PHOTOS: (TOP) GE T T Y IMAGES, (BELOW) AL AMY
I n a n i nter v ie w w it h
“It’s just extraordinary to see a kind of People, Ford expressed how, as he
relic of your life as it passes by.” grew older, it became essential for the
After all these years spent playing character to evolve with him, adding
Indy, was there anything in particu- depth and authenticity to the story.
lar that he wanted to see in his final “I always wanted to see him without
adventure? his youth, when he had become disil-
“I wanted to see a good movie. lusioned, jaded, tired. And to see him
I wanted to see a completion of the rally for a last adventure.”
five films. I wanted to round out the Seeing Indy as an older man in Dial
story. I wanted to see this man who of Destiny is made even more poignant
Harrison Ford
thanks to its intriguing use of AI: a I mean emotionally real. And so I

digitally de-aged Ford appears in a think it was used very skilfully and
25-minute sequence, looking several assiduously. I’m very happy with it.
decades younger. What was Ford’s im- But I don’t look back and say, ‘I wish I
pression when he saw himself on the was that guy again’ – because I don’t.”
big screen as a young man? And he means it; there’s not a hint of
“The technology has evolved to sentimentality or regret in the actor’s
the point where it seems very realis- voice when he reminisces about the
tic. And I know that that is my face, early days.
it’s not kind of photoshopped magic;
that’s what I actually looked like 35 LIVING A SERENE LIFE away from
years ago – because Lucas Film has Hollywood’s hustle and bustle on his
every frame of film that we’ve made sprawling Wyoming ranch with wife
together over all of these years. Calista Flockhart, he seems entirely
“And this process, this scientif- content with growing older. “I’m real
ic mining of the library, was put to happy with age. I love being older,”
good use. But it’s just a trick unless he quips in his deep, rumbling bass.
it’s supported by a good story. And it “It was great to be young, but sh**fire,
sticks out like a sore thumb if it’s not I could be dead! And I’m still work-
real – I’m not talking about visually, ing. So, go figure.”
Below: Ford and his wife, Calista Flockhart, on the red carpet at the German
premiere of Dial of Destiny in Berlin
A life-sized bronze statue of the character Indiana Jones played by Ford

being cleaned as it is unveiled as the latest addition to a statue trail in
Leicester Square, London. The statue features Jones’s trademark whip,
brown fedora and weatherbeaten jacket
Ford shows no signs of slowing ride a horse – well, if they let me.”
down in his professional or person- Appreciating a comment about a
al life. A passionate pilot for nearly shirtless scene and the fact that he’s
three decades, he has personally ‘still got it’, he playfully responds,
provided emergency helicopter ser- “You’re too kind. I’ve been blessed
vices, coming to the rescue of hikers with this body,” punctuating it with
in need. Having survived a serious a good-natured laugh.
plane crash in 2015, as well as nu- Staying true to his love for storytell-
merous injuries on film sets, the ing, Ford remains actively engaged in
actor is still committed to physical the industry, taking on roles in both
fitness, and performed many of his a new Apple TV+ comedy series,
own stunts in Dial of Destiny. Shrinking, and a Western drama
With a light-hearted grin, he re- series called 1923. With a career that
flects on the question about staying has spanned decades, Ford’s ded-
in shape: “Let me tell ya, I can still ication to his craft is evident as he
Harrison Ford
exclaims, “I love the

work! I just want to
work and tell good
stories. I’ve been so
fortunate in my life
to have that oppor-
tunity.”
DESPITE HIS LEG-

ENDARY status in
Hollywood, the ac-
tor’s humility shines
t h ro u g h, a n d h e
expresses gratitude
for the continuous flow of work, espe-
cially in the wake of the SAG-AFTRA
protests against streaming platforms
and studios.
Ford empathises with the struggles
faced by many talented individuals
whose gifts go unnoticed. “There
are so many people with talents that
never get to see the light of day, and
that’s a terrible shame,” he laments.
“Actors, in particular, can be very
unhappy if they can’t work, and work
doesn’t come easy unless they are
sought after.”
Although Ford himself is far from
Top left: A scene from Indiana Jones and the
retiring, he is ready to bid farewell to
Temple of Doom. Top and above: Indiana
Indy. “Is it not evident? I need to sit Jones memorabilia command high prices
down and rest a little bit, you know?”
he chuckles. of money for charit y. W hile t he
As for keepsakes from his film sets, material possessions are great, what
one might wonder if Ford holds onto truly matters to me are the experi-
any treasured memorabilia, like his ences of making these films, which
famous fedora. With a mischievous I deeply treasure. The memories and
grin, he jokes, “I think it’s at Sothe- the journey are what stay with me for
by’s where it will hopefully earn a lot a lifetime.”
HEALTH
Global
H
aving a good night’s sleep allows
One of these could your body to function at its best: it
be your key to a boosts your immune system, low-
ers stress, improves mental sharpness and
good night’s rest may even lower your chances of overeating.
But as anyone who has ever sat up at night
staring at the clock knows, getting the rec-
BY Vanessa Milne ommended seven-plus hours can be elusive.
I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y
There is no shortage of techniques that
H AY D E N M AY N A R D
really work: sleep in a darkened, cool
bedroom; avoid prolonged screen found that they fell asleep seven min-
time before bed; get regular exercise; utes faster than those who didn’t wear
and aim to wake up and go to bed at socks. And they slept for 32 minutes
the same time every day. longer, too.
Here are some lesser-known ideas
from around the world that are well Japan
worth a try. Nap In Public – And At Work
China According to a government survey,

Wash Your Feet Before Bed 40 per cent of adults in Japan sleep
fewer than six hours a night. That’s
Foot massages and spa treatments likely why the tradition of inemuri, or
that are focused on the feet – includ- ‘sleeping while present’, is practised,
ing aromatherapy and w rapping and that includes in cafés and on
the feet in warm towels – are widely public transit.
practised across China. What could As long as you don’t invade oth-
be more relaxing? The ritual is so er people’s space when you nod off
beloved that many people perform a while seated, it’s widely accepted –
DIY version at home before bedtime even in the workplace. Napping at
each night. your desk is frowned upon in other
Automatic foot spas are ubiquitous parts of the world, but the Japanese
in Chinese households. Every night, regularly do it; in white-collar jobs,
people soak their feet in hot
water; many machines have
exfoliating and massage func-
tions, too. The routine is done
right before bed, so that after
you dry your feet, they are still
warm when you tuck in.
Putting your feet in a warm
basin and massaging them can
stimulate blood circulation by
dilating your vessels. Having
warmer feet may lower your
core body temperature, helping
you fall asleep faster.
A 2018 South Korean study
of people who wore socks to
sleep, which warm the feet,
it shows dedication. After all, the than men, they may have a lower
workday often extends well into the metabolism, burning fewer kilo-
evening, when colleagues are expect- joules and therefore producing less
ed to socialise. body heat. That can make finding
Daytime napping can be a good bedding that’s comfortable for both
idea if you’re sleep deprived. A 2021 partners a problem – and separate
French study found that naps im- covers could be the solution.
proved cognitive performance and
alertness. Other research has shown Guatemala
that a ten- to 20-minute nap im- Adopt A Worry Doll
proves your mood, too.
Guatemala has a long-standing tradi-
Germany tion of parents putting ‘worry dolls’
Use Separate Doonas under their kids’ pillows to comfort
them if they are afraid of the dark.
In Germany, couples have solved Plus, children can tell the tiny dolls
the problem of one of them wak- their worries before they go to sleep.
ing up cold whenever their partner The legend goes that the colourful
rolls over and takes the sheets with fabric dolls, which are only a couple
them. While it’s typical for partners of centimetres long, can alleviate
to share a bed – often two singles kids’ anxieties by morning.
pushed together – each chooses But it’s no longer a ritual just for
their own single-sized sheets and a children. Adults in that countr y
separate doona. Not only does that and in Mexico are increasingly re-
make it less likely that your partner lying on the dolls, too, according
will disturb your sleep when they to Adriana Villagra, Mexico-based
move around, but you can each cus- editor-in-chief of the Latin American
tomise the amount of bedding you edition of Reader’s Digest. “More and
use to stay as warm or as cool as you more, adults rely on worry dolls at
prefer at night. night,” she says. “They’re like a com-
“Different sets of bedding can be forting presence.”
great,” says Michael Breus, a clinical Anxiety can make it hard for peo-
psychologist with a speciality in sleep ple to fall asleep. According to a 2021
disorders. review from researchers in Germany
It’s useful when one partner is a that was published in the journal
cover stealer, he says, but also when Sleep Medicine Reviews, about 50 per
partners differ in how hot or cold cent of people with clinical anxie-
they feel at night. Because women ty also have insomnia. Not sleeping
generally have less muscle mass enough can lead to more anxiety,
perpetuating the problem. Ex-

pressing your worries before
bed can help – so why not tell
them to a doll?
Wr it i ng dow n you r wor-
ries can also be effective, says
Breus. “You can make a worry
journal by taking a piece of pa-
per and drawing a line down
the middle. You put your wor-
ries on one side, and the first
step to help resolve each worry
on the other.”
Britain
Sleep Naked North Americans who lived with a
partner, nearly one-third said they
Thirty per cent of people in the UK had discussed sleeping in separate
sleep naked, or at least they did when rooms, and 12 per cent of them actu-
the most recent global poll on the sub- ally do. The reasons range from one
ject was done by the National Sleep partner snoring to having different
Foundation in 2013. Not wearing sleep schedules to not having enough
clothes to bed might be beneficial for space in the bed.
several reasons, says Breus. “The big- “I’m actually a big fan of couples
gest one is thermoregulation. It’s easi- sleeping in separate rooms,” says
er for ‘hot sleepers’ to be comfortable.” Breus. He says there is a stigma at-
And a potential bonus? Healthier tached to it, since some people may
relationships. It’s possible that couples think couples who sleep apart have
are intimate more often when at least weaker relationships than those who
one of them sleeps naked, Breus says. sleep together. But in his experience,
that’s not true. It’s more a case of ab-
USA sence making the heart grow fonder.
Couples Sleep Separately “When I advise couples to split
apart for sleep, they actually have
In the US, some couples are getting more intimacy. And partners usually
a so-called ‘sleep divorce’: when one don’t need to stay in separate rooms
partner gives up the marital bed and every night. I recommend it four days
sleeps in a separate room. Accord- a week and then spending weekends
ing to a Slumber Cloud poll of 2000 together.”
7 Global Sleep Tips
Australia sleep in their rooms slept well, al-

Cosy Up With Your Pets though those who let their dog sleep
on their bed slept worse than those
In 2019, a survey by Purina found whose dogs slept on the floor next to
that up two-thirds of pet owners them.
in Australia sleep with their furry That backs up the findings of an
friends. earlier study in which more people
There’s likely a good reason why found sleeping near their pet to be
some people are comfortable sleep- beneficial than they did disruptive.
ing near dogs, says David Samson, Those in favour said that it didn’t af-
the author of Our Tribal Future. He fect their sleep, and some reported
studies the so-called sentinel hy- that it even helped them sleep better.
pothesis in relation to dogs. It ar- If you do allow a pet to sleep on
gues that one of the main ways they your bed, says Breus, be conscious of
helped our ancient ancestors survive the fact that they’re less clean than
was by barking to warn them of dan- you are. “Your animal brings pollen
ger during the night. and dirt from outside into the bed,”
“The relationship between dogs he says. Some can also have a breath-
and humans likely goes back about ing or sleep disorder and can disrupt
55,000 years,” he says. “Dogs and your sleep.
humans have been co-evolving.” It But overall, Breus feels animals
makes sense that some people in- curling up on the bed are fine as long
stinctively feel safer, and therefore as they don’t bother you – and that’s
sleep better, with a dog around. based on first-hand experience: “My
A 2017 study from the Mayo Clinic two bulldogs sleep at the end of my
found that people who let their dogs bed,” he says.
Monkey See, Monkey Do

Smartphones can be a huge distraction for humans – and gorillas,
too. A Canadian zoo has a sign urging visitors not to hold up their
phones for the primates to view when visiting the gorilla exhibit.
“For the wellbeing of the gorilla troop, please refrain from showing
them any videos or photos as some content can be upsetting and
affect their relationships and behaviour within their family,” reads
a sign. According to the Toronto Zoo, a gorilla named Nassir was
so enthralled with gadgets and phones and videos that he was not
interacting with the other gorillas. PEOPLE.COM
LIFE’S LIKE THAT

Seeing The Funny Side
CARTOON: LIANA FINCK/THE NEW YORKER COLLECTION/THE CARTOON BANK.

“Maybe if you stopped calling us ‘little pigs’ we’d let you in.”
Horror Story at a total stranger grinning at me.

My husband and I had a date night Red-faced, I quickly let go of his
at the cinema. We arrived late and hand and apologised profusely.
had to sit right next to the speakers. My husband was several metres
I’m not a fan of horror films (my behind watching and laughing, in
husband’s choice), and the blaring total despair at my antics, as usual!
ILLUS TR ATION: (RINGS) GE T T Y IMAGES
music and loud noises from the SUBMITTED BY LEAH ROTTIER

speakers scared me more than usual.
At the end of the film, I couldn’t Honk Back
wait to leave. I bolted out of my I wish we all had a second car horn
seat and headed straight for the that was one octave lower and lets
exit, grabbing my husband’s hand everyone know that you know you’ve
and pulling him along behind me made a mistake, and you’re no longer
through the crowds. Outside, I accepting outside feedback.
turned to talk to him, but looked up K ATRINA DAVIS, COMEDIAN
Life’s Like That
Remember This
My annual physical exam includes
a memory test. It begins with the
nurse giving me three words to
remember later in the appointment.
The words sounded familiar. THE GREAT TWEET-OFF:
“Aren’t these the same three THE MARRIED BLISS
words you gave me last year?” I EDITION
The spouses of Twitter (X) find
asked. humour in each other.
“Yes,” she said. “I like to use the
same ones so I don’t forget them.” My wife will be like, “gut reaction, yes or
no?” And then show me two shades of
SUBMITTED BY BRENDA ERICKSON beige paint I can’t even tell are different.
@SIMONCHOLLAND
How To Write A Classified Ad We needed to leave five minutes ago for
Be mindful of specifics before a family event and my naked husband
posting an ad on Facebook. I came who is applying lotion to his feet just
announced that he’s “basically ready”.
across one that read: “Looking for @ELIMCCANN
an outdoor heated cat/doghouse
*Me dressing up*
for my mother.” I really hope the Me: Do these match? I don’t want to
mother has a pet. look stupid.
This ad under farm equipment Wife: Well, that ship has sailed.
proves that spelling counts: @MILIFEASDAD
“Looking for pastor for 20 to 50 pairs I love when my husband says, “correct
of cows.” me if I’m wrong”, like I would pass up
This classified ad from the car that opportunity.
@MUMOFTW0
section of a newspaper proves
successful sellers are optimists: Nobody has ever been more surprised
than a husband hearing about his wife’s
“Honda: 1999 Civic. Not running, plans for the second time.
but was.” @LMEGORDON
SUBMITTED BY JULIA TILSON,
LULIA WEAVER, L.S. I’m on a business trip and I get this text
from my husband, “I think the kids have
Call Me Sweet hidden a hotdog in the house, but I can’t
The first year teacher asked each find it.” @NOTMYTHIRDRODEO
of her pupils if they knew their
parents’ names. My nephew did.
“My mum is called Paula,” he
announced to the class. “And my
dad is Honey.”
SUBMITTED BY GLORIA PALMER
For a parent whose child has grown up and recently
left home, feelings of unexpected pain and even
grieving can arise. Here’s how to deal with
empty nest syndrome
BY Susannah Hickling
E mpty nest syndrome hit me unexpectedly

in the supermarket and it hit me like a
freight train. All the chicken breast fillets were
packaged for two people and there was only one
of us at home now. I spent the rest of that food
shop choking back tears.
I was shocked at my reaction. My together 24/7, we got very used to
18-year-old son was loving his first having our children around. In the
term at university and I was thrilled UK, a study of 1000 parents from stu-
for him. I’d always found parenting a dent accommodation provider Unite
bit of a chore and had always worked, Students found that 98 per cent of
ILLUS TR ATIONS: GE T T Y IMAGES
so it wasn’t as if I was defined by mums and dads who were dropping

motherhood. What was going on? off their offspring at university for
It seems that feelings of sadness the first time in 2021 experienced ex-
when a child leaves home are com- treme grief, with 93 per cent believ-
mon among parents. The COVID-19 ing the pandemic had aggravated it.
pandemic didn’t help. Yet you can’t get a diagnosis of
With lockdowns throwing families empt y nest syndrome. It doesn’t
Flying The Nest
exist officially as a mental health cases exacerbated by physical dis-

condition and some academics have tance. “You spend less time with
pooh-poohed it. A 2015 Universi- the person and you grow physically
ty of Arizona study of 2200 mostly apart,” says Beresford. “They might
well-educated mothers found they go to universit y or get married,
were more unhappy t herefore your rela-
when their children “EVERYONE’S tionship has changed
were in the early high
school years and con-
SITUATION IS and your role in life
has changed.”
cluded, ‘empt y nest’ DIFFERENT, BUT This can have a
syndrome is largely a THERE ARE profound effect. “The
myth.
Ot her researchers
PARENTS WHO word ‘empty’ is really
crucial – you feel emp-
have found children ARE MORE t y and purposeless,”
leav ing home has a SUSCEPTIBLE” says Beresford. “You
positive effect on par- might ask, ‘Who am I?’
ents’ wellbeing. But It can generate a lot of
research remains lim- fear, as well as loneli-
ited, perhaps ref lect- ness and actual con-
ing ex per ts’ lack of crete depression.”
interest in the subject. But I was relieved to
So exactly what is discover empt y nest
empty nest syndrome sy ndrome is tempo-
then? “It’s a very real rary for most people.
p h e n o m e n o n ,” i n- “It’s a loss in life but we
sists Dr Dominique recover from a loss,”
Thompson, a young stresses Dr Thompson.
people’s mental health Some people may
specialist and author also feel it more keen-
of How to Grow a Grown-Up, aimed ly than others. Children leav ing
at parents. “It can be as strong as a may happen while you’re riding the
grief reaction for some people.” hormonal rollercoaster of the men-
For psychotherapist Lucy Beres- opause or going through another
ford, it’s a life event. “It’s about an transition, such as the death of el-
ending, it’s about loss and the end- derly parents. And, let’s face it, it’s
ing of one particular, defined rela- always going to feel odd when you
tionship and a transition to another wave off your only child or the last
type of existence.” of your brood.
That separation is also in some “Everyone’s situation is different,”
cautions Dr Thompson, “but there up feeling lonelier because they

are groups of parents who are par- expect they are going to reconnect
ticularly susceptible – perhaps the as a couple, and it doesn’t hap-
ones whose lives have revolved most pen.” Psychotherapist Willis Ather-
around the day-to-day care of their ley-Bourne believes single parents
a l most g row n-up might doubt their par-
young person, for ex-
ample a home parent,
“IF YOU’RE IN A enting. “There may be
pressure to send the
or perhaps they don’t COUPLE, IT’S THE child off in the best
have the kind of ca- PERFECT TIME TO way possible but they
reer that takes up a lot
of their time.”
THINK ABOUT feel they haven’t done
enough because they
For me, my son go- WHETHER can’t be both parents.”
ing off to universit y INTIMACY HAS Mo s t empt y ne s t
ca me at a d i f f icu lt
moment. I’d brought
BEEN NEGLECTED” r e s e a r c h h a s c e n-
t red a rou nd mot h-
him up alone since he ers, but fathers suf-
was a baby, when his fer, too. “Dads fea r
father was k illed in for their daughters,”
an accident, and I was says Atherley-Bourne.
looking for a nursing “T he y wor r y about
home for my moth- what it is to be a young
er while supporting woman in the world
my brother who has now.”
a learning disability. Andrew Baker, 62,
To cap it all off, a promising new was unconcerned when his son left
relationship ended abruptly. I was home, but when his daughter f lew
staring at the rest of my life and it the nest a couple of years later, he
looked bleak. felt differently. “I felt I couldn’t pro-
Other lone parents I know also tect her anymore,” he recalls.
seemed to suffer disproportionate- But sometimes there appears to be
ly. “A lot of their life revolves around little rhyme or reason to parents’ grief
that person and you imagine you when their young people move out.
haven’t got the support other people Busy teacher Alexia Bartlett, 55,
might have if there’s another parent,” cried all the way home after she and
suggests Beresford. her husband dropped their son off at
But t hat’s not necessarily t he university, in spite of having a young-
case, she believes. “There are a lot er daughter still at home. “I used to
of people in relationships who end open his bedroom door and peer in
and look at his things and smell his friends and family, activities, such as
smell,” she remembers. sport or volunteering.”
Even though her son is now in his She suggests listing the things
third year, she still misses him when you’ve always wanted to do. This
he goes back to campus at the begin- could be the moment to look for a
ning of term, but tries to rationalise job or start that book club. “Will you
it. “I’m happy he’s independent, have to make other changes?” she
competent, sensible and responsi- asks. “Is the house too big?”
ble. It’s good he’s away. It’s what you Take a good look at your relation-
wish for,” says Bartlett. ships, too. “If you’re in a couple,
Given the seemingly random na- it’s the perfect time to think about
ture of empty nest syndrome, I’m whether intimacy has been neglect-
intrigued to know if I could have ed, what your libido levels are like
avoided it. It seems it’s all about or whether there’s something the
the preparation in the months and two of you could do together, maybe
weeks leading up to Departure Day. that big trip to the Galapagos,” says
“Look at purpose, look at people Beresford.
and look at planning ahead,” says Friends are key. “Try to make some
Dr Thompson. “Think about the new friends,” she counsels. “It stops
different areas of your life – work you being lonely and gives you the
or whatever else gives you purpose, sense that this is not the end of your
life, just the end of this particular “And that first week they’re not
phase.” Keep in touch with existing there, do something ever y day,”
pals, picking one or two to talk to Dr Thompson says. “Go for coffee
about the impending departure of with a friend, to the gym, do a cycle
your child. ride, walk a dog, decorate – whatever
DEALING WITH EMPTY NEST SYNDROME

