Category Archives: links

food+drink, history, links, medical, nudism, ramblings, science

Your Interesting Links

There’s a lot in this month’s edition, which is a few days late, so let’s get straight in.
Science & Medicine
Scientists have tried to work out the five most addictive substances on Earth and what they do to your brain.
No real surprises though.
Another set of scientists have discovered a mysterious boiling river in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. Well it’s almost boiling and certainly hot enough to lightly poach the unwary.


Talking of boiling water, what temperature does it actually boil? And why can’t you make tea at the top of Everest (even supposing you were stupid enough to want to)?
And to the other end of the scale … Yet more scientists have been and recorded the sounds at the bottom of the ocean. Not just any ocean but deepest part, the Mariana Trench. And they were in for quite a surprise.
From sound to … sound. It seems that parrots are a lot more than just pretty birds. They have their own parrot languages and are also known to make tools.
Back to water and a German scientist has worked out just how Archer Fish are so adept at shooting down insects with a jet of water.
And now to things medical … One in five of us believe we have a serious allergy, but most of it is just belief. Here’s a summary of some key things you should know about allergies and intolerances (which aren’t the same at all!).
“I’ve been told bacon smells lovely.” Just what is it like to live with no sense of smell?

There’s no reason why it should work, but it does. We’ve all experienced the placebo effect but here are five popular placebo myths explained.
[Trigger Warning] It is thought that anything up to a quarter of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, the vast majority in the first 12 weeks, and often there is no obvious reason. However miscarriage remains a taboo and is seldom talked about. But medics are now putting effort into trying to find underlying reasons and to help those women most badly affected and those most at risk. [Long read]
What happens when you have a hole in your ear? Specifically a hole in the canal(s) of your inner ear? It’s rare, but the effect is quite frightening. [Long read]
Seems that attacking people who are overweight (or worse) is counter-productive. You don’t say!
Are you a loner? And a nerd? Yes many of us who do a lot of thinking (it’s often called research, or work) are. So we need some peace and quiet — and a little sympathy.
Sexuality
It is important that we talk openly, frankly and honestly to our children about sex and pleasure. Peggy Orenstein has a new book out on “Girls & Sex”; here‘s a piece about it and a few myths exploded. But don’t forget the boys as well; they have to be taught about sex and pleasure, and often respect for the girls too.
At which point it seems appropriate to ask why the clitoris doesn’t get the attention it deserves? And why does this matter?
It seems there are engineering lessons to be learnt from the design of the penis and the mechanics of erection
Social Sciences & Business
The surprising chances of our lives can seem like they’re hinting at hidden truths. On coincidences and the meaning of life.
History
Apparently a 5000-year-old linen dress is the oldest know woven garment. and it’s on display in London.
There are many mysteries about the lives and deaths of the Egyptian Pharaohs. But it looks as if one may have been solved as CT scans have revealed brutal injuries to Pharaoh Ramesses III.
We’ve all come to know (and love?) the @ sign. But I remember being totally mystified by it as a kid using my father’s typewriter, which isn’t surprising as it appear to have a long and rather convoluted history.
Edward Johnston and the typeface that changed the face of London Underground, and much else besides. with a rather more than walk-on part by Eric Gill.
I love the Museum of London Docklands and they’re opening a new gallery which centres around the museum’s building itself. IanVisits got a sneak preview.
Food & Drink
Are you a devoted breakfast eater? Or are you like me and usually not want breakfast? Breakfast is supposed to be the most important meal of the day, but is it? Spoiler: probably not.
Apparently we don’t have a clue how to shop for vegetables. Dear God, Mr American, tell me something I’ve not known this last 60 years.
Professional chefs on mould, food waste and expiry dates.
The UK has sheep coming out of its ears, so why won’t UK supermarkets stock British lamb? Surely it has to be better than frozen New Zealand lamb that’s been shipped round the world; and because it’s on our doorsteps it really shouldn’t be more expensive. Sorry supermarkets (and butchers) if you aren’t going to sell me fresh British lamb, I’m not buying lamb. Simples.
Shock, Horror, Humour
Finally, for the avoidance of doubt — and the education of the masses — here’s the CPS guidance on nudity in public.

history, links, science

Your Interesting Links

Another of our monthly round-ups of links to items you may have not wanted to miss the first time round.
Science & Medicine
The Black Death, a strain of bubonic plague, wiped out an estimated 50 million people in Europe during the 14th century. But it didn’t then disappear.
Ever wondered how scientists choose those awful Latin names for species? Here’s the low-down.


