Final Word

This week's Final Word comes from a geobiochemist who thinks of life as a geological force:

"The earth will be tamed, but will it be tame? Think of New York, Paris, Moscow, or Cairo. Consider the mountains of Switzerland, the natural parks of the United States, the Alhambra in Spain, the Great Wall of China; think of music, architecture, art. You will agree that the noosphere can be majestic and compelling. No doubt the taming of the earth will create new problems. But our offspring will never have reason to be bored."

The winner of last week's competition, who correctly identified George Orwell's The Lion and the Unicorn , is Peter Barnes of Milton Keynes.