A two-part series on the wonders of the Universe for ZDF’s Terra X strand. Part one deals with the strange phenomenon of time; Part two with the Elements that make up the Universe.  Albert Einstein, of course, gave time and space a whole new twist. Have (another) go at his famous theory of relativity here and here (in German).

The picture above is of the Crab Nebula, the remnant of a massive star explosion in the year 1054. The white dot in its centre is one of the strangest objects in the universe: a neutron star. This is the condensed core of the former star, which has the mass equivalent to the sun crammed into a rapidly spinning ball of neutrons twelve miles across. While spinning, these neutron stars emit radio waves. When first detected, astronomers seriously thought that aliens are trying to contact us. You can read more about this somewhat bizarre scientific detective story here (in German) and here (in English).

The image is a composite of NASA’s three space observatories: Hubble (visible light), Chandra (X-Ray) and Spitzer (infrared). Credits: NASA, ESA; CXC, JPL-Caltech et al.

Their leather is valuable, but their venom is even more highly prized, because it can save lives. India’s cobras and vipers used to be hunted and killed for their skin, but today the poisonous snakes are protected. In fact, their poison has become so valuable in anti-venom production and pharmaceutical research that a backward caste, the Irula people of Southern India, has made a living of catching and milking the venomous four: Cobrs, Krait, Russels Viper and Sawscale Viper. A report for Deutsche Welle TV (German version here).

When I met these musicians in the lobby of their Hamburg hotel, they should have been tired after driving up all the way from Frankfurt. Instead, over a glass of whisky, they greeted me with an acapella piece of ‘Marguerite,’ a piece of Congolese Rumba.

Most of the musicians are crippled by polio and spent a good part of their lives in the streets of Kinshasa. No strangers to improvisation, they play with everything that is at hand. Spoons and sugar bowls as percussion instruments, self-made guitars or, the invention of the youngster in the band, a tin with a string attached. It’s hard to classify this music: while ‘Marguerite’ is Congolese Rumba at its finest, other songs are funky, more modern without ever losing sight of its Congolese roots. Check out their website here. The German version of this report can be found here. Foto by Dimitrij Leltschuk.