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I watched some 40 films at this year’s Sydney Film Festival. Here are my top five picks – and one hilarious flop

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ari-mattes-97857">Ari Mattes</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-notre-dame-australia-852">University of Notre Dame Australia</a> This year’s <a href="https://www.sff.org.au/">Sydney Film Festival’s</a> rich offerings of films more than compensated for the minor technical issues that led to some screenings being interrupted. Out of the 40-odd films I saw, here are my top five, along with some notable mentions and three disappointments (including a genuine dud). <h2>1. The Girl with the Needle</h2> Cowritten and directed by Swedish filmmaker Magnus von Horn, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_with_the_Needle">The Girl with the Needle</a> is loosely based on the story of notorious early-20th century serial killer Dagmar Overbye. But this is no procedural true crime film, painstakingly attempting to recreate crimes with historical accuracy. It’s a stylish Danish nightmare dazzling with cinematic acrobatics right from the opening sequence, in which black and white faces hideously morph, looking at the viewer like deranged figures from a hellish circus. It is, indeed, one of the most terrifying films I’ve seen. The narrative follows the struggles of new mother Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne) as she gives her baby to Dagmar’s informal adoption agency and begins working with her as a wet nurse, unaware of what’s really going on. Sonne is as self-assured as ever – and none of the actors put a foot wrong here. Seasoned Danish film star Trine Dyrholm is exceptional in bringing nuance to what could have become a caricaturishly evil role as Dagmar. And Besir Zeciri endows Peter, a war-wounded veteran who can only find employment in a circus freakshow, with an unexpected warmth and tenderness. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VlyW-z1xbO4?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> The Girl with the Needle features some of the most distressing sequences one could find in a commercial film. Its meticulously rendered shades of German expressionism never distract from its smorgasbord of horrors, offering an almost unbearably bleak vision of the world in the aftermath of the Great War. If only all films were this good! <h2>2. Dying</h2> I’d normally suppress a yawn if you told me I had to sit through a three-hour social realist drama about the everyday difficulties of a bourgeois German conductor and his family. Yet writer-director Matthias Glasner’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying_(2024_film)">Dying</a> is a near perfect film (no surprise it won <a href="https://www.screendaily.com/news/matthias-glasners-dying-wins-german-lola-for-best-film/5193046.article">four prizes</a> at the German Film Awards). The film is complex and engrossing – deeply sad in places and hysterical in others – formally controlled, but underpinned by an anarchic sensibility. It is life-affirming without any skerrick of sentimentality. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kagVqEfPxFw?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> Lars Eidinger is astonishingly good as maestro Tom, who is trying to keep his career on track as his family life crumbles around him. He is matched by Lilith Stangenberg, mesmerising as his unhinged sister Ellen. Robert Gwisdek is equally exceptional as the highly strung composer and friend Bernard, while Corinna Harfouch anchors the film’s first section as Tom’s far from maternal mother, Lissy. At one point, Ingmar Bergman’s 1982 period film <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_and_Alexander">Fanny and Alexander</a> is playing on the TV (Tom watches it every Christmas). Even though Dying feels like a contemporary film committed to interrogating the difficulties of being in the modern world, there’s something of late Bergman here as it unfolds across its epic length. It is a three-hour film about middle-class life, but like a great 19th-century novel, it never feels long. The fact that nothing particularly extraordinary happens is testament to how well-made the film is. <h2>3. Kill</h2> Director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat’s Indian action film <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kill_2023_2">Kill</a> is cheesy, sentimental and at first seems remarkably silly. Commando Amrit, played by beefy TV star Lakshya, is travelling to New Delhi by train with his buddy, fellow commando Viresh (Abhishek Chauhan). His true love Tulika (Tanya Maniktala) is also on board and has recently become engaged to another man through an arrangement by her wealthy father, Baldev Singh Thakur (Harsh Chhaya), who happens to own the train company. When a group of 30-plus bandits led by the charming but ice-cold Fani (Raghav Juyal) move to rob the train, Amrit must defend Tulika, her family and the rest of the passengers. When the title card appears 40 minutes into the film, suddenly emblazoned on the screen, it seems like a distracting quirk at first. But it begins to make sense as the train rolls on. All of the violence and bone-crushing action of the first section is mere preamble, leading to a point of transition from an extremely violent but fun action film, to a much darker – and bloodier – revenge film. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/da7lKeeS67c?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> Kill is an exceptionally well-wrought genre film. The kinetic and balletic action recalls the golden era of Hong Kong action cinema, but with hammers, daggers and sickles instead of guns and the frenetic staging of hand-to-hand combat instead of poetic slow-motion footage. It is also a great example of a film being more than the sum of its parts. No element is perfect, yet they come together to transcend these limitations, its flow reaching sublime levels by the end. There’s also an undercurrent of sadness throughout. We see an India of haves and have-nots, of families of bandits struggling to survive and of the supreme violence sustaining the social and political order. As Fani says to Amrit near the end: “Who kills like this? I killed four of your people. You finished off 40 of my family. You’re not a protector. You’re a monster. A fucking monster.” The title says it all. <h2>4. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story</h2> Biographical films about celebrities inevitably feel gossipy. Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super/Man:_The_Christopher_Reeve_Story">Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story</a> is no exception. But it is so well made (and well-resourced, one would imagine, as it’s produced by DC) that it moves beyond its tabloid-like qualities. Interviews with Reeve’s friends and colleagues, including Susan Sarandon, Glenn Close and Jeff Daniels, are interspersed with home footage shot by Reeve and his family throughout his career and during his recovery from the near-fatal riding accident that left him paralysed and breathing through a respirator for the rest of his life. Reeve’s close friendship with “brother” Robin Williams assumes central importance, with the film implying the two men were so emotionally dependent on each other that Williams would probably still be alive if Reeve hadn’t died in 2004. But the most interesting parts of the film involve carefully assembled archival footage looking at how Reeve’s decision to play Superman negatively impacted his career and personal life. He never starred in another profitable film, and his father and colleagues such as William Hurt loathed his decision to play a comic book character. This is counterpointed with his post-accident career as a director and disability advocate. Interviews with Reeve’s children add a genuinely tragic sense of pathos to this slick, well-made and emotionally exhausting “true Hollywood” story. It’s everything one could want from such a documentary. <h2>5. Kneecap</h2> Cowriter-director Rich Peppiatt’s Kneecap is a riotous, irreverent biopic following the career of Belfast drug-dealers Móglaí Bap and Mo Chara as they team up with high school music teacher DJ Próvai to become the first Irish-language rap group, Kneecap. The real <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-66408560">Kneecappers</a> cowrote the film and play themselves and, given none of them are actors, do so remarkably well. They’re joined by Irish heavyweights Josie Walker, playing the detective who has it in for them, and Michael Fassbender, playing Móglaí’s father, an old-school Irish radical who has been on the run for the past few decades. The film depicts their hedonistic drug use and anarchic disregard for the law in the context of their radical political motivation to speak Irish against the colonial English. And while it may be a bit cartoonish in its presentation of Belfast’s history and the struggle to keep Gaelic alive, it is a music biopic after all. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FFYfp-hKxZQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> Kneecap is violent, coarse and laced with infectiously good humour – a genuinely fun film, buoyed by its charismatic stars and lively style. Only the most stringent moralist wouldn’t enjoy this one! <h2>Notable mentions</h2> It’s extremely difficult to pick a top five when 15 or so of the films I saw were standouts. And this is testament to the quality of the festival’s selection. It was a pleasure watching heavyweight Sean Penn go head-to-head with Dakota Johnson in writer-director Christy Hall’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daddio_(film)">Daddio</a>, even if the story takes an uninteresting turn in the final third. Despite the banality of the premise – a New York cabbie chats with a passenger – and the inanity of some of the dialogue, this romantic ode to urban life in all its alienated, fluoro-lit techno glory is so well crafted that we happily go along for the ride. Equally affective is the melancholic and beautifully performed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puan_(film)">Puan</a>, a restrained comedy set in a University faculty in Buenos Aires. Puan could easily make my top five, as could André Téchiné’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_New_Friends_(film)">My New Friends</a>), an offbeat French melodrama starring Isabelle Huppert as a disillusioned police officer who becomes friends with an anti-cop activist in the suburbs. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cnz-6h60tkk?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <h2>Poor performers</h2> Of the lot, I only found three films disappointing. The first, Among the Wolves, is a Belgian-French documentary in which a photographer and illustrator lie waiting in a tiny, makeshift building to encounter wild wolves. While some of the footage is striking, the film is let down by its scientific inaccuracy, such as references to the “alpha male” wolf – a term and concept that has <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/the-myth-of-the-alpha-wolf">long been discredited</a>. Such innacuracy is a cardinal sin for a documentary, which is supposed to inform the viewer. Though critically acclaimed, Hollywood horror film The Substance – a story of an ageing entertainer who turns to a mysterious substance to stay young (with unsurprisingly horrific ramifications) – feels neither new nor particularly interesting. And while it’s great to see Demi Moore and Dennis Quaid back on the big screen, their caricaturish characters make the whole thing seem like a boring joke: an inflated short film that is both irritatingly silly and painfully didactic. But rarely does a film so resolutely reaffirm a sense of the absurd hubris of humans as Francis Ford Coppola’s self-financed mega-flop, Megalopolis. This cartoonish, incoherent mess set in a dystopian version of the United States, “New Rome”, is howlingly bad in places. Imagine the worst parts of The Hunger Games and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064940/">Fellini Satyricon</a> (1969) crossed with Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead and you begin to get a sense of the kind of self-indulgent, heavy-handed nonsense that is Megalopolis. Side-splittingly funny moments come courtesy of bad dialogue (“Utopias become dystopias,” actor Giancarlo Esposito says at one point with a straight face). And stilted acting by Adam Driver and Aubrey Plaza had the (remaining) audience in stitches. Megalopolis is like one of the great fiascos from days gone by – the 21st century’s Heaven’s Gate – and there is definitely something delightful about the existence of this <a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/news/francis-ford-coppola-funding-120-million-dollars-megalopolis-1235184765/">US$120 million</a> (roughly A$180 million) flop. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1FQzWD5xVKQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> But as a dud, Megalopolis is the outlier. And in a year following Barbie, Oppenheimer, Napoleon and Poor Things (talk about heavy-handed cinema), much of the menu of this year’s Sydney Film Festival once again proves there are still good filmmakers out there making good films.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/232706/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ari-mattes-97857">Ari Mattes</a>, Lecturer in Communications and Media, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-notre-dame-australia-852">University of Notre Dame Australia</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-watched-some-40-films-at-this-years-sydney-film-festival-here-are-my-top-five-picks-and-one-hilarious-flop-232706">original article</a>. Image: IMDB </div>

