On being told that they had been bitten by a venomous snake, most eight-year-olds would panic. Not Nicholas Jubber; he was not terrified but disappointed by a diagnosis that contradicted his own. Nich

MY old art teacher used to say there are no straight lines in nature. At the same time, one of the French teacher’s pet phrases was, “There are always the exceptions”. And when it comes to straight li

Before I realise what’s happening, the lid is off – and James Maclaine is pulling out a fistful of deep-sea anglerfish. I hadn’t been expecting him to plonk his bare hand inside the jar. I peer more c

Anchored in a quiet loch on the west coast of Scotland, Katherine Knight discovered the seabed was barren mud. She raised a small community and set out to replant the underwater desert with life-giving seagrass

Tennyson’s embrace of science and catastrophe theory

Moments enjoyed, lessons learned, handy advice, weird stuff that happened: welcome to the little bits and pieces that don’t make big stories, but do make all the difference.