I've been blogging for a few years now, first at Blogger and recently at Nature Network, and in that time I've accumulated a fair amount of material. Rather than ask people to scan through my archives I thought I would repost some of my earlier pieces as a way for new readers to get an idea of where I'm coming from and what they can expect on these pages in the future. In some cases I will modify these "classic" posts in order to make them more topical (or to edit what in hindsight was simply poor writing). Each will bear the above icon and interested readers can click on it to read the original version or learn when it was written.
Some of you may recognize the image from Thomas Henry Huxley's groundbreaking Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature drawn by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins from specimens in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. Hawkins led a particularly interesting life and his wood cut illustrations are stunningly beautiful. You can expect a return to his life and work in future posts on this site.