Category Archives: environment

environment, natural history

Asian Hornet Warning

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People in the UK, and especially the South-East, are asked to be especially alert for the presence of yellow-legged Asian Hornets (Vespa velutina), following a record number of sightings last year.

These hornets are invasive and a major predator of honeybees. They’re slightly smaller than our native European Hornet (Vespa crabo) but about twice the size of a common wasp or honeybee (see below). Over the last decade or so they’ve spread across mainland Europe from an original accidental introduction in the south of France.

Hornet and wasp size comparison
[click the image for a larger view]

As the graphic shows, the Asian Hornets are dark coloured, with a broad yellow/orange band across the fourth abdominal section, and yellow lower legs. I’ve only ever seen a mounted display specimen but I was struck by the dark colour. By contrast European Hornets are slightly larger, more likely to be brown rather than black, with much more yellow on their abdomen and dark legs; they look more like an oversized common wasp.

Unless their nest is disturbed, Asian Hornets are not normally aggressive to people. However they are prolific and invasive; which with their ability to predate honeybees and wipe out complete hives, makes them a serious pest. They find beehives and pick off the workers as they come and go; I’ve seen it estimated that a single Asian Hornet can catch and kill 50 honeybees a day! They have few, if any, natural predators in Europe.

If you think you’ve seen one, you must report it via the Asian Hornet Wasp app (available for both Apple and Android smartphones) or online via the UK CEH Non-Native Species Alert website. If possible try to get a photograph of the insect. If you can safely capture the offender so much the better – emphasis on your safety. But please do not go killing any captured insect unless you are very sure you have an Asian Hornet.

Note that these are not the so-called “Murder Hornets”, the Asian Giant Hornet (Vespa mandarinia), which have recently invaded the NW USA. Vespa mandarinia are larger, even more alien-looking, equally as predatory and much more aggressive.

Find more on Vespa velutina at:
Defra Asian Hornet Sightings page
NNSS Alerts page
EU LIFE Programme
Wikipedia.

environment, ramblings

On Paper Tissues

Having had a filthy cold twice in recent weeks (no, not Covid, either time) I fell to thinking about the resilience of paper tissues and their propensity (or not) to fall apart when wet.

Tissue-type paper (the sort that’s designed for personal use) that we generally encounter seems to come in four basic qualities:

  • Paper Hand Towels (as in many communal toilets)
  • Kitchen Roll
  • Tissues (eg. your bog standard Kleenex)
  • Toilet Roll

Their robustness when wet depends on the quality of the paper, and the length of the fibres from which they’re made. The longer the fibres, the more robust the final product.

While paper can be recycled up to seven times, it can’t be recycled infinitely. Eventually the fibres become too short to cling together and just have to be composted. The shortest fibres go into packaging like corrugated cardboard, egg boxes and toilet roll. Remember, the shorter the fibres the less robust the paper.

You can demonstrate this for yourself next time you have a runny nose. Wipe your nose on a paper hand towel and observe how well it survives – and that this is the same as when you use it to dry your hands. Repeat this in turn with kitchen paper, ordinary tissues and then toilet roll. Observe how when wet each is progressively less robust than those preceding.

paper strength experiment

You can actually do this more scientifically, as shown here and above. Yes, that site is advertising a particular brand, but you can use the method with any papers you choose. It’s a good experiment to do with kids.

This varying strength is deliberate design. You want the hand towel and kitchen paper to hold up: they’re intended for mopping up spills. Tissues a bit less so. Toilet paper, on the other hand is designed to fall apart when wet – if it didn’t the drains would pretty quickly get clogged. By the time your piece of toilet paper is 50 meters down the sewer it is nothing but mush, so it flows easily with the rest of the liquid. Also think about why a sheet of corrugated card packaging left in the road in the rain disintegrates so quickly.

This is why we are always told not to put paper hand towels etc. down the loo: they don’t break down quickly so they cause blockages.

There’s far more goes into paper production than we often realise. Just think of all the different types of paper you come across: from high-end glossy magazines, though artists’ drawing paper and copier paper, right down to egg boxes and loo paper. It is all deliberately designed to have particular characteristics for specific jobs.

arts, beliefs, environment, food+drink, history, links, medical, memes, science

Monthly Links

Well then … Here we go with another collection of links to items you didn’t know you didn’t want to miss.

