And so, already, we get to this month’s collection of items you may have missed.
Science, Technology, Natural World
Has any cat owner actually managed to fully decipher their cat’s meows? Well now researchers are trying to use AI tools to do just this. [££££]
Whether your cat is vocal or quiet may depend on its genes.
So, we’re still finding microbes we didn’t know about. In one case a microbe with a bizarrely tiny genome (above) which could just be evolving into a virus.
And in a further demonstration of how little we know about our home rock, scientists continue to be baffled by an apparent, and mysterious, link between Earth’s magnetism and oxygen levels. [££££]
Extending this lack of knowledge outward … Was the Big Bang really the beginning of our Universe? We don’t know, but there is research which suggests it could all have happened within a black hole!
Health, Medicine
Despite what they told you at school, insulin is made in the brain, and not just in the pancreas.
The ancient idea of the wandering uterus may be wrong, but the female reproductive tract is surprisingly mobile.
Sexuality
Who knew that semen allergy was a thing?
Another oddity … Orgasms can trigger colours in people with sexual synaesthesia. [££££]
Social Sciences, Business, Law, Politics
Denmark is deploying “saildrones” (above) in the Baltic Sea to monitor undersea cables and protect them from hostile action.
Art, Literature, Language, Music
English spelling will never make sense. Here’s something about why. [LONG READ]
History, Archaeology, Anthropology
One archaeologist thinks he’s uncovered a fraudulent scam involving Roman wine.
Also in the Roman world, a huge haul of fragments of Roman frescoes has been found in South London. What a nightmare jigsaw puzzle!
Here’s a review of a book on the making of books in the Middle Ages.
The Inca had a system of “writing” based on knotted strings, and some ancient examples are revealing Peru’s climate history.
There seemed little he couldn’t turn his hand to for the profit of humanity in general, making Benjamin Franklin (below) a phenomenon even during his lifetime.
London
Who knew that London still had sheriffs?
IanVisits investigates the one-time secret tunnels beneath Holborn, and looks at the plans to open them to the public.
In North London there’s a forgotten Tudor house that’s seen better days.
Coming right up to date … there’s to be a national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II. And of course it will be in London’s St James’s Park and being designed by Norman Foster. [No comment.]
Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs
Continuing one of our recurrent themes, here’s an article on helping people understand naturism and social nudity.
Shock, Horror, Ha ha ha!
So let’s end with two unlikely items …
Did you know that Disney produced educational films about periods and family planning as long ago as 1946?
And finally a Dutch museum has put on display a 200-year-old, mint condition, condom (below) decorated with an explicit scene of a nun and three clergymen. It is believed to have been a “luxury souvenir” from a fancy brothel in France.
