Science in neo-Victorian poetry

This article considers the work of three contemporary poets and their engagement, in verse, with Victorian science. Beginning with the outlandish ‘theories’ of Mick Imlah’s ‘The Zoologist’s Bath’ (1983), it moves on to two works of biografiction – Anthony Thwaite’s poem ‘At Marychurch’ (1980), which outlines Philip Henry Gosse’s doomed attempts to unite evolution and Christianity, and Ruth Padel’s Darwin: A Life in Poems (2009). Starting off with John Glendening’s idea that science in neo-Victorian fiction, if fully embraced, provides an opportunity for self-revelation to characters, this article explores the rather less happy resolutions of each of these poems, while in addition discussing the ways in which these poems perform the formal changes and mutability discussed within them

Interview of Randal Keynes by Paul White - final cut

This interview between Randal Keynes OBE (Charles Darwin Trust) and Dr Paul White (Darwin Correspondence Project, University of Cambridge) was filmed in the Keynes Room at Cambridge University Library on 7 August 2008. Its source files are available (to those with permission to view them) at http://www.dspace.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/21568

Darwin's earthworms revisited

Down House was Charles Darwin's home from 1842 until his death in 1882 and where he wrote “The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms”. The work described here is based upon passages from this book and from further observations on earthworms in this area. General observations were made in addition to systematic sampling in areas selected either from signs of earthworm activity, habitat type or in direct relation to Darwin's documented work. Greatest species richness (n = 9) was found in Middle Field. Greatest earthworm density was present in Darwin's Kitchen Garden (715 m−2) with the largest associated biomass (261 g m−2). Aporrectodea longa was the most abundant species. Lumbricus terrestris, described by Darwin in terms of its behaviour, but not directly named, was located in relatively low numbers, but its diagnostic middens and associated burrows were easily detected. Earthworms associated with Darwin's cinder and chalk application experiments were also examined. In total, 19 of Britain's 28 earthworm species were located within the nominated World Heritage Site

Quest Volume 5 Number 3

Charles Darwin at the Cape: On his voyage around the world in the Beagle Darwin singled out the Cape in his notebooks; Charles Darwin: Reluctant hero of science?: Charles Darwin was a modest, self-taught biologist living at home with his family; Darwin at home - His love of science: Darwin's great-great-grandson looks at how Darwin pursued his love of science with his family; Darwin as a geologist: Few people realise that Darwin's first love was geology; The many colours of Galaxies: Astronomers use light to see galaxies providing an array of astonishing effects; You, me and UV - Under the sun Just how harmful are the rays that make us 'sunny South Africa'?; Managed Cape honeybee colonies and conservation: There is more to the production of honey than we realise; How might drought affect biodiversity in South Africa?: Will climate fluctuations affect the biodiversity of the succulent Karoo?; Young concerns: How one small clinic is responding to the challenge of increasing HIV prevalence young people; A year-long celebration of life and survival: How the University of the Free State is celebrating Darwin's life; Gateways to the West: Understanding the ocean circulation at the Mascarene Plateau Research in a remote part of the Indian Ocean gives us important information about the biological and oceanographic effects of the currents in the area; Teaching and learning about evolution: Part 2 Dealing with the controversies;Department of Science and Innovatio