Science, Technology, Natural World

In the latest of the grand space projects, NASA has retrieved a couple of hundred grams of an asteroid and dropped it back to Earth.

Now we’re coming down to the top of a 22,000-foot volcano where Earth’s highest-dwelling vertebrates have been found

Japan has a new island thanks to an underwater volcanic eruption.

Still on the fiery nature of Earth, there’s been a swarm of earthquakes happening in Iceland, which likely precedes a volcanic eruption.

Still on earthquakes, a researcher, at the Vatican Library, has found a 500-year-old Hebrew note which reveals an unknown earthquake swarm in Italy.

Now to the natural world …

Serotine bats (above) have surprised scientists by being the first known mammal to have procreative sex without penetration.

Staying with rodents … experiments suggest that rats may have the power of imagination.

In the Amazon there’s a somewhat horrifying parasitic wasp (below) with a huge head, and it is just one of over 100 newly discovered species.

This is somewhat bizarre … it seems that starfish are just a large, flattened head, with no body. [££££]

Health, Medicine

Scientists seem to have worked out why some people get headaches from drinking red wine.

And now we have three items for the female population …

In the first, OB/GYN Dr Jen Gunter tries to once and for all explode the myth of menstrual synchronization.

Dr Gunter then looks at the sense in poking garlic up your vagina.

Finally academic sex researcher Dr Kate Lister tests oral probiotics for vaginal health. [££££]

Sexuality

And now on to actual sexuality … in which Dr Emily Nagoski looks at some approaches to sex for the disabled.

Expert sex therapists suggest the usual 20 ways to revive your flagging libido.

Environment

On the interaction between wild pigs and golf courses.

Social Sciences, Business, Law, Politics

Why is there this assumption British voters become more Conservative with age – and is it true?

Let’s obscure the players’ genders and then see how men’s and women’s soccer compare.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

Archaeological finds are revealing that art is much older than our species. [LONG READ] [££££]

There’s a boom in people taking up life drawing.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Near China’s “Terracotta Army” archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a 2000-year-old sheep-drawn chariot.

Moving west, a large number of clay stamps used to seal Roman documents (above) have been discovered in Turkey.

Meanwhile off the coast of Sardinia divers have discovered around 50,000 Roman coins.

A cartographer has created a London Underground style map of Britain’s Roman Roads.

Excavations around Sutton Hoo in Suffolk continue to turn up suprises. One latest find is the remains of what might be an early 7th-century temple.

Coming gradually up to date … A hoard of medieval pennies dating from the reign of King Stephen has been found in Norfolk.

In Germany they’ve found a centuries old grave containing a skeleton with four prosthetic fingers.

Dr Eleanor Janega takes reveals the real story behind the killing of Joan of Arc.

Forensic research proves that the Ancient Ram Inn in Wotton-under-Edge (above) is old, but not as old as is made out. [LONG READ]

London

Here’s a look at the life of Wenceslaus Hollar who is best known for his panoramic views of 17th-century London (below).

Food, Drink

The convoluted story of the sandwich called Gua Bao. [LONG READ]

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Mathematician Kit Yates looks at whether the time has come to stop changing the clocks twice a year.

Cheese-rolling, straw bears and weird rituals: one man has made it his life’s work to record the whole of British folklore, and he now has a massive collection.

There’s a collection of walks around the UK’s strange and sacred sites.

Returning to sex researcher Dr Kate Lister, she’s written about growing out her pubic hair for the first time in 20 years. [££££]

Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!

And finally, in a surprise revelation it has been discovered that a supposed Yeti hair actually belonged to a horse.

environment, history, links, medical, photography, science

Monthly Links

Welcome to this month’s well packed selection of links to items you may have missed.

Science, Technology, Natural World

An evolutionary biologist explains what we already know: cats are perfect. [££££]

Nevertheless we’re still trying to fully understand how cats purr.

A Pacific Footballfish (yes, really; they’re a type of anglerfish) has washed up on the Californian coast; only about 30 known specimens have ever been collected.

And now for something completely different … how many tectonic plates does Earth have?

