Here you will find links to my own other pages, and to various other recommended blogs, websites, and writers on the question-and-answer site Quora – especially those specialising in biology and evolution. New links will be added whenever I come across something memorable, and the list of Quora users will grow whenever I remember somebody I had forgotten to add, so check back regularly. Quora writers are listed alphabetically to avoid favouritsm.
My personal links
My main website, whitehound.co.uk. Here among other things you will find:
- My fanfiction and fannish essays, mainly but not exclusively centred around the Harry Potter books, and including a tribute to my late friend John Nettleship who was the main model for Professor Snape
- The history of another friend, the late Eric “Wee Burney” Cullen
- Advice on the care of pet rats, including ship/black/roof rats
- My family history research
- Also essays on a variety of topics. These essays include subjects which may be of interest to readers of this blog, but which were really too long to turn into posts. Basics of biology is intended for use by homeschoolers and explains what the different fields of biology are and how they interrelate. Evolution made easy explains how evolution happens, how we know that it happens and how we can see it happening. Genetics explained is a glossary of genetics terms and how they interconnect.
Imaginary Mongoose Tarot services Yes, I’m also a working psychic. Deal with it.
The Mansion of E chapter-by-chapter. This is a tribute to the long-running (but currently on hold) SF web comic The Mansion of E, which has been running since 2007, and was posting a cartoon a day from July 2007 until November 2021, followed by an 11-month hiatus with posting resuming in October 2022. The one strip per web-page format makes it hard to find anything, so with the author’s permission I made a re-jigged version which had one whole chapter per page, making it easier to read it like a comic book. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys witty dialogue, good characterisation and complex plotting and world-building
My Quora feed Lots of different topics, but mainly biology, especially evolution, and nit-picking details of the Harry Potter books. I’m planning at some point to start a Quora space for abuse survivors, especially male ones, once this blog is bedded in.
My DeviantArt and Pinterest accounts. I used to be quite active on DeviantArt but gave up after they downgraded their search function to the point where it became unworkable.
My Patreon. A quote a day to inform and entertain.
Although I do have Facebook and Twitter accounts I currently don’t use them for anything except commenting on other people’s pages. If that ever changes I’ll add links here.
Other recommended writers on Quora
Quora is a question-and-answer site which started out small and serious in 2009. It has since grown enormously, and not always for the better, as there are a lot of trolls, spammers and perverts and fanatics of all stripes on there. But it’s possible to block most of the undesirables from your feed, and it remains an excellent place for genuinely lively discussion and for finding informative answers on almost any topic. The following are writers whose output may be especially interesting to readers of this blog. Clicking on a link will take you to that writer’s Quora homepage, with a list of their most recent answers.
Mats Andersson: interesting and amusing writer about military affairs and linguistics
Dheeraj Awasthi: his family run the Hanumant Jeev Ashray, a shelter in Uttar Pradesh for stray animals, including the occasional homeless human – more details below in the website section
Alex Cooper: humorous but genuinely interesting and informative animal trivia
Donna Fernstrom: reptile and dinosaur biology (although we disagree as to whether or not “reptile” should be considered a synonym for “sauropsid”, and therefore whether or not dinosaurs should be considered reptiles); pet reptile care
Jonathan Hall: anthropology and assorted natural history
Sean Keefe: great on dinosaurs
Matthias Kroegerson: interesting Icelander – extremely witty, mildly autistic writer who was (mis)diagnosed with narcissism as a result of abuse and then was (mostly) cured by 20 years of therapy, all of which he writes about with great clarity and fluency, as well as being an expert on physics, coding and gaming (but he’s not very active at present due to being knackered by Long COVID)
David McPhee: human psychology and therapy
Gary Meaney: long collections of interesting and unusual animals and ecosystems, the weirder the better: with special thanks for this list of transitional fossils from the first chordate to us
David Mitchell: molecular genetics; early evolution of single-celled groups
Rachel Neumeier: evolutionary biology and ecology; pet care, especially of dogs; fantasy author
Jim Nieberding: cephalopod biology; keeping octopodes as pets
Chris O’Leary: good explanations of topics to do with evolution, although it’s not his main subject
Pepper Meister: cephalopod biology; horticulture and hydroponics (with especial reference to peppers); Neanderthal culture; Native American folklore; maths and coding; neurology of psychological trauma (the Pepper Meister is one of the original patients from whom the c-PTSD diagnosis was derived circa 2002)
Stefan Pociask: army veteran and expert on wildlife, especially big cats and raptors: note that as at August 2023 Stefan has got into deep financial doodoo as a result of health issues and losing his job and he has pets to feed, so please consider a donation at his GoFundMe
David M. Prus: anthropology and palaeontology; animals; history; Star Wars
Dimitris Almyrantis: fascinating and informative answers on history, especially the history of Scotland, and also some interesting stuff on metaphysics
Israel Ramirez: biochemistry, especially the evolution of metabolic pathways and the chemistry of DNA and genetics; physiology; psychology
Keith Robison: molecular biology
Ken Saladin: weird knowledge about unusual animals, especially invertebrate behaviour and parasitology; human anatomy and physiology
Krister Sundelin: nice clear explanations of physics and cosmology
Franklin Veaux: electronics and physics; 3D-printing; coding; human sexuality and polyamory (but make sure there is no number after his name in the Quora profile URL – he has a stalker who keeps setting up fake accounts in his name but they will be e.g. Franklin-Veaux-27, whereas the real one is just Franklin-Veaux, no number)
Ben Waggoner: biology; Old English literature; quality miscellania
Adam Wu: evolutionary biology, especially human evolution; neurosurgery; astronomy; general science
Other recommended websites and blogs
OneZoom tree of life explorer: an interactive tree of the evolutionary relationships between current life-forms, enabling the viewer to drill down to the species level or pull out to view larger groupings.
The Florida Museum’s openVertebrate Project: this team are building up a collection of 3D CT scans of different vertebrate genera which are available for public view.
Accumulating Glitches: Exploring the grandeur of evolution: this blog is no longer active but its archived posts are well worth a look.
Palaeontologia Electronica: long-running peer-reviewed online journal of palaeontology.
Avian Hybrids: this blog covers a wider territory than the name suggests: it’s mainly about what DNA analysis can tell us about the evolution of modern birds, but also carries articles on non-avian dinosaur genomes and historical hybridization in mammals.
Plant Scientist: explores the biology of plants and microbes.
Nix Draws Stuff; Nix Illustration; Nix at Pillowfort: assorted blogs by the same artist, showcasing palaeontology news and high-quality original palaeo art.
C. M. Koseman: artist whose work includes speculation about dinosauroids – that is, what a fully sapient, tool-using intelligent species derived from dinosaurs would really be like (and no silly upright reptilian humanoids).
Kennis & Kennis: stunningly realistic and convincing reconstructions of early human species.
John Gurche Paleo Artist: professional painter and sculptor who specialises in dinosaur art and realistic facial reconstructions of early humans.
Fauna Figures: a blog showcasing a vast collection of interesting collectible figures of different exotic beasties, including highly unusual models of rare prehistoric creatures and deep ocean invertebrates.
Hanumant Jeev Ashray: this excellent NGO in Unnao in Uttar Pradesh provides shelter and medical care for stray or injured animals, and also sometimes helps local humans who are very down on their luck. They don’t seem to be actively fund-raising at present, having recently crowd-sourced the money to build a new shelter, but if and when they open another link for donations I’ll add it here.