Category Archives: natural history

history, links, medical, natural history, science, sexuality

Monthly Links

Welcome to our monthly collection of links to items you may have missed but which struck me as interesting or amusing. We’ve got quite a collection this month, and as usual we’ll start with the hard stuff – the science – and then it’s all downhill.

Science, Technology, Natural World

Let’s start with something topical … So just why do we have leap years? [££££]

Scientists have again proven themselves wrong: this time they’ve concluded that Saturn’s moon Mimas probably has an underground ocean which they thought couldn’t exist.

On Earth, but not entirely disconnected, scientists have concluded that the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history happened 7300 years ago off Japan. [££££]

We’re familiar with Isaac Newton splitting light into a rainbow with a prism, but it was William Herschel (better known as an astronomer) who actually worked out what was going on beyond the red and the violet ends of the spectrum.

Changing tack entirely … Researchers have worked out a more detailed mechanism by which erections work – at least in mice – opening the door for better drugs for erectile dysfunction.

Which somehow brings us to penguins … One of the current team at UKAHT’s Port Lockroy station in Antarctica describes counting penguins and why the penguins think pebbles are cool.

So why do birds have skinny legs? [££££]

Let’s hear it for the Yellow-Crested Helmetshrike (below), which has been rediscovered after not being seen for 20 years.

Why don’t humans have gills? Spoiler: because guess what, we don’t live in water.

On a more macabre topic, scientists have discovered a detailed, and regularly timed, network of microbes for decomposing flesh.

Which takes us nicely on to …

Health, Medicine

It is estimated that one million people in England may have undiagnosed type 2 diabetes.

Bubonic plague is still a thing, albeit pretty rare, in America. The latest case is in Oregon.

We are still in the Covid pandemic – it’s only the fifth year – and it is still presenting challenges. [LONG READ] [££££]

An epidemiologist takes a long hard look at what you can do to boost your immune system – and what doesn’t work! [LONG READ]

Bodily secretions (blood, tears, wax) can tell us a lot about our health.

Should this be here or under History? … A bone analysis has revealed the first known cases of TB amongst Neanderthals.

Here’s some reassurance, especially for those of us in the springtime of our senility, that forgetting is a normal function of memory – and when we should start worrying about it.

Sexuality

Apparently some women (probably some men too) enjoy anal sex, it’s more common than supposed and it shouldn’t be a guilty pleasure.

Sex educator Emily Nagoski has a new book out (Come Together) which is a good excuse for a Q&A. [LONG READ]
And here’s an excerpt from Come Together. [LONG READ]

Social Sciences, Business, Law, Politics

Here are two related items from lawyer David Allen Green on when the UK government hold a border poll in Northern Ireland. The first from Prospect magazine, the second from DAG’s Substack blog. [LONG READ]

The first UK banknotes featuring King Charles III will be released into circulation on 5 June this year.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

I’m not at all sure I fully understand how they’ve done this, but researchers have uncovered secret mathematical patterns in Bach’s music. [££££]

A controversial new analytical technique offers a fresh look at the Indo-European roots of our languages.

Between about 1909 and 1915 Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky photographed Russia using his ground-breaking colour process.

A portrait by Gustav Klimt (above) has been rediscovered after being lost for nearly a century.

The astonishing art of Mattias Adolfsson.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

We start this section with a long overview article on the emerging use of science in historical research. [LONG READ]

Forget our modern preconceived ideas, just what was life like for female Neanderthals?

What does jewellery tell us about the culture of Ice Age Europeans? [££££]

Here are two articles on the Egyptian’s practice of mummification. First, when did the Ancient Egyptians start mummifying their dead. And secondly their practice of mummifying baboons. [££££]

Having mentioned TB amongst Neanderthals earlier, researchers have used DNA to identify Down’s Syndrome in 2600-year-old infants. [££££]

Rare Roman funeral remains have been discovered beneath Holborn Viaduct in London
From

The devastating Roman-era plagues were associated with cold snaps.

Still with the Romans, what was life, and death, like for Roman legionaries? [LONG READ]

A haul of nearly 400 ancient medical tools from Turkey hint at rare Roman doctors’ offices.