Movies

Bishop Christopher Saunders arrested at his home

The former Bishop of Broome, Christopher Alan Saunders, has found himself at the centre of a dramatic arrest at his residence in Western Australia's north. Police from the WA Child Abuse squad descended upon his Piggott Way property late on Wednesday afternoon, taking the 72-year-old into custody. Authorities have confirmed that an individual is currently assisting them with what they describe as a "longstanding investigation", and have charged Saunders with 14 counts of unlawful and indecent assault, two counts of sexual penetration without consent, and three counts of being a person in authority indecently dealing with a child. The alleged charges date back to 2008 across Broome, Kununurra, and Kalumburu. This arrest marks the culmination of five years of exhaustive police and internal church inquiries into disturbing allegations of sexual abuse levelled against Saunders by multiple men. These allegations initially surfaced in early 2020, sending shockwaves through the community. However, despite the gravity of the accusations, a prior investigation by WA Police concluded without any charges being brought against the former Bishop. Throughout the ordeal, Emeritus Bishop Saunders vehemently denied any wrongdoing, maintaining his innocence despite the mounting pressure and scrutiny. Recent developments, however, have thrust the case back into the spotlight. In the past few weeks, law enforcement authorities conducted raids on Saunders' property not once, but twice. The renewed vigour in the investigation appears to stem from a significant development: the emergence of a 200-page Vatican report, leaked late last year. This damning report, allegedly detailing instances of misconduct and abuse within the clergy, was promptly handed over to the WA Police. Its contents have reignited interest in Saunders' case, prompting a fresh wave of investigative efforts aimed at uncovering the truth behind the allegations. The swift and decisive action taken by law enforcement underscores the gravity with which authorities are treating allegations of abuse, particularly within the context of religious institutions. The arrest of a prominent figure such as Christopher Saunders sends a powerful message that no one, regardless of their position or influence, is above the law. For the victims who have bravely come forward with their stories, this arrest represents a step towards justice and closure, even in the face of adversity and institutional resistance. It serves as validation for their courage in speaking out against abuses that may have long been buried in secrecy and silence. Images: 7News

Legal

"This hurts the heart": Days of our Lives star's shock death at just 50

General Hospital and Days of Our Lives star Tyler Christopher has passed away at the age of 50 after a "cardiac event". The shocking news was confirmed by his General Hospital co-star, Maurice Benard, who expressed his deep sorrow and heartfelt tribute to his friend on social media. In an emotional Instagram post, Benard shared, "It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of Tyler Christopher. Tyler passed away this morning following a cardiac event in his San Diego apartment." He went on to describe Tyler as a "truly talented individual" who illuminated the screen with every performance, bringing joy to his devoted fans. He was not only a gifted actor but also a kind and compassionate soul who touched the lives of those who knew him. Benard also highlighted Christopher's advocacy for mental health and substance use treatment. Tyler was open about his personal struggles with bipolar depression and alcohol, using his platform to raise awareness and provide support to others facing similar challenges. His candour in addressing these issues endeared him to many and further solidified his legacy as an actor and an advocate. <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CzFJiUXPyRK/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CzFJiUXPyRK/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Maurice Benard (@mauricebenard)</a> </div> </blockquote> The news of Christopher's passing resonated deeply with his fans and colleagues. Messages of love and support flooded social media, with one fan expressing, "This hurts the heart. I loved him on General Hospital. Sending love and prayers to his family and friends." The outpouring of grief from the public underscores the significant impact he had on the entertainment industry and his audience. Christopher is of course best known for his iconic roles as Nikolas Cassadine on General Hospital and Stefan DiMera on Days of Our Lives. His captivating performances and versatility as an actor made him a beloved figure in the world of daytime television. Tyler leaves behind two children from his previous marriage to reporter Brienne Pedigo. He was previously married to actress Eva Longoria from 2002 to 2004. In recent years, he appeared in the TV movie Ice Storm and featured in Thor: God of Thunder in 2022, demonstrating his enduring talent and commitment to his craft. The actor received recognition for his exceptional work, earning five Daytime Emmy nominations during his tenure on General Hospital. His dedication to his roles and his ability to connect with his characters and the audience was evident in his numerous accolades. Despite his professional success, Christopher faced personal challenges. In 2019, he was placed under the guardianship of his sister due to an accident and internal bleeding during an episode of "alcohol withdrawal". This period of his life was marked by legal and personal struggles. In May, he was arrested for "public intoxication". He also alleged that his sister had "used his finances" while serving as his guardian, a claim she vehemently denied. The guardianship ended in 2021, marking a challenging chapter in his life. Christopher will be remembered not only for his remarkable contributions to the entertainment industry but also for his courage in addressing his personal battles and advocating for those who needed a voice. Image: Instagram

