Some bones just give you a look. It is often the primates, but some skulls seemespecially expressive, and just catch your attention. This "enigmatic gibbon" is the Grant Museum blog specimen of the week. and I can't stop looking at it. It is like it is begging for a returned glance of mutual understanding. He reminds me of an immature gorilla at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. An archaeologist friend assures me that some skulls "smile". I won't say more. I wi

I love the Grant's Museum. And I love their blog. And this week, I love their specimen of the week. A jar of moles. I looked up the collective nouns for moles; a labour, a movement or a company of moles. None of them really work as well as the simple description of a jar of moles. I can't add anything except our museums are crammed with interesting things, sometimes those things themselves are crammed. (Thanks to the Grant's Museum blog for this image. I wish it was mine... b

A late write up from a trip to the wonderful gem, Grant's Museum in London. Part of UCL, hidden somewhere near the Petrie Museum, I was drawn by the prospect of a thylacine, whole, pickled in a jar. (Apologies to Jack Ashby's collegue Mark, the Grant's Museum Curator, who prefers "preserved in fluid". But I like the term pickled. Its a nice layman term. And one day I hope to photograph pickled brains in jars, next to pickled cauliflowers in jars). There is always a drawn from