Scientists are saying the Moon is 40 million years older than we thought. Well unless there’s a lot we’re not being told, I don’t find it totally convincing.

Meanwhile way, way out in space the two 50-year-old Voyager probes, now out beyond the solar system, are being given code updates to prolong their mission even more.

So you think quantum physics is weird? Well it isn’t; its weirder! [££££]

Health, Medicine

They’ve tested it, and it turns out the ancient honey-and-vinegar mix is a really effective wound treatment. But then so is superglue. [££££]

It’s long been received wisdom, but does chicken soup really help when you’re sick?

On which note, how many microbes does it take to make you ill? [LONG READ]

Another piece of long-held wisdom is that young, health adults were more vulnerable to the 1918 flu virus. Examination of some skeletons suggests this wasn’t so.

It may sound morbid or traumatising, but researchers are still trying to understand what really happens during a near-death experience. [LONG READ]

Environment

Many of the UK’s big wine retailers have joined forces on the Bottle Weight Accord aimed at globally reducing the weight of glass bottles.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

Aboriginal Australian languages have finally helped linguistics researchers show that a language’s grammar affects how the speaker sees. [££££] [LONG READ]

Many people have assumed the worst, but it is doubtful Lewis Carroll was actually a paedophile?

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

There’s this theory that men evolved to hunt and women evolved to gather (wrapped around childcare etc.). But the thing is, it’s wrong. [££££] [LONG READ]

There are some footprints in New Mexico which if correctly dated mean humans were in the Americas much earlier than thought. It also seems that the first American settlers weren’t who we thought [LONG READ] they were.

In Spain archaeologists have discovered 9500-year-old baskets and 6200-year-old shoes in a bat cave.

Did Stone Age peoples have toilets? It looks like at least some did. [LONG READ]

There’s one small glimmer of light amongst the climate change which is melting all the ice … some interesting ancient artefacts are coming to the surface from their alpine deep freeze. [LONG READ]

At the other end of the scale, scientists in Israel are having some success growing date palms from 2000-year-old seeds found at sites in the Jordanian desert.

Staying in Europe … in Italy a 2200-year-old tomb has been discovered – and it’s decorated with a mythical hellhound and sea-centaurs.

Declassified satellite images of Syria and Iraq from 1960s and 70s are revealing a large number of Roman forts in the area; far more than were expected.

Never let it be said that Romans didn’t have all mod cons, because it appears that at least some had their own wine fridge.

Also dating from the Roman period, an 1800-year-old sarcophagus, which held a woman of “special status” has been unearthed in NE France.

Let’s skip quickly over to the Americas again … the Mayan reservoirs relied on aquatic plants to help provide clean water.

And we’re back in Europe and with that melting ice … a rare, well preserved and possibly Viking, horse bridle has emerged from melting ice in Norway.

It seems that the Vikings had windows as fragments of Viking-Age window glass have been found in Denmark and Sweden.

Our favourite medievalist has written a short explication of the Holy Roman Empire. [LONG READ]

Medieval manors were actually important employers; here’s a look at some of the jobs.

Meanwhile medieval people got murdered, and some academics have put together murder maps for three cities.

Agrippa’s De occulta philosophia (1533), a manual of learned magic, explicated the ways in which magicians systematically understood and manipulated the cosmos. [LONG READ]

Now coming almost up to date … 19th-century Britain had this aversion to allowing women to practice medicine.

Food, Drink

Researchers have finally revealed the true origins of grapes and wine. [££££] [LONG READ]

So just why are 1 in 7 of us addicted to ultra-processed foods? [LONG READ]

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

It that time of year, but Katherine May suggests ways in which the can lighten these dark months.

Here are ten questions to help start an important conversation with a teenager (well anyone really).

A professional architectural photographer talks about the magic of photographing the Romney Marsh Churches. [LONG READ]

Still down in Kent, my friend Katy Wheatley got to see round the late Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage which is in one of my favourite places, the desolation of Dungeness.

Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!

Finally … the heroic and amazing exploits of animals working for us including ferret electricians and land-mine clearing rats. [LONG READ]

environment, history, links, medical, science

Monthly Links

Here we go then with this month’s selection of links to items which interested me, and which you may have missed.

Science, Technology, Natural World

Let’s start with 16, possibly unexpected, facts about sweat.

