bat, france, 14th century

When I woke up this morning, I saw a Hinge profile where the person had stated a "random fact they know" on their profile - but it's wrong! There's no way for me to reach out and not be "that guy", but I simply MUST tell him. The urge is eating me. Is this just me?

Does anyone else find they have unconsciously adopted other people's expressions and mannerisms? I am still using a particular "hello" I stole off a friend when I was 18 and have never given back.

I am very impressed by the small child who just ran into quite bookshop and shouted "I am the last giant slug man!" before being "enthusiastically" retrieved by her mother.

Some thoughts from me on the role of mendacious revivalism in recent British politics, and some stuff on declinism too.

So today is my last day working in UK Higher Education/academia. It was not an easy decision, but I'm looking forward to the new opportunities ahead of me. From Monday, I'll officially be a full time Science Writer. Here's to starting something new!

I get hungry every time I see this bowl of Assyrian Cuneiform tablets

A while back I had the privilege to work on this piece for Guardian Labs. The content is fun, but look at the illustrations! They're so cute! theguardian.com/and-they-call-…

A very well-written piece and a very enjoyable interview!

I dont normally write about the stuff I put out at work, but I really enjoyed writing this piece. D&D and therapy - a really interesting combination for all things geeky! iflscience.com/more-than-just…

This is a fascinating and hideous story.

During the mid-20th century, cats played an important role on ships as skilled rodent catchers. Sailors realized that having cats aboard helped control the population of rats and mice, which were notorious for damaging supplies and spreading diseases. These ship cats became

Really honoured to be writing a four-part series on death and afterlife belief in Ancient Egypt for Atlas Obscura throughout October! First part can be read here (many thanks to gemmatarlach for excellent editorial input!): atlasobscura.com/articles/ancie…

A few years ago in an odd situation in Beijing, I was given this piece of paper. Does anyone have any idea what it says?

This is Edmond Albius. In 1841, he was an enslaved 12-year old who had no formal education and could not read or write. And yet, Albius was able to discover a technique for pollinating vanilla orchids in a quick and profitable way. Albius had solved a mystery that had stumped the

People have been telling me to embrace the Christmas spirit a bit more. So I decided to give it a go, but my dyslexia got in the way and I don't think I contacted Santa.

I'm quoted by Russell Moul on crystal healing in his article for IFLScience: curious.iflscience.com/issue-19/full-…

If you go down in the woods today, you'd better not go alone It's lovely down in the woods today, but safer to stay at home Russell Moul