Don’t you just LOVE Darwin?

THE BEAGLE IN ALL HER ORIGINAL GLORY PAINTED BY OWEN STANLEY 1841

My first undergraduate research assistant job was in an evolutionary ecology lab: our lab truck (on which I learned to drive a stick shift) was a 1986 Toyota named HMS Beagle (it said so right on the license plate). I mean who doesn’t love the Beagle? Without it, Darwin might never have figured out his theory of natural selection...hence many, many biologists would be out of a job.

Some fine folks in the UK are trying to resurrect the Beagle in all its shippy glory (no rusted out trucks smelling of fish here). They are the people behind the HMS Beagle Project: an ambitious attempt to build a seaworthy replica of Darwin’s most famous vessel and retrace his steps around the world in a celebration of the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth.

Head to their newly opened shop, where the team have a delightful collection of t-shirts and mugs and buttons and tote bags, all which proclaim a true love of the Beagle.