The chemistry of kibble. “Dry, cereal-based pet foods caught on during World War II, when tin rationing put a stop to canning. Owners were delighted. Dry pet food was less messy and stinky and more convenient. As a satisfied Spratt’s Patent Cat Food customer of yesteryear put it, the little biscuits were ‘both handy and cleanly.'”

Algae bloom kills record number of Florida manatees. “More than 200 manatees have died in Florida’s waterways since January from an algae bloom called red tide, just as wildlife officials try to remove the marine mammal from the endangered species list. It used to be boat propellers that were the biggest killer of manatees, but red tide has been especially bad this year.”

Vegan secrets (or why my skin is always glowing) “When I first made the decision to adopt a vegan diet, many of the more “seasoned” vegans in my life told me about all the wonderful benefits I could expect. I heard that I would likely drop unwanted weight more easily, that I would have more energy and that I wouldn’t have to worry as much about things like heart disease or cancer. Those things all sounded great, but after I went vegan, I discovered a whole world of benefits no one had ever told me about.”

Peta’s Ingrid Newkirk: making the fury fly. “My favourite story about Ingrid Newkirk, the founder and head of Peta, the animal-rights organisation, involves her storming the dining room of the Four Seasons hotel in New York, depositing a dead raccoon on Anna Wintour’s dinner plate and calling the veteran editor of American Vogue a ‘fur hag’. Wintour, a long-time Peta hate figure for her support of the fur industry, calmly covered it with a napkin and then ordered coffee.”

Photo credit: MShades via Flickr