Geographical • 19th June 2021

Bioremediation: The art of cleaning toxic waste with natural materials - Geographical Magazine

Not many microbe stories unrelated to COVID-19 made headlines in 2020, but one that did involved an announcement in autumn by biochemists at the University of Portsmouth, who used an enzyme from a rubbish-dwelling bacterium that lives on a diet of plastic bottles to create a ‘cocktail’ capable of breaking down PET bottles at industrial speeds.

BBC Culture • 22nd May 2021

Brighton: The unlikely birthplace of cinema

While Hollywood was still an anonymous LA suburb, one British seaside city was busy inventing the "language" of cinema, during a glorious decade from the late years of Queen Victoria's reign into the start of the 20th Century.

BBC Style • 5th May 2021

Tartan: The misunderstood icon of 'Scottishness'

Tartan is updating its image in the 21st Century, with new patterns exploring issues around climate change, homelessness – and World War Two dive bombers, writes Norman Miller.

BBC Travel • 1st May 2021

The UK seafood that could send you to jail

On the English Channel Island of Guernsey, people have spent centuries gathering a particular prized mollusc. Today its harvesting is wrapped in strict rules - that led to the world's first underwater arrest...

BBC Culture • 3rd March 2021

Cryptic crosswords: A puzzling British obsession

Norman Miller looks at the history of a very British form of language play..

BBC.com • 17th February 2021

The forgotten foods that could excite our tastebuds

Just 12 plant species and five types of animal make up 75% of the world's food. But at least 30,000 of the 350,000 known plant species on our planet are edible, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization. Norman Miller looks at a world of new crops that could transform the global diet.

BBC Culture • 12th November 2020

The theremin: The strangest instrument ever invented?

The theremin sometimes seems like an instrument from Earth’s future or another world. Its music seems conjured from nothing, notes and tones teased and manipulated by hypnotic movements of hand and fingers through air. Meet the only musical instrument controlled entirely without physical contact.

Reader's Digest • 24th September 2020

Sisters Are Brewing It For Themselves

A new generation of brewsters are returning women to their historic place in the forefront of beer making.

BBC.com • 10th September 2020

A new island of hope rising from the Indian Ocean

Scattered across the Arabian Sea, south-west of Sri Lanka and India, the Maldives present a dreamy, tropical idyll to travellers from all over the world. Yet perhaps no other nation faces an environmental threat quite as serious as the Maldives. NORMAN MILLER explores the island nation's pioneering response.

RECLAIM • 17th July 2020

Time Travel

With travel restricted, Norman Miller looks at how vintage travel posters can help satisfy our wanderlust in glorious style.

RECLAIM • 15th July 2020

Peak Times

On the fringes of the Peak District, Leek is a lovely beacon of Arts & Crafts heritage.

Christie’s International Real Estate • 9th July 2020

A Taste of the States: Discover the Top Vineyards in the U.S.A.

Vineyards in a host of unexpected US states are producing vintages that have oenophiles traveling far and wide—take a tour of some of the finest here.

Silverkris • 25th September 2018

Silverkris/Singapore Airlines - The Secret Islands of Venice

The Venetian Lagoon is home to a wonderful array of distinctive - and largely unexplored - islands.

BBC.com • 14th July 2020

Basel: The birthplace of hallucinogenic science

How did an unsteady bicycle journey made one April evening in 1943 by a suited 37-year-old man in Basel change perceptions of the world?...

Countryfile • 10th July 2020

Views (without sight)

Meet the remarkable holiday company that puts blind and sighted walkers together for an experience that changes the outlook of both…

BBC.com • 10th July 2020

The surprising perks of isolated work

For millions of people worldwide, widespread lockdown has cast isolation as a negative – a loss of group engagement and communal hubbub. Yet there are people around the world who happily choose work lives involving long periods isolated in remote settings.

Sunday Times Travel Magazine • 6th May 2020

Scrumptious Scilly Isles

These ravishing islands, set in turquoise-tinted seas just off the Cornish coast, mix wild headlands with white-sand coves and tranquil lanes. And they’re gourmet heaven too...

BBC Worklife • 28th April 2020

Are community currencies a better way to shop?

Currencies like the Bristol Pound support local retailers and build a sense of community, proponents say – and now some are going digital.

The Times • 28th April 2020

Marooned masterpieces: the art stuck in the dark

As global lockdown brings the art world to a halt, Norman Miller finds out what happens next.

Delicious • 1st April 2020

Alsace - France, but not as you know it

Pressed against both Germany and Switzerland, Alsace takes memorable historic and culinary cues from both...