Here are our links to items you may have missed in the last month. There’s a lot this month, so let’s dive in.
Incidentally [£££] indicates the article may be behind a paywall, although most of these sites do offer a limited number of free articles so don’t ignore them.
Science, Technology, Natural World
First off, here’s an old article from New Scientist in which Roger Penrose asks What is Reality? [£££]
However there’s a warning that we should beware of Theories of Everything. [£££]
Meanwhile scientists have calculated the most likely number of alien civilisations we could contact. [Spoiler: it isn’t 42.]
Maybe the search for extraterrestrial life is why the Americans are embarking on another round of major upgrades to their U-2 spy plane. [£££]
But back to Earth … Researchers have used camera traps to complete a thorough survey of the inhabitants of African rainforest.
Surprisingly in this day and age we still don’t fully understand where eels come from. [£££]
Ecologists have tracked the astonishing migration of one particular European Cuckoo.
Equally astonishing, scientists have managed to record and translate the sounds made by honeybee queens.
After which we shouldn’t really be surprised that crows are aware of different human languages.
Health, Medicine
So out of the crow’s nest and into the fire … What you always thought you knew about why males are the taller sex is probably wrong.
It seems there is growing evidence that we should be taking seriously the potential of psychedelic drugs to treat depression. Well I’d certainly be up for trying it.
Tick-borne Lyme Disease can develop into a debilitating chronic condition. [£££] [LONG READ]
Have you ever wondered how medical students are trained to do those intimate examinations?
Environment
There’s a movement to establish fast-growing mini-forests to help fight the climate crisis.
Barn Owls are one of our most iconic species, and the good news is that they’re growing in numbers thnks to human help.
Here’s just one example of the huge amount of rarer elements in old computers which we need to recycle.
We’re used to places like Iceland using geothermal energy, but now there’s a plan to heat some UK homes using warm water from flooded mines.
History, Archaeology, Anthropology
Archaeologists have found clues to the earliest known bow-and-arrow hunting outside Africa.
DNA from the 5,200-year-old Newgrange passage tomb in Ireland hints at ancient royal incest.
And DNA is also being used to provide clues about the origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
On health and safety in the ancient world – or maybe the lack of it!
Religious iconography always was about marketing and PR.
The Medievals had notions about the ideal shape of women which curiously don’t coincide with our modern ideals. [LONG READ]
But then the Medievals lived in a world without police, and it wasn’t quite a brutal as one might think.
Archaeologists think they’ve found London’s earliest theatre, the Red Lion.
If we thought Medievals had odd ideas, then Enlightened Man (in 17th and 18th centuries) was in many ways stranger; shaving and periwigs were the least of it. [LONG READ]
London
On the first few hundred years of Westminster Abbey. [LONG READ]
From Tudor times Protestants have been intermittently persecuted in mainland Europe, and escaped to Britain. Here’s a piece on the history of the Huguenots in London. [LONG READ]
Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs
Is it OK for your kids to see you naked? Here’s an uptight American article which nonetheless concludes it is OK, as we all know.
