Author Archives: Roger Gosden

About Roger Gosden

A British/ Canadian/ American scientist specializing in reproduction & embryology whose career spanned from Cambridge to Cornell's Weill Medical College in NYC. Married to Lucinda Veeck, the embryologist for the first successful IVF team in America. They retired to Virginia, where he became a master naturalist and writer affiliated with William & Mary. He also writes on Substack at What’s Hot in Fertility? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Gosden

Last Flight of the Dough Bird (Eskimo curlew)

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Roger Gosden

Everyone knows the most abundant bird in North America was driven to extinction a century ago by market hunting and habitat destruction. The very last passenger pigeon, called Martha, died in Cincinnati Zoo in 1914. But few people know the … Continue reading →

Posted in Animalia, Environment | Tagged Dough bird, Eskimo curlew, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Robert T. Morris | 1 Comment

Virginia Nature Journal for May

Posted on June 4, 2015 by Roger Gosden

The virtual extinction of the American chestnut across its range is like the story of the sack and burning of Troy. A few old timers can still remember when it was the dominant canopy tree both sides of the Appalachian … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Memoir | Tagged American chestnut tree, Blacksmith, blight, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow | Comments Off

Make Meat Special

Posted on May 28, 2015 by Roger Gosden

Feeling carnivorous or vegetarian, or somewhere in-between? Is it okay to be carnivorous? Is it natural (whatever that means)? I asked these questions when I was a teenager, like many other people who love animals. For a while I half-heartedly … Continue reading →

Posted in Biomedical, Environment | Tagged carnivore, dietary calories, Elsie Widdowson, grass fed beef, paleo diet, price of meat | Comments Off

Virginia Nature Journal for April

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Roger Gosden

Smells arouse old memories, good and bad. The coconut bouquet of prickly gorse bushes evokes memories of ranks of jasmine blossom on the chalky downs of the Isle of Wight where I was born and Algy Swinburne grew up. Oh, … Continue reading →

Posted in Other, Seasons in Virginia | Tagged Algernon Swinburne, Birding, bluebirds, nest-boxes, Virginia Bluebird Society | Comments Off

GM Human Eggs Have Arrived

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Roger Gosden

We heard confirmation last week of rumors that scientists at Sun Yat-sen University in southern China were trying to change the DNA of freshly-fertilized human eggs. This “first” in science was greeted with horror, hand-wringing, and a storm of criticism. … Continue reading →