Essays about beasts, monsters and nature
I began as a scientist and became a hunter of monsters. It is only relatively recently that I have been able to fully articulate why they attracted me so much. I began with the monsters of hundreds of years ago, when the world was an almost alien place, but they taught me how to see... Continue Reading →
An irreverent retelling of the classical myth of Medusa the Gorgon.
What is going on in the world right now with the global COVID-19 pandemic shows just how prevalent monsters still are, even though we might like to think that science has everything taped.
New blog post: Some thoughts on non-human animal ethics in the wake of Meat the Family and encountering some different perspectives.
So, the serried ranks of the enlightened Twitterati, plus all the tabloid readers, have been up in arms about the Love Island contestant, Ollie Williams, who has been outed as a trophy hunter, not just figuratively but also literally. Pictures of him astride conquests such as buffalo, sable antelope and even an eland emerged soon... Continue Reading →
There is a particularly special fossil in one of the Wonder Bays of the Natural History Museum's Hintze Hall, It is important because of historical interest, being the first fossil skeleton of an American Mastodon, or Mammut Americanum ever constructed. More intriguing is this skeleton's brief stint as a vast, impossible monster and tourist attraction as... Continue Reading →
In 1521, the head of a sea monster was sent by Bishop Walkendorf of Trondheim to Pope Leo X. On its way south, an artist painted an effigy of the imagined entire creature on the Town Hall in Strasbourg. The mural was accompanied by a poem, the song of the walrus...
new blog post: Hirst's display, however bright and iridescent its surface, has a dark emotional undercurrent. Even if it has been 'ethically sourced'.
Bristol Museum's demonstration of what extinction means highlights the bridging of image and reality that we need to create surrounding the loss of familiar species.
Simple rules can end up producing complex results. We can turn the idea of a hive mind back to the understanding of our own brains, bodies and societies.
