Publicising your work is becoming a common part of the scientist’s job. We are continually exhorted to connect with the public and to let them know what we are doing. This is not a bad idea, although most scientists are not trained to do this sort of thing, have no resources to do this anyway, and is seldom part of their job description and hence not really considered at promotion time. However, many of us try (this is why we have the EcoLincNZ blog after all).

Darwin certainly didn’t spend a lot of time in outreach. I guess his book on the Voyage of the Beagle was aimed at the general reader, and was a bestseller, but he seldom did anything like this again. No public talks, no bioblitzes, no school visits.

I can see him setting up a blog, though, where he put on his gems of natuaral history that he received from letters all around the world. Given his decade long work on barnacles, this might be a focus. Travel tips from his 6 years afloat might be another. But we know that for simply getting people to read articles, that lists are the best…. 10 reasons why natural selection will improve your life or Top tip for stopping evolution ravaging your lineage?