Life & Style | National Geographic aims to solve Amelia Earhart mystery

The deep-sea explorer who discovered the wrecked Titanic is tackling an aviation mystery: Amelia Earhart’s disappearance.

Robert Ballard and a National Geographic expedition will search for her plane next month near a Pacific Ocean atoll that’s part of the Phoenix Islands.

Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan were attempting an around-the-world flight when their aircraft disappeared in July 1937, spawning years of searches and speculation.

Ballard and his team will use remotely operated underwater vehicles in their search, the National Geographic channel said Tuesday. An archaeological team will investigate a potential Earhart campsite with search dogs and DNA sampling.

The channel will air a two-hour special on Oct. 20. “Expedition Amelia” will include clues gathered by the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery that led Ballard to the atoll, named Nikumaroro.

Gordon Ramsay denounces chefs who snub Michelin guide honors

Gordon Ramsay has harsh words for chefs who reject Michelin stars.

The famously profane Ramsay used an expletive to describe giving back a star rating. He said the guide’s mark of distinction belongs to a restaurant, not a chef.

It’s an insult to Michelin and a mark against those who claim that stars impose fiscal and creative burdens on an eatery, the British celebrity chef said Tuesday.

Ramsay said a chef’s failure to parlay the hard-won recognition into greater success is on them.

It pains him to see the accolade denounced because someone is “tired and bored” by it, Ramsay said. The stars are a useful consumer guide, he said.

Ramsay said he prizes the three Michelin stars, the top ranking, long held by his self-named London restaurant.

Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood on Booker Prize list

Booker Prize winners Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood are contenders again for the coveted fiction trophy.

Rushdie, who won in 1981 for “Midnight’s Children,” makes the 13-book longlist for his latest novel, “Quichotte.” Atwood won in 2000 for “The Blind Assassin” and is nominated for “The Testaments,” a follow-up to “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

The eight women and five men on the list announced Wednesday include Britain’s Max Porter for “Lanny”; Nigerian-British writer Oyinkan Braithwaite for “My Sister, the Serial Killer”; British-Turkish author Elif Shafak for “10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World”; and Lucy Ellmann, the only American finalist, for “Ducks, Newburyport.”

Founded in 1969, the 50,000-pound ($67,000) prize is open to English-language authors from around the world.

Six finalists will be announced Sept. 3, with the winner revealed Oct. 14.