Artist Maria Katkova and ink made from the inky cap mushroom

I came across an account by the artist Maria Katkova of how she once made several works using mushroom ink. What is that, you ask? The artist explains the recipe: if you pick an ink cap (a dung-loving one, to be precise), place it on a saucer and watch, you may witness the phenomenon of autolysis, the self-digestion of the fungus's body into a black liquid. This liquid is sometimes used as ink, and under magnification the traces it leaves on paper reveal a unique pattern of spores. In short, do bear it in mind, should you ever find yourself in some uninhabited spot without a ballpoint pen

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

In the finale of the Strugatskys' Roadside Picnic, the Golden Ball is told: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to offend nobody, but the digest really does come free of charge. So, here is the main business of the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

Artist Maria Katkova and ink made from the inky cap mushroom

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s