You don't have to be a scientist to be a scientist.
Month: July 2012
Arkaeology
Holy Crap!! was my reaction in February when I read that one of the world's leading marine archaeologists, Robert Prescott of St Andrews University, was "quietly confident" that he and his team had found Charles Darwin's ship, HMS Beagle buried in the Essex marshes. Holy Crap (without the exclamation marks) was also my reaction yesterday… Continue reading Arkaeology
Are You Calling My Fox Terrier Stupid?
In what he later said turned out to be one of his most popular essays, The Case of the Creeping Fox Terrier Clone in his book Bully for Brontosaurus, the late Stephen Jay Gould explained how the size of the earliest known member of the horse family, hyracotherium (or eohippus to non-pedants), was invariably compared… Continue reading Are You Calling My Fox Terrier Stupid?
Let's Not Call Them Hobbits
The discovery of the remains of a previously unknown member of our own genus, Homo, on the remote Indonesian island of Flores is creating quite a stir. And rightly so: Homo floresiensis is a genuinely delightful find. Measuring a mere one metre in height, the remains of the first H. floresiensis to be uncovered were originally… Continue reading Let's Not Call Them Hobbits
Only a Theory?
In science, a theory is as good as it gets.
John Stevens Henslow
Botanist, clergyman, and Charles Darwin’s great friend and tutor.
Sir Richard Owen: the archetypal villain
‘What a strange man to be envious of a naturalist like myself, immeasurably his inferior!’—Charles Darwin.
A Far More Satisfactory Theory
The legendary American folk singer Pete Seeger sounds like a thoroughly good chap: not only did he actively participate in the American civil rights movement of the 1960s, and inspire an excellent album by Bruce Springsteen, but, according to a recent story in the Guardian newspaper, nowadays he'll spend hours in [the Beacon Sloop] club,… Continue reading A Far More Satisfactory Theory
Robert FitzRoy
Robert FitzRoy’s name will forever be associated with Charles Darwin’s. But he deserves to be remembered for his own many achievements.