We know cats are odd creatures, but apparently cats’ legs are extra weird.
Manx cats have no tail. It’s genetic, see, but that brings other problems along with it.
And yet more on cats … here are a dozen cat myths debunked.
Scientists and medics are beginning to discover (realise?) that our circadian rhythms affect the way drugs work.
Finally in this section, here’s an interview with one of our top science writers, Ed Yong, on being a science journalist.
Sexuality
Sex educator Emily Nagoski (author of Come As You Are) gave a TEDx talk on “Unlocking the Door to Your Authentic Sexual Wellbeing”. Here’s the video, and transcript.
Seems we’re too busy these days to have sex, but two minutes sexual arousal for its own sake can help a lot — apparently.
Environment
Beavers. It seems the ones in Devon are helping fight floods as well as improving the environment.

There’s been a lot of work in recent years on the intelligence of corvids. Now it seems corvids are the key to saving the world’s forests too.
Social Sciences & Business
Parenting — we all know it is tough work. But here are two articles, both from the Guardian, which might help. First “How to raise a brilliant child without screwing them up” and on a similar theme “How to get your kids to 18, sane and not hating you“.
Some thoughts on why we don’t live in a perfectly nude world?
History
Archaeologists are beginning to piece together the lost town of Dunwich which has progressively been reclaimed by the sea over the last 1000 years.
And now for several items on London’s history …
Firstly on the dissolution of London’s monasteries.
And on the two great 17th century diarists, Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn.
In his series on “Unbuilt London” IanVisits looks at the proposed Georgian Houses of Parliament.
There are lots of monsters in London, but they aren’t all scary.

Food & Drink
Why is it that some things we find tasty other cultures find disgusting, and vice versa?
Shock, Horror, Humour
And finally, IanVisits provides an entirely level-headed and rather interesting discourse on the EU referendum without coming down on one side or the other.
Another round next month.

amusements, history, links, science

Your Interesting Links

Our (now monthly) round-up of links to items you may have missed the first time.
Science & Medicine
First off, Compound Interest gives us the low-down on the complexity of the drug discovery business, and why drug research is so expensive.
We’re the only animals with chins. Yes really! And it seems nobody really knows why.
There’s a guy here who hasn’t had a shower for 12 years. And he still appears to have friends.