Caring

Robin Williams' children share sweet tribute on his 72nd birthday

Robin Williams’ children took to social media to celebrate their father’s legacy on what would’ve been his 72nd birthday. The late actor, known for raising a generation of children through his iconic films like Jumanji, Mrs. Doubtfire and Dead Poets Society, passed away on the 11th of August 2014 at the age of 63. His daughter, Zelda Williams and son, Zak Williams, both took to social media to celebrate their father’s life. Zak posted a throwback photo of the late actor wearing headphones and smiling at the camera. "Happy 72nd Dad! Was remembering how much I used to love that look you'd give,” he captioned. “That look with a mischievous, loving grin that your friends and loved ones knew so well. Joyous and curious and wondrous. Miss you and love you forever!" <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cu-5eLVrcMI/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cu-5eLVrcMI/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Zachary Pym Williams (@zakpym)</a> </div> </blockquote> His daughter Zelda on the other hand paid tribute to her dad on Twitter. She shared a photo of her late dad protesting in the 2007 New York Picket line with a sign that read: "SAG WGA ON STRIKE." "Happy birthday to Poppo, who definitely would've been out there fighting the good fight for art and artists today and always,” she captioned the photo, and made a reference to the recent Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Happy birthday to Poppo, who definitely would’ve been out there fighting the good fight for art and artists today and always. <a href="https://t.co/CNiirB3Qb9">pic.twitter.com/CNiirB3Qb9</a> — Zelda Williams (@zeldawilliams) <a href="https://twitter.com/zeldawilliams/status/1682497867511128064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 21, 2023</a></blockquote> Friends and fans have shared their tributes to the actor, in the comment section of both Twitter and Instagram. “Robin Williams was one of the most beautiful souls to ever grace this earth. Thank you for sharing your dad with us all. We miss him greatly. He’s our whole childhood,” wrote one person on Twitter. Night at the Museum actor Ben Stiller tweeted a simple blue heart in response to the tweet. “The world will never be the same without this beautiful soul. He touched so many lives in his time here. Happy Birthday Robin,” wrote one person on Instagram. “Your dad was such a light in my childhood, even though I never met him personally. Thankful for all the goodness he added to the world for so many of us,” another commented. Image: Instagram

Family & Pets

‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds’: who was atom bomb pioneer Robert Oppenheimer?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/darius-von-guttner-sporzynski-112147">Darius von Guttner Sporzynski</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-catholic-university-747">Australian Catholic University</a> Robert Oppenheimer is often placed next to Albert Einstein as the 20th century’s most famous physicist. He will forever be the “father of the atomic bomb” after the first nuclear weapon was successfully tested on July 16, 1945 in the New Mexican desert. The event brought to his mind words from a <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/manhattan-project-robert-oppenheimer">Hindu scripture</a>: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”. <h2>Who was Robert Oppenheimer?</h2> Born in 1904 in an affluent New York family, Oppenheimer graduated from Harvard majoring in chemistry in 1925. Two years later, he completed his PhD in physics at one of the world’s leading institutions for theoretical physics, the University of Göttingen, Germany. He was 23 and enthusiastic to the point of alienating others. Throughout his life, Oppenheimer would be judged either as an <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Inside_the_Centre/L9wRLVcUI-sC?hl=en&gbpv=1">aloof prodigy or an anxious narcissist</a>. Whatever his contradictions as an individual, his eccentricities did not limit his scientific achievements. Before the outbreak of the second world war, Oppenheimer worked at the University of California, Berkeley, and the <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/J_Robert_Oppenheimer_and_the_American_Ce/U12mDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Robert+Oppenheimer:+A+Life+from+Beginning+to+End&printsec=frontcover">California Institute of Technology</a>. His research concentrated on theoretical astronomy, nuclear physics and quantum field theory. Although he confessed to being uninterested in politics, Oppenheimer openly supported socially progressive ideas. He was concerned with the emergence of antisemitism and fascism. His partner, Kitty Puening, was a left-leaning radical and their social circle included Communist Party members and activists. Later, these associations will mark him as a communist sympathiser. As a researcher, Oppenheimer published and supervised a new generation of doctoral students. One of these was Willis Lamb, who in 1955 was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. The Nobel Prize eluded Oppenheimer three times. <h2>The second world war</h2> Two years after Germany and Soviet Russia attacked Poland, the United States entered WWII. Oppenheimer was recruited to work on the infamous <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/the-manhattan-project">Manhattan Project</a>. His ideas about chain reaction in an atomic bomb gained recognition among the US defence community. He started his work by assembling a team of experts. Some of them were his students. In 1943, despite his left-wing political views, lack of high-profile career and no experience in managing complex projects, Oppenheimer was appointed director of the <a href="https://about.lanl.gov/oppenheimer/">Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico</a>. He was enthusiastic. He seemed to have “<a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Inside_the_Centre/L9wRLVcUI-sC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Rabi+%22reserves+of+uncommitted+strength%22&pg=PA670&printsec=frontcover">reserves of uncommitted strength</a>” recalled physicist <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1944/rabi/biographical/">Isidor Isaac Rabi</a>. His task was to develop atomic weapons. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Los-Alamos-National-Laboratory">Los Alamos Laboratory</a> expanded rapidly as the project grew in complexity, with the personnel exceeding 6,000. His ability to master the large-scale workforce and channel their energy towards the needs of the project earned him respect. He proved to be more than just an administrator by being involved in the interdisciplinary team across theoretical and experimental stages of the weapons development. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-JWxIVVeV98?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <h2>The nuclear test</h2> On July 16, 1945 the nuclear test, <a href="https://armscontrolcenter.org/quotes-from-trinity-test-observers/">code named Trinity</a>, took place. The first atomic bomb was successfully detonated at 5:29 am in the Jornada del Muerto desert. As his chief assistant, Thomas Farrell, recounted: "There came this tremendous burst of light followed shortly thereafter by the deep growling roar of the explosion." Oppenheimer later <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/J_Robert_Oppenheimer/EoA8DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22A+few+people+laughed,+a+few+people+cried,+most+people+were+silent%22&pg=PA44&printsec=frontcover">recalled</a> that “a few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent”. What he knew for sure was that the world would not be the same. It was too late for the atomic bombs to be used against Germany in the war – the Nazis had capitulated on May 8. Instead, US President Harry Truman decided to use the bomb against Germany’s ally, Japan. Shortly after the atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, Oppenheimer confronted the US secretary of war, Henry Stimson, demanding that nuclear weapons were banned. Similarly, when speaking with Truman, Oppenheimer talked about his feeling of <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/07/11/when-truman-titled-a-hollywood-epic-and-then-sabotaged-it/">having blood on his hands</a>. Truman rejected Oppenheimer’s emotional outburst. The responsibility for the use of the atomic bombs, after all, rested with the commander in chief (himself). Truman’s rebuttal did not prevent Oppenheimer from advocating for the establishment of controls on the nuclear arms race. <h2>Arms control</h2> In the postwar years, Oppenheimer settled in Princeton, New Jersey, at the Institute for Advanced Study. He read widely. He collected art and furniture. He learned languages. His well-paid position enabled his pursuit of a deeper understanding of humanity though the examination of ancient scriptures. <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/American_Prometheus/F79LEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Robert+Oppenheimer:+A+Life+from+Beginning+to+End&printsec=frontcover">He argued</a> for the unity of purpose between the sciences and humanities. Oppenheimer’s patronage supported and encouraged other scientists in their research. But his chief concern was the unavoidable arms race. He advocated for the establishment of an <a href="https://www.iaea.org/about/overview/history">international body that would control the development of nuclear energy</a> and its usage. In 1947, a civilian agency called the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Atomic_Energy_Commission">Atomic Energy Commission</a> began its work. Oppenheimer urged strongly for <a href="https://www.iaea.org/about/overview/history">international arms control</a>. The Soviet Union’s first atomic bomb test in August 1949 took the US by surprise and pushed American researchers to develop a hydrogen bomb. The US government hardened its position. In 1952, Truman refused to reappoint Oppenheimer as the adviser to the Atomic Energy Commission. After 1952, Oppenheimer’s advocacy against the first test of the hydrogen bomb resulted in the suspension of his security clearance. The investigation that followed in 1954 exposed Oppenheimer’s past communist ties and culminated in <a href="https://www.history.com/news/father-of-the-atomic-bomb-was-blacklisted-for-opposing-h-bomb">his security clearance being revoked</a>. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uYPbbksJxIg?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <h2>McCarthyism and academic freedom</h2> In the era of Joseph McCarthy’s witch-hunts, his fellow scientists considered Oppenheimer as a martyr of the cause of academic freedom. “In England”, commented Wernher von Braun, a former Nazi turned American pioneer of rocket technology, “<a href="https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/history/oppenheimer-security-hearing/">Oppenheimer would have been knighted</a>”. After 1954, Oppenheimer did not cease to advocate for freedom in the pursuit of knowledge. He toured internationally with talks about the role of academic freedom unrestrained by political considerations. He argued that the sciences and the humanities are <a href="https://archive.org/details/scienceandthecom007308mbp/page/n7/mode/2up">not separate human endeavours but interlocked and inseparable</a>. Oppenheimer died at the age of 62 on February 18, 1967.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209398/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/darius-von-guttner-sporzynski-112147">Darius von Guttner Sporzynski</a>, Historian, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-catholic-university-747">Australian Catholic University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/now-i-am-become-death-the-destroyer-of-worlds-who-was-atom-bomb-pioneer-robert-oppenheimer-209398">original article</a>.