• Acknowledge it: If empty nest feelings continue beyond six
syndrome hits you hard, don’t months. You may be depressed.
pretend you’re OK if you’re actually • Keep busy: Get involved in things
not. You need to allow yourself to that interest you and pick up new
grieve. activities.
• Keep people in your life: Friends, • Keep a diary: Writing down your
family and workmates help maintain thoughts about the situation can
perspective. help you come to terms with the
• Get some support: Talk to a sadness.
sympathetic friend. Consider • Nurture something: Get the pet
cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), you always wanted or walk a
but make sure you see your GP if neighbour’s dog.
Flying The Nest
you’re into.”A massive no-no is con- Above a l l, prac t ise sel f-ca re.
fiding your fears to your child. “They “Make sure you have great sleep
absolutely shouldn’t be having to and good nutrition, because even
get you t hrough it,” if you’re overwhelmed,
say s Dr T hompson. “THAT FIRST WEEK you’ve got the basics to
“Be able to have gen-
tle conversations with
THEY’RE NOT help you survive,” says
Beresford.
t hem ,” add s W i l l i s THERE, DO As for my empty nest,
Atherley-Bourne. “For SOMETHING EVERY I decided to replaster
example, saying, ‘I’m
really going to miss
DAY: COFFEE WITH and repaint it. I’ve also
taken the French exam
you but I’m look ing A FRIEND, CYCLE that I’d been meaning
for ward to not pick- ... WHATEVER” to sit for years and go
ing up your bits and out reg u la rly w it h
pieces.’” He also rec- friends now I no longer
ommends setting a regular time in have to prepare meals for my son.
the week to chat to your child once He’s moved out and we’ve bot h
they’re away. moved on.
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…DIFFERENTLY
On September 19, 2021, the

Cumbre Vieja (Old Summit) volcano
erupted on the Canary Island of
La Palma. For almost three months,
it repeatedly ejected red-hot lava
and vast quantities of ash. When the
eruptions ended on December 13,
several hundred hectares of banana
plantations, 70 kilometres of roads and
1300 homes were covered by lava and
ash. Nobody was harmed. Forewarned
by earthquakes, the authorities had
evacuated residents of endangered
areas in time.
PHOTOS: PICTURE ALLIANCE/
A SSOCIATED PRESS/EMILIO MORENAT TI
HEALTH
Dementia
Breakthroughs
Offer
New Hope
After decades of disappointments, new
treatments and tests are finally here
BY Vanessa Milne
I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y M A R Y H A A S DY K V O OY S
That, combined with his background

as a researcher, led him to participate
in a study at the University of Califor-
nia, San Francisco, that was focused
on diagnosing Alzheimer’s.
And now the results were in.
Eight The researchers pulled up the pic-

tures and showed him beta-amyloid
years ago, plaques in different parts of his brain,

including his prefrontal cortex and
the olfactory area, which controls
neurologist Dr Dan Gibbs was sit- smell. It was a sign of early-stage
ting in a room with two dozen doc- Alzheimer’s. Surprisingly, Dr Gibbs
tors and researchers. He was getting was happy. “When they showed me
ready to look at brain scans – not a the scans, it was a relief to have a firm
patient’s, but his own. They would diagnosis,” he says.
definitively answer a question he
had had for years: what was wrong WHAT IS DEMENTIA?
with him?
It started when he was 55 and
working as a neurologist. He noticed Dementia is an umbrella term for a
he couldn’t smell certain things, group of symptoms contributing to a
like flowers. Then he began to smell decline in memory, thinking, reason-
things that weren’t there, like baking ing and social abilities. It’s progressive,
bread, perfume or citrus. He ran- and some people with dementia will
domly got a clue as to what might need 24-hour care at the end of their
be the cause after doing an at-home lives. Fifty-five million people around
DNA test to find out more about his the world have dementia. While only
family tree. The results showed he one per cent of those aged 65 to 69
had two copies of a gene, APOE4, have it, the risk of a diagnosis doubles
that increases Alzheimer’s risk. He every five years between ages 65 and
was shocked: it had never occurred 84. One in four people over 85 have
to him that he might get the disease. dementia.
At the time, he did not have memory But breakthroughs in treatment
symptoms, but over the next few years and testing have given new hope to
he noticed some mild memory prob- researchers like Dr Don Weaver, direc-
lems, like forgetting his colleagues’ tor and senior scientist at the Krembil
names and having difficulty memo- Research Institute at the University
rising his new office phone number. Health Network in Toronto.
Dementia Breakthroughs Offer New Hope
“There’s genuine room for opti- happen after a stroke or blood vessel
mism,” he says. “The research is damage reduces the f low of blood
moving at a faster pace than ever and oxygen to the brain; and fronto-
before.” There are new treatments, temporal dementia, when the fron-
and groundbreaking tests are in the tal and temporal lobes of the brain
pipeline. shrink. The latter can happen to peo-
Alzheimer’s disease accounts for ple as young as 40; it was in the spot-
60 to 70 per cent of dementia cases. light last year after actor Bruce Willis
While its cause is not yet fully un- was diagnosed with it at age 67.
derstood, researchers have been fo-
cusing on the malfunctioning of two NEW DRUGS FOR
brain proteins.
The first, beta-amyloid proteins, are ALZHEIMER’S
a normal part of the central nervous
system, and are usually cleared out of For decades, the treatment of de-
the brain. In a brain with Alzheimer’s, mentia has seemed frustratingly
however, these proteins are not prop- dormant. Two classes of drugs that
erly cleared away. The protein clumps were introduced three decades ago
together in between neurons, creat- improve symptoms: cholinesterase
ing deposits called amyloid plaques, inhibitors boost acet ylcholine, a
which disrupt cell function. chemical the brain needs for alert-
The second type, tau proteins, are ness, memory and judgement; and
primarily found inside neurons. In memantine regulates glutamate,
people with Alzheimer’s, this pro- a chemical messenger needed for
tein, which normally assists in the learning and memory. But neither
transportation of nutrients through- limits the disease’s progress. There is
out the brain, accumulates and be- also Aducanumab, a drug launched
comes ‘tangled’ inside the neuron. two years ago; it can reduce build up
The build up of these two proteins of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s
impacts the capacity of brain cells to
communicate. Eventually they kill
the cells, affecting a person’s ability
to think and remember.
Other types of dementia include
Lew y body dement ia, i n wh ich
protein deposits called Lewy bod-
ies build up in the brain, affecting
thinking, memory and movement;
v a sc u la r dement ia, w h ich c a n
patients, but has not been proven to A second drug, donanemab, not yet
slow cognitive decline. While availa- approved by the FDA (US Food and
ble in the US, it is currently not avail- Drug Administration), has also shown
able in the rest of the world. promise in clinical trials. It slows
“The new drugs are big, exciting the rate of cognitive decline from
breakthroughs,” says Gill Living- Alzheimer’s by about one third. But,
ston, a professor of psychiatry at like lecanemab, it can have serious
University College London and lead side effects. “So we’re not quite there,”
of The Lancet standing committee on says Prof Livingston. “But it’s fantastic
dementia prevention, intervention that we’re beginning to be there.”
and care. She adds, however, that
it’s still early days and there are some BIG ADVANCES IN
big hurdles to clear.
In January last year in the US, the PREVENTION
first drug that slows the progress of
Alzheimer’s rather than just treating In the past few years, our knowledge
the symptoms was approved. In clin- about the prevention of dementia has
ical trials, people with Alzheimer’s increased dramatically, and many
who took lecanemab (Leqembi) for issues that cause it are actually now
18 months showed a rate of memory treatable. “We have finally sorted
and cognition decline that was 27 per out what the risk factors are, and we
cent less than in those who took a are paying attention to them,” says
placebo. But it’s not clear what the Dr Weaver.
decline translates to in the real world. According to a 2020 The Lan-
The drug is currently under evalua- cet report led by Prof Livingston,
tion in several other places, including 40 per cent of dementia cases could
Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and be avoided. The number one factor
Southeast Asia. was hearing loss, which can affect
As Dr Roger Wong, clinical profes- your ability to converse with others,
sor of geriatric medicine at the Uni- leading to isolation. “That really sur-
versity of British Columbia, explains, prised us,” she says. “And it’s a revers-
“We need to know what this means ible risk, because you can change it
to a person living with dementia. by simply using hearing aids.”
We’re looking for an improvement Spending time socialising was an-
in functionality.” other important factor. “Talking to
In addition, there are downsides to other people stimulates your brain
the new drug, which is given by IV. It’s and gets it working because you have
expensive, and can have serious side to engage, you have to think,” Prof
effects including bleeding in the brain. Livingston explains.
Getting 150 minutes of

exercise a week can keep
your heart in good shape,
which translates into a
healthier brain. Having a
stimulating job also helps,
as does getting more ed-
ucation earlier in life. It
boosts what’s known as
your cognitive reserve, so
even if you do suffer from
a loss of cognitive power,
you have some to spare.
Treating depression is also
important.
A nd t he n t he r e a r e
things to avoid: smoking and air pol- and how we care for people with
lution raise the risk. Plus, it’s now memory loss,” says Professor Gil Ra-
known that traumatic brain inju- binovici, professor of neurology and
ry also raises the risk, as do heavy radiology and director of the Univer-
drinking, having high blood pressure sity of California’s Alzheimer’s dis-
or diabetes, and being obese. ease research centre.
“We now know that for many peo- Currently, Alzheimer’s is diag-
ple, dementia is not inevitable,” says nosed by doctors through a combi-
Prof Livingston. nation of means, including review-
ing symptoms and family medical
TESTS FOR MORE history, physical exams and brain
imaging. Doctors will also admin-
ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS ister cognitive tests, such as asking
people to remember a list of words or
Just as important as new medica- name as many animals as they can.
tions are breakthroughs in diagnosis. What’s missing from this evalua-
Multiple blood tests for Alzheimer’s, tion is direct and conclusive biolog-
which have been used widely in clini- ical evidence of Alzheimer’s – mean-
cal trials, are expected to be available ing the diagnosis relies heavily on the
to the public over the next few years. doctor’s expertise, says Prof Rabino-
“I think the blood tests and new vici. Dr Weaver agrees. “It’s not like
treatments that are coming are going rheumatoid arthritis, for which we
to really transform how we practise can do a blood test, or pneumonia
where you can do an X-ray and go, Plaques start developing in the
‘Yep, you’ve got it.’” brain about 20 years before symp-
That’s important, because accord- toms begin, she explains, and not
ing to a 2012 study of people with everyone with plaques will develop
mild to moderate dementia, about cognitive impairment. She says that
30 per cent of people clinically diag- years from now, “Just like we screen
nosed with Alzheimer’s were discov- people for their cholesterol because
ered via autopsy to have not actually we know it is a risk factor for heart
had it. For those with only mild cog- attack and stroke, we might be able
nitive impairment, which is harder to screen people by a certain age for
to diagnose, accuracy would be even amyloid and tau brain proteins. And
lower, says Prof Rabinovici. if they are elevated, we could try a
In some cases, that would mean treatment plan of medications that
that instead of having Alzheimer’s will delay or prevent that person from
disease, people might have vascu- ever developing symptoms.”
lar or Lew y body dementia. How-
ever, for others, their symptoms are MORE FOCUS ON
caused by something reversible, such
as sleep disorders like sleep apnoea, CAREGIVERS
mood disorders such as depression,
or hormonal changes. Medications Caring for a family member with de-
including those used to treat insom- mentia can be incredibly stressful,
nia, incontinence and allergies can and for a long time, caregivers’ needs
negatively affect cognitive function, have been overlooked. Now their
especially in older adults. struggles are better known, thanks
With new Alzheimer’s drugs be- to research findings. A review pub-
coming available, it’s even more im- lished in Dialogues in Clinical Neu-
portant that doctors have the right roscience in 2022 found that in devel-
diagnosis before they prescribe them. oped countries, up to 85 per cent of
An accurate diagnosis allows people caregivers developed depression, and
to make crucial decisions such as up to 45 per cent developed anxiety.
whether to quit their jobs or move into The good news, however, is that
assisted living, and for their families communit y support is g row ing.
to plan for caregiving support. Initiatives include memory cafés,
Epidemiology Professor Michelle where caregivers can go with their
Mielke says an earlier and more ac- loved one who has dement ia to
curate diagnosis, which a blood test have a coffee and share in activities.
may provide, could transform health There are more than 1200 memory
care in the future. cafés around the world. (Your local
Alzheimer’s organisation can help “Truly the most intense emotions I’ve
you find one near you.) ever experienced have been from be-
Other public places, such as mu- ing a live-in caregiver,” she says. As a
seums and libraries, are also getting coping mechanism, she and her hus-
on board, running ‘dementia-friendly band used to say to each other, “It’s
days’ to offer a supportive environ- not him, it’s the dementia.”
ment for people with cognitive issues “Intellectually, you know that,”
and their caregivers. And Alzheim- she says. “But emotionally you can
er’s organisations in many countries just be so frustrated and almost an-
have programmes to support demen- gry with the person, and then you
tia-friendly communities. feel guilty.”
For example, in the UK hundreds Though it’s not a full solution,
of communities now offer training there’s now a push for caregivers’
about dementia to municipal staff, work to be financially supported. In
put signs at eye level and mark glass the US, for example, many states now
doors so they’re more visible. In Aus- fund payment for caregivers, and
tralia, activities range from choirs for more and more are allowing spouses
carers and caregivers to bowls and to be paid as well. The UK, Australia
croquet clubs. and New Zealand also offer financial
Paula Spencer Scott, author of Sur- support, in the form of allowances or
viving Alzheimer’s, knows first-hand tax breaks for carers.
how hard caregiving is. She cared for Programmes to support caregivers
her father-in-law, who had dementia. are effective at preventing some of
these issues, but it can be
difficult for people provid-
ing full-time care to access
them. Increasingly, infor-
mation and support groups
are being offered online, so
that those who are caregiv-
ing without a break can log
in from home at a time that
works for them.
“ I t ’s b e e n a b r e a k-
through for caregivers that
there’s an increasing em-
phasis on their emotional
and mental health,” says
Scott. “Over the last ten, 15
years there has been a huge ground- brain. It’s wandering around inside
swell of support.” your skull, and oops, it searches for
This also helps reduce the stigma and destroys a few neurons, which
about people with dementia, says causes inflammation.”
Dr Gibbs. “I’m very upfront with tell- Other researchers are also looking
ing people about my Alzheimer’s. A in different directions, he says: mal-
couple of weeks ago, my wife and I functioning of the brain’s mitochon-
went to our 50th college reunion, and dria, which produce energy for cells;
I talked to my classmates about it. distortion of the brain’s lipids; or
Sometimes I think we’re too hesitant damage to diseased cell membranes,
to engage people with dementia.” which can kill the cell. Treatments be-
ing tested for other possible dementia
causes include stem cell therapy and
MORE CLARITY ON transcranial magnetic stimulation.
THE CAUSES Dr Weaver will always remember
one of his first encounters with a
Dr Weaver feels that over the past dementia patient, a military veter-
two decades, there has been a my- an. “The poor man was so confused
opic focus on amyloid plaques. “The that he was hiding under his hospi-
new drugs demonstrate that amyloid tal bed,” he recalls. “He was reliving
plays a role, but it’s only one part of a his war experiences. I got down on
big picture.” my hands and knees and looked into
His lab is researching another fac- this man’s eyes. It was heartbreaking.
tor: inf lammation in the brain. “I I thought, ‘We’ve got to do something
think of Alzheimer’s as an autoim- for these people.’”
mune disease of the brain, where the After the frustrating decades since
immune system is turned on by mul- then of delivering the news to thou-
tiple factors like air pollution, depres- sands of patients that they have de-
sion or infections,” he says. “Now you mentia, he’s more determined than
have a hopped-up immune system on ever to finally be able to tell them, “I
a search-and-destroy mission in the have something that can help you.”
Wrestlers In High-Speed Rumble

Wrestlers recently competed in the narrow aisle of a packed
290km/h bullet train in Japan. The organised event proved popular,
with 75 seats selling out within half an hour. The organisers have
previously arranged bouts in a bookshop and a campsite. SKY NEWS
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HUMOUR
STRETCHING
The Truth
BY Richard Glover
J
ocasta and I are sitting at the I proudly supply the required fig-
ILLUS TR ATION: SAM ISL AND
kitchen table. My wife has decid- ure. Immediately, she disputes it.
ed to calculate my body mass in- “Well, you used to be 1.85 metres,
dex (BMI) so she will know, based on but you haven’t had your height meas-
the ratio of my height to my weight, ured for years,” she says. “People get
whether I should lose some weight. shorter as they get older. I’m going to
“How tall are you?” she asks. knock off five centimetres, maybe ten.”
Humour
Jocasta often comes up with these woman in a deportment class. “I’m

scientific observations. In her career getting taller by the moment,” I say.
as a screenwriter, she has written a Jocasta flashes me a derisive look.
couple of medical dramas and now “Putting your nose in the air doesn’t
lives under the misapprehension that make you any taller. You just look like
she’s a doctor. an aristocrat trying to avoid the smell
“The discs in your spine settle over of his own fart.”
the years,” she continues. “By the Ouch. As I sit down, I can feel my
time you get to 90, you’re basically vertebrae settling; maybe I am get-
half the height you used to be.” ting shorter.
I find this hard to believe. “If that There must be some way of regain-
were true,” I tell her, “people would ing my height. I could hang from a
need to lower their kitchen counter- tree branch, my spine lengthening
tops as they get older.” by the minute. I seek advice from
Jocasta sighs, as one might do Jocasta, since she considers herself a
when dealing with a recalcitrant medical professional. “We’re all tall-
child. “By that age, people have been er in the morning, compared to the
doing things for so long, they don’t evening,” she confides. “A whole day
need to have a direct view of every of walking around leaves the discs
task,” she says. “If they want to make compacted. Then they stretch out
toast, they do it by touch.” To illus- during the night, when we are lying
trate her point, she butters a slice of down. Plus we get heavier during the
toast above her head. day because of all the food.”
Next, Jocasta quizzes me about my Struck with an idea, Jocasta goes
weight. I suggest a figure that she re- back to her calculations and emerg-
gards as fanciful. When she asks me to es with two figures for my BMI: first
weigh myself, I decline on the grounds thing in the morning and in the
that I am “currently retaining water”. evening. “You start the day as merely
Jocasta says this is unlikely: “What overweight before tipping into clini-
you are retaining is tuna casserole. cal obesity at about 7.30 each night,
I’m going to add three kilos.” after your second beer.”
Sensing her resolve, I focus on up- I decide to accept her adjudication.
grading the figure she’s using for my After all, I find it quite optimistic. Be-
height. It may be my only hope of cause even if I end every day as a
avoiding a life on half-rations. clinically obese leprechaun, I start
“I don’t feel any shorter,” I tell her. each morning in a much better place:
I walk around the kitchen, my neck a tall man, holding obesity at bay,
stretched, my chin raised and my nose shaking his fist at the heavens and
tilted upwards in the style of a young daring gravity to do its worst.
ENVIRONMENT
A DIVE INTO
SUB -ZERO A RC T IC
WAT E R S U N C O V E R S
LONG-KEPT SECRE TS
BE NE ATH
THE
SEA ICE
BY Meaghan Brackenbury
FROM UP HERE
JILL HEINERTH pu l ls on a neoprene

balaclava and adjusts her thick rubber
gloves. Wearing a dry suit, red helmet and
20-kilogram tank filled with compressed
air, the underwater explorer stands at the
floe edge in Tallurutiup Imanga (formerly
known as Lancaster Sound), Nunavut in
Canada – one of the Arctic Ocean’s richest
marine habitats.
Nathalie Lasselin
descends on a line
from the floe edge
near Bylot Island,
Nunavut
Heinerth is joined by her colleague worlds is sharp on the senses, and