Conversations. They’re complex but there are almost universal cultural rules we obey.
What’s that strange thing floating in my vision? We all get UFOs (aka floaters) in our eyes. Here’s something about them.
Just as I suspected, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is maybe not the wonder therapy everyone (except me) thought. Trouble is it means Freud might have been right all along.
OMG, there’s been so much hoo-ha about the governments new alcohol guidelines. Mainly because they are based on misinterpretations of totally false science (see for instance here and the subsequent posts). But Simon Jenkins writing in the Guardian goes further telling the government to butt out of people’s drinking habits. And quite right too.
Sexuality
For once a good news story: masturbation actually has health benefits.
Emer O’Toole on body hair and the art of being naked.
Social Sciences & Business
Now, think very carefully before answering this. When do you really become an adult? No, not easy is it!?
Language
And now here’s something which those of us who think at all about our language already know: English is not normal. In fact it’s much odder than most languages.
So what in the world is the plural of emoji? There should be a right answer, but no-one has agreed on it yet. Personally I favour emoji.
History (mostly London-centric)
Headless Romans in London? Solving an ancient mystery.
But then again what did the Romans ever do for us? Oh, yes, they brought fleas, lice and bacterial infections with them. How kind.
Only briefly in vogue, the codpiece has left a rich legacy in art and literature. Here’s a brief history of the codpiece.
A history of the grimness and gruesomeness of pubic shaming in London; in two parts: Part 1 and Part 2.
Meanwhile there was the development of Soho into a nice little suburb.
The bra, as we know it, is a late 19th century invention. So what did women do in the 17th century?
The Blessing of the Thames — a modern revival based on an ancient custom.
Hundreds of old photographs of London pubs have been saved, having been rescued from a skip.
Finally in this section, IanVisits gives us a calendar of gun salutes in London during 2016. One day I will get to photograph one.
Food & Drink
So there’s more hoo-ha going on about diets, so we bring you a few myth-busters and the like …
I’ve never been a great breakfast eater and it seems I may have been vindicated as there is now a suggestion that breakfast may be a waste of time.
And here’s an article which claims to bust eight food myths. Who believes all these things anyway?
Next up we have a look at the science behind a number food trends.
Beware the chia seeds, my friends, just as you would the Ides of March. Cosmopolitan brings us a cynical look at seven natural foods that can totally fuck you up.
Now some fairly sensible food safety advice, and myths busted, from a scientist who should know.
Novelist and restaurant critic Jay Rayner, in the Guardian, has 12 things he really wants restaurants to stop doing this year. Me? I’ll just settle for having food on a plate, not on a piece of slate, or floorboard, or in a tin bucket.
And now here’s Rebecca Rupp, in National Geographic, on the wonders of chicken soup.
Finally in this section one for the all cookie baking linguists: cuneiform cookies.

People
On the wonder of cats and our relationships with them.
Shock, Horror, Humour
Emer O’Toole again, this time taking a (sideways?) look at how to be moderately successful. Top tip: follow the “Ah, fuck it” rule!

And finally the present for that friend who has everything: a dick in a box.

history, links, science

Your Interesting Links

OK boys and girls, here’s the next instalment of links to items you may have missed the first time round.
And as from this issue, these link posts will be monthly, on around the last day of the month (or maybe a day later).
So here we go …
Science & Medicine
Let’s start with a look at some science myths that just refuse to die. Own up: how many of those did you believe?
You would expect, wouldn’t you, that medics would by now understand the menopause and how to alleviate its worst symptoms for those women worst affected? Seems that isn’t the case and the menopause isn’t well understood at all.
We hear a lot about “evidence-based medicine”. But is there any evidence that “evidence-based medicine” is any better than any other variety?
You need to be fit to go into hospital. Yes, really! Apart from the rise in hospital-acquire infections, it seems that the environment is physically and mentally debilitating.
So who has needed a hangover cure in the last few days? Here’s a bit about the possible underlying causes of hangovers, which again are still not well understood.
Sexuality
Possibly only the French would dare put on an exhibition called Splendours and Miseries: Images of Prostitution 1850-1910. Kim Willsher reviews for the Guardian.


Now here’s a brave teacher who believes in what I have always said: we would be better off being open and honest and discussing sexuality etc. This really should be the norm.
Hair. Why do men grow it on their chins but (apparently) insist women remove it from their genitals? Could we be about to see a resurgence of pubic hair?
Environment
George Monbiot (yes, him again!) has a rant about the environmental damage caused by agriculture and the growing of our food.
Social Sciences & Business
Cheating (generally, not sexually). We all do it — some more than others. But we all do it to some extent if only in pursuance of our personal myth.
Talking of cheating, it’s estimated that 3% of £1 coins currently in circulation are fakes. To counteract such forgery the Royal Mint will be issuing a new 12-sided £1 coin in 2017.
Londonist proposed 15 ways in which London’s train network could be improved, and all without building a single foot of new track. Some of them do seem to be incredibly simple to do!
Art & Literature
Is there really any point in collecting books? Howard Jacobson has a view.
History
This really should be called London Curiosities, but they all have some historic basis …
Londonist, again, hunts out London’s top 10 moats. Oh yes, there really are that many moats in London, although not all are historic.
And one more from Londonist, this time London’s top 10 tunnels and catacombs.
Being English we do like our cup of tea (or a large mug in my case!). So why didn’t I previously know about Twining’s teashop and museum. Must add this to the 2016 bucket list.

