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An item in the Royal Society's Miscellaneous Correspondence series is part of a decade-long effort to trace a lost Arctic expedition, as Isabel Lauterjung explains.

How did a party of explorers come to spend four winters trapped in the Arctic ice - and how did they survive? Jon Bushell tells their gripping tale.

Frankie Chappell looks at the maps produced by explorers and whalers such as William Scoresby FRS, and compares them with the ways in which indigenous inhabitants recorded their lands.

Frankie Chappell finds examples in the Royal Society's archives showing how scientific research into poisons supported colonial projects of exploration and expansion, and how the necessary role of indigenous peoples was obscured.

Read more about the principle of terra nullius, the idea of land being unclaimed and available for the taking, and how this became key to British colonialism.

Keith Moore tells the story of Ralph Bagnold FRS and his travels through the seemingly impassable sand dunes of the Libyan Desert.

Author Tim Foley tells the tale of a hardy Irishman in the Antarctic.

Read more about a pear-shaped and lurid tale Rupert Baker found while digitising images for the Royal Society's picture library.