Table of contents for April 2025 / May 2025 in Readers Digest Australia

As a new migrant to Australia, the first thing that I wanted to do was embrace its wide-open spaces and natural beauty. Wilderness adventures were something that I always enjoyed when I lived in Africa, whether it was kayaking, trail running or mountain biking. Australia has a lot to offer, and I was keen to do some exploring. In 2007, our family settled in the small town of Busselton, about 220 kilometres southwest of Perth in Western Australia, where I teach at one of the local high schools. One day, I overheard a colleague talking about exploring a cycling trail called The Munda Biddi that runs through the bush. At that time, it extended from the nearby town of Collie to Mundaring in the Perth Hills – some 225 kilometres.…

If you don’t get enough regular exposure to sunlight, you can eat more vitamin D-rich foods or find the right vitamin D supplement based on your nutritional needs. You can also get vitamin D from the sun. As the Harvard Health blog explains: “The sun’s energy turns a chemical in your skin into vitamin D3, which is carried to your liver and then your kidneys to transform it to active vitamin D. “Ultraviolet B radiation (UVB) radiation is the type of radiation from the sun that triggers vitamin D production in the body and turns it into the active form of vitamin D,” explains Dr Grant Radermacher. UVB radiation is mostly blocked by ordinary window glass. “Since glass absorbs all UVB radiation, exposure of the skin to sunlight that passes…

I used to live in London where riding escalators is a way of life. I have been on them carrying suitcases, after too many Pinot Grigios, and in heels that would now give me a nosebleed but, a wobbly escalator in a Sydney supermarket during lockdown triggered a fear of them that, even now, nearly four years later, means I still can’t go down one. And I’m not alone in developing some over-the-top fears during the pandemic period. “As lockdowns ended and people seemingly returned to normal, my phone started ringing,” says Christopher Paul Jones, a London-based phobia expert and author of the book Face Your Fears: 7 Steps to Conquering Phobias and Anxiety. “People were contacting me saying that previously mild fears had transformed into crippling phobias. Simple activities…

1 Last year, the Rubik’s Cube celebrated its 50th year of frustrating millions. More than 450 million cubes have been sold since its invention in 1974, making it one of the bestselling toys in history. The Rubik’s Cube was named Toy of the Year in 1980 and has won countless awards since. 2 The ‘Rubik’ in Rubik’s Cube is Hungarian professor of architecture Ernő Rubik, who first created his twisty puzzle to teach his students concepts of three-dimensional movement. Rubik spent about a month trying to unscramble his first prototype, which, at the time, he wasn’t sure could even be solved. He called it the Magic Cube. After it became popular around the Budapest College of Applied Arts campus, Rubik decided to pursue a patent. 3 Despite the cube’s overwhelming…

It’s a gloriously sunny winter’s day on Falls Farm, nestled in Queensland’s bucolic Sunshine Coast hinterland, and I traipse across the undulating landscape, walking closely behind the farm’s custodian, Jessica Huddart. We stroll through an orchard of yuzu citrus trees, and pass neat lines of cauliflower and kale that are bordered by basil and marigolds. Every living thing on the 16-hectare farm looks radiant. Jessica Huddart, who runs Falls Farm with her husband, Ben Johnston, guides me over the red dirt of the market gardens, thick black gumboots on and a steaming cup of tea in hand, talking with obvious passion about the farm’s philosophy. “We originally bought the property as a weekend getaway,” she says. “But when you have soil as rich as we have, you need to do…

FROM ESPN Emma Carey is flying, and she is so happy. She is 14,000 feet above the Earth, gripping the straps of her parachute pack like an excited kid on the way to her first day of school. Oh my God, I’m going to become a skydiver, she thinks, not knowing that just about the most terrifying thing a human being can experience is about to happen to her. She’s 20, an Australian kid travelling around Europe with her best friend, Jemma Mrdak. It is June 9, 2013, and Emma has no plans for what she’ll do when she returns home. It would oversimplify things to say her life was an open road because there was no road. Not yet, anyway. Earlier that morning, in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, she and Jemma…

