Last year I was on an adventure exploring the concept of refugia. Many animals and cultures used to be widely spread, in the past, but today, can only be found sparsely. The Canary Island flora is an example of that: ecosystems like the laurel forest used to be widespread across Europe, but went extinct during the Ice Ages, thus becoming relict species. Similarly, many Pyrenees villages still have extremely unique toponyms. The names of these villages may be related to the Euskara language. Euskara, or Basque, is only spoken today in northern Spain, but used to be widespread across the Pyrenees before languages like latin or greek arrived. These basque-related names have survived to our days, but every other trace of that language in the region is long gone.
Category: History
Our croaky Gods: frogs across creational myths
Cultures around the world have created unique mythologies surrounding frogs. In ancient Egypt, Heqet and the Ogdoads were god frogs associated with fertility. For the Penobscot, a giant frog used to hoard all the water in the world, until a hero killed it and released the rivers. In ancient mongolian myths, Buddha was only able to create all elements with the help of a frog. Why do such different cultures have similar frog mythologies, always related to water, fertility or transformation? What does this tell us about humanities’ deepest worries and hopes?
Art and science: navigating the maze in the 19th century
Let’s begin with a little quiz… Which historical character said… Classification is Ariadna’s thread in the Dedalus of nature. So concise and poetic. Any guesses? The answer is Aurore Dupin, better known by her pen name: George Sand¹. Aurore Dupin (1804 – 1876) was a French writer, socialist and feminist. Her…
Snouters and the lost world of Hyi-yi-yi: The scientific imaginary creatures (III): Snouters and the lost world of Hyi-yi-yi
Long ago, an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean was engulfed by the sea, and with it, all its inhabitants. There, the last of the snouters, or Rhinogradentia, a group of animals with large snouts, went extinct. This is what Gerold Steiner told us in his seminal work. But actually, none of this was real, but a giant science prank. Science is not always serious, and the history of science is full of scientists that used some of their time to fool their colleagues. Despite being completely false, the anatomy and lifestyle of the snouters is completely rooted in our understanding of evolution, an exercise known as speculative biology, where imagination and science intersect.
Greek mythology invades biodiversity!
When scientists create scientific names, they often unleash their creativity and honour people, locations or even gods. We go through the Greek God Pantheon and discover animals named after Greek Mythology, like the fish Zeus or the butterfly Hades.
On elephants and bacteria 