on the intersection of culture with poisons, toxins, venoms, and pharmacology
What Thanksgiving Day is complete without potatoes? Boiled, mashed, roasted, and puréed, sweet or savory, rare will be the Thanksgiving feast that lacks one or more of these varieties. Like the turkey, also a New World endemic species, potatoes are certain to have made a vital contribution to the Pilgrims’ diet on their arrival to […]
Official descriptions of species and other taxonomic groups include what’s called an etymology section. That is, an explanation of the name chosen by the author. Originally these names were mostly supposed to be descriptive, like Phyllidia polkadotsa. Sometimes the names refer to a place, like Helobdella nununununojensis (from a Quechua placename Ñuñuñuñuñoj). They can also
Getting a leg up on the naming of things. Read More »
Mark Siddall – October 11, 2020 While filming Yellowbeard on location in Mexico, on December 2, 1982, Marty Feldman was discovered dead in his hotel room at age 48. Feldman was a comedy writer genius who burst on the British television scene with his bulging, misaligned eyes in “At Last the 1948 Show” with Graham
Did a corrupt crustacean fell Feldman? Read More »
