All articles in Natural World
17th December, 2015 in Biography & Memoir, Natural World
Why was Charles Darwin a giant of science?
When Charles Darwin announced his theory of evolution by natural selection, he did more than transform biology. Before his great work, humans were comfortably different from other life, a special creation. By showing how life on Earth evolved, Darwin told us that humans too are p…
17th December, 2015 in Natural World, Women in History
Mary Anning and the primeval monsters
It sounds like the beginning of a fairy tale – the story of a poor cabinet-maker’s young daughter who discovered an important and massive fossil at Lyme Regis, Dorset. Mary Anning (1799-1847) unearthed the first complete fossilised skeleton of a ‘fish lizard’ or Ichthyosaurus, wh…
16th December, 2015 in Biography & Memoir, History, Natural World
Henry ‘Birdie’ Bowers – The first Scot to reach the South Pole
In early January 1912 Henry ‘Birdie’ Bowers – to his delighted surprise – was chosen by Captain Robert Scott as a member of the five-man party which would attempt to reach the South Pole. Birdie (born in Greenock, near Glasgow, in 1883) wrote home that he was proud to represent S…
14th December, 2015 in Archaeology, Natural World
Human history and geology at Dorset’s World Heritage Coast
People visit the Heritage Coast to see its spectacular geology, but they are also surrounded by evidence of its human history, often without realising it. Dorset’s World Heritage Coast by John Beavis is for those who want to enrich their experience through an encounter with…