Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1324024
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 JANUARY 2021 9 ALMANAC Nature Notebook 743. Tadpole Shrimp Evolution is the process through which living things gradually change as they improve to adapt to their surroundings. Some spe- cies hit the right formula so well that they stay unchanged across the eons, like sharks and crocodiles. Another much smaller but no less incredible creature is the tadpole shrimp (M. gamblu tal-elmu). Fossils from 200 million-year-old rocks show that its ancestors were virtually identical to today's animal – no wonder it looks like some- thing out of an Attenborough prehistory documentary. Rare and endangered, this 'living fossil' occurs in Malta too, eking out a tenu- ous existence in one or two seasonal rainwater pools, surviving the dry periods as eggs. So always approach a rockpool with care, it may harbour a precious population of these 'immortals' that have been around since before the dinosaurs. Victor Falzon, Desirée Falzon www.birdlifemalta.org Green idea of the week 636 Go for a walk in nature and collect edible wild plants while following our Foraging Guide Wishing you a happy new year! THE Friends of the Earth Malta team wishes you a beautiful holi- day season and a new year of peace, good health and happiness. We want to thank you all for your support during this very peculiar past year, and we hope to see more of each other in 2021. Let's continue working for the planet and the people. VISIT Friends of the Earth's website for more information about our work, as well as information about how to join us. You can also support us by sending us a donation – www.foe- malta.org/donate http://foemalta.org/foraging-guide Appster Smartphone fun and smarter work Notability 9.99 euro Apple, Andriod Combine handwriting, photos and typing in a single note to bring your projects to life. Use a wide range of note-taking and sketching tools to capture every detail. You can even add and annotate PDFs in Notability. It's the perfect place to create and organize work, school, and life's information. TECH RETAILERS contact afarrugia@ mediatoday.com.mt A GOOD WEEK FOR Good Week/Bad Week Don't miss this A BAD WEEK FOR CITTA INVICTA 7-9 January 2021 at 12pm. This three day event in the historic city of Senglea encompasses an exhibition related to the Knights of St. John, a procession with a replica of the statue of our Lady of Victories, a concert in front of the beautiful Senglea Basilica and more. For more information about this event send an email to sezzjonizghazaghsengleani@ gmail.com. For fighting COVID-19. The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine became the second coronavirus jab to be approved for UK use. It has been given the go-ahead by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and will be rolled out this week. For Croatia. A 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Croatia, with at least six deaths, many injuries and "demolished" towns. The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said the tremor hit 28 miles southeast of the capital, Zagreb. This is the second vaccine approved for UK use A boy was pulled from rubble after the earthquake Give nature a voice. Become a BirdLife member