Category Archives: links

links

Your Interesting Links

Another round-up of links to articles you may have missed.
To state the bleeding obvious, the weather’s been terrible on both sides of the Atlantic for months. Here’s a look at why.


Rob Dunn on the interesting idea that we invented agriculture to feed our need for beer — and bread came later.
Raspberry Crazy Ants are taking over. They’re even vanquishing the dreaded Fire Ant.
Meanwhile here’s another item on the curiosity of half-siders: chimeric birds.
While on things that shouldn’t be here’s another round in the debate about the over diagnosis of breast cancer and the associated risks.
Changing tack completely, there is growing evidence that cats, dogs and indeed some other mammals have some ability to see in the ultra-violet. Two reports: here and here.
And while on cats, there is an very odd link between people who get bitten by cats and depression. Cause and effect? Well who knows.
Is it a toilet? Is it a planter? Yes it’s a PPlanter and it grows bamboo! Not a new idea, but perhaps a more practical version than previous attempts.
I’d never really though about the ways in which religions can be science-friendly, because generally I think religions aren’t science-friendly. However here’s a suggestion that Buddhism is the most science friendly religion. (Well that assumes Buddhism is a religion, which strictly it isn’t.)
On religion, some scientists have suggested that the image on the Turin Shroud may have been created by an earthquake in 33AD.
Here’s a long, and emotional, read on the ghosts afflicting the survivors of the Fukushima tsunami. Not safe for bedtime reading.
We’ve all seen coloured squiggles and lines on pavements … here’s something about what they mean.
You all probably know this, but I didn’t … An American High School English teacher of my acquaintance has a useful take on understanding Shakespeare.
After which it’s all downhill …
A young lady at America’s Duke University does porn acting to pay for university — and why shouldn’t she if she wants to? Here’s her story on why and what it means for her.
Does equality kill sex? It seems it might.

Can couples really get stuck together during sex?
And finally one to ponder … cannabis flavoured condoms.

links

Your Interesting Links

Another catch-up on items you may have missed.
Let’s get the most serious one out of the way first. Here’s a collection of snippets and links to all the best, scientifically verified, information on the impacts of the Fukushima disaster. And of course when looked at objectively it isn’t half so bad as most make out.
So what does happen when water freezes in a box so strong it can’t expand? Can you even do this?
Here’s a story about a tube train, some concrete and some sugar. Or how sugar helped remove concrete which had flooded a Victoria Line control room. I never cease to be surprised by the weirdness that is concrete.


We all recognise that birds often fly in a V formation, but we never realise quite how clever they are at doing it.
Shrouded in the mists of time is the story of how London got its name. Surprisingly it seems somewhat clearer how the London Boroughs were named.
We can name colours and things so why do we have so much trouble naming smells?
Archaeologists in Egypt have found another Valley of Kings, and a lost dynasty of Pharaohs.
Two amazing, and interesting, collections of maps from the Washington Post: 40 maps that explain the world and 40 more maps that explain the world.
OK so here’s a little bit of fun: national flags made from the country’s traditional foods. Some look much more edible than others; can anyone really fancy Thailand?
A strange animal as a unit of measure — of everything — in poetry.
Let’s end with a few things medieval …
First up, here’s how medieval people decided whether sex was acceptable or not; and mostly not. Complete with a link to a useful flowchart. Now remember boys and girls: be careful; no fondling; no lewd kisses; no oral sex; no strange positions; only once; and do try not to enjoy it. 🙁
Here’s what the monk thought about the cat that peed on his manuscript. I wonder how much penance the cat had to do?

Is it a deer? Is it a hare? No apparently it’s a kangaroo! Hidden in a Portuguese manuscript in a New York gallery is a 16th century manuscript which could rewrite Australian history. Hmmm … maybe.
And finally some images of an amazing 16th century book which can be read six different ways. My brain hurts just trying to think how you’d bind such a book.
Never say we don’t bring you the best curiosities!

links

Your Interesting Links

Anther catch-up on items you may have missed.
If you were a medieval, what would you have called your dog or cat? No probably not Beyoncé!
Apparently dogs are sensitive to small variations of the Earth’s magnetic field. So sensitive apparently that they tend to prefer to shit in a N-S direction.


