Author Archives: Roger Gosden

About Roger Gosden

British-born scientist specializing in reproduction & embryology. Career as professor & research director spanned from Cambridge to Cornell's Weill Medical College in NYC. Married to Lucinda Veeck Gosden, embryologist for the first successful IVF team in America. Retired early to Williamsburg, Virginia, to write and recover from 'nature deficit disorder'. Currently a visiting scholar at William & Mary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Gosden

Death of a Lawn Mower

Posted on June 2, 2020

The novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald knew that Americans find public expression of their successful lives in a neatly groomed lawn. Jay Gatsby was so horrified at Nick Carroway’s ragged lawn next door that he sent his gardeners over to mow … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, garden, Nature, Other | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Appalachian Poet – Bertie Jane Cutlip

Posted on May 22, 2020

Outside a country store in the Allegheny Mountains, she stood behind a table covered in mason jars of home-made apple jelly and pickles. It was one of those glorious fall days in West Virginia, so I lingered to buy some … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature, West Virginia | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

There’ll Be Bluebirds Over

Posted on May 15, 2020

The American composer of “There’ll be Bluebirds over the White Cliffs of Dover” either had the excuse of poetic license or didn’t know that bluebirds are absent from the British Isles. But the song became one of one of Dame … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding, garden, Nature | Tagged , , , , , ,

Pepysing back at the 1665-66 plague of London

Posted on April 24, 2020

I aimed for a weekly post about the health of the natural world, but here I am dwelling on coronavirus again. Is anyone undistracted by this pandemic? This time I dusted off my copies of Samuel Pepys diaries in which … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Health, History | Tagged , , , , , , ,

Latent impact of COVID-19 in pregnancy?

Posted on April 17, 2020

There was a time when the womb was regarded as a pristine environment for a ‘fetonaut’ to travel safely for 9 months until birth, protected by a shield-like placenta. No longer. The effects of smoking, thalidomide and binge drinking show … Continue reading →

Posted in Health | Tagged , , ,