15 de Setembro de 2019.
Robert Burns his country’s most influential and celebrated writer. Born in Alloway, Ayrshire, in 1759, he was the eldest of seven children. He was raised in poverty and the difficult farming lifestyle took a toll on his physical health. Despite his poverty, he still gained an education through his father, a local minister and eventually, he was sent to a school for three days a week. After farming for years he began writing and wrote some of the most famous poems in Scot’s language. He died in 1796. A poem of his I read in school at the age of 11, it is possibly his most famous, Tam O’Shanter. First published in 1791 it tells a story of man’s return […]
13 de Setembro de 2019.
A Polish writer of science fiction, philosopher and futurologist. Lem was born in Lviv to a family of a laryngologist. Between 1940 and 1941, after the occupation of Lviv by Soviet troops, he was not allowed to study at Lviv Polytechnic, as he wished, and due to his father’s connections was accepted to study medicine at the Lviv Medical Institute. In 1946 Lviv was no longer on Polish soil and Lem, like many other Poles, was resettled to Krakow where he took up medical studies at the Jagiellonian University. He received a certificate of completion of studies, nonetheless refused to take the final exams in order to avoid obligatory military service. Lem made his literary debut in 1946 with a […]
11 de Setembro de 2019.
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos was a French writer from the 18th century. His masterwork is the epistolary novel Les Liaisons dangereuses, published in 1782. Today, there are several cinematographic adaptations of the book. For a long time considered as scandalous and immoral, the novel was until recently read behind closed doors. It deals with the libertine sexuality of two nobles, la Marquise de Merteuil et le Marquis Valmont, in the time of the coming Revolution. Scholars often highlight how common and ‘normal’ was the life of Laclos. He was a good husband, a good father, and a successful officer. So, a lot of questions abound about how he could have written such an audacious and blazing novel and how paradoxical […]
9 de Setembro de 2019.
A prolific observationalist of the changing nature of the early 20th Century. George Orwell, whose real name is Eric Arthur Blair was born in India in 1903. He was the son of a lower civil servant who was serving in India. As a boy, he was very academic and was able to get into prestigious schools back in England. He joined the Imperial Police in Burma, but soon became disparaged as he realized how much the Burmese detested living under British rule. This experience would lead to him releasing one of his great novels, Burmese Days. After resigning from the police, Orwell went to immerse himself with the lower classes in Paris and London working as a dishwasher and picking […]
7 de Setembro de 2019.
Massimo Gramellini is an Italian journalist of the contemporary era whose talent is to turn real stories and event unforgettable forever. He was born in 1960 and he started his career as a sports journalist for an important Italian newspaper. However, he became famous when his professional focus moved into politics. Gramellini documented and investigated the “Mani Pulite” (Clean Hands) season, a period when lots of scandals about the corruption between politics and entrepreneurship were discovered and which changed the development of the Italian politics. In 1993 he was sent to Sarajevo as a reporter during the civil war. From 2005 to 2017 he has been the Assistant Director of “La Stampa” newspaper and since that moment is a collaborator […]
6 de Setembro de 2019.
Físico português Gaspar Barreira, que morreu em Junho, foi homenageado durante visita ao Laboratório Europeu de Física de Partículas, em Genebra. Uma delegação de mais de 50 pessoas, incluindo empresários, engenheiros e cientistas, terminou uma visita de dois dias ao Laboratório Europeu de Física de Partículas (CERN), na Suíça, para reforçar a participação de Portugal em novos projectos. Até porque continuam as obras para melhor o desempenho do grande acelerador de partículas deste laboratório, o LHC, e fala-se da construção do seu sucessor. A visita, que incluiu reuniões de trabalho, terminou esta quarta-feira com a participação do ministro da Ciência, Tecnologia e do Ensino Superior, Manuel Heitor, e do secretário de Estado da Internacionalização, Eurico Brilhante Dias. Em declarações à […]
5 de Setembro de 2019.
Marguerite Duras and her book “ Le Ravissement de Lol V. Stein” Marguerite Duras was born in 1914 in Gia Dinh next to Saigon in the French Indochina. She is a writer, novelist, playwright, and essayist. She became famous in 1950 with the book “The Sea Wall” (Un barrage contre le Pacifique). This book is largely inspired by the life and adolescence of Marguerite Duras in the French Indochina. After this first success, she will publish many new novels. Her style is close to the New Roman, with strange sentences construction, deconstructed characters, storyline, and timeline. The main topics are the wait, love, sensuality, and alcohol. In 1984 she published another great success “The lover” (L’Amant) an auto-fiction about her […]
3 de Setembro de 2019.
