The Rise of the Newts
A speculative novel about an amphibious threat held dire warnings for interwar Europe.
A speculative novel about an amphibious threat held dire warnings for interwar Europe.
Cloves, grown in Indonesia, crossed the globe in the Middle Ages, showing how interconnected the medieval world was.
Flowers formed from pith paper captured the imagination of British society in the 19th century, sparking a search for the elusive ‘rice paper’ plant.
The fact that lobsters ‘walked’ on their claws puzzled even Aristotle. He had to employ all his deductive genius to explain why.
In 1822 a badly abused donkey became the first animal to receive justice in a British court.
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, was obsessed with falconry. This led him to write a truly revolutionary book on the subject.
The first of Earth’s creatures to hurtle into the Moon’s orbit were slow and sedentary residents of the Great Steppe.
How food fashion changed the economy of the Cayman Islands.
Captivated by swarming cicadas, the young son of a freed slave was inspired to become one of the greatest minds of the American Enlightenment.
Defying categorisation since its discovery, was the platypus a mammal, a reptile, or something else?