How extraordinary it is that a creature only minutes hatched from an egg can take to the air.

Underneath our feet, deep down in the Earth, liquid iron is producing the magnetic field that we all take for granted. But every now and then that magnetic field reverses or flips its polarity. What was once magnetic north becomes south – and vice versa. When these reversals take place – and why they do so – has been an enduring mystery.

Ireland’s wine drinkers have fully embraced the big bold Malbec wines from Argentina but this week I’m recommending a couple of Pyros Wines from a valley you have probably never encountered before.

At 75, Cork Folk Festival headliner Andy Irvine still gets a buzz out of touring and playing his music, writes Joe Dermody.

The moorhens and coots, of lakes and ponds, are easy to tell apart. Waterhens have bright red bills with yellow tips, and some white on their tail feathers, writes Richard Collins. 

Legendary explorer and climber Simon Yates will be talking about his experiences during his Cork tour, writes Conor Kane

A Bolivian judge has ordered the detention of the head of the airline whose plane crashed in the Andes last week while authorities investigate him for possible charges of manslaughter and other crimes.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

The head of the charter airline whose plane crashed in the Andes last week has been detained by Bolivian prosecutors for questioning as authorities look into whether the tragedy that killed 71 people stemmed from negligence.

The pilot of the doomed chartered plane carrying a Brazilian football team told air traffic controllers he had run out of fuel and pleaded desperately for permission to land before crashing into the Andes, a leaked recording of the flight's final minutes has revealed.

Colombian authorities are searching for answers after a charter plane carrying a football team whose Cinderella story took them to the finals of one of South America's most prestigious regional tournaments slammed into Colombia's Andes mountains, killing all but six of the 77 people on board.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

This week I want to re-visit an old favourite — a wine producer that I suspect is familiar to every wine drinker in the country.

Maca root is a South American plant that’s a hot favourite now for its health-giving properties.

Fiann Ó Nualláin seeks the redemptive qualities of hard work— but can’t get stuck into the garden quite yet. 

Chile has come a long way. If you told a wine merchant in 1990 that in 2015, we would be drinking more wine from Chile than anywhere else in the world, they would simply have laughed at you.

Alexander von Humboldt was one of the scientists who defined our world. Dick Warner on a book that may help restore his well- deserved reputation as the father of environmentalism.

Check out our guide to the best of tonight's TV.

Chilean mountaineers have found the wreckage of a plane that crashed in the Andes 54 years ago, killing 24 people, including eight members of a professional football team.

Myriad forms of geoengineering — harnessing Earth’s natural systems for planet-wide change — are being investigated by scientists, trying to utilise ants and volcanic eruptions, writes Erin Biba

Leap of faith

Weather's crap, weekend's miles away, here's what's on telly tonight.

Fiann Ó Nualláin is on a campaign to reassert the high nutritional value of one of the world’s top five super foods — the humble potato.

An endurance runner dubbed Ireland’s answer to Forrest Gump has arrived home after an epic four-year 50,000km run around the world.

An endurance runner dubbed Ireland’s answer to Forrest Gump has arrived home after an epic four-year 50,000km run around the world.

A secretive tree-living carnivore from the cloud forests of the Andes heads this year’s top 10 list of newly discovered species.

IRELAND’S economy seems to be slowly starting to rise out of the mire in recent months but spare a thought for Argentina’s winemakers who have been suffering massive instability in recent years.

Global warming is depleting fresh water and crops, destroying coral reefs and melting the Arctic, the UN has warned in a report that concludes the world is ill-prepared to face many new threats.

IT was thought, until recently, that virtually all of the world’s large animals had been discovered.

In Ireland we are climate hypocrites, you see. How else can you explain the fact that the number of retro-fitting projects aimed at saving energy halved in the last three years? And the fact that Rabbitte has just pushed back new energy efficiency regulations for new buildings until far-off 2020?

IN ITS heyday, the Pastoruri glacier in central Peru, drew daily throngs of tourists packed into dozens of double-decker buses 16,000ft (5,000m) high into the Andes to ski, build snowmen, and scale its dizzying peaks.

SEPTEMBER is never a good month money-wise with the summer holidays a distant memory, the children arriving from school with requests for extra books and sports equipment, and the radio programmes beginning their doom-laden countdown to the next austerity Budget.

An Australian man completed a gruelling run that looped the world, having done the equivalent of a marathon a day for more than 20 months in what he hopes is a record.

A Uruguayan man who was rescued after spending four months apparently lost in the Andes was on the run from child sex allegations, it has emerged.

A 58-year-old man from Uruguay has been rescued in good health after spending four months lost in the Andes.

IN CASE you missed it Wednesday, Apr 17, was World Malbec Day, a chance for Argentina to promote their wines and the grape variety that they now claim as their own.