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[ 2026-08-24 ] Letters of Reference and Recommendation Blog
[ 2026-08-20 ] Clarity at last! Use this hierarchy of elements in podcasting Blog
[ 2026-08-11 ] HPSC0011 STS Perspectives on Big Problems 2026-27 Modules
[ 2026-08-11 ] Comparing Tempo and Mode (1944) with Major Features (1953) by George Gaylord Simpson Synthesis Period
[ 2026-08-11 ] Major Features of Evolution (1953) by George Gaylord Simpson Key Texts

Close-up. Cartoon appearing in Punch 1855, volume 28, page 50, “The Effects of a Hearty Dinner After Visiting the Antediluvian Department at Crystal Palace,” featuring Crystal Palace Dinosaurs.

Punch 1855 Cartoon Dreaming of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs

The cartoon depicting a man dreaming of monsters is one of two famous illustrations from Punch magazine referencing Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. In a previous post, I presented the other 1855 cartoon, “A visit to the antediluvian […]

Punch's Almanack for 1855 cartoon titled, "A visit to the antediluvian reptiles at Sydenham – Master Tom strongly objects to having his mind improved".

Punch 1855 Cartoon Visiting Crystal Palace Dinosaurs

Punch, or The London Charivari, was a British weekly magazine famous for its illustrated commentary and satire of politics and culture across the nineteen century and twentieth century. Mr Punch became a cultural icon: part […]

St Paul's Cathedral, London, UK, and close-up of Queen Anne's statue at West Entrance

Did You Say ‘Alligator’? Mystery Animal Outside St Paul’s Cathedral

There’s a mystery animal outside St Paul’s Cathedral in central London. What is it? The best, first historical source describes it as an alligator. Seriously? To locate it, visit St Paul’s Cathedral churchyard. Move to […]

What’s the STSNewsRoom?

Update April 2026: We decided to bring the STSNewsRoom to an end in 2025. Our feeling was this had run its course, and student needs had evolved such that a new approach was needed. I’m […]

The Tzar Nicholas Suspension Bridge under construction in 1853 as photographed by John Cooke Bourne (National Museum of the History of the Ukraine)

John Cooke Bourne’s Flirtation with Russia and Ukraine

Great news: John van Laun’s MPhil 2021 study of John Cooke Bourne’s tinted lithographs of the London and Birmingham Railway is available via UCL Discovery as open access. I hear from John there is an aside […]

George Gaylord Simpson, 1956 (courtesy American Philosophical Society Library).

Patricide in the Repeated Assassination of George Gaylord Simpson

George Gaylord Simpson was the undisputed American heavy-weight in macro-evolutionary theory prior to paleobiology’s disciplinary formation in the 1970s. Memory of Simpson’s intellectual influence on this next generation of thinkers is tied intimately to aggressive […]

Charles Darwin's Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (Penguin Classics), 1890 second edition, edited by Professor Joe Cain and Dr Sharon Messenger ISBN 9780141439440

Reading Charles Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals

Published in 1872, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals was a book at the very heart of Darwin’s research interests – a central pillar of his ‘human’ series. This book engaged some […]

Biodynamica - Basile J. Luyet from volume 1, 1934-1938

Biodynamica, published by Basile J. Luyet

Historians of the synthesis period in evolutionary studies, aka evolutionary synthesis, are deeply familiar with the Columbia Biological Series. This monograph series included key texts for the American evolutionist community, including Theodosius Dobzhansky’s (1937) Genetics […]

Dunn in Germany 1928, in Dunn Papers, folder: “Photographs #1”. Courtesy of APS Library.

The Situation in Genetics: Leslie Clarence Dunn’s 1927 Russian Tour

In 2003, I co-authored publication of a transcription of Leslie Clarence Dunn‘s 1927 report on genetics research facilities in Russia. This appeared in the Mendel Newsletter, published by the American Philosophical Society Library as Joe Cain […]

Sergei Chetverikkov, Russian population geneticist

Sergei Sergeevich Chetverikov (1880-1959) Russian population geneticist

Sergeĭ Sergeevich Chetverikov (=Tschetwerikoff) was a Russian entomologist, an expert on butterflies, and a pioneer of population geneticists. Born into a well-educated, professional family, Chetverikov entered the University of Moscow in 1900, graduating six years […]

Professor Joe Cain 2026