Features

SPIEGEL-Online International: For as long as he can remember Floyd Lasseigne has been a fisherman on Grand Isle, off the coast of Louisiana. Now he has to stand by and watch as the BP oil spill destroys his life. The oysters lie in the water like silent harbingers of the disaster. A shiny film...
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So lange er denken kann, ist Floyd Lasseigne Fischer auf Grand Isle vor der Küste Louisianas. Die Ölpest im Golf von Mexiko zerstört sein Leben. Die Austern liegen im Wasser wie stille Boten der Katastrophe. Ein silbrig glänzender Ölfilm zieht sich über die Schalen der Tiere. Schlierig schwappt die Brühe über die flache Austernbank...
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Is it possible to learn German in just days? Linguistic savant Daniel Tammet managed to do so in the course of a week. Using his own special technique, the 30-year-old, who has a mild form of autism, has learned to speak more than 10 languages. Daniel Tammet likes the German language. It’s “like a...
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How much is the Earth worth to us? At a global conference in Bonn, Germany, representatives of 191 nations are discussing a revolution in conservation. By making a highly profitable business out of saving forests, whales and coral reefs, environmentalists hope to put a stop to a dramatic wave of extinctions. The envoy from...
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Last week saw the World Taxidermy Championships take place in Salzburg, Austria — the first time the event has ever been staged in Europe. It offered an unusual glimpse of a world as unsettling as it is fascinating — one where the greatest joy comes from pulling the pelt off an alpine marmot or...
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Eccentric private citizens in the United States own more tigers than exist in the wild worldwide. But owning big cats can be a dangerous hobby, especially when the animals turn on their owners. Vincent Lowe, 49, didn’t even have enough time to fire his .357 caliber pistol. In one powerful leap, the 500-pound tiger...
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