Many young British and European scientists came as a rite of passage for advanced training in top American Universities and now they mostly come from East Asia and India. I went home after a year at Duke and came back
I am writing on Substack in response to the acute politicization of reproductive autonomy, care, and technology in the U.S.A. Subscription is free. These are titles of long-form articles in reverse order of publication:
In the past decade I have blogged news and views on a nature theme 300 times. Visitors can access these posts in archives and the sister domain, Jamestowne Bookworks. I am taking a break from blogging to devote more time
This blog has a nature theme, but the author also publishes news and views about reproductive medicine and science in long form on Substack. Please consider subscribing (it’s free) by clicking on the link if you are interested in digestible
I scanned the horizon with binoculars for game, but my local guide always spotted it first with his telescopic eyes. He swiveled his head from side to side, hardly glancing ahead as he steered the truck on a bumpy track
If you hear ringing in your ears this month it could be the chorus of millions of cicadas, so don’t worry about getting tinnitus! The last time periodical cicadas emerged in southeast Virginia was the spring of 2013. See the
I was more lucky than shrewd in choosing to visit the northern Kalahari and Okavango Delta in Botswana at the start of the wet season and shortly before Christmas 2023. Mobile safaris organized by Penduka normally take up to nine
There is something magisterial about the biggest living things on Earth. We are the most intelligent, the most prolific, and the most polluting species but we don’t tower in height over everyone. We look up at some animals and plants
Of all the trees I have ever seen in Africa the Baobabs are at the forefront of memory. I saw my first specimen in the sandveld of Nxai Pans in northern Botswana. Then we drove to the famous Baines Baobabs.
My view from a window seat hardly changed on the flight from Johannesburg to Maun in northern Botswana. I rarely saw a farm or lodge in the khaki-colored plains below. A few gulleys ran irregular courses like the veins on
Did you have dreams in the sod where you lay,Of resting in your mother’s pod each day,Before sleeping through winter’s chill?And now alone, snug under frost’s stillWith wriggling worms for company at dawn,You wait for the first kiss of moisture
A ship’s voyage can be a metaphor for our journey through life. Sometimes ships pass within hailing distance of each other. Sometimes they pass unseen in fog or darkness until sailors learn they missed an interesting vessel from gossip at