How do you get primary school kids interested in science? Grow the bugs they’re carrying around in their lunch boxes and on teacher’s shoes. Brilliant piece of science engagement from Rob Dunn’s group!
Feed a Cold and Starve a Fever. So we’ve always been told. Not so much, apparently.
The UK government are suggesting cutting down ancient woodlands to build new houses as long as the developers plant 100 trees for every one cut down. Who thought of this stupidity? The biodiversity of ancient woodland is not the same as any number of saplings. Gawdelpus.
So why was Tutankhamun mummified with an erection?
Following on from our link last time to George Orwell on British food, here he is on making tea.
So piranhas will destroy you at the slightest provocation. Well actually no, they won’t.
Christmas food is always tastier than food usually is. Is it? Or is it our perception? Why?
Making New Year’s resolutions is almost a guarantee of failure. So why do we do it, and why do they fail so often.
So just don’t tell other people how they should think. Right!?
OK, so open plan offices are inefficient and irritating. What kept you guys? We knew this 40 years ago!
So what price David Cameron’s great porn firewall now?
The globe is losing ice. But emerging from the wreckage there is a plethora of archaeology.
So 2,300 years ago the ancient Chinese had a decimal ready reckoner. Is there anything they didn’t invent two millennia before us?
Just ignore it, it might go away. How we are almost completely blind to the fact that we’ve actually not solved any of our catastrophic problems. Well actually, I’m not blind to them but politicians etc. are and it’s they who matter in this.
Allergic to eggs? Why not try ice-cream made with blood instead? What do you mean “Yeuch!”? It’s only black pudding!
So why does it go quiet when there’s snow falling? No, it seems absorption isn’t the answer.
How long does it take you to get a crab out of a jar? Here’s an octopus that can do it in under a minute! It takes me that long to read the “best before” date.

And on playing animals, the crow family are the champions of the avian world, and maybe up there with primates. Cunning, devious and fun-loving. What’s not to like?
And finally, wow! Have a peek inside the world’s largest cave, Son Doong Cave in Vietnam. Stunning!

links

Your Interesting Links

Our catch-up of interesting articles you may have missed. Some of these are left over from Christmas. So, in no special order:
Rob Dunn on the evolution of the traditional Christmas mistletoe.


While we’re on mistletoe, here’s an piece which wonders about the actual purpose of kissing and why we do it.
Belgium’s Trappist beers are apparently under threat because the Trappist Brothers are dying off and the monasteries aren’t attracting enough new recruits.
The Bank of England is going to start issuing plastic banknotes in 2016. Why does it take so long? Why not 2014?
Ever thought your cat was up to no good? Not compared with these kleptomaniac cats. At least ours only steals contraband from within the house!
624Here’s a round-up of ten extraordinary sacred sites from around Britain.
We all know the feeling: time flies by faster as we get older. But why?
Here’s an American who is maybe the world’s most acclaimed nipple tattoo artist. No it probably isn’t quite what you think!
Ben Goldacre has written an interesting little foreword to the new Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway guidebook.
Just 11% of Americans admit to doing their shopping in the nude — well at least their online shopping! Knowing the prudishness of most Americans I’m surprised it is so high. But why wouldn’t you shop in the nude?
So how and just where in the body do we feel emotions. As always, scientists are investigating and it turns out to be rather interesting.
What did 16th century painter Michaelangelo have for lunch? Well now we know because one of his illustrated shopping lists has been found.
Back to America. Who actually did discover America? It seems to be becoming less and less certain. History Today muddies the waters still further.

In another piece from History Today Stephen Cooper takes us to task for having a negative view of the Medieval Period and wants us to stop using “medieval” as a pejorative.
One doesn’t think of great authors like George Orwell being domestically inclined, but here are a couple of typescript pages from Orwell’s 1945 essay “British Food” which has recipes for Plum Cake and Christmas Pudding.
And finally, on a less wholesome note, here’s the annual survey of what Americans got stuck in the bodily orifices last year. I do worry about the mental age of most Americans!