Turmeric is supposedly one of those “cure-alls” but despite some interesting chemistry it looks like its claims are overstated.

Still on turmeric, here’s a report on how researchers uncovered a scam of improving the colour of turmeric with lead. [LONG READ]

And while we’re on things yellow, a researcher thinks they’ve found a long-thought lost Ancient Greek and Roman medicinal plant.

And then there are wasps – in his case the common “yellow-jacket” Vespula vulgaris – where researchers using data from the Big Wasp Survey have found that the UK population is essentially genetically homogeneous. [Full disclosure: I’ve been part of Big Wasp Survey since its inception.]

Researchers are claiming that worms frozen in permafrost for 46,000 years are still alive and the oldest known living animals.

Continuing with the bizarre, in the deep Atlantic Ocean there lives a creature with 20 arms.

And so to the even more esoteric … Scientists continue to puzzle over whether nothingness exists.

On average your friends are on average more popular than you – on the paradox which links epidemiology and sociology.

Health, Medicine

Various scientists are making the observation that we aren’t prepared for the next pandemic (whatever that is) – here’s one. [LONG READ]

Covid cases have seen a small spike this summer; here’s why, and some thoughts going forward.

Here’s a look at six slightly surprising effects of common medicines. [££££]

In this one young researcher looks at the challenges she faced with OCD.

On the stigmatisation of menstruation through history to the current times.

Sexuality

There are different things helping towards great sex at various stages of life. [LONG READ]

Environment

Forget rich soil, try gardening with hardcore. [LONG READ]

More on wasps! There have been a number of sightings this year of Asian Hornets (aka. Yellow-Legged Hornet, Vespa velutina [image above], which is slightly smaller than a European Hornet, Vespa crabo [image below]) in the UK, most notably a cluster in Kent. While these are alien predators (often taking large numbers of honeybees) they are not the so-called “Murder Hornets” (aka Asian Giant Hornet, Vespa mandarinia, which are larger) which have invaded the American west coast. [As usual the article doesn’t really live up to the goriness of the headline.]
And there’s an even more recent report from the London area.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

Researchers at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium have used infrared light to reveal a hidden portrait beneath a 1943 painting by René Magritte.

One scientist offers some tips for good scientific writing – and they aren’t what we’ve often been taught.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

As always let’s start old and get younger, with an overview of our extinct human relatives the Neanderthals.

They’re still researching Ötzi the Iceman, and have now determined that he was balding and had dark skin.

Who was the first literary hero? There’s a suggestion that it is actually the ancient goddess Inanna.

The remains of an Iron Age female warrior have been discovered on the Isles of Scilly.

Just take a look at the magnificence of the Roman Lighthouse at Dover – the oldest in England.

Staying with the Romans, some marble fragments are giving an insight into Emperor Hadrian’s diary.

Further east in the Roman Empire archaeologists have uncovered a Roman amphitheatre with blood red walls.

A medieval historian appears to have recognised a new source about the Norman Conquest of England, and it was hiding in plain sight.

Laying to rest the myth that the medieval Kerrs were left-handed and that spiral staircases were always built to advantage the defender.

People

In an interview for the Big Issue, Professor Alice Roberts says she got side-tracked into academia.

Why do we always think that terminally single (and childless) women are unfulfilled, because they’re often happier?

Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!

And finally two amusements. First one young lady pots up her Lego succulents.

And finally, finally someone has installed a urinal on the side of Sonning Bridge over the River Thames.

environment, natural history

Fox in the Grass

So there we were, about 19:15 this evening, eating out chicken and chips.

I spotted a dark russet-y shape appear way down the garden and disappear behind the philadelphus bush.

“Good evening, Reynard.”

A few minutes later it strolled across the lawn, to the upper lawn were we put out food. Sadly the plate there was empty – so we’ll just mark it with a dose of pee.

It wandered back down the path, stopping for a while to sit and look, and have a good scratch. I thought it had then disappeared beyond the philadelphus again.

At this point the white front of Boy Cat appeared on the path down by the pond. And waited.

He crept a couple of feet closer. And waited.

Is fox still trotting around down by the pond? It’s too shady to see, especially from the dining room.

