Prose and Passion

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael's blog about science, culture, and everything in between

Monday, February 02, 2026

plants recycling metals

›
It has been known for centuries that certain kinds of plants thrive on soils heavily contaminated with toxic metals, even on mining waste. I...
Sunday, February 01, 2026

a rare find

›
At the beginning of January I discovered a 19th century French book selling for a very affordable £ 1.50 at a charity shop and really liked ...
Thursday, January 29, 2026

lives of Helene and Julius

›
continuing with the ancient info rescued from from the website about the Weiß chronicles, and following up from generations 10-6 in this blo...
Wednesday, January 28, 2026

nature's chemistry

›
In the long list of potential books that I didn't quite get to the printers, there's one that I wanted to call Nature's chemistr...
Tuesday, January 27, 2026

on the origins of radio

›
Some thoughts on: Listen in: How radio changed the home Beaty Rubens Bodleian Library Publishing 2025 I saw this small exhibition at...
Sunday, January 25, 2026

turning violins inside out

›
Pirate Luthier update Over the xmas period, I learned how to open up violins, glue cracks, and close them again. I practiced that on the n...
Thursday, January 22, 2026

life of the station master of Adamsweiler

›
continuing with the ancient texts rescued from from my old website about the Weiss chronicles, here's the short biography of Christoph G...
Monday, January 19, 2026

the urban ecology of feeding birds and squirrels

›
Back in December, I spotted a research paper about the ecological impact of human-provided food on squirrel populations, and I started to wo...
Thursday, January 15, 2026

chronicles of the Weiß family

›
This fundamental rock on which much of our family history is built has been on my website since time immemorial, but as I am now giving up o...
Sunday, January 11, 2026

website on the move

›
I haven't updated my dear old website for a few years (because life was moving fast and the process of uploading files to the site was p...
Monday, January 05, 2026

stopping the shark trade

›
A rare bit of good news for marine biodiversity arrived last December from the unlikely location of landlocked Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The 20...
Sunday, January 04, 2026

a coconut fiddle

›
In december I discovered an unusual kind of two-string fiddle at a charity shop. It was lacking the pegs, strings and bridge, the body is a ...
›
Home
View web version

about Me

My photo
Michael
I'm a chemist turned biochemist turned science writer, covering everything from nano to astro via bio. Also trying to make sense of my life in writing about family history. Playing wrong notes on a variety of instruments. Current craze: repairing violins and learning to play them too.
View my complete profile
Powered by Blogger.