Movies

10 truly inspirational movies

Have you got a favourite film that just makes you feel good? Inspiring movies come in all shapes and sizes, but often they involve stories of love and strength, overcoming obstacles, or changing people’s lives for the better. See if your favourite fee-good film made our top 10. 1. DEAD POETS SOCIETY This film resonates with a lot of people as it shows how much a good teacher can be a role model for the kids they teach. This is one of Robin William’s most well known roles, and even Ethan Hawke makes an appearance. 2. A BEAUTIFUL MIND It’s nice to see an action star like Russell Crowe in such a different style of movie. Just like the title suggests, this really is a beautiful film. The fact that the story of the brilliant mathematician who also happens to be a paranoid schizophrenic is true makes it even more moving. It shows how someone who has faced adversity and prejudice can overcome the odds to come out on top as a Nobel Prize winner. 3. BILLY ELLIOT Overcoming adversity is nearly always a sure-fire way to move the audience to tears. Not only is Billy trying to do ballet when his father doesn’t approve, but he is also growing up in a single parent family without much money to live on. This is a great film about following your dreams. 4. ERIN BROCKOVICH Another true story that shows you how important it is to stand up for the people who need it most. Julia Roberts is great as go-getter Erin Brockovich in this film. The great humour adds a fun element to this film. 5. FORREST GUMP One of Tom Hanks most famous roles, Forrest Gump is another story that follows the underdog overcoming obstacles within so many parts of his life. The soundtrack is amazingly nostalgic and takes you back to a simpler time. The supporting cast really brings the story to life too. 6. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE Underdog alert! Well, slumdog that is. This hugely popular film gives us an insight into life in an Indian slum. It shows that despite abject poverty, it is absolutely possible to find love and happiness. 7. THE BLIND SIDE Another great true story with leading lady Sandra Bullock as the tough talking mother. After taking in a homeless boy, the family encourages him to follow his destiny and become a football star. 8. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE Not just one to watch at Christmas, let this classic inspire you at any time of year. A great film that shows us how easy it is to get caught up in our own problems. 9. SOUL SURFER The true-story element is both shocking and moving in this film based on surfer Bethany Hamilton who lost an arm in a shark attack. Despite her horrific ordeal, she didn’t do what most people would have done and quit surfing. Instead she followed her dream to achieve amazing success. 10. PAY IT FORWARD A great concept here, about doing something nice for people and not expecting anything back. It could be family, friends or even strangers. The story will really make you think about the way society works. Image credit: Shutterstock

Movies

Back to the Future stars reunite

It’s been 37 years since the cinematic masterpiece, Back to the Future part 1, graced our screens. You might be wondering where they are now, although the appropriate question would be, “when the hell are they?” The Back to the Future stars joined up at a fan convention in Portland, USA, and the excitement from fans sighting Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Thomas Wilson used up a lot more energy than 1.21 gigawatts. Last year, Fox and Lloyd came together on stage at Comic-Con in New York in an emotional display, which brought fans in the audience to tears. On stage, Fox said, referring to his co-star Lloyd, “The best part of the movie was working with Chris,” going on to say he was a genius, also revealing there was “immediate chemistry” between the pair. Fox played the iconic Marty McFly in the 1985 movie. Director Robert Zemeckis had originally cast Eric Stolz as Marty, however, due to conflict with his schedule on Family Ties, Stolz couldn’t continue with the project. Stolz started filming in November 1984 but was replaced by early January. Aside from the schedule conflict with Stolz, it was reported that early footage was also underwhelming. Now that’s heavy! Fox officially joined the production in mid-January of 1985. Fox played Marty McFly in all three Back to the Future movies, Great Scott! The fans are on a sweet nostalgia trip seeing the cast back together after over three decades. Image credit: Instagram