Boy Cat creeps forward another couple of feet. And waits. Looking nervously to his left. Who’s he watching. Presumably another of the neighbourhood intruder cats.

He creeps forward again. And again. Still watching his left flank. And again.

Finally having made it some way past the silver birch he breaks into a slow trot. And he’s now clearly past the danger and on a home run.

Some minutes later, when I come upstairs and look out of the study window, the scenario becomes clear. Fox has not gone away but is curled up in the long grass almost in front of where the old apple tree was. This was about 19:45.

Grab camera. Oh bugger that’s an awful place to try to get a decent shot. Big, long focus lens, on full zoom, and a wide open bathroom window provide a handful of reasonable shots.

fox in the grass

[Click the images for a larger view]

fox in the grass
Fox snuggled down for a doze. It’s now 20:50 (as I type) and fox has just woken up having had a good hour’s doze; had a mighty stretch; a scratch and is generally attending to regular maintenance. Another big stretch and a shake. Rinse and repeat.

And at 21:00, off we trot.

Unfortunately the animal looks a bit mangey, but there’s nothing one can really do.

I got a good shot of a fox on the trail camera yesterday, but this is a different individual.

Nice that fox feels comfortable here (although the cats wouldn’t be too pleased); and something which probably wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t left the grass grow.

amusements, arts, environment, history, links, medical, science

Monthly Links

And so to this month’s collection of links to items you dodn’t know you din’t want to miss! Let’s start, as usual, with the tough science stuff.

Science, Technology, Natural World

Some scientists have been thinking about how life would have started and self-assembled. [LONG READ]

alien life

Turning the tables round, will we actually know alien life when we encounter it? [LONG READ]

While we decide that, how likely is it that alien life is eavesdropping on our mobile phone calls? [££££]

Staying with the cosmological … Observers have detected the largest cosmic explosion ever seen.

Meanwhile the James Webb telescope has found asteroids in the Fomalhaut star system.

And it gets weirder, as astronomers think they’ve seen live-action of a star swallowing one of its planets.

Coming back a little nearer to sanity … hare’s a look at Alan Turing and the most important machine that’s never been built. [LONG READ]

After which, riddle me this … How do you find a new species of Demon Catshark? By reading it’s eggs, of course. [££££]

But then again, genetics turns up many surprises, including the mutation which turned ants into parasites in one generation. [LONG READ]

More strangeness on genetics … it turns out strawberries have eight sets of chromosomes, which have contributed to their domestication and survival. [££££]

Deeper and deeper into plants, photosynthesis actually requires four photons to complete the transfer of sunlight into chemical energy but the details of the final step are only now coming to light. [££££]

And so back into the (almost) real world. Clever palaeontologists have been able to recover the DNA of the wearer of a 25,000-year-old pendant.

Health, Medicine

How accurate are all those old-wives tales – you know like “chocolate causes acne” and “carrots help you see in the dark”?

So just what are puberty blockers and how do they work? Side issue: should we be using them? [££££]

Medics now seem to have decided that removing just the Fallopian Tubes will significantly reduce the number of women with ovarian cancer. [££££]

Meanwhile, deciding whether to have HRT treatment for the menopause is a difficult decision for many women. [LONG READ]

Sexuality

Here’s the usual, and regular suggestion of ten ways to improve your sex life.

Environment

All the rubbish buried along the Thames estuary is coming back to the surface to bite us. Why do we think we can treat the place like a trash can? [LONG READ]

Japanese knotweed

There’s one thing you do not want in your garden (or anywhere): Japanese Knotweed. [LONG READ]

Social Sciences, Business, Law, Politics

Historian and headmaster Sir Anthony Seldon has been writing book-length report cards on British prime ministers for 40 years. His latest is on Boris Johnson, and he’s not impressed.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

Oh dear. Some of the southern Italians are upset. They’ve decides that a mermaid statue is too provocative. Judge for yourself …

mermaid statue, front

mermaid statue, rear

London’s Courtauld Gallery has released almost a million rarely seen photographs from their collections online anf free.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

The Mediterranean keeps producing ancient shipwrecks. Now one off Sicily has been found to contain ingots of a rare alloy called orichalcum.

A look at the Port of London in Roman times.

A large Roman temple in France could have been used for the worship of many gods.

