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

A Zoo-to-Go

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Roger Gosden

For kids growing up in London during the austere decade after WWII, it was a special treat to be taken to the zoo by parents or school teachers. The zoos were crowded. Children had to be hoisted on the shoulders … Continue reading →

Posted in Animalia | Tagged George Monbiot, London Zoo, Rachel Carson, Virginia Master Naturalists, Whipsnade Park | Comments Off

Thanks given for Wild Turkey

Posted on November 27, 2014 by Roger Gosden

Christmas has the sound of carols while July Fourth the sight of fireworks, but only one American holiday has an aroma. A breeze of savory turkey from the kitchen is the essence of Thanksgiving. How it came to be associated … Continue reading →

Posted in Other | Tagged Berkeley Plantation, Mayflower, Pilgrim Fathers, Thanksgiving Day, Wild turkey | Comments Off

My Big Fat Neanderthal Family Wedding

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Roger Gosden

Was there a population that never experienced discrimination? Prejudice has an ancient pedigree, perhaps wired into the human psyche. I was musing whether Neanderthal people bore it first and endured the stigma longest. Thirty thousand years after they mysteriously disappeared, … Continue reading →

Posted in Other | Tagged archaic humans, Brain size, Captain Fitzroy, Charles Darwin, DNA ancestry, Ernst Haeckel, Fuegian, John Gurche, Neanderthals, phrenology, Tierra del Fuego | 2 Comments

Rehabilitating Rabbit

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Roger Gosden

I lifted a sodden fur ball out of the pool skimmer one morning. It lay motionless in my hand with its life almost burned out. But when I peeled back an eyelid to check for the glazed eye of death, … Continue reading →

Posted in Animalia | Tagged Animal rehabilitators, Beatrix Potter, cottontail rabbits, Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Peter Rabbit, Watership Down, Wildlife Center of Virginia | 3 Comments

Ghost Story from West Virginia

Posted on October 31, 2014 by Roger Gosden

MY NIGHT AT JOHN NORTH HOUSE Aha! So that’s the house I heard rumors about. Surely my family can’t believe it’s haunted? After parking on a steep rise above the town center I stared at the rambling brick mansion with … Continue reading →