Elephants looking at themselves in mirrors, a humpback whale washed up on a beach north of New York, and a freak dolphin that was caught off Wakayama Prefecture.

These are some of the things I've been thinking about this week, and -- without wishing to come over all Zen -- they've made me think about humans and our relationship to other animals.

And the subject lurking behind all this metaphysical speculation? Consciousness.