Health Kick DEANNE One day, I had decided to make a healthy soup using beef, onions, garlic and seaweed, only to discover that no one in the family actually liked seaweed that much. As seaweed contains beneficial nutrients, instead of throwing it away, I scooped it out of the soup and fed it to my pot plants. The next day, on my way out to take my dog Banjo for a walk, I noticed that the seaweed had all disappeared. I thought that was a bit odd, but didn’t ponder too much about it. When Banjo is feeling a bit under the weather, he usually chomps on something green, usually freshly sprouted grass. During our walk that day, he stopped to throw something up. Nothing unusual there, he did this…

Enormous Coral Reef Fish The Napoleon wrasse, sometimes known as the humphead wrasse, has visually impressive markings and eyes. Most representatives of this rare species are predominantly blue or green. The Cheilinus undulatus is at home in the coral reefs from the Red Sea to the tropical Indo-Pacific. A fully grown adult can reach a length of up to 2.3 metres and weigh an impressive 190 kilograms. Perhaps most astonishingly, the female Napoleon wrasse has the ability to change sex, at will. When sexually mature females sometimes turning into males.…

AND AGAIN, YOU DIDN’T FINISH THE SENTENCE. Before you’ve even reached the point, someone else has taken over, cut the thread of the conversation that was developing so nicely and grabbed the attention of the other listeners. “Welcome to my sentence!” you could say, as some rhetoric experts recommend. But it wouldn’t come from the heart. There are few things more irritating when speaking than having someone interrupt you and take the conversation in their own direction. “Unequal speaking rights or opportunities to shape your own topic initiatives are perceived as extremely unpleasant,” says linguist Helga Kotthoff from the University of Freiburg in Germany, who has dedicated much of her research to analysing conversations. After all, everyone wants to be heard and feel heard. It hurts when this opportunity is…

FROM THE CONVERSATION DO YOU OWN ANY MEMORABILIA DEPICTING ELVIS, PRINCESS DIANA, DAVID BOWIE, PRINCE OR MICHAEL JACKSON? PERHAPS A BELOVED T-SHIRT, A FAVOURITE MUG, A SPECIAL KEYRING OR A NOVELTY PLATE? YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW IT, BUT YOU ARE PARTICIPATING IN SOMETHING KNOWN AS ‘NECRO-BRANDING’. Necro-branding is where the image of a celebrity or famous person is sold to the public, perhaps by their estate or by their fans, long after they have died. These necro-branded items act like talismans, helping us preserve the past and remind us of an era that’s long gone. Necro-branding is also shaping up to be a multibillion-dollar industry. Even the stars of today – such as Taylor Swift – will inevitably become the necro-brands of tomorrow. And with the astonishingly rapid development of…

So far this morning I have spotted faces in a crumpled piece of clothing and my neighbour’s front door, while my morning cereal was topped by a particularly grumpy-looking slice of banana. And while this might sound a little like I need some kind of intervention, it’s actually a completely normal phenomenon called pareidolia, where people see faces in inanimate objects. But why does it occur? Frankly, why doesn’t it occur might be a better question. “Being able to spot faces is critical for our survival and our social life,” explains neuro-scientist Professor David Alais from the University of Sydney. “We need to quickly recognise friends, enemies, healthy people or unhealthy people and the best way to do this is for the brain to have a simple template, akin to two…

Mr Smiley On The Floor I casually mentioned to my wife how I’ve started smiling with my eyes at work to signal no-threat and increase a sense of camaraderie. She was like, “What do you mean ‘smile with your eyes’?” So I showed her and she told me to never make that face again. @COSINE_DISTANCE Copy This Library patron: Your copier’s not working right. My copies all came out blank. Me (librarian): Looks like you ran them through the wrong-side-up. Patron: So, what, I need to flip them over? Me: Or we could turn the copier upside-down, but that seems like a lot of work. @LOUSYLIBRARIAN Heads Up I was trying a new hair stylist. Once I sat down, I immediately launched into just how I wanted my hair cut:…

Puzzle Answers PAGES 152 Crossword Test your general knowledge. ACROSS  8 Part of a sentence (6) 9 Newbie (8) 10 Historical UK port (8) 11 Put the phone down (4,2) 12 “Late December, back in ---” (Four Seasons) (5-5) 14 Some want to eat this and still have it (4) 15 Mart cart? (8,7) 18 Send (4)  20 Upbeat (10) 22 He had a talking donkey (6) 23 Herb often found with with lamb (8) 25 Investigative evidence (8) 26 Burger topping (6) DOWN 1 Puerile (8) 2 Inner surface of the hand (4) 3 Take off (6)  4 Getting warm (2,3,5,5)  5 Kind of ear implant (8) 6 Mealtime annoyances (5,5) 7 Hit (6) 13 Old-style audio accessory (4,6) 16 “The Man in the ---” (Dumas novel) (4,4) 17…