Movies

Seven times people discovered the Americas – and how they got there

When Columbus landed in 1492, the Americas had been settled for tens of thousands of years. He wasn’t the first person to discover the continent. Instead, his discovery was the last of many discoveries. In all, people found the Americas at least seven different times. For at least six of those, it wasn’t so new after all. The discoverers came by sea and by land, bringing new genes, new languages, new technologies. Some stayed, explored, and built empires. Others went home, and left few hints they’d ever been there. From last to first, here’s the story of how we discovered the Americas. 7. Christopher Columbus: AD 1492 In 1492, Europeans could reach Asia by the <a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/silk-road">Silk Road</a>, or by sailing the Cape Route around the southern tip of Africa. Sailing west from Europe was thought to be impossible. The ancient Greeks had accurately calculated that the circumference of the Earth was <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/152473a0">40,000 km</a>, which put Asia far to the west. But Columbus botched his calculations. An error in unit conversion gave him a circumference of just 30,000 km. This mistake, with other assumptions born of wishful thinking, gave a distance of just <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0025570X.1992.11996024">4,500 km</a> from Europe to Japan. The actual distance is almost 20,000 kilometres. So Columbus’s ships set sail without enough supplies to reach Asia. Fortunately for him, he hit the Americas. Columbus, thinking he’d found the East Indies, called its people “Indios”, or Indians. He ultimately died without realising his mistake. It was the navigator Amerigo Vespucci who realised Columbus had <a href="https://www.livescience.com/42510-amerigo-vespucci.html">found an unknown land</a> and in 1507 the name America was applied in Vespucci’s honour. 6. Polynesians: AD 1,200 Around 2,500 BC, a seafaring people <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03902-8">sailed from Taiwan</a> to find new lands. They sailed south through the Philippines, east through Melanesia, then out into the vast South Pacific. These people, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Polynesia">Polynesians</a>, were master navigators, reading wind, waves and stars to cross thousands of kilometres of open ocean. Using huge double canoes, the Polynesians <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1586/polynesian-navigation--settlement-of-the-pacific/">settled</a> Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, and the Cook Islands. Some went <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1408491111">south to New Zealand</a>, becoming <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10963-017-9110-y">the Maori</a>. Others went east to Tahiti, Hawaii, Easter Island, and the Marquesas. From here, they at last hit South America. Then, having explored most of the Pacific, they gave up exploration and forgot South America entirely. But evidence of this remarkable voyage remained. The South Americans acquired <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.0703993104">chickens from Polynesians</a>, while the Polynesians may have picked up <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440307000805">South American sweet potatoes</a>. And they shared more than food. Eastern Polynesians have <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2487-2?from=article_link">Native American DNA</a>. Polynesians didn’t just meet Native Americans, they married them. 5. Norse: AD 1,021 According to Viking sagas, around AD 980, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erik-the-Red">Eric the Red</a>, fierce Viking and cunning salesman, named a vast, icy wasteland “Greenland” to <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/iceland-greenland-name-swap">entice people to move there</a>. Then, in AD 986, a boat from Greenland <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/icelanders">spotted the coast of Canada</a>. Around <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03972-8">AD 1,021</a>, Erik’s son Leif established a settlement in Newfoundland. The Vikings struggled with the harsh climate, before war with Native Americans ultimately forced them back to Greenland. These stories were long dismissed as myths, until 1960, when archaeologists dug up the remains of <a href="https://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/top-destinations/lanse-aux-meadows">Viking settlements in Newfoundland</a>. 4. Inuit: AD 900 Just before the Vikings, the Inuit people travelled <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1251-y">from Siberia to Alaska</a> in skin boats. Hunting whales and seals, living in sod huts and igloos, they were well adapted to the cold Arctic Ocean, and skirted its shores all the way to Greenland. Curiously, their DNA is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1251-y">closest to native Alaskans</a>, implying their ancestors colonised Asia from Alaska, then went back to discover the Americas again. 3. Eskimo-Aleut: 2,000-2,500 BC The Inuit descend from an earlier migration: that of speakers of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eskimo-Aleut-languages">Eskimo-Aleut languages</a>. These are distinct from other Native American languages, and might even be distantly related to Uralic languages such as <a href="https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2010.00239.x">Finnish and Hungarian</a>. This, with DNA evidence, suggests the Eskimo-Aleut was a distinct migration. They came across the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Bering-Sea">Bering Sea</a> from present-day Russia to Alaska, perhaps <a href="https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1525/aa.1987.89.1.02a00020">4,000-4,500</a> years ago, partly displacing and mixing with earlier migrants: the Na-Dene people. 2. Na-Dene: 3,000-8,000 BC Another group, the Na-Dene, crossed the Bering Sea to Alaska around <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1251-y">5,000 years ago</a>, although other studies suggest they settled the Americas as long as <a href="https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1525/aa.1987.89.1.02a00020">10,000 years ago</a>. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1251-y">DNA from their bones</a> links them not to modern people in the Eskimo-Aleut group, but to Native Americans speaking the Na-Dene language family, such as the <a href="https://www.navajo-nsn.gov/">Navajo</a>, <a href="https://denenation.com/">Dene</a>, <a href="https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/northwest-coast/tlingit">Tlingit</a>, and Apache people. Na-Dene languages are closest to languages <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC25007/">spoken in Siberia</a>, suggesting again that they represent a distinct migration. 1. First Americans: 16,000-35,000 years ago Almost all Native American tribes – Sioux, Comanche, Iroquois, Cherokee, Aztec, Maya, Quechua, Yanomani, and dozens of others – speak <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/American-Indian-languages">similar languages</a>. That suggests their languages evolved from a common ancestor tongue, spoken by a single tribe entering the Americas long ago. Their descendants’ low genetic diversity suggests this founding tribe was small, maybe <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.0030193">less than 80 people</a>. How did they get there? Before the last ice age ended 11,700 years ago, so much water was <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3083538">locked up in glaciers</a> that sea levels fell. The bottom of the Bering Sea dried out, creating the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1705966114">Bering Land Bridge</a>. America’s first people just walked from Russia to Alaska. But the timing of their migration is controversial. Archaeologists once thought the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Clovis-complex">Clovis people</a>, living <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.0704215104">13,000 years ago</a>, were the <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-clovis-point-and-the-discovery-of-americas-first-culture-3825828/">first settlers of America</a>. But evidence <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02137-3">now suggests</a> humans arrived in the Americas much earlier. Finds in <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1207663?casa_token=i79Z6iFCPuwAAAAA:onB6l4Ih9BSvJY9a6rTuKDjv9pD1_EEaPJlwmjsk1qVgjDcqotjX2jlmzXMg-Kh1fqxMMXLhUeMvIw">Washington</a>, <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aba6404">Oregon</a>, <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1201855">Texas</a>, the <a href="https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=sciaa_staffpub">east coast of the US</a>, and <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/sciadv.1600375">Florida</a> suggest people reached the Americas long before the Clovis people. <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abg7586">Footprints in New Mexico</a> date to 23,000 years ago. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2509-0">Stone tools</a> in a Mexican cave may date to 32,000 years ago. A <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2022.903795/full">butchered mammoth</a> from Colorado dates to 31,000-38,000 years ago. And traces of fire put <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307716">humans in Alaska</a> 32,000 years ago. Some of these dates could be incorrect, but with each new discovery it seems increasingly unlikely that they’re all wrong. An early migration would neatly solve a major mystery. 13,000 years ago, a vast glacier, the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1601077113">Laurentide Ice Sheet</a>, buried Canada in ice up to three kilometres thick. If people arrived in North America then, how did they cross the ice? Southeast Alaska’s rugged coast, full of glaciers and fjords, was likely impassible, and early Americans probably lacked boats. But 30,000 years ago, the ice sheet hadn’t fully formed. Before the ice spread, people could have hunted mammoths and horses east from Alaska into the Northwest Territories, then south through Alberta and Saskatchewan into Montana. Remarkably, humans may have settled the Americas <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-94408-w">before western Europe</a>. Yet that might make sense. Alaska’s Arctic is harsh, but Europe had <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02536.x">potentially hostile Neanderthals</a>. <h2>The end of discovery</h2> 1492 was the last discovery of the Americas. Following the voyages of Columbus, Magellan, and Cook, the scattered descendants of humanity’s diaspora were finally reunited. Aside from a few <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140804-sad-truth-of-uncontacted-tribes">uncontacted tribes</a>, everywhere was known to everyone. Discovery was impossible. But the story of the Americas’ settlement is still being written, and our understanding is evolving. The Eskimo-Aleut may have been <a href="https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1525/aa.1987.89.1.02a00020">two different migrations</a>, not one. Genes <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14895">hint at the possibility</a> of other, early founding populations. And given how little evidence the Polynesians and Norse left of their visits, it’s conceivable there were other migrations, ones of which we have little evidence. There’s so much we don’t know. No one can discover the Americas anymore, but there’s a lot left to discover about their discovery. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/seven-times-people-discovered-the-americas-and-how-they-got-there-188908" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Travel Tips

The Block star violently attacked while walking dog

A man who violently attacked The Block star Shaynna Blaze while she was out walking her dog has been jailed. Mark Christopher Surmon, 40, appeared at the County Court of Victoria on April 5 where he was jailed for 100 days for assaulting Shaynna. The reality TV star was walking her dog when Surmon approached her from behind on April 18, 2020 and aggressively punched her in the head. Blaze was then struck on her cheek causing her to trip and fall to the ground before she was stifled by Surmon’s hand as she attempted to scream. “He placed pressure on her shoulders to keep her down while this occurred,” Detective Senior Constable John Connor told the court, news.com.au reported. The court heard that Blaze had no opportunity to run from Surmon and the attack was unprovoked. Surmon was jailed for 100 days and immediately appealed the sentence which was rejected. His lawyer argued that he had schizophrenia and Surmon was further issued with a community corrections order to help with drug and mental health issues. Blaze said she hoped her attacker was getting the help he needed to ensure incidents like hers don’t occur again. “Crimes like this need to stop and punishment and rehabilitation are both important levers for our society,” she said. “I hope he gets the help he needs so this doesn’t happen to anyone else”. Blaze also runs family violence charity Voice of Change to ensure women have a safe space to speak. She explained that she has struggled from past relationships and was a victim of domestic violence and wanted to help other women. “This is my past and my personal life … I want other women out there to know that you can have a voice and there are people out there who want to give you a voice,” Blaze previously said. “You can still live a great life, be successful and still keep your integrity no matter what happens to you.” Images: Instagram

Legal

Search for missing 11-year-old escalates

Latest: An 11-year-old boy who was reported missing after failing to return home from school has been found. NSW Police shared the fantastic news on Thursday morning. "An 11-year-old boy reported missing from Annangrove has been located safe and well in the nearby area by a member of the public!" they wrote. "He’s cold, but with no visible injuries. He is being assessed by NSW Ambulance paramedics. "A BIG thank you to all the media and members of the public for sharing our appeal." Earlier: The search for a missing 11-year-old boy who failed to return home from school has escalated after temperatures dropped to a freezing 4 degrees overnight. Christopher Wilson did not return home from school on Wednesday afternoon in what police have described as “extremely out of character”. The student was last seen getting off the school bus on Annangrove Road, Annangrove in Sydney’s north-west about 3.20pm on Wednesday. When he did not return home, police were immediately notified and a search for Christopher began. “Obviously, they’re extremely distressed, particularly overnight with the temperatures the way they have been up here in the Hills,” Superintendent Darrin Batchelor said. “They’ve been out looking overnight as well, so we’ll keep updating them as we go along.” Police believe Christopher would still be wearing his Annangrove Public School uniform – a blue T-shirt with maroon and white trim, grey pants and red and black sneakers. He was also believed to be wearing a black and white jacket and carrying a black backpack. He is described as being of Aboriginal/Torres Strait Island appearance, about 120 centimetres tall with a slim build, short brown hair and brown eyes. CCTV managed to capture Christopher walking along Annangrove Road towards Rouse Hill about 4.45pm. “We can only hope Christopher’s found his way into a shed or put his head down overnight and managed to stay warm,” Mr Batchelor continues. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers to ensure Christopher is found. Police have sent a geo-targeted text to The Hills area from +61 444 444 444 and asked residents not to block the number as it is not a scam. Images: NSW Police

