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Breaking the Ice: Jane Francis
working on fossil plants for my PhD and did a project on the rocks of the Jurassic coast in Dorset. I started working there on fossil trees, leaves and pollen and reconstructing ancient forests. Then, while working in central Australia, I had an...
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From Evidence to Art
Image: Sarcosaurus by Mark Witton Palaeoart is the term given to the striking and often controversial depictions of ancient creatures and ecosystems. We spoke to six palaeoartists about how they reconstruct ancient scenes and what a career as a...
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In the wrong place at the wrong time
How do we define if a species is native or non-native? Anne Goodenough looks at the challenges ecologists face when deciding what 'belongs' where The Biologist 63(4) p20-23 The translocation of species from their native range to new environments is an...
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The Trilobite Tales
Author, trilobite expert and naturalist Richard Fortey's work entwines stories about people, wildlife and the ancient Earth from which it all came. He tells Tom Ireland about how he became 'Mr Trilobite' and what fossils from hundreds of millions of...
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Reports
Unearthing the buried soul: Homo naledi and the evolution of hominin mortuary practices 19 July 2021 How have awareness of mortality and the rituals associated with death and treatment of human remains evolved over time? Is modern Homo sapiens unique...
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Making Waves
This year marks 200 years since HMS Beagle was launched. Richard Oliver, John Canaris and Angela Hutchings look at the history of this famous vessel and how it made its mark on science April 2nd 2020 HMS Beagle was a modest ship that had a...
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When ants 'move house'
Above: Lasius flavus workers with a cocoon in a disturbed nest. Picture courtesy of the author. What happens when an ant colony needs to relocate? Dr Elizabeth Evesham CBiol FRSB explains the fascinating insights gained from over four decades studying...
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Can we fix it?
For more than 40 years, scientists have attempted to engineer cereal crops that can fix atmospheric nitrogen. With more mouths to feed than ever, a breakthrough may finally be within reach, writes Jack Parsons The Biologist 64(4) p12-15 The first...
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How to...find fossils
Grace Paget on why fossil hunting is fascinating work and not just for the experts The Biologist 62(4) p28-30 In December 2014, amateur fossil hunter Jonathan Bow made an astonishing discovery on the south Wales shoreline. He unearthed the first...
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The forest in the future
In woodland in Staffordshire, six towering metal structures bathe the area in the CO₂ concentrations expected on Earth in 2050. The experiment aims to find out how forest ecosystems will cope with our planet’s changing atmosphere, writes Anna Gardner...
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The Palaeoartist’s Handbook: Recreating Prehistoric Animals in Art
Mark P Witton The Crowood Press, £22.00 Mark Witton’s reconstructions of ancient animals have appeared on television, in museums, in scientific journals and books, and in magazines, including The Biologist. The pterosaur researcher, author and artist...
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A cultural phenomenon
Palaeontologist Darren Naish explains why the unscientific field of ‘cryptozoology’ can still tell us a lot about how humans see nature September 12th 2022 Bigfoot. Nessie. Yeti. Sea monsters. All terms mostly avoided by biologists, and all deemed...
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Evolution of the Rodents
Philip G Cox and Lionel Hautier (Eds) Cambridge University Press £74.99 Rodents are prolific, comprising over 40% of mammals, 2,277 species (and counting), including climbers, gliders, swimmers and burrowers, and representing the most numerous wild...
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The Big Biology Breakthroughs of 2017
With the help of the RSB membership, The Biologist has compiled a list of the most important advances in bioscience this year The Biologist 64(6) p30-33 Earlier this year, we asked Fellows of the RSB to suggest their ideas for the biggest biology...
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How to…Beachcomb
Photographers and naturalists Julie Hatcher and Steve Trewhella explain the basics of beachcombing, and how it contributes to conservation and research The Biologist 65(3) p26-29 Everything that the sea casts on to the shore tells a story. Some objects...
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Who was...Arthur Milnes Marshall?
A skilled zoologist and communicator, Arthur Milnes Marshall died in an accident in 1893, aged 41. His absorbing lectures offer a fascinating snapshot of the era’s biological knowledge, writes Martin Luck. Portrait of Marshall (above) courtesy of The...
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15 Conservation Topics to Watch in 2020
For the past eleven years, a panel of researchers - led by the conservation biologist Bill Sutherland – have convened to produce a ‘horizon scan’ of issues that could have a substantive effect on global conservation in the coming year. Towards the end...
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Can we flatten the curve for climate change?
The first phase of recovery measures has focused on saving businesses and jobs, but the next phase must help save our environment 1st August 2020 This was supposed to be the Year of Climate Action. Delegates from around the world were expected in...
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Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art
Rebecca Wragg Sykes Bloomsbury Sigma, £20.00 (Hardback) Since the first identification of Neanderthal remains, discovered in the Neander Valley of Germany in 1856, studies of this hominid species have proved to be exciting, enigmatic and enlightening....
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Panel discuss the next global threat to change all our lives at Biology Week debate
The Royal Society of Biology brought together a panel of experts at the Royal Institution yesterday to discuss what they think could potentially, irreversibly alter our lives, and what can be done before it is too late. The Royal Society of Biology...