We’re coming a bit more up to date with this look at St Margaret of Antioch. [LONG READ]

Still with the early medievals … A gold ring of Mercian Queen Æthelswith (above) was unearthed by a Victorian ploughman in Yorkshire.

A look at secret romantic communications in medieval times. [LONG READ]

And finally in this section, Going Medieval looks at the Black Death in Africa and Asia, and the interconnected Middle Ages.

London

Covenants, Easements & Wayleaves: the intricacies of London Infrastructure. [LONG READ]

The various parts of the London Overground train lines are to be given their own names and identity. [LONG READ]

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Not having children when you get old can be unsettling, but it need not be. [££££]

A huge “house share” in the Netherlands has always caused outsiders to speculate and gossip about the residents’ sleeping arrangements. [LONG READ]

Third century Buddhist scripture The Lotus Sutra still has relevance today.

Cats have many attention-seeking behaviours, but do they really suffer from a fear of missing out? [££££]

Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!

And finally for this month, here’s Simon Tatham’s Portable Puzzle Collection.

natural history

Parasitic Wasps

As regular readers will know, I like wasps. They do a great job of keeping us free of creepy-crawlies. While common yellow-jackets are excellent at predation, don’t write off the usually unseen parasitic wasps. There are thousands of species worldwide (over 6600 in the UK alone), and it is estimated that for every insect species there is at least one parasitic wasp which preys on it. These wasps can be anything up to 50mm (2 inches) in size, maybe more; but many are tiny and seem to defy the limits of miniaturisation at under 1mm.

So I’m always interested when coming across a parasitic wasp. N found this one today in the bathroom …

[Click the images if you want a larger view]
Parasitic wasp, Ophion sp.?

It’s body was c.15-20mm (maybe a bit more) + the ovipositor; rich dark golden brown. The ovipositor was no more than 5mm and black. It’s antennae appeared black; and much longer than body. Its legs were definitely yellow-ish. iNaturalist suggests it is Ophion obscuratus, but it could be Ophion scutellaris.

They’re alien looking beasts – especially about the head – but rather beautiful for all that. And without them we’d be knee deep in caterpillars and other creeping beasticles.

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, 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.

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

books, natural history, science

Book Review: Endless Forms

Seirian Sumner
Endless Forms: The Secret World of Wasps
Collins; 2022

This is a book about wasps. It isn’t a book of wasps; not a field guide; nor an academic description of the minutiae of wasps. But it is about wasps.

Prof. Seirian Sumner (full disclosure: I have met her) has devoted her academic life to studying wasps, and specifically (but not only) social wasps like our friendly picnic-bothering yellowjacket. So this could have been an academic tome, but it isn’t. Instead it is a very accessible 380 pages of description which takes us through the world of wasps: what they are, how and why they work – and indeed why some seem unreasonably interested in our picnics. All of that is held together with stories and anecdotes about often hair-raising research field trips; some successful, others a total disaster.

With around 100,000 known species in the world, wasps are important: as predators and parasites of other insects, and as pollinators. No, don’t panic as the vast majority of those 100,000 species are solitary wasps; many are tiny (2mm or less) and most don’t sting. There are only 74 known species of hornets and yellowjackets worldwide, and it is these yellowjackets which bother our picnics. This is something which Seirian stresses and explains: they may be after a share of your chicken or burger; or late in the summer a share of your strawberry jam. Give them a share, on the side, at the other end of the table and they’ll generally leave you alone. Oh and DO NOT go flapping around: that’s the surest way to annoy them and get stung as you’ll remind them of their arch-predator, the badger.

Most of the social wasps are hunters, after juicy morsels of meat (usually arthropods, but also carrion) to feed their brood. The solitary wasps hunt too: some are predators of a meat feast for their young; others lay eggs on the still living meat to parasitise them. Yes, Nature is gruesome, but without wasp pest controllers we’d be knee deep in creepie-crawlies. Seirian estimates that even in a bad year a social yellowjacket nest can get through almost 300,000 arthropods; it can be 8-10 times that in a bumper year. That’s a lot of caterpillars!

And to cap it all? Without the ancestral wasps, we would have neither ants nor bees for both groups are descendants of ancient wasps. Ants are wasps which (mostly) lost their wings. Bees are wasps which forgot how to hunt. Social wasps are unusual in that they too have learnt to live in colonies.

