Mistletoe

When the “old” and “tottering” widow Rachel – she is in her late 60s – hosts Christmas at her Sussex seaside home, comfort and joy fail to show. This acidic novel, first published in 1951, tackles an important subject to which many modern readers will relate: the murderous claustrophobia of a family Christmas. It is also a novel about post-second world war Britain: the nostalgia, grimness and traumatic memories, the fear – of nuclear annihilation and shifting gender roles – and the desperate hopes of this shaken land.The…

Posted in: Comics, DC Comics, Preview | Tagged: Batmite, christmasJoin the holiday madness with DC's Twas the Mite Before Christmas #1 as DC heroes unwrap chaos, carols, and punchlines.Published Fri, 08 Dec 2023 13:26:09 -0600 by Jude Terror | Article Summary DC's Twas the Mite Before Christmas #1 drops on 12/12 with eight festive tales. Superheroes embrace the holiday spirit in a comic perfect for seasonal cheer. Includes a Dickensian story with Constantine and Harley's Christmas romance switch. …

Holiday favorite mistletoe – the kissing plant – hides a secret behind its romantic persona. It's actually a hemi-parasite that attacks living trees. Phoradendron, a genus of mistletoe often used to decorate doors, aptly translates to Greek for "thief of the tree". Descended from sandalwood, mistletoe has diversified into over a thousand global species. While sandalwood sinks its own roots into the roots of other trees for nutrition, mistletoe takes parasitism in a different direction by infiltrating tree branches.…

Stormzy’s third album This Is What I Mean has debuted at No 1 on the UK albums chart, beating Cliff Richard’s Christmas With Cliff to the top spot in a photo finish. It was reported this week that Richards was hot on the grime kingpin’s heels with his first Christmas record in 19 years; ultimately, it was a “last minute surge”, according to the Official Charts Company, that clinched Stormzy’s win. A relatively small margin of chart units – a metric that encompasses streams and sales – separated the two records, with This…

In order to spread to other host trees, the parasitic mistletoe plant has very sticky seeds that cling to bird feathers, bark, and other materials. According to a recent study, the "glue" on those seeds could inspire new biomedical adhesives.Contained within the plant's berries, mistletoe seeds are surrounded by a mucus-like substance known as viscin. It is in turn made up of cellulose nanofibers suspended within a gelatinous matrix.The basic idea is that when birds are eating the berries, the seeds will stick to their…