Mario Cyr, two Inuit guides and a Heinerth and Cyr move slowly and
six-person camera crew. It’s June cautiously. The sub-zero water is cold
2018, and Heinerth and Cyr are going on the uncovered parts of their faces,
to dive beneath the sea ice and film but they are used to it.
what they see. Strands of green and brown algae,
“The floe edge is like a moving buf- which feed small shrimp and zoo-
fet,” says Heinerth. “Every day, as it plankton, hang from the craggy sea
breaks away, it releases ice and nutri- ice above. Luminescent jellyfish drift
ents into the ocean. In the summer, through the water, and a school of
polar bears and narwhals, belugas Arctic cod darts by. Below, the divers
and eider ducks come to feed.” can just make out the white of a belu-
It’s the perfect spot ga pod passing through
to d ive, but get t i ng “SEALS MAKE the darkness, watching
there isn’t easy. During A TRILL SOUND, the humans with play-
spring, the f loe edge
can move kilometres
NARWHALS CLICK ful curiosity.
It’s remarkable to see
per day as it breaks up. THEIR TEETH, AND this life up close, but
The team – on snow- BELUGAS SING Heinerth is most struck
mobiles pulling sleds
called qamutiit packed
LIKE CANARIES” by the sounds.
“The ice is cracking,
w it h scuba gea r – popping and fizzing
slogged through slushy top water and as it releases gas while it melts,” she
around growing leads (long cracks in says. “Bearded seals and ringed seals
the ice) until they found it, roughly make this trill sound that goes several
80 kilometres from the shore outside octaves. Narwhals click their teeth and
the hamlet of Ikpiarjuk (Arctic Bay). belugas sing like canaries. All these
Heinerth and Cyr do one last check animals will be speaking at once,
of their gear. They are each attached communicating with each other.”
to a rope held at the other end by a
guide. The rope helps the divers find THE ARCTIC OCEAN – vast, remote
their way back out through the ice. and under ice for most of the year – is
Through a tug from the guide, it also something of a holy grail for under-
warns them if a polar bear is nearby. water adventurers. Nathalie Lasselin
Tightening their fins and popping has been leading dive expeditions
regulators into their mouths, the pair out of Mittimatalik (Pond Inlet), on
jumps into the frigid water and slow- Qikiqtaaluk (Baffin Island), for more
ly sinks beneath the surface. than a decade with Arctic Kingdom,
The t ransit ion bet ween t hese currently the main high-end operator
Beneath The Sea Ice
Jill Heinerth under the ice floe edge
in the area, and the only one that Arctic dives aren’t cheap. Arctic
offers scuba diving. Kingdom’s typical eight-day itinerary
A n ex perienced diver herself, involves travelling from Mittimata-
Lasselin has explored underwater lik by snowmobile to a camp on the
caves in rural southwest China and sea ice of Tasiujaq (Eclipse Sound).
on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, and From there, staff and guests venture
dived for 30 hours – covering a dis- out each day to check out potential
tance of 70 kilometres – along the dive sites. The average cost? Roughly
bottom of the St Lawrence River to A$34,000 per person.
raise awareness about drinking- Françoise Gervais, another diving
water sources. But the Arctic remains guide, first ventured into the polar
one of the most exciting places she’s region in July 2014, after being asked
had the opportunity to dive, she says. to join a team of ten women – Hein-
“I love that you can’t put a point on erth among them – travelling in
ALL PHOTOS: JILL HEINERTH
the map and say, ‘This is a dive site,’ northeastern Canada up the Labra-
because it’s always changing,” says dor coast to an island off Qikiqtaaluk,
Lasselin. “The ice might be there to- then across the Davis Strait to Green-
day, but not tomorrow. Am I going to land, stopping to explore along the
dive on an iceberg? On the floe edge? way. The group sought to highlight
Near the shore? I can’t predict that.” the disappearance of sea ice and the
It’s estimated that

ARCTIC
OCEAN 80 per cent of the world’s
oceans remain un-
BAFFIN
mapped and unexplored,
BAY
and that 90 per cent of
marine species have yet
to be classified. Nowhere
NORTHWESTERN
is this truer than in the
GREENLAND
PASSAGES
Arctic Ocean.
HUDSON
ONE GROUP COLLECT-
CANADA BAY
LABRADOR
BAY
I N G DATA to expand
our knowledge is Ocean
Wise, a conservation
effects of global warming through group which started sending small
photography, videos and conversa- dive crews north in 2015. Working
tions with people in local Inuit com- primarily out of Iqaluktuuttiaq (Cam-
munities. bridge Bay) when the sea ice was
Gervais soon realised that she was gone, crews would do two to five open
hooked on the landscape. When a job water dives a day from the shore or the
opened up with the company that back of a boat.
owned the boat they had chartered, Swimming along the sea floor, di-
she took it and stayed in the north for vers took copious notes, pictures and
the rest of the summer. Within a year, videos of the species they saw, from
she was guiding expeditions. jellyfish to sea anemones to cold-wa-
Now, Gervais has done 30-plus ter corals. At times they used a tool
Arctic dives. She once swam with called a transect (similar to a meas-
narwhals as they swam under the uring tape), laying it out on the sea
ice. Another time, she checked out a floor to how many of one species they
tunnel through a grounded iceberg. observed within two metres.
Covered in ridges and rivulets carved Marine scientist Laura Borden has
by waves, these massive hunks of ice been to the Arctic during most sum-
can stretch 150 metres down to the mers since 2016. “There are little an-
sea floor – like an underwater cathe- imals called sea angels,” Borden says.
dral, says Gervais. “In British Columbia they may be
And it’s not just recreational di- 2.5 centimetres or so tall. But in the
vers who come north seeking ad- Arctic, they’re up to ten centimetres.
venture. For scientists, it can be the By their standards, that’s enormous.”
research opportunity of a lifetime. Diving research in the North is
Beneath The Sea Ice
slowly increasing. Scott Johnson is the United Nations’ Intergovernmental

manager of field operations at the Ca- Panel on Climate Change predicted
nadian High Arctic Research Station the Arctic Ocean would be “practi-
(CHARS), which opened its doors in cally sea-ice free” in the summer at
Iqaluktuuttiaq in 2019. The station least once before 2050.
has welcomed researchers from all Already, animals and people living
over the world, offering services like a in the Arctic are being forced to adapt.
filling station for diving tanks. A per- So much of Inuit life relies on healthy
manent four-person diving team, led and predictable sea ice – for transpor-
by Johnson, has also been recently tation, hunting and recreation. The
added to the roster of research sup- entire marine ecosystem hinges on
ports, and CHARS plans to have a the nutrients the ice provides.
fully operational seagoing dive vessel That’s why Heinerth – with her in-
by mid-2024 to assist in travelling to duction into the International Scuba
survey locations. Diving Hall of Fame and her best-
Marine ecologist Jessica Schultz selling memoir, Into the Planet – has
says she’s optimistic that facilities made it her life’s mission to share
like CHARS can help research grow her experiences with others. If peo-
in the area – but she would like to ple learn about the Arctic Ocean and
see the work being done translated its biodiversity for themselves, even
into real-life solutions for local Arc- if just on a screen or in the pages of a
tic-based communities. book, they might be inspired to take
It’s no secret t hat t he A rct ic, action in their own lives.
warming four times faster than the For Heinerth, Arctic diving is about
rest of the world, is ground zero for encouraging people to love and pro-
climate change. NASA estimates tect these things that she’s so fortu-
that average ice coverage at the end nate to see.
of summer in the Arctic declined by
FROM ‘BENEATH THE SEA ICE’, BY MEAGHAN
13 per cent per decade between 1979 BRACKENBURY, © 2022, MEAGHAN BRACKENBURY.
and 2021. A 2021 report from the FROM UP HERE (JULY/AUGUST 2022), UPHERE.CA
In Need Of A Spaceship
A school in the United Arab Emirates has hosted the largest ever
gathering of people dressed as astronauts – with 940 people
taking one giant leap into the Guinness World Records. The intrepid
children and teachers spent hours crafting their suits and making
personalised space helmets. NEWS.SKY.COM
LAUGHTER
The Best Medicine
Problem Solved Bad Break

“Whenever I wake up in the morning, Remember back in high school when
CARTOON: JON CARTER. ILLUS TR ATION: GET T Y IMAGES

I feel dizzy for half an hour,” a man you would have your friend tell the
complained to his doctor. person you’re dating that you wanted
The doctor replied, “Get up half an to break up? The last guy I dated did
hour later then.” that. He had his wife call me and
SUBMITTED BY BARTHELEMY PETRO break us up.
SHANNON LAVERTY, COMEDIAN
Passwords
“Your password must contain at least Straying Fit
eight characters, a number, your My dog Sam is great for exercise. I let
university roommate’s maiden name him into the backyard, he leaps the
and a hieroglyph.” fence and I spend the next two hours
An ATM: “Just any four numbers.” looking for him.
@EDEN_EATS SUBMITTED BY DEREK THOMPSON
Laughter
Bruce Springsteen Lyrics

That Hit Differently As I Age WINGING IT
“Baby, we were born to run” Jokes to leave you flying with
Or walk, depending on my knee. laughter
“Dancing in the dark” Q: Why do seagulls fly over
If I’m dancing, this is the only the ocean?
lighting that makes sense. A: Because if they flew over the bay,
“You ain’t a beauty, but hey you’re all we’d call them bagels.
right”
Biggest compliment I’ve received in Q: Did you hear about the crow on
a decade. the telephone pole?
A: He wanted to make a
“Everybody’s got a hungry heart” long-distance caw.
That’s why my doctor prescribed a
statin. Q: How do penguins make a
JEFF BENDER AND TALIA ARGONDEZZI decision?
A: Flipper coin.
IN MCSWEENEYS.NET
Q: What do you get if you kiss a bird?

Class Fool A: A peck on the cheek!
“If there are any idiots in the room,
will they please stand up,” said the Q: Why do hummingbirds hum?
scornful teacher. A: Because they forgot the words!
After a long silence, one student
rose to his feet. Q: What do you call a chicken who
loves telling jokes?
“Now then, mister, why do you
consider yourself an idiot?” inquired A: A comedi-hen.
the teacher with a sneer. Q: Why did the teacher carry
“Well, actually I don’t,” said birdseed?
the student, “but I hate to see you A: Because he had a
standing up there all by yourself.” parrot-teacher conference.
BOREDPANDA.COM
Check Mate
I was visiting the house of a distant
cousin when I saw that he was playing
chess with his cat. I said that it had to
be the most intelligent cat ever.
My cousin replied, “Absolutely not!
She has lost all her matches!” WWW.JOKES4US.COM; CHORTLE.CO.UK
SEEN ONLINE
Paul Magder, co-founder

of Repair Café in Toronto,
fixing a humidifier
INSPIRATION
DIY repairs are

making a big
comeback as a
remedy for our
The throwaway
culture
Revolution BY Vanessa Milne a knitwear designer based in Ga-

lashiels, Scotland, she was used to
making her own jumpers, but after
F
lora Collingwood–Norris was she was left with a handful that had
playing with her new puppy, dog-inflicted holes, she decided to
Stitch, while wearing a favourite tackle a new skill: mending. She be-
second-hand find: a coral cashmere gan by reading a book called Make
jumper. Stitch, an excitable black poo- Do and Mend, about the innova-
dle cross, jumped up and grabbed her tive thriftiness that emerged during
sleeve and tore several holes in it with World War II.
PHOTO: KOS TA BR ATSOS
her sharp teeth. Instead of trying to make the repair

Collingwood-Norris, now 37, wasn’t as small as possible, she turned to
about to toss the item out. “I can’t ‘visible mending’, a trend in repair-
bear to throw away nice clothing just ing clothes that leaves an intention-
because of a hole,” she explains. As ally obvious fix. Needleworkers add
flowers, bright plaid squares or other RIGHT-TO-REPAIR

small designs to damaged clothes. LEGISLATION
“Every time you do a repair, it’s like While mending clothing is a skill
having a new garment in your ward- anyone can learn, repairing things
robe,” says Collingwood-Norris. like phones and appliances isn’t
She’s even started to repair other so easy. In fact, some products are
things – including a hole in the up- made in a way that prevents con-
holstery of the red sofa chair she’s sumers from doing so. Some large
sitting on during our video interview. electronic companies have even
Sadly, we have become accustomed been fined for ‘planned obsoles-
to replacing things instead of repair- cence’ – designing products that
ing them – and the garbage is piling break easily or become outdated
up. Worldwide, we toss out 92 million quickly, forcing consumers to buy
tonnes of textiles every year. Elec- new ones or purchase upgrades.
tronic waste is another growing prob- But a global ‘right to repair’ move-
lem: an estimated 50 million tonnes ment is pushing back against our dis-
of it is created each year around the posable culture. Consumers want to
world. be able to fix what they’ve bought – to
The good news is that fixing things reduce their environmental footprint,
can help solve the waste problem. to save money or just on principle.
It’s part of a larger shift towards a Governments are also playing a
circular economy – the idea that in- role in shifting corporations from a
stead of tossing out items once they use-it-and-replace-it business model
are broken or out of date, we reuse, to one that’s more repair friendly. In
repair or refurbish them, keeping March 2023, the European Commis-
them out of the landfill for as long sion adopted a right-to-repair direc-
as possible. tive, demanding that companies sell
About one-third of greenhouse gas replacement parts for five to ten years
emissions come from manufactured after their products are sold.
goods and consumables. According Right-to-repair legislation has
to a 2023 report from Circle Econo- now been filed in more than half of
my, a Netherlands-based NGO, if the the US states; Australia has passed
world switched to a circular econo- a motor vehicle right-to-repair law;
my we could lower the amount of India has proposed a framework for
material we need to extract from phones, tablets, cars and farming
nature by a third. equipment; and Canada has a pro-
But there are solutions to the waste posed bill to amend a copyright law
problem. that restricts access to necessary
Here are some of them. repair information.
The Fix-It Revolution
Flora Collingwood-Norris and

some colourfully mended
jumper sleeves
Legislative measures like these information now available online.

both follow and fuel the public’s de- The popular how-to site iFixit.com
sire to repair, says Ricardo Cepeda has facilitated more than 100 million
Marquez, technical lead for Waste repairs.
and Water for C40, a global network iFixit began in the early 2000s,
that helps cities fight climate change. after its co-founder and CEO, Cal-
“Repairing is a great opportunity to ifornia-based Kyle Wiens, dropped
become aware of our collective con- his Apple laptop, breaking it. He
PHOTO: COURTESY FLOR A COLLINGWOOD-NORRIS
sumption and the urgent need to discovered there were no repair in-
reduce waste.” structions available. With help from
his classmate and iFixit co-founder
ONLINE REPAIR MANUALS Luke Soules, Wiens, who had spent
There was a time when people fixed his childhood taking apart radios
things themselves or called their lo- and appliances with his grandfather,
cal repair shop. But as more items managed to fix his computer through
were manufactured overseas and trial and error. He and Soules wrote
prices dropped, replacing even a big a manual based on that experience
purchase like an appliance became and posted it to a website they creat-
more convenient than repairing it. ed called iFixit.com.
That’s changing, in part due to Twenty years later, iFixit has grown
into a database with nearly 100,000 W h i le interest a mong a l l age

repair manuals for everything from groups is on the rise, there is a short-
electronics to clothing to appliances. age of repairers in their 20s and
And its mission has gone mainstream. 30s. “Repairing requires skills that
“We’re now seeing manufacturers younger people don’t have, simply
show interest in making it possible for because they lack experience,” says
users to repair things,” says Elizabeth Christophe Gatt, president of Repair
Chamberlain, director of sustainabil- Cafés Paris. “This is why we try to
ity for iFixit. Companies like Google, share our knowledge.” In late 2022,
Microsoft, Samsung, Motorola, HP, the group launched the first Repair
Patagonia and the North Face are Café for children ages five and up,
selling official parts and sharing their with workshop themes such as tools,
repair guides through iFixit. soldering and sewing.
“We have this vision of a world In addition to going home with a
where repair is t he ex pectat ion coffee maker or toaster that’s work-
for all things that are made,” says ing again, visitors to Repair Cafés
Chamberlain. leave with a better understanding of
how things function, says Gatt. “And
REPAIR CAFÉS when we understand how something
The first Repair Café opened in 2009 works, we use it better. We ‘consume’
in Amsterdam, offering in-person in a more responsible way.”
fix-it help. The volunteer-run net-
work now has more than 2700 loca- FIXABLE PHONES
tions – including in New Zealand, Phones are one of the most discard-
Australia, France, India, Japan, the ed electronic items. That’s why Fair-
UK, Canada and Singapore. Organ- phone tried to disrupt the industry
isers set up events, and volunteers starting in 2013. The Dutch social
with repair knowledge bring their enterprise wanted to show that it was
toolboxes, 3-D printers, sewing ma- possible to produce an ethical smart-
chines and bookbinding equipment phone that could be repaired.
to places like community centres. Their smartphones sell for €579
They will try to fix whatever people (A$955) across most of Europe. Cus-
bring in, for free, and teach visitors tomers can fix their own phones with
how to do repairs themselves. replacement parts – such as cameras,
Paul Magder, co-founder of a Repair batteries and speakers – purchased
Café in Toronto, thinks a big draw is from the company’s website. Instal-
the sense of community, and has seen lation guides are readily available,
the demand for repairs and the num- and the only tool required is a small
ber of volunteers steadily growing. precision screwdriver.
Invented for life
AdvancedLeafBlower 36V-750
Powerful performer for heavy-duty garden
clear-up without any emissions
Available on:
Learn more about the
AdvancedLeafBlower
Some larger companies are now trends by offering cheaper clothes.

following Fairphone’s lead. Finnish It has been disastrous for the envi-
telecom company Nokia has released ronment. A whopping three-fifths
the G22, a low-end smartphone de- of clothing ends up in a landfill or
signed to be easily repairable at home incinerator within a year of pro-
(it’s currently only available in Europe duction. Plus, clothing production
and Australia). Since the phones can requires a lot of water – it can take
be disassembled, they’re easier to re- 7500 litres to make a pair of jeans, for
cycle; materials like batteries, which example.
can’t be recycled, can be separated Respond i ng is ‘slow fash ion’,
from components like metal cases. which celebrates high-quality hand-
Last year, technology giant Apple made clothes created locally. As well,
introduced self-service repair options. more consumers are choosing to buy
Customers who want to fix their own ‘preloved’ clothing via social media
device can go online to rent a repair groups or vintage stores. And, like
kit, check out repair manuals and buy Flora Collingwood-Norris, people
the part they need, be it a new screen are increasingly mending their own
or camera lens. And to help facilitate clothes so they last longer.
DIY repairs, newer smartphone mod- The coral sweater her dog tore into
els are designed to be easier to open was patched with bright polka-dots,
than previous models. and the elbows were mended with
Soon all smartphones might have circular sunsets and flying-bird sil-
longer lives: once approved, the EU’s houettes. She’s happy that repairing
right-to-repair directive will include your own clothes is becoming popu-
a mandate that batteries be easier to lar once again.
remove and replace. “It sort of skipped a couple of gen-
erations, but it’s really exciting to see
RESPONSIBLE FASHION it coming back,” Collingwood-Norris
A few decades ago, ‘fast fashion’ says. “It gives me optimism for the
came into vogue, encouraging con- future that there is a willingness to
sumers to keep up with changing change and reassess habits.”
A Wheelie Good Day

