So now we bring you this month’s selection of links to items you wish you hadn’t missed. And it’s a well packed edition …
Science, Technology, Natural World
Apart from traumatic, what it would have been like to experience the dinosaur‑killing asteroid? [LONG READ]
There’s a huge amount of “space junk” above our heads: almost half of what’s in earth orbit is junk – and that’s only what we know about. [££££]
And while we’re talking of things going round … Astronomers have just found over ten thousand new exoplanet candidates.
Meanwhile there are some pieces of the cosmos being ignored by astronomers. [££££]
It seems that the universe could be any one of 18 possible shapes. [££££]
Let’s come back down to Earth … Researchers are beginning to understand how Egypt’s Great Pyramid has withstood earthquakes etc. for over 4500 years. [££££]
There are new insights into whether plants can hear.
[Illustrations NSFW] “Slow Blink” communication with your cat.
Scientists are developing tiny robots that can learn to navigate like honeybees. [££££]
On birds’ eyes and why their visual perception is almost second to none. [LONG READ]
At the other end of life on earth scientists have found a tiny fish that looks like Mr Snuffleupagus (below). [££££]
And finally in this section New Scientist had a piece on the renowned mathematician who doesn’t exist. [££££]
Health, Medicine
An interview with two scientists who have been working flat out to develop a test for hantavirus. [££££]
An American look at what the response to the hantavirus “scare” has brought to the surface – and a brilliant example of how to do public health leadership. [LONG READ]
So did the Ancient Egyptians invent the pregnancy test?
Along with that women have been using cannabis medicinally for thousands of years.
Twins. Born within minutes of each other. But they have different fathers!
Sexuality & Relationships
Sexual health after 60: aging, hormones & intimacy.
Sex after 35: apparently the female body was not designed for the sex most women are having. [LONG READ]
So what really does happen to a woman’s body during orgasm?
One man’s experience of vasectomy leads him to wonder why the procedure isn’t more common.
History, Archaeology, Anthropology
Were the Neanderthals the first dentists? One article from Scientific American, and a second from The Guardian.
A research team have published a new, online, map of Roman roads across their empire.
It’s long been supposed that after the Romans left Britain the Anglo-Saxons took over and totally replace the indigenous population. But DNA analysis tells us otherwise. [LONG READ]
It seems strange, but early medieval Ireland had laws protecting bees.
So who invented the corridor? [LONG READ]
There are tunnels under Bloxham, Oxfordshire. But what are they for? [LONG READ]
There’s a forgotten cock pit under Whitehall. [Now, now. That’s enough of that!]
London
And finally … Matt Brown has released the latest coloured section of John Rocque’s 1746 map of London. This time it’s Limehouse and Rotherhithe.