Since Halloween is almost upon us, I thought I’d put aside notions of DNA replication and pseudoscientific quackery and write about something seasonally appropriate.

I’m hoping you’ll have the same reaction I had when I saw what I am about to show you. I want you to close your eyes and imagine a bat. Wait! I should specify that your eyes are to open again after a few seconds; if you are expecting further aural instructions from this blog once your eyes are closed, you may end up spending the rest of your life like a blind person. Which is fine if you are blind but, you know, given the choice….

Imagine a bat. What do you see?

I would guess that most people would imagine a reasonably sized fruit bat, with a wingspan of maybe 20 centimetres. A furry, rodent-like animal with black eyes and a pig snout. Black…