Solomon, the legend goes, had a magic ring which enabled him to speak to the animals in their own language. Konrad Lorenz was gifted with a similar power of understanding the animal world. He was that rare beast, a brilliant scientist who could write (and indeed draw) beautifully. He did more than ...

How, why and when did man meet dog and cat? How much are they in fact guided by instinct, and what sort of intelligence have they? What is the nature of their affection or attachment to the human race? Professor Lorenz says that some dogs are descended from wolves and some from jackals, with ...

Kant and Nietzsche - everyone knows that they are two famous German philosophers. Some may perhaps remember Kant in connection with 'Enlightenment' or know that Nietzsche was insane at the end of his life, having propagated the super-human.

However, few people have read Kant or ...

Kant and Nietzsche - everyone knows that they are two famous German philosophers. Some may perhaps remember Kant in connection with 'Enlightenment' or know that Nietzsche was insane at the end of his life, having propagated the super-human.

However, few people have read Kant or ...

Interest, curiosity and enjoyment in learning are powerful motivators. If a child feels motivated when it's studying it will work with greater perseverance and concentration, achieving better results in the long run. Sometimes learning can become an experience in itself, particularly if the ...

Janek wakes up - and finds himself alone. All the people have disappeared and the animals and plants seem to be gradually repossessing the city. Vacillating between excitement and panic, Janek wanders the streets with his missing neighbour's dog, walking in circles around his school over and ...

Tim is in borstal - a twenty month sentence. Instead of the thrills of parties, mates and girls, his life consists of suspicion, loneliness, and monotony. On top of it all, he faces the daily struggle for acceptance by his fellow prisoners and continuous fear of violence and brutal assault. ...

"Hartmut lived with us. Yesterday he set himself on fire."

When it comes to soccer, ten-year-old Hanno Kelsterberg knows everything there is to know. This is also true when it comes to staging demonstrations. For the past two years, the ascetic protester Hartmut Gründler has been ...

"People tell each other stories in order to survive-but for death they need music." Marten feels most at home in graveyards: they are quiet and their trees offer plenty of shade. Even as a child he was the odd one out-and as an adult he takes up the profession that fits him like a lid fits ...

On November 21 ^st 1811, on the shores of Lake Wannsee near Potsdam, the writer and dramatist Heinrich von Kleist shot first Henriette Vogel and then himself.

On the day of his death, Kleist composed a letter to his sister Ulrike, writing these now-famous words: "The truth ...

Outwardly Eva's life appears to be almost perfect: a house and garden on the outskirts of Berlin, three children, an arty husband and - a lover. Whilst on holiday in Norway she comes across a painting by Edvard Munch and is thunderstruck by its impact upon her. After this ...

Sixteen-year-old Annamaria will never forget that "Dirty Thursday": A harmless Carnival tradition spells doom for the young girl. And yet no one is willing to believe what happened to Annamaria, who has been living with a negligent and unloving foster mother since her parents' untimely deaths.