So what was the Medieval attitude to cats?

Food, Drink

Emma Beddington asks why we’re unable to give up salt – but doesn’t come up with a good answer.

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

This is Local London website runs a series of thoughtful articles by senior school pupils on various topics. One recent such looks at attitudes to gender identity.

Here are yet another ten reasons to embrace everyday nudity.

normal nudity

normal nudity

Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!

A study – surely a contender for an Ig Nobel Prize – has discovered that it is “barely possible to identify a beautiful scrotum“. [££££]

conker balls

amusements, environment, history, links, medical, natural history, science

Monthly Links

Welcome to this the first of our 2023 round-ups of links to items you my have missed the first time. There’s plenty here, with a lot of long reads, so let’s get going!

Science, Technology, Natural World

Last year London’s Natural History Museum officially named 351 new species, and surprisingly a quarter of them are wasps.

Still at London’s NHM, Anna Turns in the Guardian visits their secret vault of whale skeletons.

Somewhat differently, palaeontologists have been working out the details of sex with Neanderthals. [LONG READ]

And here’s an interview with Nobel laureate Svante Pääbo on understanding Neanderthals.

Turns out there are human only genes which increase brain size. We need to be very careful with them.

On the improvement of synthetic routes to recreational drugs.

It’s the hidden properties of many rare earth elements which have enabled our modern technology. [LONG READ]

Roman concrete was much different from our modern version, and its self-healing properties could benefit modern construction.

Meanwhile, a volcanic eruption in the wrong place could cause havoc for world trade, much worse than a ship stuck in the Suez Canal ever could. [LONG READ]

So what actually happens when a huge ship sinks? How are the worst effects of a disaster averted? [LONG READ]

From lost ships to lost nuclear weapons which no-one can find. [LONG READ]

Which brings us conveniently to a look at the discovery, properties and politics of uranium. [LONG READ]

There’s long been talk of an undiscovered Planet Nine in our solar system, but if it is there why hasn’t it been seen? [LONG READ]

And finally in this section, one for those who like their brain strained … quantum reality is impossible to measure, so how can we possibly understand it? [£££]

Health, Medicine

All is not always what it seems … it appears there is a mystery virus which confers protection against monkeypox. [LONG READ]

In complete contrast, here’s a brief history of the clitoris.

Environment

Fewer and fewer migrant birds are visiting our shores as the climate crisis takes its toll.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

On the peculiarity of American copyright law.

Against which here are five lesbian expressions from the 19th century to remember when watching Gentleman Jack.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

What do we know about the lives of Neanderthal women? [LONG READ]

Egyptian researchers have used high-tech digital scanning to to look at a 2300 year old mummified boy.

Archaeologists reckon to have found the world’s oldest runestone in Norway.

It seems there was a medieval habit of dividing the night into “two sleeps“. [LONG READ]

A medieval pendant unearthed in Germany has had its secrets unveiled by neutron imaging.

Here’s our favourite medievalist on the gossiping of the female. [LONG READ]

And again we have said medievalist, this time on medieval standards of beauty. [LONG READ]

There were many medieval manuals which taught sword-fighting, but modern experts are unable to decode all the tricks. [LONG READ]

Twenty years ago the remains of a medieval trading ship were discovered in Newport, South Wales. The remains have now been preserved and its custodians now have a huge 2500 piece jigsaw.

Here’s a look at the dilemmas in dating old buildings. [LONG READ]

The blog A London Inheritance goes back 300 years and looks at the London events of 1723. [LONG READ]

Coming almost up to date, the Dutch have released a WWII map purporting to show where a hoard of Nazi treasure is hidden.

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Tom Lamont in the Guardian takes a look at some of the UK’s more ribald placenames.

According to the 2021 census, the fastest growing religion in England & Wales is shamanism. But what is it?

The idea of “love languages” – or how we feel nourished by our partners – has been around for 30 years and does seems to help people.

So this is what the experts suggest about how to be the best possible parent, lover, friend, citizen or tourist.

A look at why the right to protest and dissent is so important.

People

Christina Bowen Bravery on becoming a world champion stone skimmer.

Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!

One young art student discovers that her pubic hair is a capitalist.