And finally in this section, an old favourite. Caroline’s Miscellany gets a look round the long closed Down Street Station.
Food & Drink
Most of us probably drank some champagne over Christmas, or maybe to see in the New Year, so here’s a little of the chemistry that makes champagne work.
Alice Roberts writes about choosing to be a vegetarian, although she eats fish for health, and actually likes the taste of meat.
Shock, Horror, Humour
And in our final sections, Ipswich’s most famous cat burglar, Theo, relapses into his thieving ways.

And lastly, Londonist (yes, them again) investigates the 10 rudest museum exhibits in London.
More in a month’s time!

links

Your Interesting Links

Another round of links to interesting items you may have missed.
Science & Medicine
In a series of three articles an Australian vet looks at why it might better for your pet not to be fed twice a day from a bowl.
Why do some guys with dark (or blonde) hair have ginger beards?
Sexuality
OK, so just why do women fake orgasms? The cynical inner me says it’s the same reason they wear make-up: vanity.
So you don’t want to have children? That’s fine. Not wanting kids is entirely normal and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Environment
An ancient Chinese ginkgo tree drops an ocean of golden leaves. Some gorgeous photographs.


And more stunning photography, this time of some city-dwelling leopards highlighting just what amazing urban wildlife is out there.
Social Sciences & Business
Who said meditation was a con or a waste of time? Not when it transforms one of San Francisco’s toughest schools it isn’t.
OK, so what do you reckon is the best department store in London? Londonist investigates and you might be surprised at the answer.
And here’s another rather surprising thing … What is the single best interview question you can ask? Certainly some food for thought for those of us who have to hire staff.
Leading on from that here’s an interesting piece about how we make big decisions (indeed all decisions; we just don’t notice so much with the small ones).
How good at you at influencing people and getting them to do what you want? Here are some psychological tricks you can use.
Art & Literature

So is this picture (above) really a Leonardo worth £100 million or a forgery? A convicted forger says he did it but the experts think it is the real thing. Here are two reports, one from the Daily Mail the other from the Guardian. Whichever it is I don’t agree with the Guardian reporter’s thesis and I would have thought a few basic scientific tests should prove if it is definitely forged.
Richard Branson is worried about the rise of online messaging and wants to bring back the pen so we can all write “thank you” letters.
History
Next year the British Museum is promising us another blockbuster exhibition: Sunken cities: Egypt’s lost worlds. The Independent fills in some background.
And talking of Egypt, back before WWI there was a proposal to build a pyramid in Hyde Park. IanVisits takes a look.
Shock, Horror, Humour
IanVisits (again) has found a awesome rubber-band powered steam train.
[NSFW] And finally at the bottom of the barrel we bring you a Soviet erotic alphabet picture book from 1931.

history, links, natural history, science

Your Interesting Links

So here we are then with another round of links to items you may have missed the first time round.
Science & Medicine
It seems that humans are not the only animals who have personal names, but we are probably the only ones who gossip.
Its well known that dogs will eat anything, but why are cats such fussy eaters?


The more we look at them, the smarter crows turn out to be. But are they smart enough to fall in love?
Talking of being smart, it appears that those of us who sleep late are smarter and more creative.
But then you die. Here’s what happens to your body after death.
Meanwhile it seems health experts are explaining drug-resistant bacteria so poorly that people aren’t believing them.
Sexuality
Just beware the rodeo! The sexual positions most likely to cause penis fractures.
But avoid that and researchers have worked out that the happiest people have sex just once a week — and it’s good.

