Crossing the North West passage

Earlier this week the Ob River, a large oil tanker, became the first vessel of its kind to sail across the Arctic. The tanker left Norway and travelled to the north of Russia on its route to Japan. The reason for taking this difficult and risky route is that it could shave 20 days off …

Proteus: a nineteenth century vision

Earlier this week I went to see Proteus: a nineteenth century vision, David Lebrun’s richly imagined film about the life and work of German evolutionist Ernst Haeckel. The film takes as its centrepiece animations created from Haeckel’s intricate drawings of a class of mono-cellular organisms – the radiolaria. Over his lifetime Haeckel identified and described …

Lessons from a little brown dog

Yesterday UCL, along with 40 other organisations, signed a declaration of openness on animal research. According to this the university will ‘develop principles of openness and measurable objectives underpinning a more transparent approach to animal research.’ This declaration comes in response to the latest Ipsos MORI data that shows a 10% drop in the levels of …