A UK family tasked with taking their holidaying neighbours’ bin out
for the week took things ‘literally’, dragging it on a tour of the town
of Kirton. ‘Binny’ the bin visited the chip shop and a pub, went for a
slide at the playground, and stopped by the town hall. METRO.CO.UK
13 THINGS
Mighty Mushrooms
BY Courtney Shea
1
The global mushroom market is mushroom versions of steak, chicken
expected to reach A$140 billion breast and bacon. Climate scientists
by 2028 (that’s up from A$101 in Germany found that if we replaced
billion in 2022). just 20 per cent of the meat we con-
sume with microbial protein, by 2050
2
This mushrooming popular- we could more than halve the rate
ILLUS TR ATION: SERGE BLOCH
ity is not surprising; low-carb of deforestation and reduce carbon

and rich in antioxidants as emissions related to cattle farming.
well as vitamins B and D, the fungi
3
are a source of protein and an af- Still, not everyone is a myco-
fordable meat alternative. Grilled phile (the technical term for a
portobello mushrooms make a tasty mushroom enthusiast). Many
‘burger’, and now, you can even buy haters (mycophobes) cite texture as
13 Things
the turnoff, but mushrooms may also the human brain and turn the host
trigger disgust for their association into a zombie-like mushroom mon-
with mould. A 2015 Washington Post ster. The premise was based on the
exploration on the science of disgust real-life parasitic ‘zombie-ant’ fun-
listed mushrooms among those foods gus; its spores attack an insect and
that can trigger a response that may take over its behaviour. But our higher
not be entirely rational. body temperature means we are not
susceptible to that infection. Phew!
4
You don’t have to like eating
7
them to reap mushrooms’ ben- More than 50 years after they
efits. Reishi and tremella mush- first dominated the funky fash-
rooms are trendy wellness ingredients, ion and design aesthetic of the
found in everything from adaptogen 1970s, mushrooms are once again
supplements (which are supposed popping up on everything from wall-
to help your body adjust to stress) to paper to pillows. And brands like
skincare products. And chaga, lion’s Hermés and Stella McCartney have
mane, Cordyceps and reishi have been turned to ‘mushroom leather’ (made
used for centuries in anti-inflammato- from a mixture of mycelium and
ry and immune-boosting remedies. other plant fibres) as an eco-friendly,
vegan alternative to leather.
5
Beneath the Earth’s surface,
8
mushrooms branch into net- The largest mushroom on Earth
works of rootlike mycelium, is a single Armillaria ostoyae
helping break down plant and animal (honey mushroom) that occu-
waste, which adds vital nutrients back pies nine square kilometres in Oregon.
into the soil. This network even shares Meanwhile, the Tibetan yartsa gunbu
information (such as warning trees (caterpillar mushroom) is among the
about insect infestation), communi- most expensive, selling for A$47,000
cating via electrical pulses in intricate a kilogram. Its purported aphrodisiac
patterns. Some mycologists (mush- properties have earned it the nick-
room experts) refer to this as ‘the nat- name ‘the Viagra of the Himalayas’.
ural internet’ or the ‘wood wide web’.
9
Foraging for mushrooms is
6
If mycelium sounds familiar, popular in many parts of the
you may be among the millions world. But beware: many poi-
of fans who tuned into The Last sonous mushrooms can look like
of Us, HBO’s recent hit series about familiar varieties, and some wild
an infectious species of Cordyceps mushrooms are dangerous to eat raw.
that causes mycelium to take over Deaths are rare, but you could easily
end up with much worse than an up- psilocybin as a potential treatment

set stomach at the very least. If you for depression. The US government
choose to forage for wild mushrooms, also recently funded a study on psil-
always go with an expert. ocybin as a tool to help people quit
smoking.
10
Poisonous mushrooms are
12
somet imes ca l led toad- Meanwhile, microdosing
stools. This is slang for a – taking super-small doses
colourful yet poisonous fungi with of psilocybin – is a popular
a stem and an umbrella-shaped cap. productivity-boosting hack in Cali-
One example is Amanita phalloides, fornia’s Silicon Valley and elsewhere.
known as death-cap mushrooms, The scientific community is still di-
with their silver-green caps. They’re vided on the effectiveness of this
responsible for more than 90 per cent for enhancing mood, creativity and
of mushroom-related poisonings and focus. But microdosing was recently
deaths worldwide. They are alleged given (unofficial) royal assent: in an
to have caused the deaths in August interview about his memoir, Spare,
last year of three people in Australia’s Prince Harry described psychedelic
Gippsland region. mushrooms as a “fundamental” part
of his mental-health practice.
11
Recent years have brought
13
renewed interest and invest- Mushrooms may find their
ment in magic mushrooms as way to outer space as soon
a promising treatment for depression, as 2025. Researchers are ex-
addiction and other mental-health ploring mycotecture – the use of
disorders. In early 2023, Australia mushrooms as architecture – for fu-
became the first country to approve ture bases on the moon and Mars. The
psilocybin for treatment-resistant de- stucco-like building material is grown
pression, and a psychedelic drug trial by feeding mycelium an algae, which
firm opened last year in the UK. causes it to expand and fill a mould.
In 2022, Canada’s Centre for Addic- It’s then sterilised, ensuring no un-
tion and Mental Health was award- wanted organisms come along on its
ed a government grant to study journey to another world.
To The Fore
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When she was

born, Hallee
McCoombes
wasn’t expected
to walk. Now
she runs
HEART
She
All The
When doctors told the McCoombes that

spina bifida would severely limit their daughter’s life,
they refused to listen. So did the little girl
PHOTO: SABRINA L AURIS TON
BY Sabrina Rogers-Anderson
javelin – and has set her sights on

the Paralympics. It’s an amazing
achievement for someone who wasn’t
even expected to walk. Hallee was
As Hallee
born with spina bifida, a neural-tube
defect that affects how the spine and
McCoombes spinal cord form in the womb.

H e r m o t h e r, C h r i s t i n e M c -
approaches Coombes, 38, shudders when she
the finish line

recalls learning about Hallee’s diag-
nosis. “The doctors also told us they
didn’t know what kind of brain func-
of the 800-metre run for kids with tion she would have because she had
disabilit y, the crowd is cheering hydrocephalus,” she recalls. “Fluid in
wildly and chanting her name. The the brain is common with spina bifi-
ten-year-old para-athlete had spent da. We really didn’t know how much
months preparing for the 2022 School she’d be able to function physically
Sport Australia Track & Field Cham- and mentally.”
pionships in Brisbane. Now she has It’s no wonder that, regardless of
the hyper-focused expression that how many times Hallee’s parents
has become her trademark; anyone watch their determined daughter
who has seen her compete knows compete, their hearts burst with
that nothing will stop her now. pride. “I cry every time, especially
With only ten metres to go, Hallee when people start cheering for her,”
tunes out all the noise and push- admits her dad, Gavin, 51.
es forward with every ounce of her
strength. She doesn’t have any feeling A Dream Come True
in her waist or below her knees, but
pain sears her thighs. When Hallee Christine and Gavin met in 2007,
crosses the finish line and falls into when they were both working for a
an exhausted heap, her twin, Jada, bank in Brisbane. Romance quickly
scoops her up in her arms. “You came sparked between them, and within
in third!” she whispers to Hallee. two years they had married, started a
Hallee McCoombes has tallied nu- cleaning business and set their sights
merous Australian track-and-field on having children.
records in events for athletes with The journey to parenthood wasn’t
her type of impairments – 100 metres, easy: they faced the pain of multi-
200 metres, 400 metres, 800 metres, ple miscarriages. When they found
1500 metres, long jump, discus and out they were expecting twin girls in
She Defied All The Odds
2011, Gavin and Christine were over both their newborns in intensive
the moon. But the couple’s joy turned care, the new parents were left alone
to anguish when Hallee’s spina bifi- to deal with their fear and anguish.
da was revealed during Christine’s Hallee underwent immediate sur-
20-week ultrasound. gery to repair her spinal cord and
“They couldn’t get a clear picture of close her back. During the gruelling
the extent of it because her sister was nine-hour procedure, a neurosur-
taking up so much room, so they gave geon placed Hallee’s neural tissues
us the worst-case scenarios,” says in her spinal canal and a plastic sur-
Christine. “That really scared us.” geon closed her back. Although the
The doctors explained that they’d surgery was a success and Jada was
typically recommend termination, also doing well, Christine and Gavin
but with fraternal twins it’s com- weren’t able to take their daughters
plicated: the wrong baby might be home for another four weeks.
terminated; and it was possible that Hallee faced many challenges in
neither baby would survive the pro- her first year. As she recovered from
cedure. Despite the grim outlook, surgery, she had to be placed on her
Christine and Gavin chose to go stomach most of the time. And when-
ahead with the pregnancy; they’d ever the family drove somewhere,
been hoping for a baby for so long. Hallee was placed in a car seat with
To the McCoombes’ dismay, not a special lining to protect her back.
everyone supported their decision. When she was three months old,
Some family members said they Hallee had a procedure to remove
should terminate, and some-
t imes t he couple felt ver y
alone. Determined to keep go-
ing, they put on a brave face.
They also followed their paedi-
atrician’s advice not to look up
spina bifida online because it
PHOTO: COURTESY GAVIN McCOOMBES
would only add to their stress.

When Hallee and Jada were
born in December 2011, Jada
had to be whisked away sec-
onds after birth because the
placenta had ruptured, cutting Hallee crosses
off her oxygen supply. As for the finish line at a
Hallee, her back was open, her competition in Tasmania
spinal cord hanging out. With
some of the fluid in her brain; if left language,” Christine says. “We had
untreated, hydrocephalus can result no idea what they were saying.”
in brain damage or even death. But Once Hallee started walking on
the surgery failed, and a few months her own at age three, her determina-
later they had to try it again. To her tion to keep up with Jada only grew
parents’ relief, that surgery was suc- stronger.
cessful.
As those early months passed, the “I Can Do That, Too”
McCoombes were surprised to see
Hallee hitting her developmental Still, life was challenging for Hallee.
milestones shortly after Jada did: At preschool, she often had to be
talking, rolling over, crawling. held upright to be fed. And since she
“Her first word was ‘mama’ at ten couldn’t regulate her body temper-
months,” says Gavin. “Her only big ature, she suffered in hot and cold
delay was walking.” weather. Because of the demands
Most children start walking some- of their business, Gavin and Chris-
time between ten and 18 months, but tine employed nannies to care for
Hallee needed casts to realign her the girls, who now had a little sister,
feet, which were twisted and point- Tia. But that made them feel as if the
ed upwards. When the casts were girls’ childhoods were passing them
removed, she had to wear ankle-foot by. They knew they needed to make
orthoses (AFOs) and heavy boots to some changes.
continue correcting the position of So when the twins were five, the
her feet. Hallee, now 12, still wears McCoombes moved to Elliott Heads,
AFOs when she walks and runs; she a coastal town 400 kilometres north
gets around in a wheelchair over of Brisbane, where life was less busy,
longer distances. giving Christine and Gavin more
But Hallee had a secret weapon: a time with their children. They hav-
twin sister she was desperate to keep en’t looked back. “Hallee has never
up with. “Jada definitely helped her been so happy,” Christine says. “I
with her disability,” says Christine. think it’s living on the ocean.”
“Hallee needed a metal walk ing Shor t l y a f ter t he move, Jada
frame, and Jada would get in with her declared that she wanted to be a
and move it for her. It was so cute!” runner. Her parents signed her up
Hallee eventually started using the for Little Athletics. After watching
walker on her own. By the time the on the sidelines during Jada’s first
girls were two, they’d race around training session, Hallee turned to
the house banging into walls and her parents and said, “I can do that,
laughing. “They’d talk their twin too. Sign me up.”
Hallee with
her twin
sister,
Jada
Hallee
hopes to
compete in
tennis at the
Paralympics
Would she even be able to run? Hallee’s new-found passion wasn’t

“Hallee doesn’t have feeling in her without its challenges. Her legs ached
waist and lower legs,” explains Gavin, badly during and after races, and she
“which means she has issues with her feared that people would laugh at her.
balance and her muscle power.” Gavin and Christine helped her work
But Hallee’s parents had such through her anxiety by attending all
strong belief in her that they signed her events. In fact, nobody laughed;
her up. At first, she had to become people marvelled at her fierce deter-
more conscious of the vibrations mination.
created when her feet hit the ground Hallee’s parents, however, wer-
and use that feeling to coordinate en’t spared criticism. “Some people
her movements. Before long she was thought we were too hard on her or
PHOTOS: COURTESY GAVIN McCOOMBES
running with Jada. “She had to work that she was in pain and didn’t want
hard to maintain upper leg muscle to do it,” says Christine. “But we
and core support,” Gavin says. could see the benefits she was get-
In her second season with Little ting. Hallee just loved it.”
Athletics, Hallee started competing Participating in athletics was also
in running events for kids with dis- good for her mental health – she
ability. The McCoombes were soon learned what she was capable of and
taking both girls to competitions became even closer to Jada. “Hallee
around the country. still gets an x ious, but sport has
helped so much,” says Christine.

“It’s made her happier and more
resilient.”
And the physical rewards speak
for themselves. While most chil-
dren with spina bifida require
dozens of surgeries to treat bowel
and bladder problems, as well as
orthepedic issues like contract-
ed muscles, dislocated hips and
deformed feet and ankles, Hallee
has undergone only ten so far.
“She’s been able to put off ankle,
foot, leg and knee surgeries,” says
Gavin. “That’s not to say she won’t
ever need them, but surgeons be-
lieve that getting out of her wheel-
chair and being so active has
strengthened muscles that would
normally be weak. They’ve told us,
‘Whatever you’re doing is working,
so keep doing it.’” The McCoombes family in their hometown of
Occupational therapist Karla Elliott Heads: (back row, left to right) Jada,
Kirchner has worked with Hallee Gavin and Christine, (front) Tia and Hallee
for three years to improve her gross
motor skills, core strength, cognitive the version of the event open to
skills and emotional regulation. She para-athletes aged five to 12, com-
dubs Hallee a “miracle girl” but points petitors swim 100 metres, cycle two
out that she wouldn’t be where she is k ilomet res and run 500 met res.
today without her determination. Hallee uses a modified trike in the
“She has surprised every health cycling segment.
professional,” says Kirchner. “She’s She also does shotput, discus,
a go-getter, a hard worker and a pos- javelin and long jump, then added
itive ball of energy. Her work ethic wheelchair tennis; it may be her tick-
would put anyone to shame. The et to the 2028 Summer Paralympics
power of ‘I believe I can, therefore I in Los Angeles.
do’ applies to Hallee.” “I want to go to America to see
When she was six, Hallee start- my granddad,” says Hallee with a
ed compet i ng i n t r iat h lons. I n grin. Christine’s father, who lives in
Nevada, has always been very close spina bifida experience bowel and
to Hallee. “She hasn’t seen him since bladder dysfunction, so Hallee can’t
before COVID, but he FaceTimes her go to the toilet like most people do.
every morning,” explains Christine. She needs a catheter to empty her
“We often call him when she’s racing bladder and she has to do a bowel
so he can see her compete.” flush every second day.
W heelchair tennis may be the Hallee and Jada still go to compe-
only way Hallee will qualify for the titions together. “They’re in separate
Paralympics, which has no events for classes, but if one is having an issue,
athletes with lower-leg impairments the other one seems to know,” Chris-
who compete without prostheses. tine says. “At night, we can’t separate
Her AFOs aren’t considered prosthe- them. They’re always snuggling.”
ses because they don’t replace a miss- Nine-year-old Tia looks up to her
ing body part. older sisters. She also does athlet-
“It’s a battle we keep fighting,” says ics but has told her parents that she
Gavin. “I emailed the Paralympic doesn’t want to compete because she
Committee in Germany to ask if they wouldn’t be as good as the twins.
would offer an event for that classifi- If Hallee qualifies for the 2028
cation, but I didn’t get much of a re- Paralympics, which will be held
sponse. I think they should include while she’s still in high school, she’ll
that option, and if it turns out there consider tr ying out for the 2032
aren’t enough athletes, fine. But it Games in Brisbane.
would give people like Hallee some- And after that? A ll Gav in and
thing to aspire to.” Christine want is for Hallee to be
Adds Christine, who as a pro- happy a nd independent. As for
ject coordinator for Little Athletics Hallee, she dreams of being a mid-
Australia advocates for inclusion in wife. It’s something she told her mum
sport, “We just have to keep fighting a few years ago but was torn because
or there won’t be any change.” she also wanted to be a Paralympian.
Christine told her that she could do
A Bright Future both; if she made it to the Paralym-
pics, she could tick that off her list,
PHOTO: SABRINA L AURIS TON
When she isn’t training, competing then study to be a midwife.

or getting physical therapy, Hallee When asked what she would say to
enjoys chatting online and playing other children with disability, Hallee
Roblox with her friends on her tablet. offers two powerful pieces of advice:
But Hallee has a few more tasks on “Don’t listen when people say you
her daily to-do list than her friends. can’t do something. And, try your
For one thing, many people with best.”
ART OF LIVING
Unique Ways
To
Here are the innovative ways people are helping those

in need – even when money is tight
ILLUS TR ATION: VALÉRY GOULE T
BY Penny Caldwell
F
or about t wo hours a week “I thought it was an amazing way
when my k ids were l it t le, to garner awareness of ALS and raise
I spent one-on-one time at their funds,” recalls Manju Kalanidhi, a
school with children who had read- journalist in Hyderabad, India. But
ing difficulties. The reward for vol- it didn’t make sense in her country,
PHOTO: COURTESY RICE BUCKE T CHALLENGE TRUS T

unteers like me was the kids’ growing where water is too precious to waste,
confidence and delight as words on even for a good cause. Then in 2014, it
the page started to make sense. hit her: why not make it a Rice Bucket
Fortunately for non-profit organisa- Challenge to fight hunger?
tions, the feel-good reward of helping “I gave a bucket of rice to someone
others is universal. Nearly a quarter in need and clicked a photo. I shared
of all adults worldwide volunteer and it on Facebook and said, ‘This is a
about 35 per cent of people donate Rice Bucket Challenge. Why don’t
to charities, according to the World you do it, too?’” Participants donate
Giving Index, which includes data for a bucket of rice to an individual or
119 countries. It also reports that since family – no, it’s not dumped – take
2021, the rate of giving has increased a photo and post it on social media
among the wealthiest nations.
That’s a good thing because in
today’s cost-of-living crisis, the
demand on charities is greater
than ever. Here are innovative
ways people are giving back.
RICE BUCKET
CHALLENGE, INDIA
Heard of the Ice Bucket Chal-
lenge? The social media initi-
ative started in the US, raising
US$117 (A$178) million dollars
for ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease)
research. It then spread across
the world. You take a video of
yourself dumping a bucket of ice
water over your head, then nom-
inate three more people to do
the same. In some versions, the
Rice Bucket
participant donates $100 if they
Challenge, India
don’t complete the challenge.
Unique Ways To Give
with a message encouraging others DONATION FENCE,

to do the same. Or people can donate GERMANY
through a website. For the past six years, the non-prof-
“I don’t have a big army of volun- it group Hamburger Gabenzaun e.V.
teers, but I do have donations and I (Hamburg Gift Fence) has encour-
have people who need food, so I put aged locals in that city to hang sealed
them together.” To date, Kalanidhi says bags of donated clothing, hygiene
the Rice Bucket Challenge has raised items, sleeping bags and non-per-
millions of rupees and distributed an ishable food on a fence near Ham-
estimated 35,000 kilograms of rice. burg’s central train station. Though
construction work there has forced
#DOGSELFIE, ENGLAND the group to look for a new dona-
Social media swept another chari- tion-fence location, its initiative will
table effort to success in the United continue.
Kingdom, where people posted pho-
tos of themselves with their beloved FRIGOS SOLIDAIRES,
canines in support of the Manches- FRANCE
ter & Cheshire Dogs Home after a Imagine if those in need could help
fire ripped through the facility and themselves to food with anonymity
60 dogs died. The initiative encour- and dignity. Frigos Solidaires, or Sol-
aged people to donate to the shel- idarity Fridges, was started with that
ter, which raised the equivalent of aim by Dounia Mebtoul, a young
around A$3.3 million to rebuild. restaurateur in Paris. Now, 130 fridg-
es installed in front of places such as
FOOD ANGEL, HONG KONG shops and schools offer free food to
Food insecurity has become a global the hungry across France.
problem for families. In Hong Kong, A similar programme in Sweden
the people behind the Food Angel is run by the volunteers of Solikyl,
programme collect 45 tonnes of sur- a food-rescue organisation that en-
plus food each week that supermar- courages shops, hotels, restaurants
kets, restaurants and individuals and individuals to donate food rather
would otherwise dispose of. That in- than throw it out.
cludes fresh fruit and vegetables and
other perishables that aren’t normal- MOBILE SHOWER FOR
ly accepted in food-donation boxes. WOMEN, GERMANY
The impact is significant: volunteers Offering services where they’re need-
make and serve around 20,000 meals ed is also key to the success of a blue-
and distribute more than 11,000 oth- and-white shower mobilised, literal-
er meals and food packs every day. ly, by the Sozialdienst Katholischer
Frauen e.V. Berlin (Social Service

for Catholic Women in Berlin).
The Duschmobil (mobile shower)
vehicle operates in eight locations
across the city, six days a week,
offering hot showers to homeless
women. Social workers operating it
also offer donated clothing, toilet-
ries, coffee and conversation.
LITTLE FREE LIBRARIES,

VARIOUS COUNTRIES
Another visible example of the gift
network in action are Little Free
Libraries (LFLs), which sit atop Little Free Libraries
eye-level posts. Worldwide, 120
countries host LFLs. All you need for food banks. Since its inception
to do is build (or buy) a box and fill in 1995, the campaign has collect-
it with books you’ve finished read- ed 553,000 kilograms of food and
ing. Registering your LFL with the roughly half a million dollars.
PHOTO: ANNA MIN. COURTESY OF LIT TLE FREE LIBR ARY, LIT TLEFREELIBR ARY.ORG
organisation lets avid readers find And in a town in the US state of
it through a mobile app. The more Pennsylvania, United Way volun-
creative LFLs look like real librar- teers fill a yellow school bus an-
ies, schoolhouses or replicas of the nua l ly w it h paper, binders a nd
homes behind them. other school supplies to help local
A nyone can take, leave or ex- students.
change a book from the box. The goal
is to promote literacy, but communi- TAXILUZ, SPAIN
ty-building, as neighbours connect, Since 2016, taxi drivers in Madrid
is a bonus. have devoted one evening each De-
cember to decorating their cabs and
STUFF A BUS, taking the elderly and children who
CANADA AND THE US have been hospitalised on a two-hour
In Edmonton, the transit service tour of the city’s Christmas lights. The
parks vehicles in front of supermar- annual event has expanded to include
kets for its annual ‘Stuff a Bus’ cam- taxi drivers in 13 other cities in Spain.
paign each November. Volunteers The group reports that in 2022, nearly
collect food and cash donations 1000 taxis and 3000 seniors and kids
from shoppers to fill buses bound participated.

