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.
Extinct animals and extant images
Hive minds 2: swarm behaviour
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.
Hive minds 1: hive society
Highly social insects are some of the most fascinating species on the planet: they have transcended the importance of the individual.
Love Island and the new emoticon toolkit
There's a truly bizarre nation-wide phenomenon of recent years, a kind of modern-day gladiatorial spectacle eked out over three long months- what does it show about the way we run our emotional connections?
In defence of mediocre gloop monsters: Stranger Things 3
There was a piece in the Spectator US today critiquing the Season 3 of Stranger Things . Tristan Priskett argued that the writers had missed a trick by avoiding engaging with current issues head on. I couldn't get away from the feeling that Tristan had shot a rather significant blank in his understanding of the role of monsters in horror and sci fi.
Godzilla to the rescue: writing for a disappearing nature.
Writing about nature has become a tightrope between hope and hopelessness, for me, monsters provide both escape and potential retribution for this loss.
The Lady and Brexicorn
A few months ago I was on BBC Woman's Hour talking about the persistent and not-so-recent trend in all things unicorn. [Listen to the clip here] It was a last minute appearance, I had barely had time to prepare at all before I was being ushered into the studio to sit eyeball to eyeball with the... Continue Reading →
#ExtinctionRebellion’s pink herring
#ExtinctionRebellion's pink herring: my thoughts on the soundbite conservationism over the Bank Holiday weekend
Unicorns and Snowflakes, a history
New blog post (rather more tongue in cheek than usual): Unicorns used to be fabulous, elusive beasts from the distant corners of the globe depicted on tapestries and the pages of medieval bestiaries. But look around now, and unicorns are nothing if not prolific. You can barely take a step these days without encountering one, figuratively or literally...
