Metal gurus

Where does your interest in geology stem from? Did you collect rocks as a child? Yes, I was an avid mineral and fossil collector as a child. My prize possession was a geological hammer and any exposed

Soils are the world’s most pervasive ecosystems, and arguably its most complex and important. They’re home to more than half the planet’s species. But they’re also one of the ecosystems we know the le

The elevator pitch made this trip sound very glamorous, but it’s nearing 43ºC and I’ve been stooping around in the desert for over an hour, eyes fixed on the arid earth. We’re in the Turkana Basin in

I’ve been taking one of the game’s biggest features for granted.

Michael D. C. Drout The Tower and the Ruin J. R. R. Tolkien’s creation 384pp. Norton. £25. Giuseppe Pezzini Tolkien and the Mystery of Literary Creation 456pp. Cambridge University Press. £30. Michael

HAVE you ever taken a close look at your soil? I mean, a really close look? And if not, why not? Soil, compost, dirt, earth – whatever you want to call it, it’s often overlooked, and yet it’s one of t