Unique Ways To Give
COMMU APP, FINLAND in 2022 in the US, for example, some

How do people wanting to volunteer $US750 million (A$1.1 billion) was
connect with groups needing help? In raised by 77 point-of-sale fundraising
2021 in Finland, three 20-something campaigns.
entrepreneurs founded Commu, an
app that makes it easy for individu- DONATION DOLLAR,
als to offer help to those in need or to AUSTRALIA
ask for help in their communities. It Motivating people to donate is the
works in Finnish, English, Ukrainian, objective of a unique one-dollar coin
German and Norwegian and features created by the Royal Australian Mint.
a special area on the app that focuses Featuring a green centre with a gold
on the needs of Ukrainian refugees in ripple design, the coin reminds peo-
Finland. ple who find it in their change to do-
nate it to charity. The ripples symbol-
GIVING AT THE CHECK- ise the coin’s ongoing impact while it
OUT, CANADA AND THE US continues to circulate. According to
You’ve likely seen charity-donation the Royal Australian Mint, by the end
boxes for coins and bills next to of 2022, 11 million Donation Dollars
cash registers. For the last few years, had gone into circulation.
people paying for their purchases Eventually a total of 25 million
with debit or credit cards have also coins will be released, or roughly
been invited by cashiers to round one for every Australian. It estimates
up their purchases, or to add a cou- t hat by t he end of 2022, about
ple of dollars to the total bill, in sup- $A2.8 million had been donated to
port of a designated cause. This has charities and people or businesses
been making it so easy to give that, in need.
Snake Charmer
A new species of snake has been named after actor Harrison Ford.
The nearly 4.5m, yellow-brown creature was found during a
survey of the remote Otishi National Park, Peru, at an altitude of
3,248 metres and was named Tachymenoides harrisonfordi
by the team who discovered it. Lead scientist Edgar Lehr said: “I
thought, Wouldn’t this be cool to dedicate this new species to Harrison
Ford? And also funny because of the hate his movie character
‘Indiana Jones’ (has for snakes).”
EDITION.CNN.COM
ANIMAL KINGDOM
G R E AT
T H E
W I L D E B E E S T
M I G R AT I O N
It’s a spectacular sight when countless ruminants cross
the Serengeti in search of greener pastures
BY Vincent Noyoux FROM LE FIGARO MAGA ZINE
IT STARTS LIKE A SCENE FROM
OUT OF
(Kenya), east and back south,” ex-
plains our guide, Erasto Macha. “Wil-
debeests follow the rain, which pro-
PHOTOS: (PRE VIOUS PAGES) PHOTOS TOCK-ISR AEL/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBR ARY/GE T T Y IMAGES; (THIS PAGE) AY ZENS TAYN/GET T Y IMAGES
AFRICA. vides green grasslands. They remain
in the northern Serengeti from July to
early October, but August and Sep-
Leaving Mount Kilimanjaro behind, tember are when we see the most.”
the bush plane flies over the gaping Macha estimates there are 1.5 mil-
Ngorongoro Crater, casting its shad- lion here.
ow over tawny land that resembles If it weren’t for the Mara, which
lion skins sewn together with the is subject to massive f luctuations
rivers’ green thread. depending on rainfall upriver, their
We’re in the Serengeti in Tanzania, migration would be smooth sailing.
in the northern part of the national Rising on the Kenyan side of the
park, near the Kenyan border. We’ve Great Rift Valley and f lowing into
yet to set foot on the ground, but the Lake Victoria, it’s the longest and
safari is underway. Herds of elephants only perennial river in the Serengeti.
bathe in the Mara River. Half-sub- It’s also the most dangerous to cross.
merged crocodiles come into sight, The Land Cruiser we’re travelling
and on the bank sit masses darker in crosses an acacia savannah, and
than boulders, the hippopotamuses. there’s a parade of animals: ele-
It’s all wonderful, but we’re here to phants, giraffes, warthogs, buffaloes,
see something else: the blue wilde- ostriches, antelopes and topis. Croc-
beest. With its spindly legs, grey-blue odiles and hippopotamuses soak in
coat, wild mane and a long, bumpy the water as vultures fly overhead.
face that gives it a stubborn air, this All of the actors are in place: on the
ruminant is not the elite of the Afri- opposite bank, a black line forms at a
can safari. spot at the river’s edge, and the grow-
Wildebeests live in herds of about ing horde congregates.
30 that assemble in huge numbers T he w i ldebeests a re about to
during the great annual migration. cross, but they seem to hesitate. And
“The cycle starts early in the year who could blame them? The waters
in the southern Serengeti and moves are crawling with crocs and hip-
west, then north to the Masai Mara pos. When one wildebeest makes its

The Great Wildebeest Migration
Wildebeests set out

to cross the Mara River
move, the entire group will follow. WE HEAD BACK TO SAYARI CAMP,
“Their best strategy is to cross in a the first of its kind in the northern
line rather than head-on,” Macha Serengeti. Unlike other lodges, it’s
says. “In a compact group, the young just a stone’s throw from the Mara
wildebeests would inevitably end up River, which is very practical when
crushed and then drown.” a river-crossing alert goes up. It isn’t
Several hundred thousand zebras uncommon to see zebras and wilde-
follow them, he says, but the more beests roaming between the tents. To
cautious zebras never cross first. come and go after dark, guests call a
“One theory is they remember dan- staff member by walkie-talkie.
gerous places. But what we do know The nighttime savannah rustles
is they share the grass: zebras graze with a thousand sounds. A hyena’s
the top of the grass and wildebeests high-pitched call sends shivers down
eat the rest.” your spine as you lay in bed. Step out
The group at the edge of the Mara onto the terrace, and your torch will
still hesitates. Will they or won’t illuminate a myriad of wildebeest
they? We place our bets. The wait eyes, glimmering dots.
can take hours. Somet imes, t he At dawn, we take to the sky for a
wildebeests turn back. That’s what trip in a hot-air balloon. Like the
happens today. As the light shifts sun, we slowly rise. The basket skims
from gold to glowing red, they scat- the tops of the acacias and glides
ter sheepishly in the bush. Defeat in low over impalas, antelopes and ze-
such a glorious setting. bras. The spitting burner sends large
herds of wildebeests into a panic, and wildebeests arrive from all over as
they gallop off into the vast yellow- the group swells. But no one wants to
ish-green plain. In a few weeks they’ll go first. Their hesitation forces them
have reached the Masai Mara, whose to postpone, and they disperse.
hills peek out in the distance. The unexpected occurs elsewhere.
We watch as the hyenas’ limping As we observe a group of impalas,
run clashes with the graceful leaps of one of them makes a whistling noise.
the oribis – the ballerinas of the sa- “Something alerted it,” says Macha. We
vannah. From the sky, the wild won- all turn our heads. Lying on a branch,
der calls to mind an earthly paradise, hidden among the leaves, a leopard
but the animal bones that litter the looks on. The leopard climbs higher
ground tell the story of the struggle to and sets its topaz eyes on us in an im-
survive. Here, there perial gaze. Leopards
are the hunters and often pounce on their
the hunted.
SAFARIS START prey, usually an ante-
IN THE EARLY lope or an impala, in
T H E S E R E N G E T I MORNING, WHEN one bound. They’re
teems with life. On powerful enough to
t he ba n k s of t he
THE WILDLIFE IS haul it into a tree so
M a r a , mon g o o s e s MOST ACTIVE they don’t have to
leapfrog the rocks. share with other car-
Standing in the water, nivores. This one will
Masai giraffes nibble acacia leaves. wait until night to attack, something
“They spot danger first, and the ze- its eyesight and patience permit.
bras understand that,” Macha says. Safaris start in the early morn-
Further on, there’s a group of chub- ing, when the wildlife is most active,
by-cheeked hippos w ith bulging and as the Land Cruiser crosses the
eyes. But we aren’t fooled by their savannah, we watch lion cubs play
aura of serenity. These territorial an- under their mother’s watchful eye.
imals charge without warning, kill- Then they quickly disappear into the
ing nearly 500 people a year in Africa tall grass. “The wildebeests are going
– far more than all the big cats com- to cross,” Macha says with certainty.
bined. Two teenagers quarrel and Soon enough, an epic scene unfolds
growl, opening their mouths wide to right before our eyes.
bare their frightening teeth. Thousands of wildebeests stamp
The radio of our Land Cruiser on the bank of the river, the depth of
crack les: w ildebeests have been which can fluctuate quickly. The most
spotted a few kilometres away. On dangerous 100 metres of their lives lie
the other side of the river, lines of ahead. Pressured by the group, one

The Great Wildebeest Migration
decides to cross. And then the flow Afterwards, we park under a clump
is unstoppable. Water sprays as the of trees among the impalas and set
wildebeests jump in. It’s a dark and breakfast on the bonnet. A zebra foal
nervous army, an avalanche of horns nudges its mother. Elephants silently
on the Mara River. cross the landscape as their calves
Crocodiles are ready to attack as play games with their trunks. This
the hippos fiercely guard their terri- is the way of the wild: from fear to
tory. The smaller wildebeests are the tenderness.
easiest prey, but the mass of moving The sun sets on our final outing,
legs complicates any assault; a croc- and we’re on foot for the first time. A
odile propels itself in a flash, its jaws ranger armed with a .458 Winchester
just missing the target. Magnum is with us. As simple bipeds
The wildebeests that make it to the without fangs or claws, we’re more
other side climb out dripping wet. A vulnerable than a baby antelope. We
youngster stands alone, a few metres tread cautiously, quietly, in an eerily
behind them. Crocodiles loom, and deserted savannah.
we bury our eyes in our binoculars Suddenly, Macha freezes: “Behind
and hold our breath. The safari be- the rock, 30 metres away... ” And we
comes a thriller – a cruel and fas- see the wisps of a lion’s mane behind
cinating death scene that plays out granite.
right in front of us. We feel a quiver of fear, but we
But the little wildebeest survives, don’t run or the lion will assume
barely, and we think back to one we we’re prey. In any case, we’d be too
saw yesterday whose flanks had been slow. “Stay together and walk away
slashed. “A crocodile attack,” Macha slowly,” Macha says. The lion sticks
had confirmed. “A hyena will finish it its head out and follows us with its
off when it gets too weak to run.” eyes. What is it thinking?
Yet the biggest threat to the wilde- In the evening, before dinner, as is
beests is drowning. Sometimes hun- the custom at the lodge, we sit around
dreds of carcasses float in the river. a blazing campfire and talk about our
“In just 15 minutes, 3000 to 4000 wil- day. About leopards perched in trees,
debeests cross it,” says our guide. lions ready to pounce, crocodiles on
Drowned wildebeests are a feast for the attack. Our stories sound like tall
scavengers. Bare-necked and wrapped tales, except they’re absolutely true.
in their sinister cloak, vultures perch The sky over the Serengeti witnessed
on the branches of a dead tree. By re- them all.
moving remains, vultures help prevent © 2022, LE FIGARO MAGAZINE. FROM ‘EN
the spread of diseases and preserve TANZANIE, LA GRANDE ÉPOPÉE DE LA MIGRATION
DES GNOUS’, BY VINCENT NOYOUX, LE FIGARO
the savannah’s ecological balance. MAGAZINE (OCTOBER 10, 2022). LEFIGARO.FR
QUIZ
ANIMAL EXTREMES
Test your knowledge of
these hard-to-believe traits
of some incredible animals
BY Kirstin von Elm

Quiz
QUESTIONS
1
The banded archerfish (Toxotes c) Doing something different with
jaculatrix) lurks just below the each of their eight arms at the same
surface of the water when feed- time
ing as it waits for insects that sit on d) All of the above
plants near the shore. What hunting
4
technique does it use to capture un- The hoatzin bird lives in the
suspecting insects? It... Amazon and Orinoco deltas
a) stretches out its long, sticky tongue of South America. Its feather
b) emits a jet of water that knocks headdress is reminiscent of a mo-
insects out of the air hawk. What makes this tropical ‘punk’
c) creates a tidal wave that washes among birds unique? It...
insects into the water a) has four legs
d) jumps out of the water super-fast b) digests its food similarly to a cow
or sheep
2
Their prominent incisors are c) sleeps for just two hours a day
good for rodents, as these large d) sleeps in flight
front teeth help them break
ILLUS TR ATIONS: (RHINO) PICTURE ALLIANCE/DIEKLEINERT.DE/FRITHJOF SPANGE; (DR AGONFLY)
5
down food. Yet not every animal with When a Tasmanian devil be-
large front teeth are members of the comes excited, its ears turn red.
PICTURE ALLIANCE/DIEKLEINERT.DE/JUT TA SAILER-PA; (BACKGROUND) GE T T Y IMAGES
rodent family. Who is not a rodent? As a marsupial, it gives birth to

a) rabbits its young in a very early stage of devel-
b) guinea pigs opment. These then mature further in
c) porcupines its pouch. What advantages does this
d) mice have for the mother animal?
a) In the event of danger to life, it can
3
During the 2010 Football World get rid of the young animals
Cup an octopus named Paul b) Giving birth is easier
from the Sea Life Centre aquari- c) Shares rearing with fellow females
um in Oberhausen, Germany, became d) Both a) and b)
internationally famous. Paul was
6
called upon to predict the outcome of Dragonflies hunt while in flight,
all games played by the German na- and can reach speeds of up to
tional team and even accurately fore- 100 km/h. How do they manage
saw Spain’s victory in the final. Octo- to keep an eye on prey and their envi-
puses, however, are not clairvoyants. ronment? It...
What are they actually capable of? a) has up to 30,000 ‘eyes’
a) Ejecting ink to protect themselves b) recognises prey with ultrasound
b) Matching skin colour and patterns c) has wing sensors
to their environment d) relies on reflected light
7 10
It crawls like a reptile, swims Turtles do not live in polar
like a fish, has a stinger like regions or in high moun-
some insects, lays eggs like a tain ranges. But most turtle
bird and feeds its young like a mam- species a re blessed w it h t h ick
mal. When British scientists first saw armour. Which of these unique traits
a dead specimen of this animal, they are turtles cursed with?
believed it was a fake. What is it? a) Once tipped onto their backs,
a) sea turtle turtles die as they cannot turn
b) platypus themselves over
c) water deer b) They have to move their legs to
d) armadillo breathe
c) They have to discard their shell to
8
Snakes are superbly adapted to reproduce
their habitat. They are found in d) They don’t have a strong sense of
the mountains as well as in the direction
desert. Some kill their prey with poi-
11
son, others with their stranglehold. How is a gender in an animal
They come in countless sizes and best described?
colours. What can’t a land-dwelling a) It is either masculine or
snake species do? feminine and unchangeable
a) crawl backwards b) Some animals can change their sex
b) perceive sound waves c) The animals of some species are
c) jump from tree to tree male and female at the same time
d) breathe underwater d) Both b) and c)
9
With short, stocky legs, a mas-
sive body and armoured skin,
t he w h ite rh i no encha nt s PHOTO: PICTURE ALLIANCE/ZOONAR/RUDOLF ERNS T
its peers. Yet the communication

between the sexes doesn’t look very
elegant. How do male and female
white rhinos communicate?
a) by rhythmic pounding
b) by stamping their front feet
c) by leav i ng a nd sn i f f i ng pi les
of dung
d) through blowing with their horns
Rabbits like to gnaw. So does that
make them rodents?
>> Turn to page 112 for quiz answers

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ANSWERS
1b ) T he ba nded a rc her f i s h
kills its prey by shooting a
jet of water from its mouth. Band-
6a ) With their two so-called
compound eyes, dragon-
f lies perceive light and movement
ed archerfish live in estuaries and about six times faster than humans.
coasta l waters of Aust ra lia a nd Each compound eye consists of
Southeast Asia. thousands of individual eyes, each
equipped with its own lens.
2a ) A rou nd 250 0 d i f ferent

species make up rodents,
the most species-rich order among 7b) The platypus combines all
of these characteristics. The
mammals. The rabbit, however, be- animal is native to Australia where it
longs to lagomorphs. is strictly protected.
3d ) This mesmerising inverte-

brate can change its skin
colour and pattern, use its arms to
8a) A backwards movement is
impossible for snakes on
land because the movement would
perform eight tasks at once, and use cause their scales to get stuck.
a self-produced ink as an escape
strategy.
9c ) The odour of dung broad-
casts chemical signals about
4b ) The hoatzin is t he only

bird that has a digestion
process similar to that of ruminants
a rhino’s age and sex, and whether
females are in heat or if males have
staked out territory.
(cows, sheep, etc). This causes an
unpleasant smell, which has earned
the hoatzin the nickname of ‘the
stink bird’.
10b) Turtles have a rigid chest
because of their shell,
and they also lack a diaphragm. For
lung breathing, they move special
5d) Giv ing birth at an early

developmental stage when
muscles with their legs.
other mammals are still maturing in

the womb means less stress for the
mother. If she is threatened by pred-
11d) There are sex changes in
frogs and some fish such
as the clown fish. Some snail species
ators or a lack of food, she can drop only occur as hermaphrodites.
her young and thus ensure her own
survival.

QUOTABLE QUOTES
The climate By being who

crisis is here, I am, I hope
today; it will that allows
only worsen others to be
in the future. who they are.
The world must SAM KERR, FOOTBALL PL AYER
take steps now
to mitigate its Mistakes are the can openers of the
severity and its conversations we most need to have.
effects on the APARNA NANCHERL A, COMEDIAN
world’s most
vulnerable. You know the saying:
Everything happens
FR ANCESCO ROCCA,
PRESIDENT OF THE
for a reason?
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION That reason is
OF RED CROSS AND RED
CRESCENT SOCIETIES
usually physics!
BILL NYE,
SCIENCE BROADCASTER
MY MOTHER
ALWAYS SAYS:
KNOW YOUR A piece of art is its
WORTH. own little world, one
OTHERWISE, that conjures the
feeling that everything

SOMEONE ELSE is as it should be, with
WILL TELL YOU nothing wasted and
WHAT IT IS. nothing missing.
IMAN, MODEL MICHAEL CHRISTIE, AUTHOR

ART OF LIVING
H OW TO
GET A LONTG
WI H
Master awkward conversations with these

seven tricky personality types
BY Rosemary Counter
I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y C L AY T O N H A N M E R
W
h i le ma k i ng pol ite sma l l retorts – “just fat, thanks,” deep-root-
talk at a baby shower, my ed doubts about my maternal capa-
day w a s qu ic k l y r u i ned. bilities, fear of climate change, or
“Ooh, are you expecting?!” asked perhaps a well-deserved expletive –
a family friend, looking me up and but, sadly, none materialised. Instead
down. I sheepishly shook my head, I murmured that I was busy with
instantly regretting both my party work and excused myself to mope for
dress and my plate of mini-sand- the rest of the afternoon.
wiches. Then, just when I thought I’ve since recovered emotionally,
it couldn’t get worse, it did: “Well,” but I sometimes wonder: What should
she asked, “why not?” I have said to a nosy question from a
My mind flooded with reasons and rude person? And how about all those
other challenging personalities

we have to talk to whether we
want to or not?
So I asked ex per ts about
how to deal with the trickiest,
meanest and most maddening
personalities.
THE COMPLAINER
You know the type: this restau-
rant’s too pricey, the music’s too
loud, their burger is overdone
and they can hardly taste it
anyhow because they’re coming
down with something. People
who whine are great fodder for
comedians. But in real life, the Com- THE CONTRARIAN
plainer isn’t so funny. You say it’s a nice day; they say it’s
“This is a person who thinks life too hot. You’ve read a good book; it
is unfair to them,” says psychologist was the worst book they’ve read in a
Jody Carrington. Nobody is that put decade. You mention that they con-
out by a burger; they’re down about tradict everything you say; they say,
other, bigger things and are taking it “No, I don’t!”
out on specific, controllable things “A Contrarian is someone who just
like what’s on their plate. likes to argue,” explains Monica Guz-
How should you deal with this man, an expert in curiosity. “Some-
good-mood thief? “If you want to times this is fun, but other times
interact better with these people, it it’s aggressive and unpleasant. The
starts with empathy,” says Carring- Contrarian can’t always tell the dif-
ton. (This is true for all tricky per- ference.” So while you’re arguing the
sonalities, but especially for a Com- issue at hand, they’re arguing for the
plainer.) Start by removing the small sake of argument – and so they win
stuff from the equation – maybe let every time.
them choose the restaurant – so you How to better brave this battle?
can both focus on the big picture. Get A Contrarian only wants to spar, so
them to talk about what’s really both- pick your battles. For anything in-
ering them and challenge their neg- consequential, says Ian Leslie, an ar-
ativity with questions about what’s gument expert, “the most disarming
good in their lives. way to handle a Contrarian is to say