Seirian takes us through all of this. How did wasps develop such a multitude of forms. Their lifestyles and how the societies of social wasps work. Why they’re important. How scientists have managed to work all this out.

This is a fascinating book, well written, eminently readable, and almost chatty. I found it hard to put down and had to restrict myself to a couple of chapters a night in order to not burn too much (expensive) midnight oil. I guarantee you’ll come away with a totally different view of wasps.

Overall Rating: ★★★★★

food+drink, history, links, medical, natural history, science

Monthly Links

Here’s another edition of our monthly guide to items you may have missed the first time around.

Science, Technology, Natural World

We’ll start off with one of my favourite subjects: wasps. We need to take sting out of our fear and loathing of wasps and welcome their importance to ecosystems

One of these days scientists will make up their minds. Unlike a while back, they’re now saying dogs arose from two populations of wolves, study finds

In good news, three Sumatran tiger cubs have been born at London Zoo. And they’ve released the usual cute cat pictures.

Scientists at London’s Kew Gardens, with many others, have found that the world’s largest waterlily is in fact a new species, now named Victoria Boliviana. That means there are now three giant waterlily species.
One of the lead scientists, Lucy T Smith, has written a blog item about the discovery. [LONG READ]
And James Wong writes about how the giant waterlilies changed architecture.

While we’re on engineering and architecture, Transport for London engineers have designed and are testing a totally new idea for cooling the London Underground.

Sexuality

In an unsurprising discovery many specialists have pointed out that male sterilisation (aka. vasectomy) isn’t going to solve (America’s) problem with abortions. [LONG READ]

Environment

While on things sexual, researchers are suggesting that grey squirrel numbers could be reduced using oral contraceptives. However I see the law of unintended consequences coming into play if this is tried.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

A look at the way our brains cope with speaking more than one language.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Some scientists are now reckoning that early human ancestors are one million years older than previously thought. It’ll be interesting to see if this holds up.

The mysterious Mycenaean and Minoan civilisations were a bedrock for much of Ancient Greece. [LONG READ]

An important hoard of Roman gold coins has been found near Norwich.

Here’s a review of Janina Ramirez’s new book Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages Through the Women Written Out of It.

Dr Eleanor Janega at Going Medieval provides a reading list on medieval abortion.
Meanwhile Scientific American takes a look at abortion and contraception in the Middle Ages. [£££]

Cavers have found a mineshaft in Cheshire which has been completely undisturbed for 200 years and is a useful time capsule.

Clandon Park House was gutted by fire in 2015. The National Trust which owns it has decided it will be mainly conserved as a ruin rather than restored to its former Palladian glory.

If you were a Victorian or Edwardian peer, what would you put in your vampire hunting kit? Well there was one for sale recently at Hanson’s Auctions; it sold for £13,000 (plus fees) some some five times it’s estimate!

London

On the interestingly named Pickle Herring Stairs.

Did you know that London had a naked Routemaster bus?

Apparently there are plans to un-culvert a stretch of the Gores Brook in Dagenham. A move which should be applauded, and repeated elsewhere.

It’s not quite London, but in our fourth item from IanVisits, he goes to Saffron Walden in Essex – a delightful small market town.

Food, Drink

The French authorities, like WHO, have now concluded there’s a definite link between charcuterie and colon cancer, due to the high level of nitrates and nitrites contained therein.

In better news, French scientists think they’ve cracked the puzzle of cultivating prized white truffles.

How safe is it to eat mouldy cheese?

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

The Guardian goes to meet a handful of the country’s more unusual master craftsmen.

One of my favourite places is the Dungeness and the Romney Marsh. Caroline Reed in Kent Life looks at some of the best of the area.

Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!

And finally, here’s a list of the rarest boy’s and girl’s names in the UK – 50 of each.

natural history, pleasures

Butterfly Day

It’s a bit cooler today, so more congenial to sitting in the garden. There are so few butterflies around these days; when I was a kid the place was awash with them.