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And there's more you may have missed

Yet another round in our series spotlighting items of curiosity you may have missed.
As usual, let’s get the nasty, boring science-y bits out of the way first.
A report on the lethal “Elephant’s Foot” in the remains the Chernobyl Sarcophagus. Yes, that is going to be a huge problem for years to come. But no, it doesn’t mean nuclear power is inherently unsafe if operated correctly.
Trees aren’t the only things that can be aged by their growth rings. Oh and they missed one out too: carp can be aged from the rings in their scales.
From trees to … dog farts. Part two of how to make dog farts less noxious. Might work for us too!
Cats are much more civilised creatures, and are probably less consciously a human creation than dogs.
As predatory carnivores cats are pretty high up the food chain, and we like to think we are too. But actually humans are middle ranking along with pigs (and I suspect dogs).
Now for some surgical wizardry. Chinese surgeons have saved a man’s hand by temporarily grafting it onto his ankle. I never cease to be amazed at the skill and ingenuity of surgeons.
Guess where the coldest place on Earth is? Yep it’s in the middle of the Antarctic, as the NASA-USGS Landsat 8 Satellite has confirmed. But it isn’t in the record books because it wasn’t measured with a ground-based thermometer!
More satellite wizardry. Google Earth helped scientists find the lost forest on Mozambique’s Mount Mabu.
So then all you extroverts out there: this is how the rest of us feel. (You’ll need to zoom it.)
They just don’t make ’em like they used to. Theoretical Physicist and thinker David Deutsch on the finest TV series ever made: Jacob Bronowski’s “The Ascent of Man”. And I have to agree with him.
OK, so here’s one for the pub quiz. Who invented the world’s first security camera and when, and then used it to secure a conviction?
Teenager cleared of sex charges after witness doesn’t know if she saw his penis or a mop handle.

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This video of a performance artist Casey Jenkins talking about her “vaginal knitting” has just qualified as my online video of the year.
As it’s that time of year, here is a present for the person who has everything: a Taxidermied Mice Chess Set.

And finally I have to break with tradition and leave you with something more edifying. A gorgeous advent calendar from the sketchbook of Kate Whittington.
The next edition won’t now be until after the festivities, so in the meantime:
Happy Christmas to all my readers!

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More than you missed …

Yet another collection of interesting and/or curios items you may have missed, starting as usual with the more scientific stuff.
I’m trained as a chemist, so chemicals have meanings for me. But most people hate the word “chemical”. Why? Everything is “chemical”!
And here’s some news about real chemicals, as dispersed in the Fukushima disaster. First there’s a scientific piece showing the truth about the ocean radiation from Fukushima – nothing like what most are saying with false images. Secondly a forthright and slightly worrying piece about the challenges of sorting out the stricken Fukushima reactors — yes it’s a daunting task, but one that should be perfectly achievable. But in all this let’s remember that (a) this was an accident born not of poor planning rather than technological failure in which no-one was killed by radiation and (b) there real disaster is the humanitarian one of people killed and displaced by the tsunami itself and those who are worrying themselves sick about a relatively tiny radiation risk. Which is not to say it isn’t a pretty mess!
After which shit in space seems quite tame!


From shit to … shitty smells made by our domestic wolves. Scientists are getting interested in the composition of dog farts.
More than that, it seems dogs connect us with the wild in ways we maybe don’t realise.
But then cats are sneaky. Far sneakier than we knew. One species of South American Spotted Cat has been disguising itself as a totally different species.
Here’s an interesting look at ten ways in which an ant’s nest is like your house. And it isn’t that far fetched. You have quite a des res really!
From ants to … bacteria (and yeasts). It seems likely that a large part of the taste of that wine you love is down to the differences in the microbial ecology of the vineyards.
A few days ago the Guardian fashion blog looked at the question of nudity for the over-50s. Seems it is much like for anyone else: some have hangups and some don’t. But I still don’t get the problem with nudity.
Moving on from humanity to the humanities, the British Library was recently moved to write a blog post about the need for the recent closure of the Newspaper Library at Colindale. OK so there are good reasons, but why is there no replacement?
And still on history, the Londonist looked at the secret history of the London Brick.

And finally, I have to leave you with some stunning images taken by crane driver working on one of Shanghai’s tallest skyscrapers. Some of them are just breathtaking.

links

Missed Again?

Another in our series bringing you links to items of interest which you may have missed.
Let’s start with something close to most of our hearts … our pets.
Scientists have been investigating the origins of the domestic dog for a while and it is turning out that they are older than we thought. Two pieces, one from the Independent the other from the Scientist.
At the same time some are disputing the received wisdom of how wolves were first domesticated. They think the answer lies amongst our garbage.
Not to be left out, other scientists have looked at a number of myths about cats. One that turns out to be true is the way cats (and many other mammals) freeze when grabbed by the scruff of the neck, and they’re beginning to understand how/why. No this never was a myth; it’s always been perfectly obvious why it occurs.