News

Fun facts about The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music is that film you can watch over and over again without getting bored. The 1965 American musical drama stands out thanks to its loving cast, the phenomenal soundtrack and storyline. Starring the beloved Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, here are five fun facts you did not know about the movie. <ol> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Julie Andrews almost wasn’t cast as Maria </li> </ol> Richard Rodgers said that Julie Andrews would be perfect for the role of Maria but no one else agreed. It was only after the crew saw Mary Poppins that they noticed how everybody loved her. <ol start="2"> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Julie Andrews kept falling over on the mountain </li> </ol> The opening scene where Maria is dancing on the mountain saw Julie Andrews fall multiple times thanks to the helicopter hovering above. “This was a jet helicopter,” Andrews said. “And the downdraft from those jets was so strong that every time … the helicopter circled around me and the downdraft just flattened me into the grass. And I mean flattened. It was fine for a couple of takes, but after that you begin to get just a little bit angry… And I really tried. I mean, I braced myself, I thought, ‘It’s not going to get me this time.’ And every single time, I bit the dust.” <ol start="3"> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Christopher Plummer hated the movie </li> </ol> Our beloved Captain von Trapp hated the film to the point where he actually called it “The Sound of Mucus”. “Because it was so awful and sentimental and gooey,” he said. “You had to work terribly hard to try and infuse some minuscule bit of humor into it.” Because he hated the film so much, Plummer would sit eating and drinking in excess which caused him to gain so much weight. In the DVD commentary, Plummer also confessed that he was in fact drunk during the filming of the music festival. <ol start="4"> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Young Gretl was traumatised during the boat scene </li> </ol> In the scene where Maria had taken the von Trapp kids out to town and were spotted by the Captain in the boat outside their home traumatised young Gretl. Gretl did not know how to swim and therefore it was agreed that Maria would fall forward when the boat flipped. When the boat flipped, Maria instead fell backwards which saw Gretl struggle and inhale a lot of water. She eventually vomited on the actress that played Louisa. <ol start="5"> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Friedrich grew 15cm during filming </li> </ol> Nicholas Hammond played Friedrich and grew an incredible 15cm during filming. Because he was supposed to appear shorter than Liesl but taller than Louisa - at the start of the film Hammond had lifts on his shoes and by the end of it they were gone. Image: Pinterest

Movies

Mrs Doubtfire not the only one in disguise

It’s the movie that keeps on giving and almost 30 years later Mrs Doubtfire continues to be a fan favourite. Starring the much-loved Robin Williams as Daniel, an unsuccessful actor who disguises himself as a female Scottish housekeeper to spend time with his children following a messy separation, it's a great movie for a rainy day. And one eagle-eyed viewer has pointed out an unexpected cameo and fun fact. “In Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), the poolside bartender is played by an actor credited under the nickname Dr. Toad,” he wrote on <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/MovieDetails/comments/t4zp0l/in_mrs_doubtfire_1993_the_poolside_bartender_is/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reddit</a>. “But his real name was Robert Todd Williams, and he was Robin Williams’ older brother.” The post includes a photo from the scene where Daniel, dressed up as Mrs Doubtfire, is sitting at a bar while keeping an eye on his ex Miranda and his children, while out on a date with her new boyfriend Stu. The bartender in that scene is Robin’s brother, Robert. That was Robert’s only scene in any movie, as he works as a vintner by trade. Robin Williams was sadly found dead in his California home on August 11, 2014 aged 63 - but of course he lives on through this film and many other brilliant works. Image: Reddit

Movies

Christopher Walken destroys $20million Banksy artwork

An original Banksy artwork has been painted over by Hollywood royalty Christopher Walken while filming his new TV show. The 78-year-old actor erased the artwork, which is estimated to be worth $20million, as part of a scene of the new comedy drama show The Outlaws. The elusive street artist Banksy had painted the images of a rat holding two spray cans specifically for the upcoming BBC series, which is set in his home city. However, it’s claimed that the mysterious artist had collaborated with the show bosses for the stunt. The six-part series follows a group of misfits who are tasked with renovating a derelict community centre in Bristol as part of a community service sentence. A spokesperson for The Outlaws confirmed, “We can confirm that the artwork at the end of The Outlaws was an original Banksy, and that Christopher Walken painted over that artwork during the filming of this scene, ultimately destroying it.” The wrecking of the artwork was seemingly agreed upon by Bristol-native Banksy, who is reportedly a big fan of Christopher Walken, and admired the fact that Stephen Merchant, a fellow Bristonlian, was showcasing the city. A source told <a href="https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/tv/4041091/banksy-artwork-destroyed-outlaws/">The Sun</a>, “The creative team came up with the dream scenario and got in touch with the artist’s representatives in the faint hope that he might help them.” “Then they discovered shortly afterwards that he’d been to the location where they were filming and left something behind. They couldn’t believe their luck as he’d painted a giant rat using his hallmark stencilling technique as well as his distinctive signature.” They added, “His only stipulation was that they really did paint over it — and it would be his hero Christopher holding the roller.” Check out the trailer for The Outlaws below: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k_-6-hYP7Dk" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> Image credits: Getty Images

Art

Uncanny Robin Williams impersonation stuns fans

Image: Youtube Robin Williams’ fans are very excited by actor Jamie Costa’s impersonation of the late star. Costa posted a five-minute clip to his YouTube channel, titled ROBIN Test Footage Scene, on Tuesday, showing a scene featuring himself as Williams and Sarah Murphree as Pam Dawber on the set of Mork & Mindy. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0-kOy4s_Z0M" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> The clip shows Dawber interrupting Williams as he runs through lines to break the news of comedian John Belushi’s death – and shows Williams’ reaction to the news. When Murphree tells Costa Belushi had been found dead that morning, Costa finds it hard to digest the news, insisting: “No, I told you, I was with him. John’s not dead, I was with him last night.” Blues Brothers star Belushi died aged 33 of a cocaine and heroin overdose at Chateau Marmont in LA in 1982. After Murphee warns Costa: “I can’t let what happened to him happen to you” and a knock on the door signals it is time for the pair to go back on set, costa returns to reciting lines – this time, with a break in his voice. The short film left some viewers hankering for a full biopic of Williams, who died by suicide in 2014 after battling Lewy body dementia. “Who else has been hoping Jamie would play Robin in a biopic since you saw his first Robin impressions?” one wrote. “It’s one thing to resemble a person but it’s how much he sounds like and has his mannerisms and expressions down that’s so freaking impressive. I hope this movie gets made. I still feel his loss,” said another. “This is absolutely incredible. Make this full length movie and hire this man NOW!” a third wrote.

