Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.
3. Birth. Tony Bennett, American singer (d.2023)
6. American Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim the English Channel, from France to England.
10. Birth. Marie-Claire Alain, French organist (d.2013)
13. Birth. Fidel Castro, Cuban revolutionary and politician (d.2016)
21. Death. Ugyen Wangchuck, King of Bhutan (b.1861)
You really didn’t want to have missed these items …
Science, Technology, Natural World
The latest estimates are that Earth is home to around 20 million species of insect – that’s way more than was previously thought. [££££]
It’s interesting how non-native parrots thrive in cities – and largely don’t compete with native species. [LONG READ]
London’s Kew Gardens has digitised its 7 million plant specimens. [££££]
Here are some surprising facts about aquatic flora, including that seaweeds are not plants!
So what is it that makes about 10% of people left-handed?
Venezuela recently suffered a double earthquake, but why did so many buildings collapse?
Trust the Swiss! They’re pioneering putting solar panels between railway tracks as another way to generate electricity without using too much land for solar panels.
Now away from Earth … astronomers have detected “raspberry sugar” in a dust cloud in our Milky Way galaxy.
Health, Medicine
Drug chemist Derek Lowe looks at the very high failure rate of new drug candidates over the last 50-60 years.
I bet you didn’t know that hospitals routinely use antimatter! [LONG READ]
One academic writes about what it is like inside the UK’s top secret chemical weapons laboratory at Porton Down. [LONG READ]
There’s a new catalogue of viruses revealing which pose the greatest threats.
So now for some real, and scary, surgery: Irish surgeons have been able to remove a brain tumour through an eyelid!
Sexuality & Relationships
OK, boys, understand this … your ejaculate is not a waste product
Is it acceptable to state a preference over your partner’s pubic hair?
Art, Literature, Language, Music
Here’s an article on iconic and revolutionary Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki (above).
History, Archaeology, Anthropology
Archaeologists have at last managed to decipher 4000-year-old Linear Elamite from ancient Iran.
Back at home in the UK, archaeologists continue to rewrite what we thought we knew about Stonehenge.
An entire Byzantine town has been found in Egypt’s Western Desert
Back at home again, medieval football could end up getting you killed.
And now the story of the 17th-century siege of Basing House. [LONG READ]
London
And at last we journey to London to hear the story of Westminster Cathedral. [LONG READ]
Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs
Here’ are some thoughts about the human body and why for some naturism feels right.
And then here are some thoughts on sleeping naked. [LONG READ]
And finally I’ll leave you with a look at some of the world’s strangest nude traditions.
Here are the answers to this month’s six quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.
General History
Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2025.
Each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month.
As always, they’re designed to be tricky but not impossible, so it’s unlikely everyone will know all the answers – just have a bit of fun.
General History
Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.
Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.
1. Birth. Hans Werner Henze, German composer (d.2012)
9. In Portugal, General Óscar Carmona takes power in a military coup.
10. A bolt of lightning strikes Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey; the resulting fire causes several million pounds of explosives to blow up in the next 2-3 days.
So here we are with this month’s bumper bundle of links to items you didn’t know you shouldn’t have missed.
Science, Technology, Natural World
As usual let’s start at the bottom … Really, just how many elementary particles are there? Pick a number! [LONG READ]
At the other extremes … Space is unimaginably bigger than you think.
And if your brain wasn’t fried enough already, there’s a suggestion that light is the shadow of a dimension we can’t see.
Now to the relatively mundane … for a long time scientists have been trying to understand the mysterious creatures of the deep oceans. [LONG READ]
Which just shows we really do not understand biology … There are some mysterious blobs in cells – even after 100 years scientists are only now beginning to understand what they are and their importance for life. [££££]
How do societies survive power struggles? Ask the wasps.
So why do cats sit in that “loaf position“?
From cats to dogs … scientists have recently discovered the rare and elusive Amazonian Short-Eared Dog in the forests of Bolivia and Peru.
Good grief! Japan’s 2011 “Fukushima” earthquake was so powerful it moved the location of the whole of Japan! [££££}
Health, Medicine
Well, yes … we could indeed at this moment be living through a hantavirus pandemic, but thanks to a lot of quick action by many countries we have avoided it. Which is exactly how public health should work.
What does body odour tell us, and why do we care about it so much?
Here’s (yet another) look at the health and history of pubic hair. [LONG READ]
Meanwhile here’s a look at sunscreen, what it is and how it works. [LONG READ]
Sexuality & Relationships
A cultural look at various aspects of the vagina.
Followed by the new craze of the Vaginus Maximus.
Now here’s an interesting one … an only slightly surprising suggestion of Viagra for women. Read the follow-on articles too. [LONG READ]
And then there’s a look at sexual burnout and bridging the resulting intimacy gaps.
[Images very NSFW] It’s the rarity factor! A look at why we’re biologically wired to desire redheads.
History, Archaeology, Anthropology
A select group of researcher are allowed access to Spain’s amazing cave paintings and one lucky writer gets a personal tour. [LONG READ]
Archaeologists believe they have discovered a simpler, and older, version of Stonehenge.
