‘The greatest ambassador for life on Earth’

Last week Sir David Attenborough tuned 100, and the milestone was celebrated throughout the United Kingdom and many countries throughout the world. The reason for that is that simple – Attenborough is not just a celebrity, not only a man with many decades presenting wonderful documentaries about our planet and the marvellous animals that live on it – he is a passionate advocate for the well-being of our world and he does it in a way that is inclusive and invigorating. He is what could be described as a ‘total good sort’.

“David Attenborough said he had been ‘completely overwhelmed by birthday greetings’ for his centenary on Friday and thanked well wishers ‘most sincerely’. The naturalist said he had hoped to celebrate his 100th birthday quietly. Instead, the milestone will be marked with a live event at the Royal Albert Hall broadcast on BBC One, featuring music from his programmes as well as stories and reflections from public figures and leading advocates for the natural world.

“In a recorded audio message shared on Thursday night, Attenborough said: ‘I had rather thought that I would celebrate my 100th birthday quietly, but it seems that many of you have had other ideas. I’ve been completely overwhelmed by birthday greetings, from preschool groups to care home residents and countless individuals and families of all ages. I simply can’t reply to each of you all separately, but I would like to thank you all most sincerely for your kind messages.’

‘The broadcaster, whose sonorous voice has described the wonders of life on Earth for billions of people, has inspired global efforts to treasure and protect wildlife during a lifetime that has coincided with mass extinction and the breakdown of a stable climate.” (Source: “‘The greatest ambassador for life on Earth’: Tributes paid to David Attenborough on his 100th birthday,” by Jonathan Watts and Ajit Niranjan, May 8, www.guardian.co.uk).

5 stars – I have grown up watching Attenborough’s documentaries, as have my children, and only very recently, my grandson. The man has been a gift to us all.

Neanderthal dentistry discovered

I read this story with a great deal of surprise and frankly amazement. From time to time, like most of us, I am sure, I wonder what our ancient forbears did to confront medical issues in the times they lived in. Some ailments and injuries would have been untreatable with the limited medical knowledge and medicines available. I had though, never even wondered if Neanderthals were capable of dentistry.

“An unusual tooth found in a cave offers a rare glimpse into a surprising procedure prehistoric humans might have performed to fix a cavity 59,000 years ago. Researchers uncovered the lower molar of an adult Neanderthal in Chagryskaya Cave in what’s now Russia, located in southwestern Siberia’s Altai Mountains, a site where populations of these early humans lived between about 49,000 and 70,000 years ago.

“Dubbed Chagyrskaya 64, the tooth stood out among dozens of others found in the cave because its crown featured a deep, irregular hole that extended all the way into the pulp chamber, or the inner cavity containing nerves and blood vessels. The chasm looked like a painful cavity that took up most of the tooth’s chewing surface.

“Scientists were further intrigued when they spied scratches on the tooth around the hole, suggesting manipulation using a tool of some sort. Fine-pointed stone tools also unearthed in the cave provided possible clues to what made the marks. Multiple scans of the Neanderthal tooth, as well as experiments using tools on modern human teeth, suggest that someone had essentially drilled out the cavity. This evidence points to the earliest known instance of dental cavity intervention in human evolutionary history, according to a study published [recently] in the journal PLOS One.” (Source: “59,000-year-old tooth offers a rare glimpse into how Neanderthals handled a medical problem,” by Ashley Strickland, May 4, www.edition.cnn.com).

5 stars – whilst I cannot imagine the pain of that dental procedure nearly 60,000 years ago, it’s amazing that Neanderthals had the wherewithal to try and alleviate an affliction that we have all had since time immemorial. Great stuff!