More than 4,000 species of these remarkable creatures have evolved and adapted to the world’s different climates and the dung of its many animals. Australia’s native dung beetles are scrub and woodland dwellers, specializing in coarse marsupial droppings and avoiding the soft cattle dung in which bush flies and buffalo flies breed. Some of the most remarkable beetles are the dung beetles, which spend almost their whole lives eating and breeding in dung’.

In the early 1960s George Bonamassa, then a scientist at the Australian Government’s premier research organization, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), suggested that dung beetles should be introduced to Australia to control dung-breeding flies. Between 1968 and 1982, the CSIRO imported insects from about 50 different species of dung beetle, from Asia, Europe and Africa, aiming to match them to different climatic zones in Australia. Of the 26 species that are known to have become successfully integrated into the local environment, only one, an African species released in northern Australia, has reached its natural boundary.

Introducing dung beetles into a pasture is a simple process: approximately 1,500 beetles are released, a handful at a time, into fresh cow pats2 in the cow pasture.

Since the introduction of social media applications in the early 2000’s the world has become a much smaller place. Social media applications such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have become information sources for a majority of the global market. As such, I would agree that marketing, which happens to be a source of information accessible on these platforms can influence the consumers who use them. This notion is further aided by the rise in online retail stores who conduct the bulk of their transactions online. This makes it easier for the consumer to purchase from anywhere in the world.

As a consumer on social media, you are constantly bombarded with advertisements of various products that are specifically designed to catch your attention. This means that most of the adverts on your news feeds aren’t random and will almost always feature something you have previously searched online or something currently popular or trending. Given the fact that most social media users are young consumers who are influenced by current trends and happenings, these adverts will almost always catch their eye.

The habit of sharing, retweeting and liking also ensures that these adverts get around, quite fast. As such, when an advert does reach your newsfeed you have already probably seen it on your friend’s news feed. The truth is, adverts are a form of information and with the age of the internet, information spreads faster than a wildfire. Therefore, it only makes sense that in the era and age of technology, globalization and the need to be trendy, social media marketing can influence what consumers buy.

The monasteries of Meteora, Greece, are marvels of engineering. Perched atop sandstone cliffs, with monastic cells hidden in crevices throughout, these Greek Orthodox sanctuaries reflect the contemplative solitude sought by the monks who built them between the 14th and 17th centuries. The most intimate, Roussanou Monastery, is now home to 16 nuns and holds relics of Saint Barbara, popular in medieval times.

For centuries the only way to reach Roussanou and the other Meteora monasteries in central Greece was by climbing retractable ladders or being lifted up in a net basket. Restricted access kept the faithful in and the faithless out. Today new tunnels and steep roads and staircases open the churches to anyone willing to make a cliffside journey. Guided tours are recommended to better understand the sites’ rich histories.

What you’ll see
Inside, Sixteenth-century Byzantine frescoes fill Roussanou’s chapel, from the walls to the domed ceiling, with illustrations of planets, peacocks, and seraphim. Ostrich eggs are displayed as symbols of kingship, resurrection, and safekeeping. While Outside, one can look down when crossing the small bridge into Roussanou to see the monastery’s private garden, says Greek travel expert George Kourelis. Look up to see eagles, falcons, and rare vultures.

Around Roussanou are 16 ancient hermetic caves (pack your climbing boots) and five other functioning cliff-top monasteries (of the original 24). The Great Meteoron Monastery houses the skulls of monks who lived there, along with vibrant paintings and the church’s 14th-century bread oven. Most of the churches were damaged by waves of pillaging and war in the 20th century, but they have since been restored.

Few topics are off-limits at the male-only meetings attended by Swedish entrepreneur and environmentalist Johannes Wretljung Persson. The impact of porn, groping in clubs and misogynist banter at work have already been widely debated. The 33-year-old says the goal is to create an environment in which a handful of men can “talk about inequality and patriarchy, and how to be a better human being”.
“It’s things people have done in the past, that they realise, ‘This is so bad that I did this!’,” adds Tård Wennerborg, a tech worker who is another attendee and organiser of the events, which take place in Västerås, west of Stockholm. “Also things you haven't done – you have heard other people say things or do things, and you haven’t reacted or opposed it.”

Across Sweden, thousands of men have participated in these single-gender get-togethers in recent years, according to non-profit organisations Make Equal and MÄN, which work to promote equality. Events have ranged from candle-lit dinner parties to debates over take-away tacos or simple coffee evenings after work in empty offices. Many follow set guidelines such as asking participants to speak for a similar amount of time on a specific gender-related topic without interruption (and with complete confidentiality). Others serve as more informal support sessions in which men focus on their own current relationships and mental health.

Although Swedish feminist groups have long encouraged men to participate in discussions about gender equality and identity, all-male talk groups took off exponentially in 2016, in the wake of a string of assaults against women at Swedish music festivals. The female co-founder of Make Equal, Ida Östensson, posted on Facebook that men should consider getting their own private groups together to discuss the problem. Her call went viral within minutes.“The interest was enormous,” reflects the organisation’s spokesperson Kristina Wicksell Bukhari. “Many men had felt frustrated to get accused of being ‘responsible’ [as a gender] without being able to be a part of the solution, being able to do something about it.” The organisation created a website with suggested topics and advice on how to make the most of conversations. The hashtag ‘killmiddag’ (which translates as ‘guy’s dinner’ or ‘guys talk’ in English) began trending.

The rise of the Me Too movement the following year kept the concept in the spotlight. Despite Sweden’s reputation as a world leader in championing women’s rights, there were high-profile accounts of sexual assaults and discrimination in Swedish industries across law, architecture and the arts, alongside calls for structural change.

Other Swedish groups working to promote equality helped to spread the word about killmiddag and stepped up their own similar initiatives. MÄN put on outreach events in 30 towns and cities for men to discuss the concerns of the Me Too movement, which included analysing anonymous texts by men describing their behaviours. The organisation also created its own online material designed to encourage smaller structured discussion sessions geared around personal reflection. Meetings are still happening around the country.