Back from vacation in the Aosta Valley, there is hardly anyone around in my Institute. I am nevertheless running an apoptosis experiment, and it’s hard to wear a labcoat when the temperature in the corridors, where there is no air-conditioning, reaches about 35 Celsius. Ouch.

So, not much science to talk about this time (I’ll wait until I get the results from my flow cytometry), and everything is rather dormant in the Italian August.

The past hiking vacation was spectacular. This year we managed to reach Rifugio Sella by lunch time, just when polenta and sausages were being served. And when a 7-year old chap tells you that he loved it, boy, must he have been hungry after that hike. After a lazy afternoon, we set to hike further up, toward Colle Della Rossa, were the alpine ibex (Capra ibex) is known to descend to in the evenings. We walked and walked, but the ibex was nowhere to be seen. An Austrian couple coming toward us assured us that they did see a group of ibex, but this was about an extra hour further up and sunset was approaching. They mentioned those were females with pups: a must see. We were three adults and two kids, and we managed to hang on further as the boys entertained each other. Just when we were really considering going back to the hut, at about 3,000 metres, we spotted the first ibex. And another one. And another one.

However, the most spectacular scene of the entire holiday was yet to come.

From much higher up, a group of male ibex came running down like mad on what seemed to us like a very rocky and slippery wall. They were fast. And as they ran down, they were doing pirouettes, pivoting. We later learned that this is how they play, and it’s what the males like to do. Every so often, they would slow down, come closer to each other and…BANG! stumbled into each other’s horns.

Our jaws dropped before this spectacular scene. I could not find the concentration to look into my camera and shoot.

A few minutes later, I managed to get closer to one of the males.

Are you looking at me, dude?