Meryem Guler

But at Hotel Du-Cap, respect for the old does not preclude the new. Particularly not this year, as it unveils an entirely new offering: the totally private Villa Sainte-Anne, which sits opposite the main hotel’s gates and benefits from some magical grounds of its own. Back in 2007, the cast of Ocean’s Thirteen was spied playing croquet on the lawn at Hotel Du-Cap during Cannes, but should there be another sequel in the franchise, one could easily imagine Pitt, Clooney and co hosting an after-party in the villa’s manicured, multi-layered gardens, which boast their own pretty swimming pool and sweeping views over Juan-les-Pins bay.

The hotel itself is the product of a collaboration between its owners, two families with a deep-rooted history on the nearby island of Ischia, who looked to build a hotel that not only celebrated Italy’s rich 20th-century design history, but also the impressive skills of local artisans. (The tiles which feature in every room, for example, took almost two years to complete.) The architect Bonaventura Gambardella, who masterminded the overhaul of the property, is a native of the nearby Ravello, having previously worked on the town’s five-star jewel of a hotel, Palazzo Avino. As if that wasn’t enough, many of Borgo Santandrea’s sleek furniture pieces come directly from one of the owner’s private collections, lending it a familial, warmer touch.

"I'd always been fascinated with submarines," says Jamie Morison, now a senior principal oceanographer at the Polar Science Center in Seattle. In the 1980s, Morison worked on a project to deploy buoys from US Navy submarines to collect ocean data. He would visit shipyards to help fit scientific equipment. "I always thought that I'd love to go on one of those things."

Instead of waiting for fate, the Corsican took matters into his own hands: escaping by boat and travelling to France. He landed at Golfe-Juan on the Côte d'Azur on February 28 with 700 loyal men and started marching towards Paris over difficult terrain to avoid arrest. Despite being declared an enemy of the state and having a price on his head, he reached his destination in less than two and a half weeks. Not only that but by the time he got to the French capital, he had raised an army and retaken control of the country – against all odds.

Showcasing eight towns and villages, the stunning road brings a different kind of sunshine to the French Riviera, when the region breaks out in giant brushstrokes of rich yellow.

Since then, the revered relic has had a place of honour in the Cathedral. And although it's only been used to celebrate mass by Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, it can be viewed by all visitors, along with the Cathedral's other relics, which include a supposed thorn from Jesus's crown and piece of the cross on which he was crucified.

"If there is any chalice that, according to tradition, was in the hands of Jesus, without a doubt, the only cup that fulfils all the requirements when subjected to a scientific analysis that can be replicated anywhere in the world with the same results is the Holy Chalice of the Valencia Cathedral," said Dr Mafé.

“The earthquake decimated Port Royal and its landmass, which was about 52 acres,” explained Selvenious Walters, technical director of archaeology at the Jamaica National Heritage Trust. “Approximately two thirds was destroyed and sank into Kingston harbour. The earthquake decimated the buildings and a lot of people died from collapsing walls. Approximately, more than half of the population perished.”

The macabre nature of the Port Royal story makes its unfamiliarity outside Jamaica somewhat surprising. However, it’s the pristine condition of the underwater remains of the former pirate city that make the site truly remarkable. Lying just metres below the water’s surface in an oxygen-depleted environment, the submerged ruins are a time capsule of everyday life in a 17th Century colonial port town.

The Verpackungssteuer(packaging tax) imposes an extra payment of fifty cents on any disposable packaging, from coffee cups to ice cream bowls to meal plates. In addition, all disposable cutlery like folks, knives and spoons cost twenty cents extra. Even pizza boxes and the foil around a takeaway falafel are taxed. Regardless of whether they're made from sustainable or recycled material, anything that is one-time use will be costlier, based on the principle that non-production is better than future recycling or disposal.

Antarctica may now have been mapped by satellites, but it doesn't mean that humans have been everywhere, or that the maps have always been updated. "Sometimes mountains would be marked on the very basic maps that we had," says polar explorer Felicity Aston, a former BAS meteorologist, author, expedition leader and, in 2012, the first woman to ski alone across Antarctica. "Sometimes they wouldn't be, and suddenly you were flying over a whole mountain range when on the map there was a bit of text in the middle of a large, blank white area, that said, mountain spotted here in 1967."

The innovation continues. Ultima Forma is a British technology company based south of London. Fuel tanks are heavy. Hydrogen causes corrosion embrittlement in metals such as steel, but less so in copper. Ultima Forma is developing ultra-thin liners made from copper for the inside of lightweight carbon-fibre fuel tanks. The same technology could be used in the transportation of hydrogen.

She points out connection happens when we pay attention to each other, “so we need to find ways of doing that, whether that's remembering birthdays or just scheduled virtual coffees”. Other examples can include integrating opportunities for socialising into the workday, for example including a quiz in a meeting or creating a Slack channel for non-work-related chat.

Nearly every aspect of the bridges' construction were world firsts, said Toshio Kutsukake, director of the Expressway Division of Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Chief among these was the development of concrete and steel composite materials. "Tricky materials to work with," he said, "because they affect the strength of the bridge." But they were critical to achieving the long bridge spans while minimising the abutments to protect the environment. The Geiyo Islands are located in the Setonaikai National Park, Japan's first national park created in 1934, and there was a need to make the bridges blend into the seascape.