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

The Genius of Charles Darwin

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Roger Gosden

The gleam of a great idea often glows first and fiercest in an unknown eye and out of a dark corner. How many college dropouts and loners tinkering in their garages have become celebrated silicon entrepreneurs? How many great writers, … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | Tagged Alfred Russel Wallace, Barnacles, Charles Darwin, Down House, English Heritage, Erasmus Darwin, Origin of Species, Paul Feyerabend, Scientific genius, Silicon Valley, Theodosius Dobzhansky, Theory of Evolution | Comments Off

Girdling the Maple

Posted on May 29, 2014 by Roger Gosden

Consider the consequences if your largest blood vessels were coursing under surface of the skin instead of deep inside the body. I know it’s hard to imagine. But if the aorta ran the length of your back, branching out to … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment | Tagged Japanese maple tree, maple syrup, tree girdling, woodpecker, yellow-bellied sapsucker | Comments Off

Candid about Cats

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Roger Gosden

When a gray cat started prowling around our yard I assumed it was a new neighbor. I was wrong, she was a new resident! I stumbled on her nest by chance a few days later. It was sheltered against the … Continue reading →

Posted in Animalia | Tagged animal rescue, animal soul, C.S. Lewis, cats, feral cats, kittens, stray cats, trap-neuter-return, wild bird mortality | Comments Off

Bee Swarm or Split

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Roger Gosden

Beekeeping is like farming. All livestock—whether large animals with four feet or tiny ones with six—need food, water, shelter, and sometimes medication. Like an old farmer checking his herd in a meadow, I watch our ‘girls’ flying back and forth between … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee-line | Tagged bee hive, bee swarm, colony collapse disorder | Comments Off

Snake Hole

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Roger Gosden

A snake has taken up residence in one of our bluebird boxes. Every morning three feet of coiled and blackened steel hose sunbathe on its roof. Four species of snakes call our yard home. This one, the Eastern ratsnake, is … Continue reading →