But for these days it was a good butterfly day with …

Speckled Wood
We usually have one around in mid-summer;
they like our dappled shady glades.
Hedge Brown
We more opften have Meadow Browns, which are very similar,
but note the two white dots in the eye marking on the
underside of the forewing, plus spots and marking
on hindwing which are together definitive.

and also several “cabbage” whites – mostly Large White I think – and at least one Comma. None of these latter would sit still long enough to be photographed.

Sadly as yet this year no Small Tortoiseshell (they were everywhere when I was young), Peacock, Red Admiral or Painted Lady.

And I’m still on the lookout for a Hummingbird Hawk Moth (which we have had here) or indeed any of the other large hawk moths.

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

Monthly Links

This month’s collection of links to items you maybe didn’t want to miss.

Science, Technology, Natural World

Let’s start with one of the hard questions … What is Life? [LONG READ]

New observations from the Gaia telescope have provided the most detailed picture of the Milky Way to date (above).

At the other end of things, there is much we don’t yet know about the ocean depths and what lives there. [LONG READ]

This is amply demonstrated in ever detailed mapping of the depths of the Southern Ocean …

… current investigations of, and hunts for, underwater volcanoes [LONG READ] …

… a flourishing hidden world of marine life discovered under the Antarctic ice …

… and the mysterious sea creatures which surface at night but spend the day in the depths. [LONG READ] [££££]

Back on dry land researchers have proposed a new story of the origin of the domestic chicken 3500 years ago in rice fields.

And now two items on one of my recurrent themes: wasps …
What would happen if all the wasps disappeared? [VIDEO]
And secondly how not to let wasps spoil your picinic.

On a totally different tack, apparently trees around art galleries provide the art works with significant protection from pollution.

It turns out dandelions are more interesting that most of us knew. As a kid I learnt that the petals could be used to make very agreeable wine, the leaves could be put in salad and are a diuretic, and the roots could be roasted and used as a coffee substitute. What I didn’t know is that dandelions can be used to make rubber.

Finally in this section, scientists have discovered the world’s largest bacterium – and it’s the size of an eyelash.

Health, Medicine

Here’s the inside story of RECOVERY, the largest Covid-19 clinical trial, which transformed treatment. [LONG READ]

It is estimated that at least 1 in 7 people worldwide have contracted Lyme disease. [££££]

More surprising news is that 1 in 500 men carry an extra sex chromosome, being either XXY or XYY rather than the normal XY – and most don’t know.

[TRIGGER WARNING] From the “I thought we already knew this” file, a large study has confirmed that most miscarriages are caused by genetic errors. [££££}

Monkeypox may not mutate very quickly, but it still does mutate and adapt.

After some scientists object, the WHO is proposing to rename Monkeypox, but the placeholder name “hMPXV” (human MonkeyPoX Virus) doesn’t seem to me to be so much better.

There are tiny mites living in our hair follicles, and they have sex on our faces at night. And you thought your cat was a furry pervert!

Which brings us nicely(!?) to …

Sexuality

Yet more thoughts on how us geriatrics can still have great sex.

An interview with Julia Shaw about Bi, her new book on bisexuality.

Environment

A pair of peregrines have hatched three chicks on the roof of (my local) Ealing Hospital, which is slightly bizarre as the hospital no longer has a birthing unit.

Social Sciences, Business, Law

I’m not quite sure where these next two items should really belong, so I decided they’re “business” …

Cargo vessels are getting ever larger, but how can you rescue one when it gets into trouble?.

What do you do with an unwanted supertanker?

Some thoughts on Artificial Intelligence and the patent system from our favourite drug research chemist.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

I’ve defined this as art, because, south of Brussels, Charleroi has a truly surreal metro system. [LONG READ]

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

You’ll remember that 5300-year-old mummified corpse found in the Alps some years ago … well it seems that he’s told us a lot about ancestral diet, compared with modern diet. [LOND READ]

There’s an Iron Age site near Cambridge where archaeologists have found the burial of a huge number of frogs – and they don’t know the reason for the burial.

The remains of over 140 people have been found at an Anglo-Saxon burial site on the route of the HS2 rail line.

Another from the annals of the “thought already known” … researchers say that the Black Death almost certainly started in Central Asia.

Here’s Dr Eleanor Janega (our favourite medievalist) on drag, femininity and sexuality in the before times.

