Letters to the Editor

Dear All of you Wonderful Beagle Sailors, You’ve given people around the world the best trip ever. This has been the finest magazine ever produced. Only yesterday, I put directions to one of your articles on our Ratifiers for Democracy page (xenotransplants, for its implications democratically) as every piece has been both intelligent and understandable to a wide range of people. Your mix has always been spot-on (perfect and timely), and the illustrations brought a sense of style and humour that other publications, like the Economist, are only now realizing, makes people read serious stuff more deeply. The new magazine will be, it looks like, just another trade rag, as many others. So sad, but commercially maybe right. The problem with it is that it is being directed, as so many marketing departments do, to be like other things, when what draws people to something is its uniqueness. HMS Beagle was unique, and you should all be very proud that you made something that has truly been, the best. — Dr. Anna Tambour, Oregon

I am saddened by the news of Beagle’s end. In particular, the loss of the drawings, poems, and art is heartbreaking. What was stated by the writer who interviewed Edward O. Wilson in this issue of Beagle could actually be said about HMS Beagle as well: “Throughout this grand adventure, Wilson (Beagle) remains that most strangest of birds, an academic whose childlike curiosity puts him (it) equally at ease in both science and the humanities.” Wilson’s warnings ring true for species such as Beagle too! Extinction is extinction! —Dr. Sheryl Field, Berkeley

I am so sorry to see that HMS Beagle is about to end. This has been my favorite mag on the web and always contains something that changes how I think about the world. Thanks for the memories.— Marie Muir

What a tragedy you are leaving us. I am a scientist and make extensive use of BioMedNet. BUT I deeply appreciate the broader context that HMS Beagle has provided. My students in the sciences and my colleagues (both inside and outside of science) had, because of Beagle, been able to see scientists as human beings and science as a human undertaking. Loss of the eloquent argument the Beagle made on behalf of that perception will be terribly missed. Losing the NYAS’s “The Sciences” last year was bad enough. Sigh. Please let me know how I can access the archives to keep that brief shinging moment available — as a role moel for future students if not reminiscence and nostalgia for a brief period of right-mindedness.— Neil Greenberg, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Univ. of Tennessee

I will miss Beagle. I am so sorry you decided to dispose of him. He was a friend.— Dr. Amelia Beltramini, Milano, Italy

I will miss the energetic eclecticism of HMS Beagle. I wish you well wherever you end up and hope that you carry all the good lessons of Beagle forward in the world.— M.F. Cleary, New York

Just felt I had to say what a shame it is that you are dropping the magazine. I am probably one of many readers who only come to the Biomednet site to read Beagle! In my case, I always come to look at the humorous articles, the art, the puzzle, and then often end up reading at least one of the trends articles. I doubt I will find reasons for reading the new magazine — after all, I can find that sort of reading mattter very easily elsewhere.— Dr. Tamsin Braisher, Science Planner, Gerald Street, London

This is the saddest email I’ve ever received. On a random, sporadic and chaotic basis I’ve used HMS Beagle to relieve daily life — humor, art, and science — what more could one want from a boon companion? You always offered what I find most satisfying! It’s very sad indeed to face the death of the Beagle. May it rest in peace.— Bob Turner

I’d like to thank HMS Beagle for your kindness all this time. Readers like me lacking access to any scientific magazine for-profit have found in yours a perfect support for our academic labor. My research is that of evolutive theories, and no few of your issues have become part of the references in my papers. Besides this you are all nice people so far away but so close because of your human outlook. Thank you very much.— Roy Guadalupe, Mexico