Law & Order star finally spills on the real reason he left the show

Christopher Meloni has made many Law & Order fans happy by returning to the popular crime drama after leaving 10 years ago. Now he tells us the real reason he left. Known for his portrayal of the no-nonsense Detective Elliot Stabler on Law & Order: SVU for a long run of 12 seasons between 1999 and 2011, Meloni left the show at the end of the 12th season. His sudden departure was a major shock to his detective partner on the show, Mariska Hargitay. As her character, Olivia Benson, she portrayed this shock in the Season 13 premiere. At the time, it was reported that Meloni left the show because of a contract dispute and finally, when Men’s Health interviewed Meloni recently, he confirmed this was the case. Meloni told Men’s Health he was negotiating with the show's executive producer, Dick Wolf, for less screen time in the 13th season but he was having trouble getting his message across. "My thought was: instead of 22 episodes, bring me back for nine episodes, or bring me back for 18 episodes," Meloni told Men's Health. In the end, Meloni sad they came to me on a Thursday night and said: “This is the deal. We want the answer by tomorrow. It’s our way or no way.” Because the producer wasn’t offering anything Meloni had asked for, Meloni said he just agreed that if he couldn't have it his way, he wouldn't have it any way at all. So, he decided to bring an end to his character's time on the show. "I don't want to f--k around with you guys. This is what I want. If you can't do it, that's fine. Let's figure out my exit," he said of his last discussion with Wolf. However, now that Meloni is back on the set of Law & Order in Organized Crime, which you can watch in Australia for free on 9Now, there is far less stress involved, and the actor is finding himself having a good time taking the character of Elliot Stabler back on. "I'm not stressed by, ‘Will it go well? Will it not go well?' Not that I know how it's going to go. Just that, eh, just ride. Just do, just be," Meloni said to Men's Health. You can stream the complete seasons of <a rel="noopener" href="https://stream.9now.com.au/9OoBaVXFsib" target="_blank" title="Law & Order">Law & Order</a>, <a rel="noopener" href="https://9now.app.link/E94KXzqypfb" target="_blank" title="Law & Order: Organized Crime">Law & Order: Organized Crime</a>, and <a rel="noopener" href="https://stream.9now.com.au/q2h127aGsib" target="_blank" title="Law & Order: Criminal Intent">Law & Order: Criminal Intent</a> for free on 9Now. Image: Getty Images

Robin Williams’ widow sets the record straight about his death

Susan Schneider Williams who is the widow of the late Robin Williams, has spoken in a rare interview to clear up the number of “misunderstandings” about her late husband’s death. Williams, a veteran actor, took his own life in 2014 when he was 63. Soon after his death, it was revealed the star was battling a degenerative condition, Lewy Body Dementia. Susan revealed she had only learnt about her husband’s diagnosis after his death. Speaking to the <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jan/01/robin-williamss-widow-there-were-so-many-misunderstandings-about-what-had-happened-to-him" target="_blank" title="www.theguardian.com">Guardian</a>, she said: “The doctors said to me after the autopsy: ‘Are you surprised that your husband had Lewy bodies throughout his entire brain and brain stem?’ “I didn’t even know what Lewy bodies were, but I said: ‘No, I’m not surprised.’ The fact that something had infiltrated every part of my husband’s brain? That made perfect sense.” Susan is to be a part of the new documentary, <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/celebrity-deaths/robin-williams-tragic-final-days-laid-barre-in-upcoming-documentary-robins-wish/news-story/9d55f0da55fac9d1cf38abe4796e5085" target="_blank" title="www.news.com.au">Robin’s Wish</a>, which will follow the actor’s last few days before his death, as well as his disease. “If my husband weren’t famous I would not have put myself through this,” she said. “But there were so many misunderstandings out there about what had happened to him, and about Lewy bodies. So this felt like the right thing to do.” In another conversation with <a rel="noopener" href="https://ew.com/movies/robins-wish-exclusive-trailer-robin-williams-doc/" target="_blank" title="ew.com">Entertainment Weekly</a>, Susan revealed how working on the film that honoured her husband, helped her understand the condition that took over him towards the end of his life. “Armed with the name of a brain disease I’d never heard of, I set out on a mission to understand it, and that led me down my unchosen path of advocacy. “With invaluable help from leading medical experts, I saw that what Robin and I had gone through, finally made sense — our experience matched up with the science.” Robin’s Wish documents the actor’s final days as his worsening condition alarmed loved ones and colleagues. Friends and family say Williams’ behaviour began to deteriorate two years before his death. “I would say a month into the shoot (of Night at the Museum 3), it was clear to me — it was clear to all of us — that something was going on with Robin,” director Shawn Levy said in the doco. “That’s an experience I’ve not spoken about publicly ever. We saw that Robin was struggling in a way that he hadn’t before to remember lines and to combine the right words with the performance.” Comedian and close friend to Robin Rick Overton says that Williams began to skip his regular stand-up gigs at his regular venue of choice, the Throckmorton Theatre. “There were a couple of shows where I was expecting Robin to be there and he didn’t make it, for one reason or another,” Overton says. His neighbour John Hepper says he would see Williams out on walks with his dog and became concerned about the actor’s rapidly changing physique. “His ribs were actually showing (through his T-shirt),” Hepper says in Robin’s Wish. “I grabbed his skin. ‘Robin, you’re really getting thin.’ “He said, ‘Yeah, boss, I’ve gone to the doctor, but they don’t know what it is.’” The night of Williams’ death, his neighbour Hepper spotted him outside with his dog. “Boss, I really need a hug,” he remembers Williams saying. “So, I gave him a hug, and he started to cry.” Hepper put his arm around the actor’s shoulder and spoke in depth with him for 15 minutes. “He talked about family, and what was going on in his life and some things I think he felt that I would keep private,” he says. It was revealed that on the beloved star’s last night before his death, he had told his wife “Goodnight, my love” before shuffling to his office with his iPad in hand. Susan recalled being thrilled that her husband had seemed to pick up reading again. The next morning, when Williams’ assistant tried to enter his office, she found the door was locked and quickly texted Susan: “He’s not up. What should I do?” Susan knew he was gone. The police would later find Williams – a loving husband, a devoted father, a faithful friend and one of the world’s most critically acclaimed actors – dead with no note. He left behind three children, Zachary, 37, Zelda, 31, and Cody, 29.

Family & Pets

Robin Williams' heartbreaking final days revealed

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text "> For many, Robin Williams' death by suicide came out of nowhere in 2014. The iconic comedian, 63, had appeared in new films and talk shows that showcased his wit. Reports around his death said that the suicide was a result of severe depression and due to the actor being diagnosed with a mild case of Parkinson's disease earlier in the year. An autopsy proved this to be untrue. His family learned that Williams had been suffering from a neurological disorder known as Lewy Body dementia that can cause hallucinations and dangerously acting out dreams while sleeping. A new documentary called Robin's Wish documents his final days as his condition worsened and had his family and loved ones fearing for the worst. “We had unknowingly been battling a deadly disease,” Williams’ widow Susan Schneider Williams, 56, says in the documentary. “A disease for which there is no cure. The devastation on Robin’s brain from Lewy bodies was one of the worst cases medical professionals have ever seen, yet throughout all of this his heart remained strong.” Family and friends confirm that Williams began to deteriorate two years before his death. “I would say a month into the shoot (of Night at the Museum 3), it was clear to me — it was clear to all of us — that something was going on with Robin,” director Shawn Levy says in the doco. “That’s an experience I’ve not spoken about publicly ever. We saw that Robin was struggling in a way that he hadn’t before to remember lines and to combine the right words with the performance.” His neighbour John Hepper explained his concern over William's quickly changing body. “His ribs were actually showing (through his T-shirt),” Hepper says in Robin’s Wish. “I grabbed his skin. ‘Robin, you’re really getting thin.’ He said, ‘Yeah, boss, I’ve gone to the doctor, but they don’t know what it is.’” William's widow was surprised at how quickly the paranoia was brought on. “The degree to which the paranoia came in was so drastic,” Susan says. “He’s going from room to room and literally watching me. He’s making a lot of phone calls and texting people and questioning … my loyalty to him.” The night of William's death, his neighbour Hepper spotted him outside. “Boss, I really need a hug,” he remembers Williams saying. “So, I gave him a hug, and he started to cry.” Hepper put his arm around the actor’s shoulder and spoke in depth with him for 15 minutes. “He talked about family, and what was going on in his life and some things I think he felt that I would keep private,” he says. The next morning, when Williams' assistant tried to enter his office and found the door locked, Susan knew he was gone. Williams left no note. Susan continues to cherish her husband's memory as a generous man and often reflects on what he would want his legacy to be. “For Robin, it was that he wanted to help people be less afraid,” she says. </div> </div> </div>