And finally, some incredible images of the eerie shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea.

beliefs, environment, science, thoughts

Mars & the Moon

Stop building a spaceship to Mars
(and the Moon too)
and just plant some damn trees.

Stop building a spaceship to Mars and just plants some damn trees
Isn’t it more important that we protect this planet against global worming etc.?
Just think how much good all that money could do, and how much
environmental refurbishment could be done by just 10% of the money.

environment, history, links, medical, natural history, science

Monthly Links

Well then, guys & gals, it’s time for our monthly round up of links to items I thought interesting, and you might too. And having missed last month’s collection we have a lot to catch up on!

Science, Technology, Natural World

The latest research suggests that we Brits are not descended from a single group. Apparently the UK had at least two genetically distinct human groups at end of last ice age.

whiskered cat

We, like all apes, have lost our whiskers, but for those animals that still have them they are incredibly important. Here are five things you didn’t know. [VIDEO]

Palaeontologists have been looking at some ancient fish fossils and found they highlight the strangeness of our vertebrate ancestors.

Still with things watery, scientists have discovered living specimens of a clam thought to have gone extinct 40,000 years ago.

Also in the oceans, the denizens of the deep near the Cocos Islands have a array of glassy fangs and glowing fins.

Back on dry land, entomologists are also finding things they thought they’d lost. This time they’ve been searching in Indonesia for surviving colonies of Wallace’s Giant Bee, Megachile pluto. Two stories, first from the Guardian, second from the Smithsonian.

Here’s another oddity … A UK cat charity is looking to find a home for a kitten which is neither male nor female (and no, not intersex either!).

Do we all experience colour in the same way? It’s an intriguing question. Initially you’d say “yes”, but on reflection that would probably change to “no”. So where is the truth?
And here’s another take on colour perception. [LONG READ]

Finally, away from biology … On Saturday 19 November 2022 – yes, that recently! – a tiny asteroid fell from the sky over Ontario, Canada. What’s so special, is that it was spotted just 3½ hours from touchdown, but in that time NASA were able to compute it’s exact impact location.

Health, Medicine

Bird flu (H5N1) is already a huge problem for the poultry industry across Europe with millions of birds being culled. But worryingly a small number of key mutations would make it more easily jump from birds to humans, and to spread between us. And we have no protection beyond lockdown.

Quietly, in their labs, scientists are still working on new Covid-19 vaccines, and they may urn out to work very differently. [LONG READ]

Another approach to controlling Covid-19, and indeed many other infectious diseases, is to use UV light – and scientists think they’ve found a UV wavelength which kills germs but is save for us. [LONG READ]

Now to an old disease … the Black Death of 14th Century is still affecting our health today.

Environment

Conserving the environment and economic progress are not mutually incompatible and dismissing environmentalists as “anti-growth” is wrong. [££££]

Art, Literature, Language, Music

Harry Mount (Editor of The Oldie) takes a look at the importance and joy of rude Latin graffiti.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Archaeologists working to reconstruct the ancient Mashki Gate in northern Iraq have unearthed beautiful rock carvings that are about 2,700 years old.

Here’s the latest article looking at the Antikythera Mechanism and what it is. [LONG READ]

Two stories on an exceptional collection of 24 ancient bronze statues found immersed in a Tuscan spa.

Analysis of gold coins found in Transylvania in 1713 suggest that the “fake” Roman Emperor Sponsian was actually real.

Now here’s our favourite medieval historian on the maintenance of monarchical succession. [LONG READ]

Meanwhile the Mediaeval Mythbusting blog looks at sex, stonemasons and the sacred. [LONG READ]

Just slightly more up to date, History Today takes a look at Tudor beds.

London

It seems the defunct Whitechapel Bell Foundry is up for sale as the American developers cannot fulfil their development plans. The London Bell Foundry are trying to acquire the site and restore it as a bell foundry.

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

At times we all hesitate to be kind when opportunity knocks, but psychologist Claudia Hammond maintains we should all be much less hesitant. [LONG READ]

Still on the psychological, British Naturism looks at the role of nudity in improving mental health.

And finally … Two looks at the work of Architect Peter Barber who is designing some extraordinary housing developments which get right way from the “bloody boring brown Lego architecture” (to quote an acquaintance) and high-rise.

Edgewood Mews, Finchley