The Voynich Manuscript dates to the early 15th century and it is believed to have come from northern Italy. It is not named after the author (since the author is unknown) but is named after the book dealer, Wilfrid Voynich, who bought it in 1912. The language of the book remains unknown and no one has…
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Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions. There are many sub-traditions within Hinduism, but there are two beliefs about humans which seem to dominate the religion’s view of animals. The first belief recognises that humans exist on a continuum with the rest of life and that we are not completely separated from other animals. The…
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Ilene Meyer (1938-2009) was a self-trained oil painter whose work combines realism, fantasy, surrealism, and psychedelic colours and patterns. Her art was used on the cover of books by science fiction writers, including Philip K Dick.
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A cyclic universe is a universe which follows an infinite self-sustaining cycle. In the 1930s, Einstein came up with the idea that the universe could go through an infinite cycle of Big Bangs and Big Crunches. The expansion of our universe could have been caused by the collapse of a previous universe – it sort of…
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The UK has extremely high rates of reoffending – in fact around half of all crime is committed by people who have already been through the criminal justice system. This suggests that the criminal justice system is not effective at preventing those with a criminal record from committing further crimes. Not only does this defeat…
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