passim in passing

As it's #MuseumWeek in the world defined by the extent of hashtags this week, I thought I could follow up on @HenryRothwell 's suggestion that I, ahem, explain myself. Or rather, I explain this photo: I've managed to bring home my very own permanent installation, formerly a statue in the Natural History Museum Earth Gallery. It used to live amongst its fellows, God/Babbage, Atlas, Spaceman, Cyclops, and another one I've forgotten. Poseidon maybe. I'm not saying it was easy. The statue clocked in at 2.65 meters, which necessitated a large van- And several brave folk to lift it (this is why it comes in handy to know a lot of archaeologists. They don't shirk manual labour!) But with a few hacksaw-and-hammer based modifications, we managed it. And while the exhibition space may be changing, at least I will always have a permanent and terrifying memory of my life at the museum :)

For those of you who have somehow found this blog without either being personally shown it with my hand on the mouse, or through my highly serious and infromative twitter feed ( @brennawalks  -- or even @trowelblazers , which is my identity 1/4 of the time), welcome. I always enjoy meeting new spambots. For the rest of you, I'll assume you have an interest in either a) museums b) outreach or c) the life and times of our Human Origins research group. In which case, hurrah! Because that's what I'd like to talk about. Prof Stringer lays down some knowledge Every year, under auspices of the EU 's Framework Programme 7  , museums across europe recieve funds in order to hold a giant Open house. And it is giant, especially for us at the Natural History Museum London - we have hundreds of researchers here, normally safely hidden behind locked doors in the labryinth of cabinetry and slightly past sell-by-date skeletal models of obscure animals that is the 'working...