WHAT did you do at work today? “I moved Africa 600 kilometres to the south,”
palaeontologist Richard Fortey might say. Trilobite! (Flamingo), his hymn to
these creatures, amazes and inspires. Trilobites lived in the sea.
Studying their fossils enables Fortey to map the ancient oceans stretching
around the world 500 million years ago. This is science writing at its best.
Turn to a modern sea, and the news is all gloom. The death of the
Mediterranean may be hastened by invading seaweed, says biologist Alexandre
Meinesz. Killer Algae (Chicago) recounts its swift spread from the sea off Nice
into the…
