"There's something about having responsibility to look after animals and seeing things grow that is very powerful for everyone and especially kids in their formative years to understand a bit about how the world works.

The original purpose of Stonehenge is one of archaeology's most enduring enigmas, with previous theories suggesting that it was an observatory or a religious centre, but archaeologists now say that it may have been a burial ground for ancient royalty.

The man sometimes described as the world's most famous loser, Al Gore has won an Emmy and the Nobel peace prize, but even he may feel humbled by the distinction of the legendary La Scala commissioning an opera based on An Inconvenient Truth.

The nationwide irritation provoked by the couple who survived adrift off the Great Barrier Reef shows that the default Australian tenor is not cheerful gratitude for being blessed with prosperity and sunshine, but cynicism especially towards outsiders.

At first it seemed to be an extraordinary tale of survival. But the story of the two divers rescued from shark-infested waters is beginning to look distinctly fishy. By Mark Hughes

The handpicked cultural advisers of prime minister Kevin Rudd have confronted him over his attack on Bill Henson's photographs of naked teenagers, and have warned that the Melbourne artist potential prosecution damages the Australia's cultural reputation.

Members of Mexico City's La Mexhicanidad movement, one of the fastest-growing urban subcultures around, study an idealised version of the Aztec past along with the Nahuatl language, but mostly they dance.

Award winning Chinese film-maker, author and cultural commentator Xiaolu Guo grapples with the very personal questions of identity and what individuality really mean in the world's most populous country.

As a new documentary examines the mysterious past of French lawyer Jacques Vergès, the enigmatic and controversial "devil's advocate" talks about why he represented some of the 20th century's most notorious criminals.

Remembering his childhood, conductor Daniel Barenboim, the sole Israeli citizen to bear a Palestinian passport, explains why he claims to be 'living evidence' that only a two-state solution can bring peace to the Middle East.