The irregular selection of links to things which have amused or interested me, and which will hopefully do the same for you. So in no special order we have …

Are There Fundamental Laws of Cooking? Wired reports on research into how flavours and ingredients relate to each other and whether there are combinations of flavours with work in doublets but not in triplets.

According to meta-studies by researcher Peter Gøtzsche breast cancer screening cannot be justified and actually overall does more harm than good. Needless to say the medical profession are outraged, although they are coming to realise that the equivalent in men — prostate cancer screening — also does more harm than good.

As announced a week or so ago, here’s the official press release from University of Birmingham on Alice Roberts appointment as Professor of Public Engagement in Science.

Now there’s more science which overturns the accepted beliefs. Research has now shown, apparently definitively, that watching pornography doesn’t cause men to commit rape. (You’ll want to follow the links in this summary item for the fuller story.)

And finally for the scientific research here’s a great article by Rob Dunn, author of The Wild Life of Our Bodies: Predators, Parasites, and Partners That Shape Our Evolution, which describes how research projects get started and books written all intertwined with bits about how living too clean is actually bad for you.

The Heresy Corner explodes Alain de Botton’s ideas about what makes people atheists. While I don’t have a lot of time for Richard Dawkins’s aggressive approach I do seem to have ended up, philosophically, pretty much where he is albeit via a different route.

Following on from last week’s pictures of amazing libraries here are some equally stunning pictures of tunnels.

And finally Ian Visits reports on a relatively infrequent, but very ancient London event: the Ceremony of the Constable’s Dues.

Enjoy!