Queen Elizabeth I commissioned the pirate Sir Francis Drake to chart the west coast of the Americas, disrupt the Spanish colonisation, and naturally bring back booty. In the process Drake, in the Golden Hind, became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world, taking 1017 days.

And from the same era, here’s a stunning piece of French interior: La grande cheminée du manoir de Coëtcandec, exposée au château des Rohan à Pontivy. [It’s in French, but the images are stunning.]
[LONG READ]

A century later HMS Gloucester was wrecked off the Norfolk coast. It was carrying the future James II at the time; and I seem to recall Samuel Pepys was involved somewhere. The wreck has been located and is being investigated.

London

Here we have three items from IanVisits …

There are 13 green huts dotted around London; they’re the remaining Cabman’s Shelters (originally there were at least 61). Now another two have been given listed status, making 12 of the remaining 13 protected.

In Pinner churchyard there’s a strange coffin floating in mid-air (well, sort of!).

And here’s Ian’s report of a recent tour of Harrow School.

Food, Drink

It seems that climate change is altering the chemistry of wine, and not always in a good way. [LONG READ]

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Finally an number of items on one of my core beliefs: naturism and nudism …
12 reasons to be a nudist.
On the many benefits of naturism.
No, nudity is not sexual – unless you make it so.
Three reasons why nudity is not better accepted.

history, links, medical, natural history, science

Monthly Links

Our monthly collection of links to items you may have missed. It’s the usual miscellaneous collection.

Science, Technology, Natural World

That big explosive volcano in Tonga is still surprisngly intact although the caldera looks to be a huge hole.

On the curiosity of organ pipes apparently violating a rule of sound.

And now for something completely different, for which I see many new applications … Apparently female mice release banana-scented urine when pregnant to deter males. [£££]

You all know by now that wasps are one of my favourite subjects. Here are two articles from Seirian Sumner, who’s book on wasps Endless Forms is out this week. First a piece in the Observer Magazine, and then her take on five facts about the gruesomeness of solitary wasps. [Prof. Seirian Sumner is the academic who runs the Big Wasp Survey which I’ve contributed to over the last several years.]

Back to more mundane(?) animals, researchers have been looking at the domestication of the horse. [LONG READ]

Jackdaws are democratic and use noise to make decisions.

Health, Medicine

Medicine in particular, and all of us in general, need to reassess and update our knowledge and the history of the female body.

Having said which, here’s a piece on how sex affects our immune systems and our brains.

Sexuality

The UK’s Office for National Statistics has found that for the first time ever over 10% of young women identify as “lesbian, gay, bisexual or other”.

Social Sciences, Business, Law

On the issues around making conscious software, why we should an why we shouldn’t. [£££]

Art, Literature, Language, Music

Historian and mythographer Marina Warner visits the British Museum’s exhibition Feminine Power: The Divine to the Demonic, which explores the volcanic power of goddess cults.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

New research on human coprolites reveals parasite eggs which suggest the builders of Stonehenge ate undercooked offal.

Workers at Osuna in southern Spain have uncovered an important, and hitherto unknown, Phoenician necropolis.

The Romans used silphium for just about everything: perfume, medicine, aphrodisiac and condiment. But in trying to cultivate it and increase yields they killed it.

Researchers have managed to successfully sequence the genome of a Pompeii victim. Turns out he was “Italian”!

Melting ice on an alpine pass in Norway has revealed a 1500-year-old shoe amongst many other artefacts.

The Amazon appears to be full of lost pre-Columbian settlements and urban sprawl.

A short item on Ragged Schools, and especially the one for girls in Hastings.

Modern purple dyes were invented in London in the 1850s and initially manufactured close to where I now live.

Two short articles on the eccentricity that is Winchelsea Beach in Sussex.

IanVisits goes to look at the de Haviland Aircraft Museum on the edge of North London.

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Now here’s a real first world problem if ever there was one … should we embrace a cashless society? But one thing the author overlooks is that in a cashless society everything becomes electronic – which is fine until there’s a computer or power outage (accidental or sabotage).

Our favourite zen master, Brad Warner, is another one with a new book coming out.

And finally … they’re generally hated, but we should really like them: stinging nettles. Eat them, make fabric from them, or just let them be to grow butterflies.