This article on sex for the elderly shows just how tricky it is to maintain the well-being of people in care.
Environment
George Monbiot in the Guardian tells us there’s a population crisis, but it isn’t the one we usually think of.
Meanwhile one way round the population crisis would be to make humans smaller.
You’ve probably heard of guerilla gardening, well now here’s guerilla grafting — activists are grafting fruit-bearing branches onto ornamental city trees. Excellent idea!
Social Sciences & Business
The class system is dead; long live the class system. Apparently the UK is still class ridden, but in today’s society the classes are different.
Why the internet is like a series of lead pipes. Very interesting comparison.
From pipes to streets. Clever cartographers add fictitious trap streets to their maps. Here are some trap streets in London.
Art & Literature
[NSFW] A Japanese museum is aiming to confront the taboo of shunga head on. Is it art, is it pornography, or could it be both?
The British Library is celebrating the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland with a new exhibition. IanVisits takes a look.
History
In another new exhibition the Wellcome Collection is featuring Lukhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet’s Secret Temple. IanVisits again takes a look.
Returning home again, did you know that, once upon a time London was the motor manufacturing centre of the UK?
People

Nothing highly salacious to leave you with this time, so here’s the obituary for Roy Dommett (with accordion, above), a true British eccentric. The video is just excellent! [With thanks to Bruce for alerting me to this.]

history, links, medical

Your Interesting Links

So here we are again with another round of links to interesting (or amusing) items you may have missed previously. I’ve decided to try splitting the items into sections, starting with the scientific and ending with the more light-hearted.
Science & Medicine
Let’s start off with the most important question ever … Are Cats Domesticated?
I think this next item could well be a top nominee for “research of the year” and maybe even an Ig Nobel. The headline reads: Old Mice Drinking Champagne Three Times A Week Navigate Labyrinths Better.
And so from one of cats’ main prey items to another — birds. It seems that there are some interesting mechanisms underlying the colour of birds’ plumage, and it isn’t all down to pigmentation.
So what do we really know about nutrition? It seems that in really scientific terms the answer is “not a lot” because most of the studies which have been done are of such poor quality. Aaron Carroll takes the studies apart.
It’s a bit late for Halloween now, but here’s a piece on some of the chemistry of blood.
Why do germs spread better in winter, when one would think that the cold weather would kill them off? Scientists are at last unravelling the actuality.
There is no hope. We are all doomed. It seems that the changes in our sense of humour as we age may be the early signs of losing our marbles altogether.
Touching. Some like it, others don’t. And we all have areas where we don’t like to be touched. Research has recently mapped out this awkwardness with being in physical contact with other people.
Excuse the question, but have you had a good shit lately? The chances are that none of us have, as scientists are telling us we’ve been doing it all wrong — at least since the advent of the flush toilet. But I have to ask how this is new news? It is something I’ve known for about 40 years and was based on research then!
Many (maybe all) of us are not a single genetic being; we have some level of chimerism. We likely all contain our mother’s cells; maybe our older siblings’ cells too; and mothers may also contain their children’s foetal cells. But it seems, that at least for mother, this may be a good thing.
And these cases of chimerism come to the fore where paternity tests throw up unexpected results. Oh, and maternity tests!
Anatomical question of the week … Why is the human vagina so big?
Sexuality
One American father has done his kids proud by following the Dutch model of sex advice. And guess what? It’s a model that works.
Social Sciences & Business
Seems the culture of overwork is erroneous and that working fewer hours really would make us more productive. Now why did I fairly strictly control the hours I spent in the office?
Time. We seldom have enough. But where does all your time go? [Long read]
Language
We have countless words for colours and even sounds, but why do most languages have very few words for smells?
History
The Tampon: A History. [Long read]
OK, so it was invented by the Sumerians, but what is Cuneiform anyway?
He was a mathematician, magician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, alchemist and spy; and he lived during the reign of Elizabeth I. Who was he? Yes he was Dr John Dee. London’s Royal College of Physicians is putting on an exhibition about John Dee, from 18 January 2016.


