DISCLAIMER: This is a maths heavy post. Sorry not sorry. Hummingbirds are freaks of nature. They exist at a speed and intensity that is incomparable to any aspect of human life. The more I read to write this piece, the more unconvinced I become that these organisms can feasibly exist. How does this family of birds live […]
Author: thecynicaltourist
What makes a Tardigrade so tough?
If you have heard of Tardigrades, then you know three things: They can survive in almost any conditions. That includes hot springs. Also space. If have not heard of tardigrades, allow me to explain. A tardigrade looks like this. Cute, isn’t it? It can grow to around half a millimetre and usually lives on a […]
A Cynical Guide to Peru: Part 3 – Relativity.
Albert Einstein was a genius. You aren’t reading this to find that out. Perhaps his most well known work was that of special and general relativity, with the theory of general relativity focusing on the affect of gravity on the rest of the universe. This may seem like a meaningless segue, but allow me to […]
A Cynical Guide to Peru: Chapter Two – Arrival.
27 hours after setting off, we had arrived. Puerto Maldonado. Say what you like about Puerto Maldonado, because they will never find out. Puerto Maldonado is an almost impressively isolated city, which describes itself as ‘the gateway to the jungle.’ This gateway was first formed around 1889 as the rubber trade in South America boomed, and […]
A Cynical Guide to Peru: Chapter One – Hindsight
The Amazon Rainforest is absolutely terrible. Actually, let me rephrase that. It was a sunny January morning in Bangor as I was making my way through the university library, and happened upon friend and fellow zoologist Matt, who expressed an interest in volunteering for four weeks in the Amazon Rainforest. The Amazon Rainforest. Glossing over […]