The Dickens Connection

Dickens, FitzRoy and how a tragic loss at sea spurred efforts to forecast storms.

On 14 May 1856, Charles Darwin recorded in his journal that, on the advice of his friend Charles Lyell, after almost 20 years exploring the subject, he had finally begun writing a ‘sketch’ of his ideas on species.

If humans evolved from monkeys, how come there are still monkeys?

This is a question frequently posed by creationists—and quite often by perfectly rational people…

13-Jan-1833: The day HMS Beagle nearly sank

Charles Darwin’s closest brush with death during the Beagle voyage came on Sunday 13th January 1833, near that most infamous of nautical perils, Cape Horn.

The great Darwin fossil hunt

In which a friend beyond measure arranges a behind-the-scenes visit to the Natural History Museum to see fossils collected by Charles Darwin during the Beagle voyage.

Spandrel sight-seeing

In which I visit the spandrels of San Marco in Venice.