by Paige Madison | May 27, 2020 | Feature, History of Science, Science
Standing in a thick tangle of brush, sweltering under the incessant glare of the Indonesian sun, I am squinting across a muddy river, trying to get a clear view of the heavily vegetated bank on the other side. I’m struck by the unexceptional feel of the spot in...
by Paige Madison | Dec 16, 2019 | Feature, Science
The future is never going to look quite like we imagined. We might envision flying saucers and colonies on Mars while experiencing smaller futuristic advances like cordless earphones. Although we aren’t all zipping around the solar system on space shuttles (yet), I...
by Paige Madison | Jul 1, 2019 | History of Science
If you’ve been following along, you know I’ve been recently detailing the event of “Darwin’s Worst Nightmare” as it unfolded in real time in 1858. First, he received a letter that rocked his world (not in a good way), then he asked his...
by Paige Madison | Jun 25, 2019 | History of Science
Last week, I recounted the story of the time Darwin received a harrowing letter from Alfred Russel Wallace. The date was June 18th, 1858, and Darwin had potentially “lost all [his] originality.” His claim to “discovering” evolution through...
by Paige Madison | Jun 18, 2019 | History of Science
June 18th, 1858 was a rough day for Charles Darwin. On that day, he watched his worst nightmare seemingly unfold right in front of his eyes. “All my originality, whatever it may amount to, will be smashed,” he wrote to a friend, fearing that his...
