Carefully! Falling!

Many have heard that rabbits are a natural disaster in Australia, but few know that Australia was once attacked by... a cactus! Previously, prickly pear grew only in South America, and the British brought it to Australia for economic reasons: they wanted to cheaply obtain red dye for their military uniforms from the insects that lived on this plant. And how the cactus has grown! It filled the entire continent with itself, strangled local plants, poked the delicate noses of cows with harmful needles, surrounded human habitation with a dense wall, and at night scraped the glass with its clawed paws, trying to get inside. When an unsuspecting person on the other side of the world put on a sweater made of Australian wool, the insidious thorns that had previously become entangled in the sheep began to torment the unfortunate person, because prickly pear needles are so small and tenacious that even after washing they remain in the fleece. In short, a horror film, and the cactus is the main character. Fortunately, everything ended well, scientists reined in the prickly pear, although not on the first try, but here’s how - read about it in the book “The Domino Effect. The Invisible Threads of Nature.”

This book is about how a small local intervention in the natural course of events can lead to such consequences that the whole world then grabs its head.

I told you only the first story out of 18. The rest are no less fascinating: about African frogs that were brought to the USA to determine pregnancy (and the frogs determined it no worse than modern tests); about the rivalry between two men over one woman, as a result of which aggressive bees scattered throughout South America; that all European wine has been not European, but European-American for 150 years. Each story is only 3-5 pages long. Read one thing at a time with the whole family - and there will be enough food for discussion and thought for the whole day.