Congratulations, you've made it through the week!

Have a Happy Thought:   After many (many) days of rain, New Zealand skies have been a beautiful shade of blue (for at least parts of the day).   A Harakeke flax flower against a deep blue sky, Phormium tenax. Photo by author.   The other amazing thing is that we in the English language have a word that describes that colour! Because, you see, not all languages have a word for “blue”. This absolutely messed with my mind when I first found out that, for example, the language that Homer used when compiling the Iliad and the Odyssey, didn’t yet have a word for blue . This is why you get lots of euphemisms like “wine-dark sea” or the bronze sky.   It’s not just ancient Greek, though – many languages don’t (or didn’t at one time) have a word for blue. And, it turns out, there is a pattern to when and how languages “add” colours to their lexicon.   Basically, you start off with the two really basic Dark and Light (or think in terms of Black and White, o...

Have a Happy Thought:   Scientists just keep discovering and naming species of ancient animals, as we find fossils. Here are just a few of the ones that have been announced recently:   In June, scientists announced the discovery of a dolphin (Nihohae matakoi) that swam in the seas above modern-day New Zealand, about 25 million years ago. It had sticky-outy-teeth at the front of its mouth: Fossilised skull of extinct dolphin Nihohae matakoi with tusk-like teeth that stuck out horizontally. Image from https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300904040/scientists-discover-fossil-dolphin-species-with-tusklike-teeth   Also in New Zealand waters, just earlier this month scientists announced they had found another little penguin, just a little bit smaller than the Kororā / Little Blue Penguins we can see today: Artist's rendering of two cute little penguins with blue backs and white fronts in a grassy background Artist’s interpretation of Wilson’s little penguin (Eud...

Have a Happy Thought:   (for those of you wondering why this is coming a day early: Mānawatia a Matariki! – Happy Matariki, the beginning of the new year in the Māori lunar calendar) Seal young adults, just like human ones, feel the need to strike out on their own, explore their wider surroundings, and find their own place to hang out. Sometimes for food, often to sleep. Image: A seal pup relaxing at a Te Awanga home in Hawke’s Bay in 2021., GEORGIA-MAY GILBERTSON/STUFF. From https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/300915396/expect-unexpected-encounters-during-silly-seal-season--even-in-opunake   Every year around this time, young and solo male kekeno (fur seals) around Aotearoa/New Zealand wander. A lot. And quite far distances!   Here are just a few examples, if you’ve missed the headlines about the seal silly season (sometimes called the silly seal season, which is a bit judgmental  I think, there's nothing silly about finding a good place t...

Have a Happy Thought: You may have been hearing about orca attacking boats in the Mediterranean recently. (Did you know this has been going on, just slightly less frequently, not just since 2020 , but there was a spate in 2017 ,   probably many in between, and, famously (ok a whale not orca), in the 1820’s .)   No one quite knows why these attacks are happening, but one prominent theory is that… it’s just a fad. Why would anyone think that orca go through fads, though? Well, let’s just say that we know about some other things that were once “cool” amongst a group of cetaceans, that we’re pretty sure would now be like wearing jeans under dresses (oh wait, apparently that’s back now , too?):   In 1987, just for one brief, amazing summer, a pod of orca followed their matriarch in the fad of wearing dead salmon on their heads. Like hats. 1   Dolphins off the coast of Western Australia like to put sponges on their noses. It helps keep...