Breathers at Troynovant:
pulses of lifeforms & biologic processes,
inspiring inhalations deep or quick,
(or even not technically breathing),
satiric or speculative or scientific
of wildlife & pets, evolution & ecology;
breaths of health, medicine, & disease;
listed by Title
  

We generally do not list here reviews of animal tall-tales or fictions ("The Stolen White Elephant", Ishmael, Freddy the Pig series) or creatures symbolic or animated (The Maltese Falcon, Donald's Ostrich) — although we hope you'll read or watch these items anyway. We do include, sparingly, some naturalistic novels and stories; and some science-fictional or fantastic representations of terrestrial or alien lifeforms if they seem to grow the definitional boundaries or enliven our philosophical speculations.
  

ComWeb at Troynovant: robots & robotics
Livelong at Troynovant: longevity & immortality
Mentality at Troynovant: the mind & mental operation
  

  
[Alexandria.]

Cleopatra:

Is she as tall as me?

Messenger:

                            She is not, madam.

Cleopatra:

Didst hear her speak? Is she shrill-tongued or low?

Messenger:

Madam, I heard her speak. She is low-voiced.

Cleopatra:

That's not so good. He cannot like her long.

Charmian:

Like her? O Isis, 'tis impossible!

Cleopatra:

I think so, Charmian. Dull of tongue, and dwarfish.
What majesty is in her gait? Remember
If e'er thou looked'st on majesty.

Messenger:

                                        She creeps.
Her motion and her station are as one.
She shows a body rather than a life,
A statue than a breather.

William Shakespeare
Antony and Cleopatra, 3.3.11-21

  
Cybernetic models of feedback loops seemed to [many ecologists] such beautiful conceptual tools that they hated to admit they didn't fit the facts. ...

Thus, rather than serving as a reality check on pop ecology, science remained to a large extent part of the problem. By 1990 the federal government controlled nearly all environmental research, and its various agencies retained an interest in the outcome of ecological debates. Most wildlife biologists worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other preservation agencies. Since state and federal governments owned a third of the country's land area and all its wildlife, few ecologists could do research without permission from appropriate authorities. And as study became more expensive, scholars relied increasingly on public sources of financial aid.

The growing popularity of biocentrism exacerbated this politicization, making partisanship seem respectable. Motivated by teleological beliefs in the stability of ecosystems, researchers regularly crossed the line between science and partisanship. ... Ecosystem assumptions remained built into nearly all policy-oriented environmental research. Forced to choose between their models and the data, many scientists opted fror the former, relying more heavily on computer modeling and less on real-world testing. And when their field studies failed to find projected equilibria, they took this as a sign that ecological catastrophe was imminent.

Alston Chase
"Diaspora"
In a Dark Wood
The Fight over Forests and the Rising Tyranny of Ecology  (1995)