By Kathleen Stosch @KathleenStosch Our brains naturally compartmentalise things. Germans call this ‘Schubladendenken’ which translates as ‘drawer thinking’. We have drawers for different species, different people and different scientific disciplines. This may help us understand separate drawers and their differences, but it can also mean we lose the whole picture of how the drawers are connected and are being influenced by one another and other drivers.
By Tom Mason. I have recently returned from a conference in the foothills of the Austrian Alps where one presentation in particular resonated with me. It concerned the fate of the Bargy population of Alpine ibex living in the Haute-Savoie region of the France. In this population there is a high prevalence of brucellosis; a bacteria-borne disease which – unfortunately for ibex – can be transmitted to humans and livestock. The Haute-Savoie… Read More