The Dutch have made a truly stunning find. A trunk of over 2500 undelivered 17th century letters, many from ordinary people giving often unrecorded details of everyday life.
Another in IanVisits’s series on “Unbuilt London”; this time how to turn St James’ Park into a giant roundabout.
Coming even further up to date IanVisits (again) takes a trip through the tunnels of London’s mothballed Post Office railway.

Food & Drink
Those of you who will be roasting a giant sparrow for Christmas dinner might need to get your oven ready now.
There’s coffee, and then there’s the perfect cup of coffee — as explained by a Chemistry teacher.
Shock, Horror, Humour
Having been on the receiving end of one, Harry Mount considers the secret brilliance of Prince Philip’s “gaffes”.
That’s all, folks!

amusements, history, links, science

Your Interesting Links

So soon already here’s another rag-bag of links to interesting articles you may have missed the first time round …
Quite a long time ago Scientific American posted an interactive Periodic Table, but they have been doing some updates to it. Click the element for some basic information. May be helpful for those with yoofs studying chemistry.
So ladies, what if everything your doctors told you about breast cancer was wrong? Find out some of the realities ad decide for yourself whether you should have that mammogram. [Long read]


Staying with jiggling lady-parts … here’s why scientists are saying you should throw your bra away.
Moving down the body, Belgian sexologist Goedele Liekens is on a mission to sort out prudish British sex education. And not before time, says I.
In another medical piece, scientists now think that anything up to 25% of our genes work in sync with the seasons. And that may mean our central heating and artificial lighting are screwing our physiology which expects winter to be different to summer.
Here are just two of many recent pieces which have looked at the sleeping patterns of hunter-gatherers and compared them to our modern habits. Seems they aren’t so different as we thought. First from the estimable Ed Yong in The Atlantic and the second from IFL Science.
And now for the obligatory piece about our feline companions. It seems our cats aren’t so emotionally distant as we think and they do seem to be able to sense our moods.
So at last to the history section …
It’s right what they say: you don’t know what you’ve got until you look. An historian has found the earliest known draft of part of the King James Bible hidden away in a Cambridge college.
Those of us who live in London love to moan about London Transport. But have you ever wondered what London’s public transport was like in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries?
Back in the 17th century lots of amateur natural philosophers (what we would now call scientists) were experimenting with lenses and looking at the microscopic world. Mostly they didn’t understand what they saw and had to get artists to try to draw it for them.
Returning to London, here’s a brief history of Georgian London (1714-1830).

And finally here’s something totally mad … A Steampunk-themed café filled with kinetic sculptures has opened in Romania.

history, links, science

Your Interesting Links

Lots of science (though hopefully nothing hard) and lots of history in this issue of links to items you might have missed the first time round.
The more scientists look, the more they realise that many of us are not just a single person but may contain elements of another. In other words many of us are chimeras and it is common amongst many species.
Meanwhile up the Himalayas biologists have found some 211 new species in the last few years: that’s 133 plants, 39 invertebrates, 26 fish, 10 amphibians, one reptile, one bird and one mammal. The latter is a noseless sneezing monkey. We still really do not know what’s out there!


We know crows are intelligent. In fact they are so intelligent that they not only recognise human faces, but they mourn their dead and will remember the identities of anyone who is a threat.
Periodical cicadas spend 13 or 17 years underground and then emerge all at once for a frenzy of singing and sex. Now scientists are beginning to understand how they keep track of time.
OK, so how small is the smallest insect? Well the smallest free-living insect is less than a third of a millimetre — almost too small to see with the naked eye. But it isn’t definitively the smallest, because even at this size it has smaller parasites living on it. Which is sort of mind-boggling.
As so often we return to the subject of nuclear accidents. Understandably there is a lot of research looking at the long-term effects of the Chernobyl accident on the wildlife and how it is doing after the people left. Somewhat counter-intuitively it seems to mostly be thriving.
Now a little light chemistry. Here’s a simple explainer of the nasty niffs our bodies produce.
OK so now a swift switch to technology. Britain’s telecomms infrastructure is in such a state that it is a wonder it ever works.
And on to even more historical technology. Archaeologists think they have probably found the wreck of Henry V’s warship the Holigost buried in mud of the River Hamble.
Another set of history nuts is proposing to build a Tudor warship on the banks of the Thames at Deptford (which was indeed a big Tudor and Restoration shipbuilding centre).
From Deptford it isn’t too far a stretch to the world of Shakespeare. And historians are now suggesting — based on decent evidence — that much of Shakespeare’s play writing was funded by some dodgy deals done by his father.

