Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (inc
A fossil jawbone found by a British girl and her father on a beach in Somerset, England belongs to a gigantic marine reptile dating to 202 million years ago that appears to have been among the largest animals ever on Earth.Researchers said on Wednesday the bone, called a surangular, was from a type
You might call it a cup of Joe, java, mud, brew, mocha or your morning jolt. Coffee undoubtedly is a big part of global culture, and the kind made from the Arabica bean is the most appreciated by coffee drinkers.Researchers now have unlocked the genome of the Arabica species and traced its origins t
In Paris’ outskirts, a bright-eyed young girl is eager for the Olympic and Paralympic Games to end.That’s because the swimming club where 10-year-old Lyla Kebbi trains will inherit an Olympic pool. It will be dismantled after the Games and trucked from the Olympic race venue in Paris’ high-rise busi
Alex Garland’s films have vividly conjured a virus-caused pandemic (2002’s 28 Days Later), an uncontrollable artificial intelligence (2014’s Ex Machina) and, in his latest, Civil War, a near-future America engaged in all-out warfare.Most filmmakers with such a record might claim some knack for tappi
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job.“I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “
They compete for a trophy, a ring, the chance to be called a champion and, sometimes, a place in history. Most of the world’s best athletes in all sorts of sports compete for cold, hard cash, too.After more than 100 years of striving to earn Olympic gold — but nothing else from the folks organizing
Iris Tuan (段馨君) is a professor at Taiwan’s National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, with strong links to Harvard. Her previous work Pop with Gods, Shakespeare, and AI was full of a wide range of topics, such as feminism, post-structuralism and films of Shakespeare — Baz Luhrmann’s beautiful Romeo a
One of the traits that helped make the dinosaurs such an evolutionary success story — thriving for 165 million years — was their fast growth rate, from massive meat-eaters like Tyrannosaurus to immense plant-eaters like Argentinosaurus.But when did this characteristic first appear? A new study indic
Approaching her mid-30s, Xiong Yidan reckons that most of her friends are on to their second or even third babies. But Xiong has more than a dozen. There is Lucky, the street dog from Bangkok who jumped into a taxi with her and never left. There is Sophie and Ben, sibling geese, who honk from mornin
Yayoi Kusama, the Japanese artist who has become an Instagram favorite in her 90s with her fantastical pumpkin sculptures, polka dots and kaleidoscopic infinity rooms, is the subject of a blockbuster retrospective heading to Australia.In December, the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) will present
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comm
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had ca
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the harde
Relations between Taiwan and the Czech Republic have flourished in recent years. However, not everyone is pleased about the growing friendship between the two countries. Last month, an incident involving a Chinese diplomat tailing the car of vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in Prague, drew p
Tributes have been paid in Japan to Akebono, the first foreign wrestler to reach the pinnacle of the sport of sumo, who has died aged 54.The wrestler, who was born Chad Rowan in Hawaii, is regarded as a pioneer after he broke down cultural barriers in the centuries-old sport to become the first non-
The year was 1991. A Toyota Land Cruiser set out on a 67km journey up the Junda Forest Road (郡大林道) toward an old loggers’ camp, at which point the hikers inside would get out and begin their ascent of Jade Mountain (玉山). Little did they know, they would be the last group of hikers to ever enjoy this
With his directorial debut Monkey Man, which he also co-wrote and stars in, Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire, Lion) cements himself both as an action star with A-list ambitions and a competent, resourceful B-movie director. This extravagantly violent and exuberantly messy revenge flick is set in a co
Amy Winehouse’s lyrics and music were the “guiding star” for director Sam Taylor-Johnson in bringing the late singer’s story to the screen in Back to Black.The biographical feature film follows Winehouse’s rise to fame and portrays her relationships with her family and former husband Blake Fielder-C
The ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar is the holy month of Ramadan, which began for Muslims worldwide on March 10. During this month, Muslims abstain from eating and drinking during the day, an act of penance that teaches self-control, reinforces one’s faith and helps one become more mindful