Amongst other things it seems that Bronze Age people were also pigeon fanciers.
I just don’t know how they do this … the charred scrolls from Herculaneum are being deciphered.
A metal detectorist in Somerset has found a stunning gold Roman ring.
A medieval manuscript containing early versions of the Merlin and Grail legends, which has remained in private hands for 700 years, is being auctioned by Christie’s.
So to put the record straight, here’s everything you need to know about the Black Death.
London
Here are some 1920s London Tube Maps, from before its current Harry Beck iconic design.
Greater London has a surprising number of overlooked Art Deco railway stations. (No, not the tube stations!) [LONG READ]
What was the mysterious Whitechapel Mount?
Food, Drink
Why does beer taste different on draught, in a can, or from a bottle?
Scientists are at last starting to unravel the importance of cork to the chemistry of wine. [££££]
Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs
DDA banding. It’s an accessibility thing.
A naturist’s look at what people’s arguments against nudity are really saying. [LONG READ]
What if seeing naked women actually reduced objectification? (Men too?) [LONG READ]
Shock, Horror, Ha ha ha!
And finally in New Scientist “Feedback” discovers Halupedia, an online encyclopaedia that is 100% AI generated. [££££]
Enjoy!
Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.
1. Birth. Marilyn Monroe, American actress (d.1962)
3. Birth. Allen Ginsberg, American poet (d.1997)
4. Death. Fred Spofforth, Australian cricketer (b.1853)
5. Birth. Paul Soros, Hungarian-born American mechanical engineer, inventor, businessman and philanthropist (d.2013)
10. Death. Antoni Gaudí, Spanish architect (b.1852)
28. Birth. Mel Brooks, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter
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.
Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.
4. The United Kingdom general strike begins at midnight, in support of a strike by coal miners.
8. Birth. Sir David Attenborough, British broadcaster, naturalist, and producer
9. Explorer Richard E Byrd and co-pilot Floyd Bennett claim to be the first to fly over the North Pole in the Josephine Ford monoplane, taking off from Spitsbergen, Norway and returning 15 hours and 44 minutes later. Both men are immediately hailed as national heroes, though some experts have since been skeptical of the claim, believing the plane was unlikely to have covered the entire distance and back in such a short time. Byrd’s diary, discovered in 1996, suggests the plane actually turned back 150 miles short of the North Pole, due to an oil leak.
9. Death. JM Dent, British publisher (b.1849)
12. Roald Amundsen and his crew fly over the North Pole, in the airship Norge.
12. The United Kingdom general strike is called off by the trade unions, although miners remain on strike.
14. Birth. Eric Morecambe, English comedian, author (d.1984)
As usual in this month’s collection of links, we’ll start with the hardest stuff …
Science, Technology, Natural World
Quite a lot of years ago, mathematicians worked out why waiting for a lift (elevator, for those in America) always takes forever. [££££]
How likely are you to be killed by a primordial black hole? [££££]
Whether you believe in astrology or not, your star sign is likely wrong, but you can find the correct one. [££££]
The Chernobyl exclusion zone has become a most unusual ecological experiments on Earth, leading to some unexpected results. [LONG READ]
So why do cats get the Zoomies, especially late at night?
Health, Medicine
If you had cardiac arrest in public, would a stranger give you CPR?
Most men have two balls, but are three balls better?
Sexuality & Relationships
The Kamasutra is more than a sex manual, with consent as an underlying principle.
A 300+ year old sex manual that got pretty much all of it wrong.
Well who would have guessed? Human sperm get lost in space. [££££]
As if boob jobs weren’t enough, labiaplasty is a growing fashion. Why? Just why? [LONG READ]
Environment & Ecology
Jaguar (below) are becoming increasingly rare, so researchers were pleased to see one in a wildlife corridor in the Honduran mountains. [££££]
History, Archaeology, Anthropology
Archaeologists have discovered a variety of 12,000‑year‑old dice, and they illuminate ancient play.
The oldest known recipe for toothpaste comes from … Ancient Egypt.
So how many of the purported priest holes are actually what they’re said to be? [LONG READ]
Samuel Pepys was, in many ways, a very naughty man – even to the extent of concealing letters about being offered an enslaved boy as a bribe.
London
Matt Brown of Londonist has taken a look at the origins of some of the City of London’s street names.
Matt Brown is also creating a coloured version of John Rocque’s 1746 map of London. Here’s the latest section covering Chelsea and the King’s Road (above).
Meanwhile a researcher has been able to unravel the mysterious location of Shakespeare’s house in Blackfriars.
London Historians visits Benjamin Franklin’s London house.
Food, Drink
Here’s a quick look at some of the factors which produce the myriad types of tea.
Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs
Humans have been documenting their appreciation of the nude body for thousands of years, and photography has made it much easier and more accessible.
The New Testament letters of Paul are not what they seem; many weren’t even written by him. [LONG READ]
Shock, Horror, Ha ha ha!
Finally, New Scientist considers the size of a “shedload“. [££££]