Of Multi-Generational Migration Fame
“The first time I ever saw them was in February of 1977. We were walking along a road and it was overcast and nothing was moving. Then all of a sudden…
Who Do You Think You Are?
Australia has an unpleasant history when it comes to national identity, and trying to impose one. A white one. Like in 1901, when descendants of the ‘founders’ who claimed Australia…
Bureau Of Memories
Through the largest of Bethlem Hospital’s remaining apple orchards, over badger sets, and past a light pole on which kestrels are often seen perching, can be found a wood pile…
How A Taste For Pasta Begat Dudes (≈ Hipsters)
The mid-18th Century was what you might call ‘peak Grand Tour’, when the trend for young British men visiting the continent’s most cosmopolitan cities and famous sites was at its height…
Lasting Impressions
Thomas Edison was a prolific inventor. At the time of his death in 1931, he had more than 1,000 US patents to his name…
X Marks The Spot
This is a tale of two halves. It begins around the turn of the 20th century, with the establishment of a new private printing press near the banks of the Thames…
Photographic Revolution
Edwin Herbert Land was a visionary scientist and inventor who 70 years ago changed the picture-taking habits of people around the world, the result of which is still felt today…
When Plants Attack
In the north of England, chemical warfare is being gently encouraged – among the shrubbery, at least…
Can’t Touch This
In the editorial we made mention of the lovely paper this issue of Phox Pop magazine is printed on. If you take a moment to move your finger back and forth a little…
Kepler’s Cosmic Cup
There was a time when astrology and astronomy were not so scientifically, diametrically opposed. A time when Johannes Kepler wrote horoscopes for the royal court while also writing requests to the Duke for money…
Witches Brew
The general knowledge of women’s role in the invention of beer, and the establishment of the industry around it, has largely been lost to the hands of time, and…. witch-hunters?…
Alpha, Gamma, Aha!
A flash of insight might feel like a spontaneous, instantaneous revelation, but experts say they can see signs that something is brewing several seconds in advance…
Hallucinogenic Books
Libraries can expand your mind in more ways than one. A leading London mycologist has claimed that old books, particularly those stored in less than perfect conditions, can provide inspiration without the need…
Petrichor
The natural world is full of gods, goddesses and other mythological creatures, in name, if not spirit. For nomenclature convention draws heavily on the Greek and Roman classics when labelling new species…
Pyramid Of Death
In the 1820s, the tallest building in London was St Paul’s Cathedral, at 111 metres high. But architect Thomas Willson had grander plans. In 1829 he proposed to build a massive granite pyramid on Primrose Hill…
Decoding A Star
"You wouldn't believe how many goths we get posing outside for pictures," says Father Brian Ralph, vicar of the church of St Barnabas at Bethnal Green. At street level on the corner of Roman Road and Grove Road in East London, it's not immediately obvious why. But as...
I Eat Cheese, Therefore I Write
Of course it's slightly more complicated than my play on Rene Descartes' famous philosophical proposition. But in simple terms, the discovery of cheese and the evolution of human tolerance to lactose had an influence on the development of written language. It all...
Star Specimen: A Mineralised Skull
Some time ago I got a tip-off from my regular library source about the existence of…
Cousins Across The Centuries
The most famous symbol of human-caused extinction – the dodo – and the ubiquitous pigeon have more in common than you might think…
I Like Evolution And I Cannot Lie
When Sir Mix-a-Lot sang about big butts, there was more to it than just aesthetics…
Custom-Built Cocktail
Four key components must come together to make the perfect cocktail – vessel, liquid, ice and garnish…
Law And Order
Though it occupies a site which has been a centre of power since at least the Middle Ages…
Body Building
A company in London does a roaring trade in arms, legs, torsos and various other body parts.
Get Stuffed: Taxidermy Through The Ages
Some say it’s macabre, others that it’s a second chance at life. Whatever your views on taxidermy…
Star Specimen: A Miniature Model Of Stonehenge
Earlier this year I was able to cross one of those important ‘must do’ items off my list…
Star Specimen: Eugen Sandow, The ‘Perfect Man’
When the naked models for the Musuem’s Britain: One Million Years of the Human Story exhibition were unveiled…
Senses, Drinks and Rock n Roll
Why do guitars taste of hops? It wasn’t a question I’d ever considered until I saw…
Star Specimen: A Book On The Evolution Of The Book On Evolution
The topic of this blog post is quite possibly the newest specimen in the Museum’s collection…
Goodbye Gary Arber
By the time you read this, Arber’s will be gone. WF Arber and Co Ltd printing works…
The Rossendale Fairies: A Scientific Tale Of Small Proportions
This week I came across links to several versions of a story out of Manchester…
The Tale Of The Disappearing Dinosaur Tail
The sale of a Diplodocus skeleton for £400,000 at auction in West Sussex last week…
Star Specimen: The Cursed Amethyst
Anyone who has met me in person can vouch for the fact that I am a fan of amethyst…
3D Print-On-Demand Pizza, In Space
It’s a little bit Star Trek replicator and a little bit soylent green, but the concept of downloadable synthetic food…
Good Work Australia, But Must Try Harder
Scrolling through Twitter on my phone on the way to work yesterday morning…
Oh Coffee, How We Do Love Thee
Britain is in love with a little brown bean called coffee. And it’s an affair that dates back…
The Cult Of Clutch: Live Review
It is testament to the cult status of American rockers, Clutch, that before I had even heard about their London gig…
On The Road Unfurled Before Me
I’ve read the book, I’ve read the books about the book, I’ve seen the movie adaptation…
A Super Scientific Coincidence
There’s kryptonite in that thar… Natural History Museum. A mineral with the same composition as Superman’s only natural weakness is on display in the Earth’s Treasury gallery at the London museum. Jadarite, discovered in Serbia in 2006, is composed of sodium, lithium,...
The Interrobang Turns 50
It is 50 years this month since the typographic symbol, the interrobang, was debuted…
Were Aborigines The World’s First Astronomers?
It is acknowledged that Australian Aboriginal culture is heavily spiritual and symbolic, but a growing body of evidence suggests that the indigenous belief system represents a deep knowledge of the sky and the motion of the bodies within it. This knowledge was used...
An Anarchic Christmas Miracle
This year the UK has witnessed a Christmas miracle. A miracle in the form of an organic, grass-roots movement to topple the multi-million-pound star-making machine that is the X Factor with an anti-establishment anthem that declares ‘Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell...