Author: Neil
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Being and becoming in Nowhere Wood
All living organisms are doing two things at the same time. They are: Being (they are keeping themselves alive) and Becoming (they are moving towards the next stage of their lives). The butterfly is being and becoming at each stage of its life. All of the animals and plants in Nowhere Wood are also…
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Counting the ways to stay alive
No one knows how many different kinds of animals and plants are alive today, and, sadly, we never will. A survey in 2011 suggested that there are nearly 8 million species of animals and nearly 300, 000 species of plants. Astonishingly, nearly 90% of these species have yet to be discovered, described or named. Many…
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Trampling acorns underfoot
I have never seen so many acorns in Nowhere Wood. Everywhere I step, I am treading on acorns. Acorns are the fruits of oak trees and this year it certainly has been a bumper harvest. Biologists call this a “mast year”. The air in Nowhere Wood in April and May was very hot and still.…
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A life well lived
Sir Paul Nurse is one of the most important biologists in the world. He is Director of the Francis Crick Institute in London and has served as President of the Royal Society. In 2001, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the proteins that control the division of cells. Sir Paul’s…