How To Get Along With Anyone
you agree with them.” This doesn’t the reason, they probably don’t even
mean you should lie. Try “I agree notice they do this, nor the deeper
with you on that” about something reason why.
small and specific, or “I can definite- “Particularly in kids, Chatterbox-
ly see your point” if you truly don’t es could also be called connection
agree on a single thing. Then change seekers,” says Carrington. “That’s all
the topic. they’re after, but they’re not giving you
W hen you want to stand your the chance to connect back.” And be-
ground, you can move the Contrarian cause they’re chatting a mile a minute,
beyond their default defence position you might not notice until you’re irked
by becoming a more nuanced oppo- on the drive home, having realised all
nent. “You can sometimes get them your stories were hijacked.
off the opinion showdown by asking Next time, try the phrase you’d
them for their story or experience least expect: “Tell me more.” Says
with a matter,” says Guzman. Asking Carrington: “Choose a topic and let
“How did you come to believe that?” them exhaust it. Ask them questions,
can move a conversation away from a follow up and really listen.”
competition of opinions and towards Once the Chatterbox has run out of
a personal perspective. things to say, their need to be heard
has been met, so now it’s your turn.
THE CHATTERBOX Jump in with something like “I love
If you can’t ever seem to finish a sen- your stories and I have one for you,
tence, chances are you’re face-to-face too.” For once, the floor is yours.
with a Chatterbox. Despite
the cute name, they can be a
frustrating bunch, explains
communication expert Sandy
Gerber. “The Chatterbox is
a story stealer. They identify
with what you’re saying and
then give a story about them-
selves.”
It can feel like the Chatter-
box is constantly trying to one-
up you, but it’s not necessarily
true. They could be socially
anxious, uncomfortable with
silence or just extra passionate
and excitable. But whatever
THE TECH ADDICT tuck the phone away. (But if the an-
Socially, few things are more answer is something real, talk about it.)
noying than someone repeatedly Better yet, avoid the situation in
checking their phone in the mid- advance by saying something like,
dle of your conversation with them. “I’m really interested in catching up
Soon enough, you’re projecting sulky properly, so how about we leave our
thoughts their way like, I’m boring phones in the car?” If they indeed
you/You’re more concerned with have that f lat tyre or sick kid, you
whoever’s on that phone than me/ won’t have to assume it’s because
You don’t care about me, explains your stories are boring.
Carrington. None of that’s neces-
sarily true, but this is: “If someone is THE DRAMA QUEEN
engaged in a great conversation, they “The Chatterbox on steroids” in Car-
wouldn’t care about their phone,” she rington’s words, the Drama Queen (or
says. Ouch. King) is someone who similarly dom-
Whether you say something or not, inates the conversation, chatting your
remember the Tech-Addict’s annoy- ear off about all the wild things you
ing habits aren’t about you. “It’s rude, will never believe are happening in
for sure, but sometimes we mistake the “Worst. Week. Ever!” (The boring
the behaviour for more than what it details of your week, meanwhile, can’t
is,” says Leslie. “It’s possible they’re possibly compare with what’s going
just nervous or anxious,” he says. on in their life, so don’t even try.)
It’s also possible their partner is
stranded with a flat tyre or their
kid is sick. The point is, you don’t
know.
So before you hastily rage at
the Tech-Addict’s blatant rude-
ness, focus instead on building
a better conversation than what-
ever’s going down on Instagram.
You might never be able to
achieve this, given the power
of today’s clickbait, so if you’re
close enough to a person, Car-
rington advises you to cheekily
ask them: “What’s on that thing
that’s so alluring?” Chances are
they’ll apologise and sheepishly

How To Get Along With Anyone
“This person’s always exag-

gerating because they want
to be the centre of attention,”
says Gerber. The more they do
this, the more we pull away
from the over-the-top emo-
tions of a life in constant crisis.
“We tend to avoid them
because keeping up with the
drama is an energy sucker,”
says Carrington. “But this
only means they’ll turn it
up. They’ve often exhausted
other people in their lives
so they come on even stronger.” The “The Frenemy is passive-aggressive
Drama Queen desperately wants and motivated by their perceived lack
your attention and she’s also terrified of value,” says Gerber. “They’re rolling
she’ll lose it; she’s putting on a show their eyes at anything that you have,
in hopes you’ll never look away. or do, that feels like it’s undervaluing
Resist the urge to cut her off; in- them.” To feel better about them-
stead set boundaries you can both selves, the Frenemy is desperate to
stick to. “Be really clear in advance knock you down a little bit at a time.
about what you’re willing and not W hen dealing with a Frenemy,
willing to do,” says Carrington. May- protect yourself by recognising a
be this means you’ll talk about her ex negative judgement and not taking it
for 20 minutes but no longer. personally. “These people are almost
firing arrows at you,” explains Wis-
THE FRENEMY ner, “so you can dodge the arrow; let
Though all these personalities are the arrow pierce and hurt or offend
difficult, perhaps none is more so you; or catch the arrow and stop it.”
than the Frenemy – someone who is Options A and B are easy in the mo-
equal parts friend and enemy, a sub- ment, but C is the brave choice if you
tle and complicated phenomenon. “I want things to change. To start a dif-
call this a see-saw friendship,” says ficult conversation, Wisner suggests
Gerber. “Because of the highs and saying, “That doesn’t feel sincere to
lows, you never know what you’re me. Did you mean that?”
going to get.” One day your friend is That might address a particular jab,
fun to be with; the next they seem a but if you actually want to fix and save
bit mean – and you have no clue why. the friendship – and maybe you don’t
– you’re going to need to dig deeper. “What they consider to be acceptable,

“These people are competitive on need-to-know information is differ-
the surface, but underneath they’re ent than what it is for you.”
insecure and highly distrustful,” At the same time, the Oversharer is
says Gerber. To turn a frenemy into also trying to get closer to you by re-
a real friend, you’re going to have to vealing more about themselves – and
talk about it. “Tell them what you’re hoping you’ll do the same. “We tend
looking for in a friendship and what to label these people as nosy, invasive
you’re willing to offer,” she says. “But or rude,” notes Gerber, “but they real-
if they can’t or won’t have that con- ly just want to be liked and accepted.”
versation, well, that’s your answer.” To satisfy the Oversharer, and si-
multaneously veto the endless com-
THE OVERSHARER mentary, consider sharing something
Unsol icited com menta r y about else – still personal but less invasive
someone’s love life, their best friend’s – that satisfies their urge to connect.
messy divorce or whatever just hap- W hen they really cross the line,
pened in the bathroom are all clues say something that indicates your
you’ve got an Oversharer on your boundary is being crossed. “That’s
hands. Whether they’re telling too private!” says everything.
much or asking for details you’re not A compliment also works wonders
comfortable sharing, this persona with an Oversharer, adds Gerber, be-
has neither a filter nor boundaries. cause it refocuses the conversation in
Why would anyone in their right their direction while subtly resetting
mind list their irritable bowel syn- your boundary. For example, I could
drome symptoms over brunch? Be- have given this wise response to my
cause of two specific human quali- nosy family friend at the baby show-
ties: the first is an unwritten personal er: “You made having kids look so
boundary that’s far from yours. “The easy! How did you do it?”
discomfort you feel comes from a I missed my chance that time. But
difference of standards about what next time, I’ll be ready to face an
topics of conversation are OK,” says Oversharer – or the other challenging
Chuck Wisner, a leadership adviser. people it takes to make a world.
Whimsical Wins
Counting nose hairs in cadavers, repurposing dead spiders and
explaining why scientists lick rocks are among the winning entries
in 2023’s Ig Nobels, the prize for humorous scientific feats. AP NEWS

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ALL IN A DAY’S WORK

Humour On The Job
“Oh dear. Looks like your father has brought work home with him again.”
Listen Up one of the principals of the firm: “He CARTOON: TERRY COLON. ILLUS TR ATION: GE T T Y IMAGES
If you like to eavesdrop on your has been driving around with his
colleagues, these are the sorts of windshield wipers on because he
conversations you might encounter: can’t figure out how to turn them off.
Employee on phone with Do you really think he’ll understand
customer: “I just need to cross my X’s this?” OVERHEARDINTHEOFFICE.COM
and circle my O’s, then I can get back
to you.” Career Calling
Person in the next booth: “Why do During a job interview I was asked
things that happen to stupid people “Are you OK with hybrid?”
always happen to me?” I replied, “Sure, I can drive a
Project manager, speaking about hybrid.” SUBMITTED BY DEEPAK VOHR A

All In A Day’s Work
Lost In My Work Space Caking My Day

I sat at my desk, picked up the I work with four year olds. This
phone receiver and tried to dial happened yesterday.
the numbers on my computer Girl: “You’re the best teacher! I love
keyboard. It seems I am not alone. you more than cake!”
One of the other secretaries said Me: “Aww. Do you love cake?”
she often sits in her seat in the office Girl: “No, I don’t like cake at all.”
and wonders why she can’t find her NOTALWAYSRIGHT.COM
seat belt.
SUBMITTED BY MARGARET ROBERTSON
RIGHT TO BE BORING
Open In Case Of Emergency A French man who was fired in 2015
for essentially being boring recently
When I was in pilot training, there won his lawsuit against
was a cupboard in the hallway of the his old bosses. The unnamed
officers’ quarters. On the door was a employee, who goes by Mr T, had
sign: Officer Storage. worked as a senior advisor for the
Underneath, someone had Paris-based consultancy firm Cubik
scribbled, “So that’s where they keep Partners, which is notable for its
them.” SUBMITTED BY DALE ‘BOOTS’ HILL “fun and pro” approach
to work.
Mum’s Word Is Law The man was let go after refusing to
My mum is a lawyer. When I was 13, join his co-workers after hours at
we got into an argument and she pubs and elsewhere – outings that
accidentally called me Your Honour. he said often ended in debauchery.
She never really came back from Nor did he partake in the exchange
that one. @K ATIEDIMARTIN of crazy nicknames. In siding with
the ex-employee, the court ruled
Plane Talking that the company couldn’t force its
I was walking up the aisle of the workers to be fun.
plane when I noticed an anxious- METRO.CO.UK
looking woman tightly gripping
the armrests of her seat. As a flight
attendant, I’ve seen a lot of that,
so I stopped to offer help. With a
reassuring smile, I asked, “Are you
afraid of flying?”
“No!” she shot back. “Of
crashing!”
SUBMITTED BY RICHARD SWERDLOW
TRAVEL
Full
Steam
Ahead! I got the chance to drive
the world’s last scheduled
steam train
By Martin Fletcher
FROM THE FINANCIAL TIMES

Standing in Leszno
Station, the OL49-69
steam locomotive
t’s 5.20am, and I’m sound invited me to visit in February 2020.

asleep in a guest house in I booked my flights, but the day be-
Wolszt yn, a small tow n in fore my departure he called to say
western Poland. The light that none of the three trains were
snaps on outside my room. working. Then came COVID-19 and
I hear Howard Jones, my host, the lockdowns.
shout: “It’s working! It’s working!” I resurrected my plans in ear-
Thirty minutes later, Jones and ly 2022 and booked a f light for a
I reach the train station. It is cold, dark three-day visit to Poland. There,
and raining, but sure enough there’s a I met Peter Lockley, a railway en-
huge black steam engine standing at thusiast – more commonly known
the platform with clouds of steam and as a ‘gricer’. The retired solicitor
smoke billowing from its chimney. from central England now travels
We climb up into the cab, where t he world photog raphing steam
A ndrzej and Marcin, t he driver engines for fun, and, like me, he
and fireman (or engine stoker) are wanted a crack at driving one. But
waiting in their grimy clothes and when I arrived in Wolsztyn, Jones
baseball caps. At precisely 6.03am, broke the news that just one of the
the great steel monster pulls out of locomotives was working.
the station, clanking and creaking, The steam-train from Wolsztyn to
shaking and shuddering, huffing Leszno, some 45 kilometres away,
and puffing as it slowly gathers pace. runs twice daily on weekdays most
Thus, the world’s last scheduled of the year, at 6.03am and 11.41am.
standard-gauge steam-train service, After arriving in Wolsztyn late, I opt-
the last one primarily for regular pas- ed to take the second run. That was
sengers, not tourists, begins its morn- a mistake. The loco developed a fault
ing journey. in its brake pump on the early run,
It is also the last one on which nov- so the later run was cancelled.
ices like me can learn to drive. But That gave me time, at least, to be
I’m getting ahead of myself. inducted into the strange and secret
PHOTOS: COURTESY MARTIN FLE TCHER
It was four years ago that a friend of fraternity of gricers – most of them old
a friend, who was a steam-train lover, enough to recall Britain’s steam trains.
told me about Wolsztyn’s steam en- They were raised on Thomas the Tank
gines and of Howard Jones, the cu- Engine books, and films like Brief En-
rious Englishman who had done so counter and The Railway Children.
much to keep them going by setting T he g uest house where Jones
up courses for those who longed to accommodates v isitors is full of
drive them. steam-engine memorabilia: signals,
Intrigued, I contacted Jones, who ticket-collectors’ caps, guards’ lamps,

Full Steam Ahead!
platform signs, model trains, railway and Poland. That was how he discov-
DVDs and photos. ered the Wolsztyn depot.
Lockley and I explored the Wolsz- Steam trains had survived longer
tyn engine ‘shed’, a depot where there in Communist Poland than else-
is a splendid old ‘roundhouse’, a rail- where because it produced lots of
way turntable of a sort I had not seen cheap coal, and diesel replacements
since childhood. There were also 18 were expensive. Steam engines were
steam engines in various states of re- still common in the 1980s, and three
pair. Lockley knew them all. or four working sheds survived until
“That,” he’d say, “is a Pm36-2, built 1990, but by 1994, Wolsztyn’s was the
in Poland in 1937 and the last of its last one left. “It was just clinging on,”
kind in the world.” Jones told me.
Over a lunch of wild-mushroom By that time, Jones’s company –
soup and venison in a pre-war aris- and his marriage – were in trouble,
tocrat’s countr y mansion, Jones, so he decided to follow his heart. In
then aged 70, told me his story. Born 1997, he moved from England to Po-
and raised in London, his father land to try to save Wolsztyn and its
took him to see a rare Clan Stew- steam engines. He promised to raise
art steam locomotive at Liverpool funds for the shed if the state railway
Street Station when he was five. He company kept running the trains.
would sneak into train sheds with He tapped into the surprisingly large
na mes li ke Cr ick lewood, Neas- community of British train lovers. He
den and Old Oak Common to
admire the engines. Marcin, the stoker, in
“In the summer it was train- the locomotive’s cab,
spotting, and on the dour win- among the levers and
ter days it was a model railway handles
in the bedroom,” he said. When
the last regular steam-train pas-
senger service ended in Britain
in 1968, “It was almost like los-
ing a close friend,” said Jones.
He left school just as the era
of cheap package holidays was
starting. He worked for a couple
of travel agencies, and later set
up a company that organised
weekend trips for British gricers
to heritage railways in Germany
persuaded 40 gricers to invest £2000 You call them ‘she’, and you swear at
each, and in return they could spend them. It requires a lot of skill to drive
one week a year for the next five years a steam engine, but any idiot can
learning to drive the trains. drive a diesel or an electric.”
By the early 2000s he was attract-
ing visitors from around the world. In ON MY SECOND MORNING the brake
2006, he was awarded the Member of pump was still broken. I was due to
the British Empire for this work and fly home at noon the next day. So a
his contribution to British-Polish young employee was sent on an 11-
relations. Today the Wolsztyn-to- hour, 1000-k ilometre round-trip
Leszno service carries around 50,000 drive to a railway museum in south-
passengers a year, of which only ern Poland to get a part.
about 5000 are tourists. When he returned, the pump
I asked Jones what he found so fas- was swiftly mended, and at 5.20am
cinating about steam engines. “They on my third and final day, Jones
are the closest thing in machinery to woke me. Over the next three hours
being alive – like breathing dragons,” I began to understand why gricers are
he explained. “No two are alike. You gricers.
have to learn how each one handles. Dressed in a boiler suit, I climbed
Railway workers in
Wolsztyn trying to repair
the steam locomotive’s
faulty brake pump

Full Steam Ahead!
two metres of metal steps to the cab of hot air each time we open its steel
of the engine, an OL49-69 built in doors to expose the red-hot furnace.
the early 1950s. It has wooden floor- At times we reach 60 kilometres per
boards, and doors and windows held hour and the whole loco is vibrating,
together by wire. In front of me, over but somehow we make perfect stops
the firebox, is a bewildering bank of at every station.
levers, wheels and dials. Behind is the Approaching Leszno, our branch
coal tender. Every surface is oily, black line merges with a dozen others. An
and grimy. There is a smell of sulphur. unseen signalman guides us through
Jones showed me the regulator (a the tangle, and we grind to a halt in
steel lever that serves as the accel- a crescendo of noise and smoke. Die-
erator), the reverser (a wheel that sel and electric trains glide in and out
determines direction of travel) and a almost silently, but steam engines are
handle for the brakes. Then we’re off prima donnas – a statement.
– 140 tonnes of steel rumbling into the A dozen passengers get off, and
darkness. scarcely 20 minutes later we set off
It is thrilling, but alarming, too. We back to Wolsztyn. This time the loco
can barely see the tracks because the is at the end; we are going in reverse.
loco’s long boiler is in the way. An- We pass factories, warehouses and
drzej, a 67-year-old who is a 48-year modern houses as we leave Leszno.
veteran of the railways, relies almost We thunder through rich farmland,
entirely on his intimate knowledge of then forests of pine and silver birch,
the track to know when to accelerate scattering deer. We pick up shoppers,
and when to stop. He could navigate and night workers going home, 38
it blindfolded. passengers in all. Then we’re pulling
Leszno is 45 kilometres, or 83 min- into Wolsztyn station, having burned
utes, away. En route we stop at 11 vil- our way through two tonnes of coal.
lage stations. Normally there would be It is 9.07am. Elated, I thank Andrzej
lots of schoolchildren waiting on the and Marcin, pull off my boiler suit and
platforms, but it is a school break, so sprint to a waiting car, my hands and
today we pick up just a few commut- face black and filthy. I should make it
ers. They are blithely unaware that to my plane on time.
they have a beginner helping in the
© MARTIN FLETCHER 2022. ‘DRIVING EUROPE’S LAST
engine room, pulling levers as Andrzej STEAM TRAIN’, FINANCIAL TIMES/FT.COM, FEB 14,
barks instructions in broken English. 2022. USED UNDER LICENSE FROM THE FINANCIAL
TIMES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
I’m told to blow the whistle as we
approach crossings. I shovel chunks Update: Howard Jones, the founder
of coal into the blazing firebox, filling of the ‘Wolsztyn Experience’, passed
the cab with an orange glow and blast away in June 2023 at the age of 71.
BONUS READ
IN THE
BA L A N C E
Real-life stories by a leading neurosurgeon
BY Dr Christopher Honey
FROM THE TENTH NERVE
PHOTOS: JACKIE DIVES

F
or most people, neurosur- construction worker who had fallen
gery is a mysterious, high- six metres from scaffolding while
st a kes profession – but installing windows in a new hotel.
that’s part of the reason I The paramedics had found him on
was drawn to it as a curious his back, unconscious but breathing,
child and, eventually, as a medical and had transported him to hospital
intern and PhD student. on a spine board with a neck collar.
And while surgeons are trained to My pager beeped and I headed for
be detached and rational, some pa- the trauma bay. The doctor in charge
tients have left an indelible mark on was Dr Grant Drysdale*, an emergen-
my soul. Here are the stories of two cy doctor in his early 50s, short, lean,
who profoundly changed my un- with grey frizzled hair. He was being
derstanding of both medicine and briefed by a paramedic.
myself – and of what it means to be “No medical history. Vitals stable.
human. Glasgow score was three at the scene
but 14 in the ambulance.” The Glas-
JEFF gow Coma Scale is a numeric rep-
In the autumn of 1986, I was an in- resentation of the level of conscious-
tern at St Michael’s Hospital in To- ness: from three (deeply comatose) to
ronto, having just finished medical 15 (fully alert). Our patient was a 14,
school and begun a one-year clinical meaning alert but confused.
rotation to complete my qualifica- In obv ious pain and moaning
tions. My internship was designed to loudly through clenched teeth, he
provide exposure to a variety of spe- fought with everyone. His eyes were
cialties. I had spent two months each squeezed shut from the pain. The
in emergency, obstetrics, paediatrics, board he lay on and the cervical col-
internal medicine and psychiatry. I lar around his neck were to keep his
was now trying the field of surgery. spine immobilised. He was moving
As a naive ten-year-old, I had found all four limbs, suggesting he did not
neurosurgery appealing, but now, as have an obvious spinal cord injury.
an intern at age 25, I was learning I stood behind Dr Drysdale, wait-
its realities. I was on call for the first ing to be told what to do.
time, working all night and the next The orderly ran large scissors up
day. I began to question if it was right one pant leg and a moment later Jeff’s
for me. shirt was open. Two nurses, one on
That doubt was allayed one night each side, pushed intravenous (IV)
in the emergency room (ER) when lines into his arms. Then they stuck
a patient named Jeff arrived by electrocardiogram leads on his chest
ambulance. Jeff was a 19-year-old and put a small white pulse oximeter