Now for the more serious.
For the real nerds amongst you here is a piece on the science of radiation poisoning.
And this item helps to keep some of the environmental risks of radiation in perspective.
More perspective … If we know so little about the effect of diet on health (which we do) why is so much is written about it?
And while on spurious statistics … Did You Hear the One About Sex, Traffic Accidents and Acacia Trees?
It’s a good week for spurious statistics ‘cos here is another bunch around the numbers which rule our lives.
Now statistics are only a branch of maths, and so are logarithms. For those of you who struggled with logarithms at school here’s a nifty new way of thinking about arithmetic and thus logs.
Oh no, and now they’re telling me that ‘left-brained’ and ‘right-brained’ is a myth too? Yep ‘fraid so!

Meanwhile Rob Dunn’s team are about to reveal their belly buttons and their pets, a couple of paragraphs at a time.
This is the age of the keyboard, where QWERTY is King. And it’s all downhill from here as schools start to abandon cursive writing (well at least in the USA) which is bad news for historical research.
Those of you with girl bodies and/or girl children might be interested in these three posts about hormonal birth control. First, two old posts by Kate Clancy looking at birth control through the eyes of an anthropologist, here and here. Then something slightly more recent on birth control for young teenage girls.
Meanwhile Heresy Corner looks at myths about the porn industry and asks what UK PM David Cameron can learn from schoolgirls and soccer moms. Well he could learn a lot, but as he’s a politician it would seem the answer is he will learn naff all.
Will teens use it for sex? And answers to other obvious questions about any new technology through the eyes of XKCD.
An interesting and unexpectedly forthright interview article with Sir Bernard Ingham, formerly Margaret Thatcher’s Press Secretary.
And finally something historical. A snapshot of a collection of 19th & early 20th century photographs of shipwrecks around the SW coast of England.

links, science

Did you miss … ?

Another collection of links to pieces you may have missed. Again this time with rather more of a scientific bent, although most a actually readable and interesting.
OMG! Deja vu! This piece on Jabłoński diagrams takes me back to my post-grad days ‘cos these processes were central to what I was working on. How’s this for a scientific demonstration …


Meanwhile physicists have been exploring the hydrodynamics of urination “splashback”. Should be an IgNobel nominee.
Apparently men stroked in their underpants may illuminate the chemistry that bonds relationships. Don’t get too excited: they were stroked on non-sexual parts of their bodies while wearing only underpants. Another IgNobel nominee?
A little over 100 years since Captain Scott sailed off on his vessel Discovery, there’s a new RSS Discovery about to start oceanographic research.
What happens in the brain when we’re asleep? Looks like it flushes the “neuro trash” out of the system.
And there are several more articles from Nautilus on actual waste …
First up it seems there are so many pharmaceutics leaking into our waterways that some fish are now blissed out on Prozac.
Every part of every one of us is made from something else’s waste. Yes, really! Without waste we wouldn’t be here.
While we bemoan the amount of plastic debris in the oceans, it seems it is providing useful homes for some critters.
So where does all that plastic come from. Indeed, where does your stuff come from? Yeah, OK, the supermarket. And where do they get it? Brandon Keim on Nautilus tries following the backward chain ad infinitum. And fails. Which I find rather worrying.
Moving away from the vaguely scientific to things in my backyard …
Here’s one of those curiosities about London that cab drivers are actually brilliant at: London’s narrowest alley. Should be good for a pub quiz or two!
What were they thinking of? Once upon not very long ago US Ivy League colleges took nude photos of all their first year students.
What is mankind’s greatest invention? String? New Scientist makes the case.

Finally two pieces on what makes Autumn so gloriously colourful. The first from Grrlscientist in the Guardian, the second from Malcom Campbell at SciLogs. Just think, I did my research on analogues of some of those chemicals, hence the Jabłoński diagrams.

links, science

Did you Miss … ?

Further links to interesting (well to me, at least) articles you may have missed. Yet again let’s start with the scientific, which unusually(?!) seems to be the majority.
First off we have a piece from the New York Times which again highlights that the biggest public health worry from the Fukushima disaster is not the radiation and cancer but the psychological effects on those involved. This appeared the same day as a piece in Discover about the unexpectedly loose connection between radioactivity and cancer.


