Of course, the classic example of confirmation bias is the countless sightings of the Virgin Mary in pieces of toast, cappuccino foam, wood grain, and just about every other bizarre location you might care to mention. If such manifestations are indeed the Lord’s work, then He really does move in mysterious ways. In reality, these ‘sightings’ are nothing more than vague, coincidental likenesses blown out of all proportion by people who have a very particular way of looking at the world.

In fairness to those who think they see the Virgin Mary in the stains on their bathroom wallpaper, the human mind is very much programmed to recognise facial features, so it’s hardly surprising that we occasionally see faces when they’re not really there. The British comedian Dave Gorman has an excellent set of photographs of ‘faces’ he has spotted in inanimate objects. There is also a Flickr Grilled Cheese Virgin photo pool.

Even us hoary, old sceptics aren’t immune from recognising human faces where they are clearly not. In my own case, I have never spotted the Virgin Mary—well, OK, there was that one time in that pub in Wales—but, last month in Cambridge, I did clearly discern the face of none other than Charles Darwin in a cluster of brachiopods in the Sedgwick Museum:

The image of Darwin in some brachiopods recently

What do you mean you don’t see it? And you have the cheek to call yourself a Darwin groupie! The brachiopods do not lie!

It’s the dawn of a new era!

On Ash Wednesday, 20th February, 1828, five young men from Christ’s College, Cambridge signed their names in the Registrary’s book, thereby becoming undergraduates at the university. John van Wyhe‘s excellent little booklet Darwin in Cambridge includes an image of their signatures:

Darwin’s and Dawkins’s signatures

That’s right, 181 years ago, Charles Robert Darwin and Richard Dawkins stood shoulder-to-shoulder and confirmed in writing that they were fully paid-up members of the Church of England.

I think Prof. Dawkins has some explaining to do.

While I was there, I managed to take a short video (observe Michael Barton making an appearance in the background):

I’ve never been in a podcast before. They might just catch on.

Listen now:

Download | Embeddable Player

Darwin’s beetle collection

Darwin’s son, Sir Frances Darwin, donated his father’s beetles to the university. The collection was originally in a cabinet. Unfortunately, in the 1870′s, one G. R. Crotch began sorting some or all of the collection into boxes, all but one of which was later lost/misplaced.

• More of my photos of Darwin’s beetle collection
• View as slideshow
• Michael Barton’s photo of me taking the beetle photos

Heart-felt thanks to Dr John van Wyhe, FCD, who kindly showed Michael Barton, FCD and me around Charles Darwin’s old room at Christ’s College, Cambridge yesterday. Dr van Wyhe recently oversaw the refurbishment of the room, recreating how it would have looked in Darwin’s day. The result is rather special—down to the basket for Darwin’s dog!

And the really good news was that we were allowed to take photographs!

More on Darwin’s college rooms here. My photos from Darwin’s room below:

Cousins

Just back from a pretty awesome couple of days in Cambridge with Michael Barton, FCD. More posts to follow over the next few days.