Jane Campion's heroines are original, independent and uncompromising – a bit like Jane Campion herself.  'If Jane hadn't done anything, I think she may have become a great criminal,' her mother remarked in an early  interview 

Instead, Campion became one of the most acclaimed film directors in the world.  New Zealand-born Campion - the first woman in history to win a Palme d'Or - took five years off to spend time with her young daughter before resurfacing with her latest film, Bright Star, and a renewed call for more women Hollywood.

A group of scientists, described by the media as 'the immortalists', met earlier this month to share theories on ways in which we human beings could extend our life span, writes Louise Ellis.

The delegates attending the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) Conference see ageing as primarily an engineering problem. They believe the life span of the human body can be extended by replacing body parts as they wear out, and by upgrading the body's biochemistry as problems emerge. They think that such procedures will become commonplace two or three decades from now, enabling people to live to at least 125 years old and beyond.

'It’s hard to believe now, but not long ago economists were congratulating themselves over the success of their field,' writes Paul Krugman, himself a winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics.

And according to Krugman, 'the economics profession went astray because economists, as a group, mistook beauty, clad in impressive-looking mathematics, for truth.'

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Donner und blitzen!  Followed by bright periods and scattered showers...

Now from the sublime to the ridiculous: click 'Read More' to find out where women's money goes!

Nelumbo nucifera, the lotus flower, has been a sacred symbol for thousands of years, writes Diane Southam

In the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo some years ago I was entranced to see gigantic sculptures of a Pharaoh and his consort, each cradling a lotus in the palm of their hand, smiling peacefully as they gazed into eternity.