Oarfish are curious. They’re long, flat and snake-like. They inhabit the deep oceans and maybe gave rise to the myths about sea serpents. It is unusual therefore for two to be washed ashore in California with days of each other. Luckily scientists went about finding out more about these enigmatic fish. First there was a suggestion that two such sudden deaths may herald a large earthquake, which was soon consigned to the bin of unfounded speculation. Then after a chance to autopsy one of the fish, scientists discovered a range of parasites — not surprising in itself but something we just didn’t know.
While we’re putting you off your lunch, here’s a great piece of science teaching. This guy got his 9 year old pupils to dissect cow brains and used the whole thing as a super teaching tool. I don’t know how he managed to get them over the “Yeuuggghhhh!!” factor.
Still on nasties, you’ll be pleased to know that the scourge of ancient times, Plague, is still amongst us. Of course it’s much less prevalent now, with modern sanitation etc., and very easily treated with antibiotics. Nevertheless there are still a few cases a year in the western world.
And then, of course, there are some fearsome insect predators — maybe not fearsome to us, but they are if you’re another insect.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. One man who turned magic into what we now think of as ordinary was William C Lowe, pioneer of the IBM PC, who died recently. Without him life as we know it would be very different, and many of us owe him a huge debt.
I hate changing the clocks twice a year; it seems so pointless. But it could have been a whole lot worse.
Slang. Whether you love it or hate it, it’s here to stay. Except that it keeps changing and being reinvented.
What are members of Parliament not allowed to do? Yep, they can’t carry weapons or wear armour into Parliament itself. And at 700 years old this is one of the oldest pieces of legislation in the country which has never been repealed.
How happy would you say you are? Why are some people in some places way happier than in others? They aren’t; it’s all an artefact of magnified statistics. Diamond Geezer lifts the lid.

Finally, this will definitely make you much happier. Despite a recent report there is no global wine shortage. Felix Salmon at Reuters discovers that the report was a piece of dubious marketing. I’ll drink to that!

links

You may have missed

Another instalment in our irregular series of items you may have missed. Let’s start, as usual, with the more nerdy stuff, but today with a cartoon …
An interesting cartoon form XKCD which shows the relative (angular) sizes of various celestial objects compared with ground-based ones.
Brooke Borel on all the possible uses for cadavers and why she wants her body cut up for science


Unlike our hunter-gatherer forebears we aren’t great insect eaters. Maybe we should be as they are surprisingly nutritious. Here are seven insects we may be eating in the future. I still think I want them cooked first.
So following on from faecal transplants, scientists are now beginning to make progress on putting a mix of faecal bacteria in a pill. I think I could swallow that.
Only slightly less worryingly, someone somewhere ate a dead shrew in the interests of science. Another curiosity from the IgNobel Awards.
The octopus is weird, surprisingly intelligent and mischievous. Wired investigates.
Another interesting piece, this from the New York Times, on why superstitions may make sense after all.
Christie Aschwanden writing in the Washington Post, looks at the problems with mammograms for all and why she has decided to opt out. Yep, this is the age-old problem with screening: it picks up far too many false positives and leads to over-treatment.
So why are pregnant women warned to stay clear of just about everything? Well there might be a risk, but we really don’t know.
Another Guardian piece this time suggesting that breastfeeding, and indeed the effects of motherhood on the normal (ie. any and every) female body, won’t be treated as normal until photographers and the media are much more open about showing photographs of the same. Yes, indeed, and the same goes for the rest of our bodies — male as well as female.
And let’s also be clear that motherhood is no rest cure. Here’s one guy who is upset that everyone thinks his stay-at-home-and-look-after-the-kids wife doesn’t do anything.
Now we’ll change track. The former railways minister Tom Harris (Labour, Glasgow South) wants the government to “invest in the daily hell of commuting, not HS2” which seems to make sense to me.

So from the ridiculous to the crazy … It’s a slightly old link but here’s a piece about the Codex Seraphinianus, a modern day Voynich Manuscript.
How and why do words become unusable and an investigation of auto-antonyms.
Have you ever wondered how cats see the world? Well scientists have been working it out. Here are some examples.
And finally bizarreness of the month. Fukushima Industries just made a very unfortunate branding choice. Surely has to be a candidate for a sporting mascot!? Enjoy!