There’s again a lot in this month’s round up of items you may have missed the first time. So here goes …

Science, Technology & Natural World

Maglev trains have been around for a surprisingly long time, so why aren’t they ubiquitous?

Inter-species hybrids were once looked on as just biological misfits, but science is now coming to appreciate their importance for evolution. [LONG READ]

Did you know that witches’ brooms grow on trees? You do now!

Tidal power is supposed to be able to provide a significant percentage of the world’s energy needs, but a close look suggests it won’t. [£££]

Health & Medicine

Here’s a little about how Moorfields Eye Hospital in London really has changed the world.

It’s only a matter of time before we get the next major pandemic. An American-centric look at our preparedness? [VERY LONG READ]

The medical profession prescribe a lot of opioid painkillers. But are they all they’re cracked up to be, and would we miss them if they weren’t there?

Restoring life using CPR is brutal and rarely works. So why do people have so much faith in it and demand resuscitation at all costs?

Against most specialists expectations there’s work going on to develop a single vaccination to prevent several common cancers. It’s about to start a major trial in dogs.

While we’re on cancer, the placenta may just give us insights into cancer treatment – it’s just one of nine ways the placenta is so amazing. [£££]

Scientific American recently asked “When Does Consciousness Arise in Human Babies?”

Did you know you have an “inverse piano” in your head? Well actually there are two and they’re in your ears.

Finally in this section, Fred Pearce in the Guardian, takes another look at the real fallout from the Fukushima Dai-ichi disaster.

Sexuality

Why was it ever in doubt that women can have multiple orgasms?

Environment

Here are two articles on the length of time it takes garbage to decompose. The first is fairly general; the second gives us the following graphic looking at plastic and other rubbish in the sea.

And while we’re on plastic, Annie Leonard in the Guardian says that the “plastic crisis” is too big to be solved by recycling alone.

The Woodland Trust are understandably – and quite rightly – angry at Network Rail’s apparent plans to clear trees from railway embankments.

Social Sciences, Business, Law

History tells us that all cultures have their sell-by date, so has the West’s time come and are we on the brink of collapse?

Oxford and Cambridge Colleges own a bigger portfolio of property than Church of England.

The rail industry are running a public consultation on rail fare structure prior to submitting proposals to the government. Do have your say.

History, Archaeology & Anthropology

Aethelflaed: A Saxon warrior queen who was out to vanquish the Vikings.

London

Layers of London is a super resource which allows you to overlay a number of old maps on the current street plan of London. One of the best is the Tudor layout of 1520. IanVisits takes a look.

Lifestyle & Personal Development

So just why are Dutch teenagers among the happiest in the world? And couldn’t we learn something from their approach?

Here’s Zen Master and writer Brad Warner contemplating the problem of spirituality, religion, the ego and intellectual honesty. It is readable, and well worth a read.

Meanwhile the Guardian (again!) reports that UK homes vulnerable to a staggering level of corporate surveillance from smart TVs, smartphones, laptops, security cameras etc.

Shock, Horror, Humour

And finally, just because it isn’t 1st April … a prep school in Derbyshire has lost its Bakewell pudding in space. So very careless!

More next month!