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[ 2026-08-24 ] Letters of Reference and Recommendation Blog
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[ 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

Statue from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the British Museum

The statue from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the British Museum is a beautiful, captivating object. It is a “moai”. Its name is Hoa Hakananai’a (loosely translated to “Stolen Friend”, sometimes spelled Hoa Haka Nanai’a). […]

Plesiosaur skeleton (Thalassiodracon hawkinsi) cast at UCL Grant Museum of Zoology.

Thalassiodracon – Plesiosaur at UCL Grant Museum of Zoology

Humans came to understand the significance of fossils only in the early nineteenth century: their extraordinary variety and quantity, forms unlike anything seen in the world today, incomprehensibly vast periods of time for layer upon […]

Portraits of Charles Darwin and Emma Darwin. 1840. By George Richmond

Darwin in London – Commemorative Plaques and Family Baptism Records

During research concerning Charles and Emma Darwin’s life at number 12 Upper Gower Street, Bloomsbury, London, I identified several errors and vagaries in biographical material found in standard reference works. This note communicates corrections and […]

Joseph Henry Woodger (1894-1981) Papers at University College London (UCL)

Some years ago I searched for archival materials, or papers, related to Joseph Henry Woodger, philosopher, biologist and advocate of logical positivism (Cain 2000) (obituary). The hope was to assess the extent of informal contact […]

Professor Cross's Phrenological Chart, 1892

Phrenology Consultation with Professor Cross

Professor W. Cross was a phrenologist who gave popular public performances at London’s Royal Aquarium in the 1880s and 1890s. Phrenology was the quack medical practice of studying bumps on the head under the false pretence of […]

Closed sign during Covid Lockdown, from "When the Roof Blew Off," in Lockdown Cultures - Photo Essay - ProfJoeCain

When The Roof Blew Off – Photoessay – Covid Lockdown Cultures

This photo essay was written in 2021 for a volume about the closure of communities associated with covid pandemic lockdowns. It began as a photoessay to document the closure of my town (Hove, UK) during […]

Benjamin Harrison Cain. 1960. Town and Country Pulpit coverart

Benjamin Harrison Cain (1889-1972) biography and bibliography

Named for the recently elected Indiana-born US President, Benjamin Harrison Cain (“Ben”) was born in Pulaski County, near San Pierre, Indiana. He had five brothers and four sisters. All were raised in a rural culture, […]

Evolution - A Journal of Nature - sample covers

Pro-Evolution Magazine “Evolution: A Journal of Nature,” 1927-1938

This page provides information about this pro-evolution magazine, otherwise lost, from the 1920s and 1930s. It was devoted to promoting the teaching of evolution in US public schools. It was titled, Evolution: A Journal of […]

GALT364 on display in “We Are Not Alone” exhibition at Wiener Holocaust Library, September 2021. Close-up.

Charles Darwin’s Pedigree As Described By Karl Pearson

Charles Darwin’s pedigree was one of the premiere objects on display in the recent “We Are Not Alone” exhibition at Wiener Holocaust Library in September 2021, superbly curated by Professor Marius Turda. Darwin’s pedigree was present in the form of a large, framed genealogy – an item loaned from UCL Science Collections. It […]

Giraffe in Natural history Museum, Dublin, 2004

George Carpenter’s 1894 Essay on Collections to Illustrate Evolution and Geographical Distribution of Animals

George H. Carpenter. 1895. “On Collections to Illustrate the Evolution and Geographical Distribution of Animals,” pp. 106-142, with transcript of discussion at meeting, pp. 142-144, in E. Howarth and H. M. Platnauer (eds.). 1895. Museums […]

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