Lives In The Balance
on his finger. The monitor began to nurse held the head, another reached
beep with each heartbeat at a pitch across his chest to hold his left arm,
proportional to the amount of oxygen the orderly reached across his legs to
in his blood. The beep had a reassur- hold his left thigh, and I stood motion-
ingly high pitch. less not knowing what to do.
A blood pressure cuff was wrapped Dr Dr ysdale looked at me and
around his upper right arm; the read- said, “Grab his legs.” I moved beside
ing, 105/55, was lower than it should the orderly and held Jeff’s ankles.
be, but not alarming. His heart rate Dr Dr ysdale counted, “On three.
was 130 and his res- Ready, one… two…
piratory rate was 26 DR DRYSDALE WAS t h ree.” Ever yone
– both higher than VISIBLY SHAKEN. rolled Jeff towards
normal but not sur- them so Dr Drys-
prising for a patient WE HAD ONLY FIVE dale could see his
in pain. MINUTES BEFORE back while keeping
Dr Drysdale as- THE PATIENT the spine straight.
sessed the victim’s A f ter palpating
airway, breathing WOULD DIE Jeff’s back, from be-
a nd c i rc u lat ion. low the collar to his
Everything was OK. He spoke to him, tailbone, Dr Drysdale said, “Wait a
“Can you tell me your name?” second. What’s that?” He was looking
The patient spoke through his at Jeff’s back. “There’s a two-and-a-
clenched teeth, “Jeff…” half centimetre cut between the ribs
“Jeff, where does it hurt?” on the left.” Reaching into the thin
“My back, my back… my f–– back.” wound, he found a piece of glass and
The words were muffled, but it was started pulling it out as Jeff moaned
clear to everyone where the pain was louder. It was out, and Dr Drysdale
and how much he had. stood up and held up the bloodied
“I’m going to examine you to make shard. It was as long as a steak knife
sure you don’t have any broken and slightly wider.
bones,” Dr Drysdale said. He moved “Roll him back, and call thoracics!”
quickly through Jeff’s scalp, face, jaw, he yelled out to the charting nurse.
chest and abdomen, before method- The volume of his voice underlined
ically squeezing up and down each the urgency of his request for the tho-
arm and leg. racic surgery team, who dealt with
“We need to roll him,” he an- serious chest injuries.
nounced, and all the players took their We slowly rolled Jeff back. The mo-
positions. Everyone stood on Jeff ’s ment he lay flat on his back, he went
right side except Dr Drysdale. One limp and stopped moaning. His arms
fell to his sides. I was still holding Four minutes left.

his ankles, but now his feet, which Dr Drysdale listened to Jeff’s
had been pointing straight up, were chest with his stethoscope. With
flopped open. each pump of the ventilator, he
“W hat’s his pressure?” barked could hear air filling both lungs.
Dr Drysdale. The nurse inflated the There was no airway problem.
cuff and, after what seemed like an Circulation, however, was cata-
eternity, said, “I’ve got nothing.” strophically impaired. “What’s his
Dr Drysdale demanded two litres pressure?”
of saline and four units of O-negative “Nothing,” the nurse responded.
blood, the blood type that can be giv- I stepped away from the foot of the
en to anyone. It arrived in the hands bed to stay out of the way but be
of a breathless orderly and soon was ready to help when told what to
flowing into Jeff’s left arm. do. This was no longer a learning
Dr Drysdale was visibly shaken. The moment where a mentor would
patient was in trouble, and there were stop to teach you some important
only about five minutes to figure out point. A life was slipping away and
the problem before he would die. Jeff only Dr Drysdale could save him.
was motionless and unresponsive. We were his extra pairs of hands,
Dr Drysdale, standing on the pa- not his partners.
tient’s left side, grabbed his shoulder, Three minutes.
squeezed it and yelled at him, “Jeff, “Why’s he got no pressure?”
open your eyes!” Dr Drysdale said aloud. He glanced
There was no response. He grabbed up at the electrocardiogram (ECG),
Jeff’s left nipple, squeezed and turned seeing what looked like a flat line from
it, and yelled again, “Does that hurt?” where he was standing.
Nothing. Without any blood pressure “Start compressions,” he com-
to perfuse it, Jeff’s brain had stopped manded, and the team immediately
working. “We’ll tube him,” Dr Drys- moved to begin CPR – cardiopulmo-
dale told the nurse. nary resuscitation. A nurse leaned
Dr Drysdale was going to intubate the heel of her hands hard into the
the patient because in an uncon- middle of Jeff’s chest and counted,
scious person the tongue can relax “One and two and three and four, and
into the throat and cut off air to the five and six and seven and eight… .”
lungs. He opened Jeff’s mouth with Each compression pushed Jeff’s
a metal-bladed laryngoscope and chest down against his spine and
slid an endotracheal tube down his squeezed his heart, mimicking a
throat. Then the tube was connected heartbeat. The compressions forced
to a ventilator to breathe for him. whatever blood was in his heart to

move out into the aorta and around to find the carotid pulse to see if his
his body, thanks to the heart’s one- heart was working and moved his
way valve system. fingers around above the neck collar
After 15 compressions, the respira- in several places. Dr Drysdale looked
tory therapist squeezed the ventilation up at the ECG rhythm and saw a flat
bag and pushed two large breaths into line. No heart activity.
the patient’s lungs. The endotracheal Two minutes.
tube had been disconnected from the “Restart compressions.” He still
ventilator and attached to a bag of could not find a pulse. “Give me a
oxygen so the breaths could be coor- shot of ‘epi’ and be prepared to shock
dinated with the chest compressions. him.” The nurse injected into the IV
After 30 compressions, another two one milligram of epinephrine – the
breaths. injectable form of adrenalin, the pow-
“Hold compressions.” Dr Dr ys- erful hormone that gives the heart a
dale reached for Jeff’s neck. He tried boost of energy. The defibrillator was
brought in, but Dr Drysdale knew that “Asystole,” Dr Drysdale called out.
someone with no heart activity (‘asys- “Resume compressions.”
tole’) would not respond to its shock. “No!” I shouted. “He has a rhythm.”
He wanted it ready in case the rhythm “What?” Dr Drysdale was as sur-
changed to something shockable. prised that I would contradict him
The nurse pushed down on Jeff’s as he was that I thought there was
chest and the respiratory therapist a rhythm. The room was silent. The
squeezed air into his lungs. Dr Drys- protocol does not allow for discus-
dale held Jeff’s wrists to measure the sion or dissent. Everyone was star-
degree of pulsation ing at me, but I just
in his radial artery. THE GLASS SHARD looked at Dr Drys-
“Deeper compres- HAD CUT INTO dale and spoke di-
sions,” Dr Dr y s- rectly to him.
dale commanded.
JEFF’S HEART LIKE “ T he r e’s a
The nurse put the A DAGGER, BUT IT rhythm, I can see
full weight of her HAD PLUGGED ITS it,” I assured him.
shoulders into the Dr Dr ysdale
compressions, but
OWN HOLE hadn’t been able to
t he doctor cou ld see it because the
not feel much pulsation. monitor was above his head and his
“Deeper!” Dr Drysdale was not bifocals showed him only the details
pleased, but the nurse was maxing below his nose. Now, he moved right
out her effort. up to the monitor, lifted his glasses
“Chris! Take over compression.” and tilted his head way back.
He flashed a glance at me. I moved “Agree,” he announced. He was
next to the nurse, ready to crush Jeff’s calmer than I was and emotionless
chest. My own adrenalin had charged in his tone. There was no “Congrat-
my muscles. I began, counting aloud ulations!” or “How dare you?” It was
up to 15 and then a pause for the two just the right answer and now the
breaths. I was standing on the foot- protocol changed.
stool and staring straight ahead at “EMD!” Dr Drysdale called out.
the ECG monitor in front of me. “Another shot of epi.”
After a few cycles Dr Drysdale said, Electromechanical dissociation
“Hold compressions!” and we froze in occurs when there is electrical ac-
position. I stared at the monitor and tivity in the heart but no coordinat-
saw a faint tracing of a pulse. It had ed pulsation to push any blood. The
the characteristic shape of an ECG chance of survival is 20 per cent.
tracing, but the amplitude was re- One minute.
duced almost to a flat line. “ R e s u m e c o m p re s s i o n s,” h e

ordered, and I leaned down hard on “Sterile gloves. Prep the belly.” He
Jeff’s chest. We had begun another cy- opened the tray and put it between
cle when the doctor yelled “Stop!” In Jeff’s legs as I gloved and rubbed his
a flash of intuition, Dr Drysdale had lower chest and abdomen with brown
suddenly understood exactly what iodine, which pooled in his belly
was happening to Jeff. He pulled open button. I wondered why Dr Drysdale
the stiff cervical collar around the pa- was asking me to be involved at this
tient’s neck. crucial stage. Perhaps it was a small
Jeff’s neck veins were engorged reward for seeing the rhythm.
with blood, standing out like ropes Dr Drysdale connected the car-
under his skin. Dr Drysdale looked diocentesis syringe to a needle that
at me over the top of his glasses and was at least 30 centimetres long. He
said, “Cardiac tamponade!” attached one of the ECG wires to
The diagnosis explained everything the needle with an alligator clip and
and, more importantly, it had a treat- then turned to me. “Stand here. En-
ment. The heart is surrounded by an ter here. Aim for his right shoulder.”
empty sac called the pericardium, Dr Drysdale was pointing to a spot
which allows it to beat without rub- just below Jeff’s lowest left rib.
bing against anything else. If the sac I was stunned that he wanted me
fills with blood, however, the heart is to do this but immediately walked
squeezed smaller. It can still beat but it around to Jeff’s left side, took hold
cannot fill with much blood between of the mother of all needles, then
each beat. The output of the heart, its pushed the tip in exactly where
pulse, gets weaker until the heart can- Dr Drysdale had pointed. The skin
not fill at all. The glass shard had cut puckered inwards, then gave way as
into Jeff’s heart like a dagger but had the needle plunged through. I was
plugged its own hole. When the shard aiming for Jeff’s shoulder, and his
was removed, the ruptured heart be- heart was somewhere along the way.
gan squirting blood into the pericar- “When you feel the heart, stop and
dial sac, choking the muscle closed. suck back.” Dr Drysdale’s instruc-
The cure was to relieve the pressure tions were simple, but I had no idea
around the heart by draining the fluid what the heart would feel like at the
in the pericardial sac. end of a long needle.
“Cardiocentesis needle,” Dr Drys- “If the ECG fires, you’re in too
dale ordered, and the nurse flew to deep,” he added. That made sense
the shelves at the back of the trauma because the needle would cause the
bay and returned with a small box heart to fire, and the ECG wire con-
wrapped in sterile green cloth. nected to the needle would detect
Dr Drysdale looked at me and said, that electrical impulse.
Unexpectedly, I did feel the nee- The needle was still 15 centime-
dle push on the pericardial sac and tres into his chest. I let go of the
then pop through. “I think I got it,” blood-filled syringe and jumped
I said and started to pull back on back, lifting my arms like a criminal
the plunger. Everyone in the room at gunpoint. Jeff reached up to the
was silent and staring at the syringe. endotracheal tube in his mouth and
I pulled harder on the plunger. It ripped it out.
stuck momentarily and then gave “I’m Jeff Sageman* and my back is
way and glided back. Dark red blood killing me!” he yelled. No one moved.
flowed easily into the barrel. After We were dumbfounded and frozen in
30cc, the plunger stopped. It was disbelief.
sucking against something and no Only Dr Drysdale remained calm
more blood came. and knew what to do.
Jeff sat bolt upright. “Okay, Jeff, just lie down and we’ll

take care of you,” he said, as he put slowly. No blood squirted into the
his hand on Jeff’s chest and pushed barrel. Without hesitating, he pierced
him to lie flat. I was still standing Jeff again. Nothing.
with my arms up in surrender when “Open the thoracotomy tray,” he
t he senior resident in t horacics said, and the nurse rushed to the
arrived and announced himself. shelf. The rarely used tray was at the
“Hi. Mike Phoenix*. Thoracics. bottom.
What’s up?” he asked Dr Drysdale. “We have to crack the chest,” he
Dr Drysdale summarised the case told Dr Drysdale. “He won’t make
succinctly. Dr Phoenix looked at the it to the OR.” Dr Drysdale moved to
needle with the blood-filled syringe the head of the gurney and Dr Phoe-
still in Jeff’s chest. “I’ll call the oper- nix moved to the left side. While
ating room (OR),” was all he said, and Dr Phoenix put on gloves and poured
started to walk backwards towards the iodine on Jeff’s chest, Dr Drysdale in-
phone, still looking at Jeff. tubated him again.
T hen Jef f f a i nte d a g a i n . Then Dr Phoenix took a scalpel and
Dr Drysdale felt for his pulse at cut deeply between Jeff’s left fifth and
the neck. Nothing. sixth ribs; the incision curved around
“Chris. Once more,” he looked his chest from below his nipple to-
at me. wards his side. He shoved his hand
I pulled on the syringe, but no in between the ribs and inserted a
more blood came. I moved the rib spreader – two flat metal blades
needle in and out, still pulling, with a crank that allows them to be
but nothing came. Dr Phoenix ratcheted apart.
was suddenly beside me, push- Dr Phoenix then pushed Jeff’s lung
ing me away. He pulled the nee- away with his left hand. There was
dle right out of Jeff and squirted no way to see inside the deep hole in
all the blood onto the blankets Jeff ’s chest, so Dr Phoenix used his
between his legs, then pushed fingertips to feel for the heart. When
the needle back through his up- he found it, he reached for the scalpel
per abdomen but it banged up with his right hand and it completely
against his lowest rib. Then he disappeared into the hole. Dr Phoenix
angled the needle downwards cut a window in the pericardium to re-
and slipped it under the rib, lieve the tamponade on the heart.
pushing the needle to its hilt. “OK,” he said as if the problem was
Thirt y centimetres of metal solved, but Jeff remained motionless.
pierced Jeff’s chest. “No pulse,” Dr Drysdale said with
Keeping suction on the sy- his fingers on Jeff’s neck.
ringe, he pulled the needle back “Let the heart fill,” Dr Phoenix said.
“No pulse,” Dr Drysdale returned, I squeezed more gently and looked

not waiting very long. Jeff was dying up at Dr Drysdale.
again. He nodded reassuringly. “Good
Dr Phoeni x reached back into compressions.” I think he knew what
Jeff’s chest and held his heart in his I was thinking. Then I felt Jeff’s heart
left hand. He squeezed his fingers start to beat in my hand. I held still
towards his palm and rhythmically and felt it move with a twisting pow-
squished Jeff’s heart. Open cardiac er, beating on its own. I had flushed
massage – I had never before seen enough oxygenated blood through to
this done. get it started.
“I need to call the IT WAS THE MOST I left my hand in
OR,” said Dr Phoe- EXHILARATING place, scared any
nix and looked at movement would
me. “Squeeze his THING I’D EVER undo t hings. I
heart.” EXPERIENCED, THE looked at Dr Drys-
I moved behind MOST REWARDING dale and said, “I’ve
D r Phoen i x a nd stopped, but he’s
waited for his in- HOUR OF MY LIFE going,” and waited
structions. He just for instruction.
pulled his hand out and walked away. He said, “Out.” I pulled my hand
No instructions. out.
I pushed my gloved lef t hand Dr Drysdale said, “Good pulse,”
through the tight space between and covered the gaping wound.
Jeff’s ribs and it popped inside. His Dr Phoenix returned and said,
ribs squeezed my forearm and I could “The OR is ready. We’re taking him.”
feel his heart like a chicken breast. With that the orderlies wheeled Jeff
I reached around it and pressed it away to the operating room, sur-
against my palm. It refilled as I let go. rounded by nurses scuttling sideways
I squeezed again and it refilled. This with the stretcher and a respiratory
was working. therapist squeezing the bag blowing
“Good compressions,” Dr Drysdale air into his lungs.
reported, his finger on Jeff’s carot- I looked at Dr Phoenix and called
id artery. Emboldened, I squeezed out to him, “Will he be OK?”
harder. Each time, Jeff’s heart refilled Dr Phoeni x looked at me and
with blood and swelled larger, mov- changed my life forever. “Yeah, he
ing more blood forwards through his just has a hole in his heart.” The sur-
aorta and around his body. Sudden- geons would suture the hole in Jeff’s
ly, I had a horrible thought – what heart, and he would leave hospital
if I put my fingers through his heart? 11 days later. Problem solved.

There was no team debrief. The Vancouver General Hospital, had

charge nurse simply handed me an- helped set up and equip a neurosur-
other chart. I have no idea who that gery service in nearby Ghana. Now
next patient was or what their problem the foundation’s director wanted to
was. All I could think about was get- put a satellite clinic in Liberia.
ting home and telling my wife, Karla, The foundation had sent an African
about the drama of my day. The brief neurosurgeon from Nigeria to the
surgery that allowed me to massage Jackson F. Doe hospital a month ear-
Jeff’s heart was the most exhilarating lier to see patients and identify some
thing I had ever experienced, the most for surgery. The hospital, in Tappita, a
rewarding hour of my life. This man six-hour drive east of the capital, had
had died twice, and lived. Liberia’s only CT scanner. At least
This was how I wanted to spend a dozen people were now waiting
my life. Surgery was the right path for neurosurgery if conditions were
for me. right for me to proceed. This would
be their only chance for the surgery
SAIKA they needed.
By 2014, I’d been a neurosurgeon for Among the cases we would operate
25 years. No patient of mine had died on were two infant boys with mas-
after an elective operation, and I was sively enlarged heads characteristic
proud of my winning streak. I saw my of hydrocephalus. That’s a condition
goal as operating without complica- where the flow of cerebro-spinal flu-
tion, not necessarily improving a paid (CSF) through the brain is blocked
tient’s life. But a baby boy in Africa and the fluid builds up. CSF is a clear,
taught me to see purpose in helping water-like fluid produced within the
the patient yet losing to the disease. ventricles (cavities) of the brain, and
To see that medical learning and dis- f lows around the organ, allowing
covery is not just a science – it’s also it to float inside the skull. If there is
an art. a blockage en route, fluid builds up
In the spring of 2014, I landed in and the ventricles dilate, crushing
Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, as part the brain against the skull.
of an international aid mission that A baby’s skull is made of separate
would perform the first neurosurgi- bones that, to allow the brain to grow,
cal operations in the West African do not fuse for several years. The gaps
country. between these bones, called fonta-
The Korle-Bu Neuroscience Foun- nelles, feel like the soft spot on the top
dation was supporting this effort. of any baby’s head. If hydrocephalus
A group of nurses and physicians, begins before their skull has fused,
i n it ia l ly f rom where I worked, the infant’s head will balloon in size.
Before the 1950s, the condition and its child’s unnecessary suffering, I could
treatment were often lethal. not regard the traditional healer with
But the two babies had very differ- equanimity.
ent prognoses. A CT scan of Joshua, Saika’s CT head scan was so abnor-
nine months old, showed enlarged mal that it was difficult to pick out
ventricles that were pushing outwards the normal structures. Most of his
and enlarging his skull. He would brain was compressed by a grape-
benefit from a ventricular-peritoneal fruit-sized cyst of fluid on the right
shunt, which regulates the flow of CSF, side. All the ventricles were enlarged,
and I had brought and pushed into the
one. He seemed I WAS left side of the head.
otherwise healthy CATEGORICAL IN There was a small
and happy. ribbon of abnormal
The second MY CONCLUSION. brain surrounding
baby, Sa i ka, was WE WERE e v er y t h i n g , a nd
far worse off. Also NOT GOING TO the combination of
nine months old, the cyst f luid and
he could not lift his OPERATE ON SAIKA enlarged ventricles
enlarged head off h ad pu s he d t he
the crib. The brown skin of his scalp skull bones open, causing the mas-
was stretched paper thin, and every sive head. He could not be saved.
vein was visible beneath its translu- When we met to choose which of
cent surface. His young mother lived the boys would be operated on next,
in a small village with no running it was clear: Joshua. His surgery went
water about three days’ walk from well, and we were done by lunchtime.
the hospital. The follow-up CT scan showed the
A nurse told me that Saika had shunt was in an ideal location and had
been treated by the local healer. begun to decompress his ventricles.
When his head began to grow, the Joshua could go home in a few days.
healer wrapped it in a plaster of Our team met that evening to dis-
mud, manure and straw. The mixture cuss our plans for the next day. To my
turned rock-hard in the sun, and the surprise, the Nigerian neurosurgeon
helmet limited skull growth. But the suggested we operate on Saika.
pressure inside Saika’s head eventu- I outlined why this would be futile.
ally broke the plaster. It must have Saika had a serious infection and we
been excruciatingly painful. I knew, had no way of culturing the patho-
as an outsider, that I held Western bi- gen to choose the correct antibiotic.
ases and should not judge, but when The infection probably came from
I heard this story and imagined the the manure that had been wrapped

around his head, the bacteria having would do so, however, were unclear.
entered through his thin scalp. We It was medically unsound.
didn’t have strong enough antibiot- I looked at Saika’s CT scan again,
ics to handle an infection from bowel and eventually concocted a far-
bacteria. Even if we did, we couldn’t fetched but plausible plan. “We could
provide a long-enough course. try to drain the main fluid collection
A closer look at the images of his on the right side of the brain,” I said.
brain showed multiple smaller ab- “He might get relief and we would be
scesses, and we had no way to drain more certain of the diagnosis. If it is
them all. The infection would have an abscess, we will know the progno-
already damaged his brain, and it sis is lethal.”
was highly unlikely he would sur- Saika arrived at nine the next
vive in his village. I was categorical morning, washed and changed by
in my conclusion. We were not going his mother and the nurse. Too weak
to operate on Saika. This child was to cry, he was laid on his back on a
going to die and there was nothing small table covered in green towels.
we could do about it. I explained the plan to everyone in
My Nigerian colleague patiently the room. First, we’d put some anaes-
explained why it was important to thetic in his scalp; he was too weak
try: “We can fail. Africans are used for a general anaesthetic. “Then I will
to medicine failing. There is no cure push a large needle into the part of
for Ebola, for instance. But the vil- his skull where I think the abnormal
lage needs to know we thought it was fluid is,” I said. “Then I’ll withdraw
a medical problem. If we stand back, the syringe plunger to pull out what-
they will think we believed there was ever fluid is there.” The brain doesn’t
something else wrong with him. They feel pain when it is touched. Saika
will cast the mother out of the village. would not suffer.
They will think the boy has been pos- I took a number of measurements
sessed and that there is some evil in off the CT and marked the spot on
his mother for her to have a child like Saika’s head where I thought we
this. Even she will believe she has should go through his scalp. I stud-
done something wrong.” ied the images again to understand
Everyone in the room was nod- the depth and direction of the needle
ding as he spoke. I was dumbstruck. and how the fluid would then distort
I had never formulated a treatment the brain after I began to remove it.
around how society felt about a pa- Brain shift, with a needle deep inside
tient and his mother. They looked the skull, could be disastrous.
at me. I agreed that we should try to When we were ready to begin, I
help this boy. The details of how we gently washed Saika’s scalp with
warm water and soap. The sk in gradually the OR returned to normal.

