News — News

Congratulations to Dean Lomax, author of our titles: Dinosaurs of the British Isles and Fossils of the Whitby Coast for being the recipient of the Marsh Award for Palaeontology 2015. Dean receiving the Marsh Award from Brian Marsh OBE at the Natural History Museum, London The purpose of the Marsh Award for Palaeontology is to recognize 'unsung heroes' – those who have made an outstanding or cumulative contribution to palaeontology in the UK, yet whose efforts have not necessarily been widely recognized. The award is presented annually and Dean is the youngest individual to receive this honour. Dean giving his...

We are proud to be official sponsors of Queensway ABC (Rochdale) and are pleased to announce this has been covered in the local media. We sponsored the production of the team tracksuits and are very happy with the result! Head coach David Hodkinson worked very hard to achieve the highest standard of production and should be proud of the result. Queensway ABC is part of the Full Contact Performance Centre on Queensway, Castleton, Rochdale and provides an opportunity for the local community, including kids to get involved in an active sport. It is a great opportunity to get them away...

Following on from our recent blog post about the next European Society of Arachnology Congress due to be held in the UK and as 2015 is drawing to an end, we would like to bring to your attention the identity of the European Spider of the Year 2015! This year the proud holder of this title goes to the Buzzing (or Phantom) spider Anyphaena accentuata (family Anyphaenidae). The Buzzing or Phantom spider Anyphaena accentuata (courtesy of Wikimedia) It is common throughout Europe (including the UK). It prefers the stems and crowns of deciduous trees, but also occurs on bushes and...

An excellent four-page review of our recent title Dear Sir - Sixty-nine years of Alfred Russel Wallace Letters to the editor (edited by Charles H. Smith and Kelsey Patterson) has just been published in the latest volume of the Entomologist's Gazette (2015, vol. 66: 295-298). Following are some snippets taken from the review: "This fascinating book throws up many interesting, quirky, occasionally funny, insights into the life of a man who was the ‘Sir David Attenborough’ of his day.""This book, edited by Smith & Patterson, adds to the sum of knowledge and understanding of Wallace in a unique way …...

Yesterday, the author of our recent title: Homo sapiens: An appraisal of modern humans appeared on WRIR radio talking about his remarkable new book, including why he wrote it and what inspired him to do so. One very important point he makes is that we need a realistic view of what is happening and what is going to happen in terms of the collective effects of human activities on our planet. Raj's book is unique in this regard because other books on this topic do not consider the synergistic effects of the full range of variables that impact on the...