Today I published the first post on my new Substack, Beyond Flies and Maggots. Because its mission overlaps with that of this website, I will occasionally link from here to a Substack post—or from Substack back to material on this website.
The purpose of that cross-linking is not to repeat the same material on multiple platforms, but rather to allow each platform to do what it does best. This Beyond Flies website will remain the principal home for information about my work, projects, publications, and other resources. My Substack will provide a more conversational setting for essays, current topics, and public discussion. From time to time, both may also overlap with the educational content of the BTER Foundation, particularly when the subject involves medicinal flies, maggots, or other animals used in medicine.
Today’s Substack post introduces the mission of the new blog and explains why I have decided to write it. In short, the Substack posts will explore “good flies,” “bad flies,” and flies currently making headlines, and will also venture into the unexpected ways insects intersect with medicine, science, agriculture, global economies, history, culture, and everyday life.
I also hope to encourage conversation on the Substack platform. If you would like input from a broader community, please join the discussion with me and other readers on Substack. If you have a private question, prefer not to comment publicly, or do not have a Substack account, you are always welcome to contact me through this website.
I hope you will visit my Substack page periodically as we look more closely at the creatures most people avoid—and discover how profoundly they have influenced medicine, science, history, culture, and human civilization.