boreal, austral

These are not climes we've ventured to ourselves yet, so it is proving exciting to learn about the ice caps and their ancient and modern histories via the ever-excellent Atlas Obscura's Polar Week. Be sure to check out more of their curious and far-flung post-cards from exotic places.

continuum or billions and billions

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson will be hosting an updated version of the television programme Cosmos: A Personal Journey, Carl Sagan's seminal series on astronomy and space exploration, with the support of another fan and curator, animator Seth MacFarlane, whom has endowed the US Library of Congress with a collection of lectures, papers and correspondence from the renowned scientist and his wife (Kottle shares an interesting artefact and more news about the upcoming show—I received a letter from the late Dr. Sagan in response to a physics question I posed, as well), Ann Druyan, who selected the musical compositions etched into the golden records carried by the Voyager space probes. The series will be called Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey and will be produced for the National Geographic Channel and syndicated by the Fox Network.

sistine candles or in the room, the women come and go, talking of michelangelo

Mental Floss has an interesting article that reveals the original reasons behind the ban on photography and the taking of videos in the Sistine Chapel, adorned with breath-taking the breath-taking frescoes of Michelangelo in this private chapel of the Apostolic Palace and ante-chamber to the vast Vatican museum compound, was not in fact to protect the art from the crackle of light from billions of flash-bulbs but had more to do with licensing agreements that the Holy See granted to one of the biggest financial supporters of the restoration project. Started in 1980 and lasting nearly two decades, the prospect of reviving the walls and ceiling, un-re-touched since their completion in 1512 and stained with incense and candle smoke, was a very expensive undertaking and a big entertainment consortium from Japan helped extensively with the bill.

In exchange, the group had exclusive rights to reproducing high-quality images of the interior and documented each stage of the restoration work. Their rights have since expired but the ban—more or less, still remains in effect. It is really a sight to behold in person, as Goethe said after visiting in 1797, “Without having seen the Sistine Chapel one can form no appreciable idea of what one man is capable of achieving.” No photographs can do it justice and if you must take mementos, please tread lightly.

god didn't make the little green apples

Who knew that trees could be so apparently anti-social? One of the most poisonous trees in the world—I am not sure what others are in this category—is native to Florida and the Bahamas and Caribbean and are called Manchineel—from the epithet that early Spanish explorers gave to their poison fruit manzanita de le muerte, little apples of death.

Lots of berries and such are toxic to humans and the apples are bad but not the worst in this tree's arsenal. Groves of trees have warning signs admonishing the curious to stay far away, as the sap is also extremely caustic (even indirectly) and can cause burns to the skin with exposure and smoke from burning the tree can lead to permanent blindness. Other accounts of explorers said that the sap from the Manchineel was the source for poison blow-darts and the like. These trees, however, serve an important ecological role, as their sturdy and mostly undisturbed system of roots helps prevent beach erosion.