Here’s a situation you might be familiar with: you are doing something at work that you are particularly good at, having gained those skills through experience, and learning from your mistakes. Along comes a person who you know of by reputation to be a bit of a seen-it-all, done-it-all, bought the t-shirt; they always insist they can do everyone’s job better than the specialist can. Most of the time the specialists politely decline his “help”, after which he insists that he could have still done it better and brays whenever the specialist makes a mistake.

Once you have explored the range of scales from sub-microscopic (Viruses) to the largest living things on Earth (Trees) the temptation is to look in a bit more detail and wonder if you have missed anything really critical.

As many of us move through what the Christian world regards as Advent, the time before Christmas, it’s worth reflecting on the season’s origins.

Cod. Good Cod. Good Cod Almighty. It is possible that there is nothing more symbolic of the English seaside than this once ubiquitous fish. “Cod and chips twice” has been heard across the land for decades, and it even caused a war of sorts between two fishing nations!

Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz. At this point I want to say to all the people who have jumped on the “Honey Bees are disappearing, we’re all doomed!” bandwagon: “Please read the literature.”

In the last article, we were looking at things that you can only see under a microscope, and it would have been wonderful to continue in that vein because — as much as it creeps a lot of people out — there is so much “out there”, and also “in here”, that is invisible to the naked eye.

ot so much in the news as viruses, but bacteria can definitely be classified as “living” and — astonishingly — they comprise two of the three major branches of carbon-based life. For every non-bacterian form of life, there is at least one type of uniquely evolved bacteria, and who knows what else waiting to emerge.

It would be nice to think that we are all friends, but I do have to be careful sometimes, after all there are always a few politicians, corporations and other assorted members of the elite who will do anything they can to ensure no cracks open into the real world.

Imagine the scenario: you are speaking to a crowd of people who have been enthusiastically lapping up your words and are ready for the great conclusion that is going to lead them to a better life. “The answer is at the other end of the country; you can take any route you like,” you tell them.