Fifty years after the death of Shakespeare we come to the heyday of Restoration diarist Samuel Pepys, who knew Deptford shipbuilding well. A new exhibition (from 20 November) at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich will explore London in the time of Samuel Pepys.
Pub quiz question: When did London first have horseless buses? Yes it is a trick question because the answer is a lot earlier than you think for it was when Charles Dickens was a teenager, back around 1827.
Around the same time there were several proposals to straighten out the River Thames, none of which came to fruition. IanVisits investigates.
Coming into the beginning of the 20th century, here is a collection of colour photographs of Russia in 1907-1915, before the Revolution.

IanVisits again, this time taking a look in the WWII tunnels under Clapham Common.
My penultimate choice is a bit more serious. Here is Michael Shermer, of Skeptic magazine, on Do We Need God? Unsurprisingly his answer is “no”. Equally unsurprisingly I agree with him.
Finally here’s the best offer you’ve had all year (again from IanVisits) … Get felt-up at an erotic show in Soho.

links

More Links …

So soon already we have another collection of links to items you missed the first time round.
This first item will worry many people. According to scientists there are only three things preventing the world from converting to 100% nuclear energy: money, the political will and public acceptance. And it could be done in about 30 years which would likely be enough to put a big dent in global warming. Despite all the challenges this works for me.
We’ve known for some time that foetal cells hide in the mother’s body (and vice versa, too). But what do they do?


Eyes. They’re amazing organs. So it isn’t surprising there are lots of things to go wrong with eyes.
After all I’ve said, are you still resisting nudity? Well here are some scientific reasons why you shouldn’t.
Is peeing like a horse a reliable sign of (female) virginity, as was believed in days past? Spoiler: probably not.
While on the subject of urination, research that showed most mammals (regardless of size) can empty their bladders in 21 seconds has won this year’s Ig Nobel for Physics. Here’s the full list of this year’s awards.
Work on assessing the painfulness of insect stings also won an Ig Nobel this year for Dr Justin Schmidt who has spent much of his life rating the pain on a scale of 1 to 4 — by experiencing it himself.
Talking of pain, why is a smack on the funny bone quite so excruciatingly painful?
The best cure for pain is often sleep. But, largely due to the pressure of modern society, many of us are sleep deprived and would benefit from waking up a bit later. Certainly it is now well accepted that teenagers body clocks are our of sync with the rest of us.
Dogs have owners, cats have staff. Proven.
OK, so cats and dogs have different psychological needs, but here are twenty cognitive biases which affect your decisions. Yes, even yours!
From the top floor, let’s now take the elevator to the sub-basement. IanVisits asks: do strikes by underground staff improve London’s economy?
And now to some proper history. Well maybe a little improper … An historian appears to have found the first ever use of the word “fuck” in the record of a 1310 English court case. That’s over 200 years earlier than the OED knows about!
Rather more up to date, Londonist has been to look at the secret bunker under Churchill’s secret wartime bunker. Who knew?
IanVisits again, only this time another in his irregular series on Unbuilt London. In the 1960s there was a scheme to remove buses from central London and replace them with a monorail. It never happened, which is a shame as we could have had a rival to Wuppertal’s Schwebebahn.
Finally … If you’re anything like me, and it seems thousands of others, you detest having chefs serve you your food on chunks of wood or slate or … well just about anything except a plate. This is such a bête noire for many that there is now a Twitter feed @WeWantPlates.
And not a mention of sex!