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After living in Bristol for a time, Isambard went on to work on constructing The Great Western Railway (GWR) which would connect Bristol and the south west of England with London. At the young age of twenty seven in 1833…
To Isambard Kingdom Brunel, January 12th, 1828 seemed like just another Saturday morning. Little did he know, it could have been his last. Brunel had only slept a mere four hours the night before, but this was typical as he…
Herpetology and getting lost. These are the two driving themes of my life. They have shaped my career and enabled me to discover species new to science, but they have also cost me relationships, frustrated everyone close to me, and…
NOTE: This post is not related in any way to the 1956 sci-fi film that depicts an extraterrestrial invasion where the invaders “steal” human bodies. This is NOT a review of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers (though I do…
I have been looking forward to seeing the movie Contagion since it came out last year and I finally got to see it last night. I am a big fan of outbreak/apocalypse/zombie-type movies and, since I’m an immunologist, I thought…
In 1970, 100,000 people gathered in Washington DC to protest the Vietnam War. The deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin that year had fatally deglamorized the hippie lifestyle. Smog-darkened skies were accepted as a byproduct of prosperity. Environmental concerns…
The concept of a series of YouTube videos specifically designed to teach science is one that may scare the casual viral video watcher away. Luckily for Hank Green, one half of the vlogbrothers and creator of SciShow, YouTube is not…
I have a joke for you: How long does a two million dollar engagement ring buy you with everyone’s favorite (well, mine anyways) Kardashian sister? As Kris Humphries found out, about 72 days. Sorry Kris, but at…