In the June edition of New English Review, the skeptical doctor pens a wide-ranging essay on invasive insects from China, lizard courting rituals, the theory of evolution, and medical advances.

To jump from watching lizards, or any of the other animals that used to be called lower, to explanations or judgments (or lack of them) about human behaviour is an attempt to disburden ourselves from the inescapable choices that we must make every day of our lives, and therefore of our moral responsibility that weighs on our shoulders like an immoveable backpack.