An Austrian author of the 21st century: Marc Elsberg If you are interested in scientific thrillers, Marc Elsberg’s books are always a brilliant choice. It doesn’t matter if you choose Blackout, Zero or Helix – they’re all interesting, exciting and teach you a lot. This is why I like his work and why I always enjoy reading any book he wrote. He was born in 1967 in Vienna, grew up in the surroundings of Baden in Lower Austria and studied Industrial Design at the University for Art in Vienna. Later on, he worked in the marketing business as a creative director while he was starting to write his first book, a satirical novel called “Saubermann”. After three more books, he […]
1 de Setembro de 2019.
A very well known writer in Finland. Kari Hotakainen started his career as a reporter and became a full-time author in 1996. He has written many novels, poetry books, children’s books, radio dramas, newspaper columns, plays, and one TV-series. He has received some literature prizes for his work, for example, the Finlandia Prize for the novel Juoksuhaudantie (Battle Trench Avenue). The same book was later made into a movie. For me, the most meaningful book written by Kari Hotakainen is Satukirja (Storybook). The book is considered for children and young adults, but I think that it suits all ages. All the stories are very imaginative and different. It is a huge possibility, that after reading one story you become addicted […]
31 de Agosto de 2019.
A Polish-British writer, most famous for Heart of Darkness (1899). Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski is known rather as Joseph Conrad which is a combination of his two names. He went to Marseilles as a seventeen-year-old boy to work as a sailor. When he returned from his voyages to the Caribbean and South America, he had troubles with his citizenship, as a resident of the Russian Empire, he was obligated to do military service. Without permission from the Russian authorities to serve on French ships, Joseph fell into debts and consequently he attempted to commit suicide. Later on, he went to Great Britain and began serving in the British merchant navy. After a few years, he received the rank of captain […]
16 de Abril de 2019.
A cientista britânica Imogen Napper procura origens invulgares dos plásticos nos oceanos. O seu trabalho já contribuiu para a proibição de microesferas no Reino Unido. Imogen Napper tem apenas 27 anos mas as suas investigações sobre microplásticos já fizeram a diferença. Ao mostrar que uma embalagem de um produto cosmético pode ter quase três milhões de microesferas, influenciou a proibição destas pequenas partículas de plástico no Reino Unido. Noutro estudo, mostrou que durante uma lavagem de roupa na máquina podem ser libertadas mais de 700 mil microfibras, que irão parar ao ambiente. Por detectar plástico em sítios onde não são logo visíveis, é considerada uma detective dos plásticos. A investigadora britânica cresceu em Bristol e desde a infância que frequenta […]
17 de Janeiro de 2018.
Agora que a primeira estratégia para os plásticos na União Europeia foi apresentada, para Maio deverá surgir legislação comunitária para a pôr em prática. Até 2030, uma das metas é que todas as embalagens de plástico sejam recicláveis. Os plásticos estão em todo o lado, basta olhar à volta. E tanto falamos deles como um problema – é o caso dos plásticos descartáveis – como de um benefício para nós. A primeira estratégia europeia para lidar com os plásticos, apresentada nesta terça-feira em Bruxelas, é um plano de acção para as autoridades nacionais e a indústria. Uma das suas metas é que todas as embalagens de plástico no mercado, ao contrário o que acontece hoje, sejam recicláveis em 2030. E […]
21 de Agosto de 2017.
Ao ficarem cobertos de organismos marinhos, os pedacinhos de plástico passam a ser um alvo alimentar dos peixes. O cheiro do plástico quando colonizado por bactérias e algas no mar leva os peixes a confundi-los com alimento e a ingeri-los, introduzindo-os na cadeia alimentar, avança um estudo de investigadores da Universidade da Califórnia e do Aquário da Baía de São Francisco, nos Estaods Unidos, divulgado nesta quarta-feira na revista Proceedings of the Royal Society B. A ingestão de plásticos pode ser fatal e leva a uma acumulação de substâncias tóxicas ao longo da cadeia alimentar, quando os predadores se alimentam de presas que ingeriram plásticos. Os cientistas estudaram as reações de um cardume de anchovas na Califórnia (Engraulis mordax) – que se alimentam […]
26 de Junho de 2017.
Plastic Free July (Julho sem plástico) é uma iniciativa internacional que pretende sensibilizar as pessoas para o problema da poluição nos oceanos e encorajá-las a mudar os seus hábitos de consumo. Sabia que só na primeira década do séc. XXI foi produzido mais plástico do que nos últimos 100 anos? E que até 2050 as previsões apontam para que haja mais plástico no mar do que peixes? Para tentar contrariar esta situação, há uma iniciativa internacional que tenta reduzir o consumo deste produto derivado do petróleo. Sacos de compras, garrafas, palhinhas e copos descartáveis de plástico são as sugestões – a que chamam top 4– feitas pelo Plastic Free July para começar a erradicar o plástico das suas vidas. No início de Julho, arranca […]