Latest posts

Joshua fit the battle of Jericho

Posted on 2 October 2013 by rpg

I am typing this slowly, with one hand.

Welcome

I do of course already have two lovely daughters, but welcoming Joshua—their half-brother—into the world wasn’t any less special. And the original Pawn, Rachel, seems equally thrilled. Continue reading →

Posted in Don't try this at home, Joshua, personal | Comments Off on Joshua fit the battle of Jericho

Arrival

Posted on 1 October 2013 by Henry Gee

When I got home from London late tonight, I found a gift-wrapped parcel, containing my first, advance copy of The Accidental Species, with a wonderful note from my editor at the University of Chicago Press. Here is the new arrival.
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Like people whose reputation precedes them, it’s surprisingly small when you actually meet it. No, not small, c Continue reading →

Posted in proud author, The Accidental Species, university of chicago press, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on Arrival

Hey, you guys in DC, I’m trying to work here!

Posted on 1 October 2013 by Steve Caplan

Screen Shot 2013-10-01 at 12.18.07 PM

Posted in Research, science, Waste of money | Comments Off on Hey, you guys in DC, I’m trying to work here!

Gone Fishing

Posted on 1 October 2013 by Henry Gee

Monday night found me washed up in London with time on my hands. This very rarely happens, so I was determined to use the time well: notwithstanding inasmuch as which I went to a literary gathering in a room above a pub in Soho, an event put on by ‘Caught By The River‘, a collective of writers, musicians, riverside romantics, anglers an Continue reading →

Posted in Apparitions, blogs, caught by the river, Deer Island, internet, Neil Ansell, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on Gone Fishing

Back by popular demand: Hockey Pool 2013-2014

Posted on 28 September 2013 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I just sent out a Rando that may be of interest to some of you:

IMG_4418Yup, it’s that time of year again, and Twitter is abuzz with talk of a new #VWXPool!

We’re using the same pool as last time, on the CBC website. The group name is “Puck Science”, and the password is “VWXYNot? Continue reading →

Posted in hockey pool | Comments Off on Back by popular demand: Hockey Pool 2013-2014

Moving On to Pastures New

Posted on 27 September 2013 by Athene Donald

Every student, undergraduate or postgraduate, at the University of Cambridge has to be a member of one of the university’s 31 colleges.  To outsiders the college system may seem a little mysterious: how do they differ from Halls of Residence or ‘dorms’? But they do, they most certainly do. They are autonomous and governed by their Continue reading →

Posted in academia, Churchill College, Collegiate Cambridge, Girton College, Master, Robinson College | Comments Off on Moving On to Pastures New

Fishface

Posted on 26 September 2013 by Henry Gee

And now, a girrafe on a unicycle one of the most exciting areas in evolutionary biology at the moment – tracing the origins of gnathostomes, or jawed vertebrates. Before I start, I owe a debt of gratitude to our Latin-America Correspondent, Dr A. C. of Santiago de Chile, who reminded me that I’ve posted on this before. This means that I Continue reading →

Posted in acanthodian, chondrichthyan, entelognathus, evolution, Fish, gnathostome, missing link, ostracoderm, Research, shark | Comments Off on Fishface

Intelligent Design

Posted on 25 September 2013 by Henry Gee

When writers get together to chat, and when they’ve dispatched the introductory pleasantries of the inscrutability of agents and the availability of accountants, they’ll share war stories about their works, the sources of their inspiration, how to construct a novel, mistakes often made by first-time storytellers – and (of course) Continue reading →

Posted in Darwin, evolution, Haeckel, intelligent design, Matt Avery, natural selection, The Accidental Species, university of chicago press, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on Intelligent Design

Next time you see Nelson’s Column, think of Dartmoor

Posted on 24 September 2013 by Philip Strange

Dartmoor is the largest and wildest area of open country in the south of England but despite the wildness, the human imprint is never far away. For many years, the moor has been exploited by industry which has shaped the landscape and continues to do so. We walked on the moor recently, and stumbled across surprising traces of Dartmoor’s industrial Continue reading →

Posted in birds, china clay, dartmoor, devon, flowers, granite, Guest posts, nelson's column, richard mabey, stephen spielberg, warhorse | Comments Off on Next time you see Nelson’s Column, think of Dartmoor

Vienna

Posted on 24 September 2013 by Henry Gee

I’m just back from the annual meeting of the European Society for the Study of Human Evolution (ESHE), which this year took place in Vienna. Regular readers with long memories might recall that I went to their meeting in Leipzig two years ago.

Vienna, as you know, is the city of Mozart, Schubert, Freud, Schoenberg and Ultravox Beethoven. Inde Continue reading →

Posted in cake, museums, Penguins, vienna | Comments Off on Vienna