looked very fragile, so I did not scrub Saika continued to breathe, oblivious
hard. Then I applied dark-brown io- to the near disaster.
dine solution, and after it dried, I put I leaned over Saika again. The nee-
a small amount of local anaesthet- dle pierced his skin and penetrated
ic underneath the skin with a tiny deep into his brain. At the two-centi-
syringe. Saika did not cry. A nurse metre mark, I paused and pulled back
handed me a syringe attached to a the plunger. The syringe filled with a
t hick, f ive-cent i- thick green fluid. It
met re-long ne e- I STARTED TO was easy to get 50cc.
d le. I b ent ov er ADVANCE THE I twisted the syringe
t he baby, rest ing off the needle and
the back of my left
NEEDLE TOWARDS emptied the f luid
hand on his head SAIKA’S SKIN. into a kidney basin.
a nd hold i ng t he THAT’S WHEN THE It was definitely an
s y r i n g e i n b ot h abscess.
hands.
LIGHTS WENT OUT I reconnected the
“OK, here we go,” syringe and pulled
I announced, and started to advance out another 50cc. Then another 50,
the needle’s sharp tip towards Saika’s and another. I had estimated that
skin. the volume of the cyst before surgery
That’s when the lights went out, was at least half a litre (500cc). Saika’s
submerging us in darkness. It was head began to collapse. The next pull
early morning, but the operating of the syringe had resistance – some-
room had no windows. thing was blocking the flow of pus
“What the hell?” the anaesthetist into the needle, probably the brain
blurted. I pulled back. I had not yet collapsing into the evacuated space.
pierced Saika’s head. All the moni- I repositioned the needle further
tors started to beep as they switched back and deeper, pulled out another
over to battery power. The noise was 50cc and then stopped. I did not want
deafening, particularly in the dark. a huge brain shift, which could tear
Four or five minutes later, the some of the blood vessels.
lights came back on. Shortly after, I put a small bandage on Saika’s
someone in dirt-stained overalls scalp where the needle had been. We
peered around the doorway of the would let the infant recover and then
operating room and said, “Don’t reimage his brain. He was swaddled
worr y. We just switched over the and bundled off to the recovery room
generator.” The alarm on each mon- and was back in his mother’s arms a
itor was eventually turned off, and few hours later.

T hat evening I went w it h t he Saika and his mother were wel-

medical team to see how Saika was comed back to their village a few
doing. His mother burst into tears days later. The nurses covered my
of delight when she saw us. Saika small bandage with a very, very large
was much brighter and more active dressing that wrapped around his
since the surgery, she told me. He head like a turban. It was clear to
could cry with strength, and his cry everyone that he had had a medical
sounded more like it did when he procedure – a brain operation.
could lift his head. Normally I get to see my patients
Everyone on our team was beam- after surgery in follow-up and learn
ing and the mood was joyous. Every- how they did. But Saika was a three-
one except me was truly happy. I day walk away – I would not hear
knew Saika would die in a few weeks. anything further about him.
I spoke to his mother through a Back at home, I thought about Sai-
nurse who translated. “We are proud ka a lot. His brief time in this world
of how strong Saika is and how well was painful, but he would surely die
he did during surgery,” I began. “An in his mother’s arms, surrounded
infection made his head grow. I’ve by members of his village who no
removed some of the infection, but longer believed he was possessed
it’s strong and he is very young.” Her by evil spirits. Social progress was
eyes pierced mine when she asked, made. A life was saved: Sa i ka’s
“Can you do more?” mother’s life. My co-workers had
“No,” I replied. made the right call.
She bowed her head and turned I could not put into words why I felt
away. She sat down in a chair be- I was a better doctor for having met
side the crib and looked at Saika and him. I only knew it was so.
then up at me. “Thank you,” came *Names have been changed.
the translation. She did not cry. She EXCERPTED FROM THE TENTH NERVE BY DR CHRIS
picked up her son and held him, HONEY. © 2022, DR CHRIS HONEY. PUBLISHED
BY PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE CANADA LIMITED.
rocking him back and forth in her REPRODUCED BY ARRANGEMENT WITH THE
arms. She understood. PUBLISHER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
How Many Ants Are There In The World?

Ants are tiny in size but not in number. There are about 20,000
trillion individual ants on the Earth at any given time, a new study
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has estimated.
The estimate is two to 20 times higher than previous ones. 9 NEWS
THE
GENIUS
SECTION
Sharpen Your
Mind
Planting
Memories
When we think of family through her belongings. Dividing
them into the familiar post-mortem
heirlooms, jewellery or piles: Retain, Sell, Donate.
crockery comes to mind. I required zero thinking time. Yes, I
would like her aloe vera plant, please.
Olly Mann hopes to save In the orange pot, you know the one?
a plant for the future To the left of the porch. Nothing spe-
cial to look at.
Here’s why.
Sometime around 1975, Grandma
I
s there anything you want from received this plant as a gift. It came
grandma’s f lat? The text was courtesy of the local butcher in rec-
from my uncle. ognition of her loyal custom. A ges-
His mum had passed away ture. A knick-knack.

the week before; aged 96, in a It could, I suppose, just as likely
hospice, completely compos mentis, have been a calendar, or a fountain
indefatigable as ever. He’d begun the pen, or a box of biscuits. But it just
painful yet necessary task of sorting happened to be a pleasantish pot

The Genius Section
plant, which Grandma, who always it dies. If you over-water it, it dies.
had green fingers, appreciated and It doesn’t mix well with toddlers,
placed in her doorway. or dogs, or under-heated f looring,
Five years later, my mum married or under-counter lighting. It doesn’t
the butcher’s son. And stay upright when you
had me. IT WAS A LIVING transport it in a car. In
W hen my father’s EMBODIMENT OF short, with my woeful
THE RELATIONSHIP
mother died in 1993, horticultural sk ills,
Grandma revealed to I’m better off with a
me how this particular THAT EXISTED plastic one from IKEA.
plant was different to BETWEEN TWO But that didn’t used
SIDES OF MY
the dozens of others she to matter, because I
had in her home. How could badger Grand-
this one had history. FAMILY ma for another clip-
It was, she suggest- ping and tr y again.
ed, a living, prosper- Now I can’t. If I kill
ing embodiment of the relationship this one – Grandma’s master plant,
that existed between the two sides of the Mann family heirloom – it will be
my family. irreplaceable.
As, indeed, was I. So, straight after I asked my uncle
In recent years, whenever we’ve for this treasure to be bestowed into
visited Grandma’s flat, I’ve attempt- my custody, I put in place an insur-
ed to enthuse my children with this ance policy: the plant will go and live
compelling concept. with Ann, my mother-in-law.
“Look at that!” I’d exclaim, like a In stark contrast to me, my wife’s
Victorian ringmaster. mother is a genius with a green-
“That was a gift your great-grand- house (indeed, the fact she even has
ma bought your other great-grand- a greenhouse indicates she has a
ma! Before they were even related! It’s substantially more evolved relation-
older than me!” Then my kids would ship with flora and fauna than I do).
shrug, and ask Grandma for a sweet. I’ve seen her grow marrows the size
Numerous times, Grandma gave me of volleyballs, and sunflowers as tall
clippings of this sacred plant, in the as trees. She seems instinctively to
hope I might foster my own and con- know which flowers in her care re-
tinue the legend. Yet, every time, my quire a drink, which a mere spritz,
offshoots died of neglect. and which a veritable swim. In her
Aloe vera is reasonably hardy, but, house, plants live.
as I’ve learned, if you put it above a This afternoon, I took delivery of
heater, it dies. If you underwater it, the famous aloe vera. In the four
week s t hat have elapsed si nce my own front porch for posterity.
Grandma left for hospital, the plant In the meantime, Ann will dis-
has begun to brown and fray at the perse cuttings and clippings among
edges (not because it’s been left un- her own family, as Grandma used
attended, but because those attend- to do. My wife’s two sisters, for ex-
ing to it – my Grandmother’s carer, ample, are both far better at tend-
my mum, my uncle ing plants than I am,
– don’t k now w hat MAYBE ONE DAY I so it is quite conceiv-
they’re doing, either).
Within hours of it
CAN CONFIDENTLY able t hat t hey, too,
will spread cuttings
arriving in my posses- SETTLE THE of the plant around
sion, I carefully dou- MOTHER PLANT IN their partners’ fami-
ble-strapped it into
our car seat, as if it
MY OWN FRONT lies; that this humble
plant might yet spread
were a newborn baby PORCH FOR across my entire ex-
leaving the maternity POSTERITY tended family.
ward, and commuted W hat an amazing
it slowly up the free- outcome, for a gift that
way. Upon arrival, Ann triaged and my dad’s mum gave my mum’s mum
treated it for overwatering, trans- before I even existed. There are oo-
ferred into a new pot, and placed it dles of potential mementos from a
by some French doors “to dry out”. person’s life one can keep to remem-
The plan is for Ann to keep hold ber them by. Photos, recipes, jewel-
of the original plant – at least un- lery, crockery, fragrance – all of these
til I can be trusted to look after its can do the trick. And, no doubt, a bit
progeny. In time, she can teach me of cash from their will can be jolly
how to care for its cuttings properly, nice, too. But I’m content with the
and then maybe one day I can con- aloe vera pot plant from Grandma’s
fidently settle the mother plant in front porch. My Family Tree.
Solved In A Single Breath

An expert Rubik’s cube solver from Singapore added another
world record to his name by solving a puzzle in 9.29 seconds while
underwater. Daryl Tan Hong An, 21, was completely submerged
in a pool when he solved a 3-by-3-by-3 Rubik’s cube in the record-
breaking time. The speedcuber has numerous Guinness World
Records titles to his name. UPI.COM

T H E J OURN E Y T O 1 00% PURE
1HZ=HDODQG
STARTS HERE
_ +27(/6 5(62576 _
ZZZDFKKREVRQFRQ] ZZZSDLKLDSDFLILFFRQ] ZZZDZDKRWHOQ]

PUZZLES
Challenge yourself by solving these puzzles and mind
stretchers, then check your answers on page 154.
Crossword
Test your general
knowledge.
DOWN
2 Rate of data transfer (9)
3 Small electric appliance
that uses radiant heat
(7)
4 Trapped (6)
5 19th century American
philosopher (7)
7 ---, coulda, woulda (7)
8 Eco-conscious (5)
ACROSS 9 Raring to go (2,3,2) CROSSWORD AND SUDOKU: CROSSWORDSITE.COM
1 They get in the way (9) 21 Dishonest person (5) 16 Immensely powerful (9)
6 Long-continued practice (5) 24 Showy decoration (6) 17 Suffer remorse (4,3)
10 Macchu Picchu builder (4) 26 Amount of sugar needed 19 Merit (7)
11 Resting, like actors (10) to help with medication (8) 20 Hazarding (7)
12 Canes (8) 27 Diversion (10) 22 Husband of Eleanor of
28 First name in French Aquitaine (5,2)
13 Stretched-out rectangle (6)
fashion (4) 23 Cockney rhyming slang
14 Embellish (5)
29 Worrier’s malady (5) for piano (6)
15 Strong dislike (9) 30 Advocates of land 25 Standard of perfection
18 Turn on the waterworks (4,5) reform (9) (5)

BRAIN POWER
Puzzle brought to you by
Answers
PAGE 154
Sudoku
HOW TO PLAY: To win, you have to put a number
from 1 to 9 in each outlined section so that:
• Every horizontal row and vertical column
contains all nine numerals (1-9) without repeating
any of them;
• Each of the outlined sections has all nine
numerals, none repeated.
IF YOU SOLVE IT WITHIN:

15 minutes, you’re a true expert
30 minutes, you’re no slouch
60 minutes or more, maybe numbers aren’t your thing
To enjoy more puzzles and interactive games, go to

www.readersdigest.com.au/games-jokes
"Write, Erase, Rewrite"
FAMILY FUN Puzzle

Answers
PAGE 154
Spot The Difference

There are ten differences. Can you find them?
Complete The Set

What colours should be in the corners?

TRIVIA
Test Your General Knowledge
1. New Zealander Taika Waititi has concluded that hallucinogenic drugs
only directed one film which he did were used by Bronze Age Europeans
not write. It was a Marvel Cinematic based on traces found in what
Universe film. What is it? 2 points archaeological evidence? 2 points
2. What US pop star invented a 9. Which country does Australia
keyboard/guitar hybrid dubbed the play against in the Bledisloe Cup, a
Purpleaxxe? 2 points competition first held in 1932? 1 point
3. What semiaquatic animal is the 10. What is the world’s largest tech
only living mammal species that lays company headquartered outside of
eggs, other than the echidna? 1 point the US? 1 point
4. Which Singapore landmark 11. Among the works that have been
is a symbol of the nation’s translated into Klingon, the language
independence? (a) Singapore Flyer spoken by a fictional alien race in
(b) Merlion Park (c) Helix Bridge Star Trek, are The Art of War, The
1 point Wonderful Wizard of Oz and two
5. What tree nuts need to be boiled plays by whom? 1 point
or soaked before they are safe for 12. By 2100, climate change will
humans to eat? 1 point result in five per cent more
6. Malaysia is the largest of what dazzling optical
nation in Southeast Asia. True phenomenon? 2 points
or false. 1 point 13. Where might you be
7. What object accounts surrounded by amniotic
for nearly half of the fluid? 1 point
estimated 80,000 tonnes 15. What US city hired 14. A TV commercial
of ocean plastic in the a director of rodent for what toy, the
Great Pacific Garbage mitigation, a position subject of a 2023
Patch? 2 points nicknamed the ‘rat czar’? film, first aired in

8. Researchers recently 1 point 1959? 1 point
16-20 Gold medal 11-15 Silver medal 6-10 Bronze medal 0-5 Wooden spoon
less snow and more rain in many parts of the world. 13. In the womb. 14. Barbie. 15. New York City.
Zealand. 10. Samsung, in South Korea. 11. William Shakespeare. 12. Rainbows, due to there being
is the smallest in the region except for Singapore and Brunei. 7. Fishing nets. 8. Hair. 9. New
ANSWERS: 1. Thor: Ragnarok. 2. Prince. 3. Platypus. 4. Merlion Park. 5. Acorns. 6. False. Malaysia
PUZZLE ANSWERS
From Page 150
Crossword
Sudoku
CROSSWORD AND SUDOKU: CROSSWORDSITE.COM. ILLUS TR ATION: GE T T Y IMAGES

Spot The Difference Complete The Set
What colours should be
in the corners?
Answer: Blue, Pink and Yellow.
Each group of four triangles contains
one of each of these colours.

The Genius Section
WORD POWER
Winning Words
Spelling bees challenge participants to enrich their
vocabularies. Test yourself with some typical words
BY Rob Lutes
1. fracas – A: crack in the earth’s 9. vivisepulture – A: training

crust. B: rough, noisy quarrel. vines for horticulture. B: dividing
C: epithet uttered in anger. land into equal parts. C: burying
something that is alive.
2. abrogate – A: ignore. B: deny.
C: abolish. 10. recurrence – A: the fact of
occurring again. B: loveseat.
3. démarche – A: political initiative.
C: four-wheeled bicycle.
B: drainage canal. C: mechanical
failure. 11. catamaran – A: crocheted
shawl. B: boat with two hulls in
4. chlorophyll – A: green pigment
parallel. C: nursery rhyme.
in plants. B: acidic gas. C: chemical
used to purify water. 12. torsion – action of: A: lifting.
B: twisting. C: tilling soil.
5. echelon – A: cotton blanket. B: a
rank or position of authority in an 13. semaphore – A: musical symbol
organisation or a society. indicating a half note. B: horizontal
C: savoury seaweed dish. structural component in a wall.
C: system of signalling using two
6. vouchsafe – A: protect or defend.
flags.
B: hide or conceal. C: allow or reply.
14. omniscient – A: unyielding.
7. kamikaze – A: showing reckless
disregard for personal safety. B: serene. C: knowing everything.
B: rhythmically complex. 15. serrefine – A: little tomatoes.
C: extremely windy. B: ridges on scissors used to cut
8. antediluvian – A: archaic. fabric. C: small forceps used to
B: frugal. C: rational. clamp an artery.
Answers
1. fracas – B: rough, noisy quarrel. 9. vivisepulture – C: burying
The twins’ disagreement caused a something that is alive. The horror
fracas. film depicted scratches on the inside
of a coffin to capitalise on viewers’
2. abrogate – C: abolish. With the
fear of vivisepulture.
stroke of a pen, the CEO abrogated
the training programme. 10. recurrence – A: the fact of
occurring again. The drug was used
3. démarche – A: political initiative.
to prevent the recurrence of breast
The sudden invasion of neighbouring
cancer.
territory was a stunning démarche
for the new government. 11. catamaran – B: boat with two
hulls in parallel. Alejandra loved to
4. chlorophyll – A: green pigment
sail her catamaran on the lake.
in plants. The chlorophyll in the
leaves declined through the autumn, 12. torsion – B: action of twisting.
turning the once-green canopy To preserve his back, Dr Jennings
orange and red. advised Leonard to avoid torsion of
any kind.
5. echelon – B: a rank or position
of authority in an organisation 13. semaphore – C: system of
or a society. We heard stories of signalling using two flags. Tristan’s
corruption in the upper echelons of skills earned him the Scout
the firm. semaphore badge.
6. vouchsafe – C: allow or reply. 14. omniscient – C: knowing
The official would only vouchsafe everything. Sally felt that it was
that a burglary had taken place and important to know what every
jewellery was missing. character was thinking, so she wrote
her novel from an omniscient point
7. kamikaze – A: showing reckless of view.
disregard for personal safety. A
fearless child, Ben had attempted 15. serrefine – C: small forceps used
countless kamikaze moves on his to clamp an artery. The surgeon used
bike. the serrefine to stem blood flow.
8. antediluvian – A: archaic. Some VOCABULARY RATINGS

of Granny’s antediluvian beliefs 5–9: Fair
about gender roles made Ann 10–12: Good
wince. 13–15: Word Power Wizard

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