Oases are what they are, but the desert around them makes us perceive them as lavish. We live in a universe of mental oases and we do not give things the value they have, but the value we would like them to have.

The miasmas – a frightening name concealing a solid lack of knowledge – were supposed vapours carrying particles of «corrupted matter» that caused infectious diseases.

In late-Middle-Age Central European monasteries, nuns like Hildegard von Bingen rivaled monks in intellectual excellence.

Half a century after Kubrick’s futuristic metaphor, the mythical creation of Zarathustra survives and continues to be the cosmogonic core for some. This auditive start accompanying the sequence of a primate throwing a bone into the air as a first tool, thus starting the Anthropocene, became iconic.

The term Xylolithic is completely new. I am sure about it, because I just made it up. It means “made of wood and stone” (from Greek ξυλον [xýlon], “wood”, and λίθος [litos], “stone”).

[caption id="attachment_44023" align="alignleft" width="320"] Illustration: Anna Sanchis[/caption] When we were little, we knew the following by heart: A metre is the distance between two lines marked on a bar of platinum

Els piroclasts són fragments sòlids de roques volcàniques expulsats per la columna eruptiva. Els més lleugers poden arribar a milers de metres d’altura.

No animal is sedentary. All animals are migratory, that is what being an animal is about. Animals move because their existential strategy is based on movement. When they move –

«Someday all watches will be made this way.» This was the slogan used by Seiko in 1969 to market the Quartz-Astron 35SQ watch. It was a

Religion is usually a rational attempt to explain the incomprehensible. A rational one, based on available information, naturally. Of course, most religions are very old, so their rationalist effort seems

The Wright brothers -Wilbur and Orville- finally did it. It was in Kitty Hawk (North Carolina)on December 17, 1903. Their airplane Flyer flew. It did not glide, but, driven by a 19

In 1612, Ludovico Cardi, aka Cigoli, painted an Immaculate Conception scene in the Pauline Chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore, the great Roman basilica. Not the best Immaculate Conception scene in art

On 29 April 1962, President John F. Kennedy gathered 49 Nobel prize winners for a great banquet at his residence. He told the attendees: «I think this is the most

Esquisse d'un tableau historique des Progres de l'esprit humain was published in 1795, more than a year after the passing of its author. It had been written in haste, secretly

I trigger the switch and the light turns on. I open the tap and water comes out. Stores have everything: clothes, food, books and cars. I wait at the stop

[caption id="attachment_14593" align="alignleft" width="200"] Anna Sanchis[/caption] One fine day I found I had a Mediterranean diet. Just as Molière’s character, who was happy to learn he was speaking in prose, I

[caption id="attachment_14122" align="alignleft" width="200"] Anna Sanchis[/caption] Years ago, I just wanted a phone, but I had to buy a PDA. When I had to change it, the agent broke out laughing:

[caption id="attachment_13774" align="alignleft" width="200"] Anna Sanchis[/caption] Few precepts have lasted as long as the Regula Benedicti: Rule of Saint Benedict. It dates back to 534, and thus has remained in force

[caption id="attachment_10080" align="alignleft" width="200"] Anna Sanchis[/caption] Josep Pla, one of the brightest twentieth-century Catalan writers, asserted in an article published in 1945 that commercial aviation was «one of the most catastrophic businesses

Going unnoticed is a clever way of going around. It is a practical way to survive in hostile environments, prone to make your existence a misery. If you have extra

The new main exhibition of the completely renovated Museum of Natural Sciences of Catalonia takes a look over the history of life on the planet. Which is like saying over

[caption id="attachment_5222" align="alignleft" width="200"] © Anna Sanchis[/caption] Technicians are trained to develop projects and solve problems. Scientists are trained to understand things they only observe. When these attitudes are taken to

In Sarlat, the Perigord city with a splendid medieval centre, there is a sheltered market inside a desacrilised church. The reform was supervised by the architect Jean Nouvel, born in Fumèl, a nearby town. A quote from Jean Baudrillard can be read over the immense nave door: «Architecture is a mixture of nostalgia and extreme anticipation».

[caption id="attachment_526" align="alignleft" width="200"] © A. Sanchis[/caption] Her name was Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler. The thirties found her studying engineering in Austria, at that time it was an unusual activity for