Richard Gere has made himself scarce in the cinema for years. However, his latest film, Oh Canada, has received praise for his strong performance. And whenever the 75-year-old appears in public, the reaction of the audience makes it clear just how popular the star of classics, such as Pretty Woman and An Officer and a Gentleman, remains today. His perennial youthful charisma adds to this. READER’S DIGEST: You are still seen as a sex symbol, and it’s something you have tried to fend off. RICHARD GERE: Because it’s ridiculous. We had this press conference, and there was a young journalist, probably 26, 27 years old, and she said: “Mr Gere, I want you to know, there are three generations in my family that are in love with you, my grandmother,…

By The Numbers Everyone on my son’s high school basketball team has the same equipment bag. So after he brought home the wrong bag for a second time, I suggested he tie something around the handles to distinguish his bag from the others. Rolling his eyes, he said, “Mum, the bags have our numbers printed right on them.” SUBMITTED BY JULIE RUEGEMER Kitchen Confidential Me to anyone else: “It’s in that cabinet.” Me to my husband: “It’s in the upper-cabinet next to the fridge on the left at eye level. It’s bright green. It’s right there. IT’S RIGHT THERE.” @MARLEBEAN Health Advice The nurse giving me a checkup before a same-day operation advised, “You will be given anaesthesia, so for the rest of the day do not drive, drink alcohol…

May The Fourth Be With You May 4 is Star Wars day, so… How did Darth Vader know what Luke Skywalker was getting him for his birthday? He felt his presents. How long has Anakin Skywalker been evil?  Since the sith grade. In A Bit Of A Hole On a caving expedition, a man falls into a hole. His partner calls to him, “Are you hurt?” He yells back, “No!” “How could you fall down that hole and not be hurt?”  “Because I’m still falliiiiiiiiiing!” SUBMITTED BY GARY KATZ Ending It Relationships are tough now; everybody’s getting ghosted. I’ve been ghosted, so now I know how Spotify Premium feels when somebody cancels after that 14-day free trial. MATT CHIN, COMEDIAN It’s A Breeze Here at the National Weather Service, we…

FROM THE CONVERSATION If you didn’t have food allergies as a child, is it possible to develop them as an adult? The short answer is yes. But the reasons why are complicated. Preschoolers are about four times more likely to have a food allergy than adults and are more likely to grow out of it as they get older. It’s hard to get accurate figures on adult food allergy prevalence. The Australian National Allergy Council reports one in 50 adults have food allergies. But a US survey suggested as many as one in ten adults were allergic to at least one food, with some developing allergies in adulthood. What Is A Food Allergy? Food allergies are immune reactions involving immunoglobulin E (IgE) – an antibody that’s central to triggering allergic…

Flat–pack furniture was once a small segment of the market. These days, though, nearly everything you buy has ‘some assembly required’. When you order a chair, a bed or a barbecue, you get a bag of tiny parts and an instruction leaflet that needs a magnifying glass to decode. If I bought a new car, I’msure I would be given 1043 pieces, a shifting-spanner and an oxyacetylene welding set. Recently my wife, Jocasta, ordered two outdoor lounge chairs so we could enjoy some time together in the sun. When they arrived, she suggested that I assemble them. The instruction pamphlet had a picture of a tiny, straight-shouldered man and a clock indicating that the job would take 45 minutes. They could have entered the pamphlet in the Booker Prize for…

FROM HEMISPHERES A relationship ends and the apportioning of goods begins. My books, your bookcase. My bowl, your spoon. My home, your home. After nearly a decade, it was over. The world my partner and I had made together lay fractured on the ground, like a vase dropped and smashed. In our time together, we’d travelled the world, been happy, made important decisions, and moved to Portugal, her native land. It was there that it ended, with me an émigré of only a few months. I didn’t want to extricate myself so soon, but it felt wrong to be there. The nation, and everything in it, seemed to belong to someone else. Livingin the city of Porto, I already had friends, a favourite café, a place in an orchestra. Leaving…