Alison Bashford is a historian of science and Scientia Professor at UNSW, Sydney. Her recent book on the Huxley dynasty, An Intimate History of Evolution, won the Nib Literary Award (2023), was an Economist best book of the year, and was shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize. She is also winner of the Dan David Laureate Prize for her contribution to the history of medicine. Alison’s next book, Secrets Disclosed: A History of the Hand, explores the strange history of palmistry and its connection to genetics.