Wonderful unseen photos of Robin Williams found during self-isolation

Robin Williams’ daughter Zelda has shared an unearthed photograph she took with her father while spring cleaning her house during self-isolation. The 30-year-old actress took to Twitter on Wednesday evening to share the treasure she found – a polaroid snap reel she took with her late dad – to fans. “Isolation spring cleaning is turning up some fun old gems,” she wrote. The montage of pictures showed the pair pulling funny faces for the camera, in classic Williams’ fashion. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7835202/robbin-williams-1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/e2ff309c5ba34b20b2b0fcb68ae3a8a9" /> Fans were quick to commend Zelda for sharing the post, writing: “I bet he was the most fun dad ever. We all miss him like he was ours”. Another wrote “Your dad was a comet that only comes around once in a lifetime. Special human being.” Zelda is the daughter to Robin and his second wife, who is a film producer, Marsha Grace Williams. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7835204/robbin-williams.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/6153a1bd2d4e4fc4b4da99c953c350d9" /> Robin, whose daughter was born just 10 days after her dad’s 38th birthday, admitted he named her after Princess Zelda from The Legend of Zelda video game series. The Oscar-winning actor, who died at the age of 63, became a household name for his portrayal of Mork from Ork on the hit sitcom Happy Days and its spin-off Mork & Mindy.

Movies

How this New Zealand songbird provides insights into cognitive evolution

When we think about animals storing food, the image that usually comes to mind is a squirrel busily hiding nuts for the winter. We don’t usually think of a small songbird taking down an enormous invertebrate, tearing it into pieces and hiding these titbits in the branches of trees to snack on later in the day. But this is also a form of caching behaviour, where food is handled and stored for later consumption. For caching animals, the ability to recall where food is hidden is crucial for survival. My <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960982219303252">research</a> into the spatial memory performance of a caching songbird, the New Zealand robin (Petroica longipes), shows male birds with superior memory abilities also have better breeding success. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298439/original/file-20191024-119449-v1ha09.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /> Male toutouwai with better spacial memory also raise more chicks. Supplied, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" class="license">CC BY-ND</a> Why memory matters There’s no argument that New Zealand is home to a host of unusual birds, including the nocturnal, flightless parrot kākāpō (Strigops habroptila), or the hihi (Notiomystis cincta), the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1474-919X.1996.tb08834.x">only bird in the world known to mate face to face</a>. By outward appearances, the small, grey toutouwai (Māori name for P. longipes) is not particularly remarkable. But its noteworthy behaviour includes <a href="https://www.doc.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/science-and-technical/docts13.pdf">feasting on some of the world’s largest invertebrates</a>. There is only so much of a 30cm earthworm a 30g bird can eat, and rather than waste the leftovers, toutouwai will cache any surplus prey they don’t want to eat immediately. <img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298440/original/file-20191024-119463-1bfg3en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /> Toutouwai are the only known caching species in New Zealand. An accurate <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110512-135904">spatial memory is therefore crucial</a> for recovering caches and it has long been assumed that spatial memory is under <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2919184">strong selection pressure in caching species</a>. For selection to act on a trait, there must be individual variation that is passed onto offspring and that influences survival and reproduction. While researchers had looked at how spatial memory influences <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960982219300077">winter survival in caching mountain chickadees</a>, no one had examined whether memory performance influences reproductive success in any caching species. Our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960982219303252">research</a> tackles this issue. Measuring memory in the wild We measured the spatial memory performance of 63 wild toutouwai during winter. We gave the birds a circular puzzle that had a mealworm treat hidden inside one of eight compartments. For each bird, we put the puzzle at the same location in their territory several times in a single day, with the food always hidden in the same spot. <img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/765/spatial_test.gif?1571875385" alt="" width="100%" /> Wild toutouwai looking for a hidden mealworm treat. SOURCE Over time, toutouwai learned the location of the hidden treat and began opening fewer compartments to find the mealworm. We then followed these same birds through the next breeding season and looked at whether their spatial memory performance (measured as the number of compartments they had to open to find the mealworm) was linked to their ability to feed chicks, and whether it influenced the survival of their offspring. Our results suggested that spatial memory performance influences reproductive success in toutouwai. Males with more accurate memory performance successfully raised more offspring per nest and fed larger prey to chicks. By contrast, we did not find the same patterns for females. This is the first evidence that spatial memory is linked to reproductive fitness in a food caching species. Evolving intelligence If there is such a great benefit for males in having an accurate recall of locations, why aren’t all males the best they can possibly be in terms of spatial memory performance? In other words, why didn’t all the male toutouwai we tested ace our memory task? Intriguingly, our results suggest a role for conflict between the sexes in maintaining variation in cognitive ability. We found no effect of memory performance on female reproductive success, suggesting that the cognitive abilities that influence reproductive behaviour may well differ for females. Such a difference between the sexes would ultimately constrain the effect of selection on male spatial memory, preventing strong directional selection from giving rise to uniformly exceptional memory in our toutouwai population. Our work produced some tantalising evidence for both the causes and consequences of variation in cognitive ability, but it also raises several more questions. For example, while we’ve shown that memory performance matters for males, we still need to examine how it influences caching behaviour. Another mystery that remains is why spatial memory ability may have less of an influence on female toutouwai fitness. One possibility is that longer-term spatial memory for specific locations (rather than the short-term memory we measured) may matter more for female reproduction, because females do all of the nest building and incubation. So far, we’ve only provided one piece of the puzzle. To get the full picture of how cognition evolves, we have many more avenues left to explore.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125304/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rachael-shaw-764893">Rachael Shaw</a>, Rutherford Discovery Fellow, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/victoria-university-of-wellington-1200">Victoria University of Wellington</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-small-new-zealand-songbird-that-hides-food-for-later-use-provides-insights-into-cognitive-evolution-125304">original article</a>.

Music

Robin Bailey shares heartfelt tribute to late husband

Former Triple M radio host Robin Bailey has shared a tribute to her husband Sean Pickwell, who passed away at the age of 56 on Thursday. Pickwell, former radio executive and agency director, was diagnosed with a terminal cancer in July 2018. “What can I say… my big beautiful panda has gone,” Bailey wrote on Instagram. “In this moment there are no words or feelings that can truly express the love and gratitude I have for my husband Sean Pickwell. “He was my absolute soul mate, the true love of my life and whatever I do from now on he will be in my heart and in my corner cheering me on.” The 50-year-old called on those whose lives have been touched by Pickwell to give blood and donate to non-profit organisation Karuna in his memory. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B22mUAxAJFc/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B22mUAxAJFc/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">What can I say .. my big beautiful panda has gone . He died as he lived ... his way ....at home with us holding him.... early this morning. In this moment there are no words or feelings that can truly express the love and gratitude I have for my husband Sean Pickwell . He came into our lives and healed us . He loved me so hard and taught me so much and now whatever life throws at us we will be stronger , wiser and more fierce because of him . He was my absolute soul mate , the true love of my life and whatever I do from now on he will be in my heart and in my corner cheering me on. Sean will be remembered at a memorial for family and friends in the coming weeks but if his journey touched you or you want to reach out for us I ask you to do two things . Give blood . Its life saving for so many people and it’s easy and pain free and can do so much for so many . Plus donate or support Karuna .https://www.karuna.org.au This most amazing none profit organisation gave us the support and means to grant his final wishes to die at home surrounded in love with the people he loved. #love #family #pandapickwell #mygreatestlove #byebigguy #soulmate #karuna #giveblood #redcrossbloodbank #gratefulforlove</a> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/robinbaileynow/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank"> Robin Bailey</a> (@robinbaileynow) on Sep 25, 2019 at 4:45pm PDT </div> </blockquote> The couple tied the knot in November 2018 after three years of dating. Bailey left The Big Breakfast Show on Triple M Brisbane last week to spend time with her husband. “I never think through decisions I only feel them and this one feels so right,” she said.

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