Category Archives: natural history

arts, history, links, medical, natural history, science

Monthly Interesting Links

Once again we come to our monthly collection of links to items you missed the first time round and which you’ll find interesting. This month we have a well packed collection (lots of science and lots of history), so it’s straight in the deep end.

Science, Technology, Natural World

Astronomers still think there’s a large planet out beyond Pluto, so of course they’re still hunting for it (artist’s impression above).

So when you have this new vaccine how are you going to package it? Pharmaceutical Chemist Derek Lowe takes a look.

Many plants have stingers (think, stinging nettles), and it seems they have achieved optimal pointiness. [£££]

Oh dear! It seems likely the world’s smallest dinosaur is a lizard. [£££]

Ornithologists are revealing the long-distance travels and longevity of British birds.

Scientists still don’t know how birds navigate, though it is likely magnetic and they’re narrowing down the options.

30 years ago Red Kites were reintroduced to the Chilterns to the west of London, and this has proven to be a huge conservation success. (I’m 30 miles east of the release area, and in suburban London, and I now regularly see Red Kites over this area.)

Where have all our swifts gone? Are they on the Grand Tour?

There’s a growing realisation that old paintings can provide valuable information about agriculture both livestock and arable. [£££]

Here’s a brief look at the chemistry of cat allergies, catnip and cat pee.

Health, Medicine

How on Earth do you do surgery in the weightlessness of space without having bits of body floating around?

I find this hard to believe, but seemingly damaged human lungs can be revived for transplant by connecting them to a pig. [£££]

Researchers are worried that a new swine flu identified in China has pandemic potential.

Researchers are also looking at the potential for using magic mushrooms to help ex-soldiers overcome trauma.

Art, Literature, Language

Where are the bones of Hans Holbein? Jonathan Jones went looking, but we still don’t know. [LONG READ]

An astronomer has finally(?) pinpointed the exact date and time of Vermeer’s “View of Delft” (above).

The British Library has acquired an important archive of Mervyn Peake‘s original illustrations, preliminary drawings and unpublished early works (example below).

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Archaeologists have uncovered stone tools which they believe show that humans occupied the Americas around 33,000 years ago – that’s over 10,000 years earlier than previously thought.

Work on the UK’s HS2 rail link has unearthed the skeleton of a possible iron age murder victim.

Drinking games have a long history. Michael Fontaine, in History Today, takes a look.

So how old is the Cerne Abbas Giant (right)? New archaeological thinking by the National Trust suggests it is not prehistoric.

Our favourite medieval historian, Dr Eleanor Janega, takes a look at colonialism, imperialism, and the perils of ignoring medieval history. [LONG READ]

Going Medieval also take a brief look at the medieval obsession with the Moon.

A look at the symbolism of the medieval haircut. Scissors or sword, Sir?

Coming closer to our time, apparently Georgian London was a haven for sexual diseases.

Even closer to home, a look at what happened on the morning of the first nuclear test in 1945. [LONG READ]

And almost up to date, the purrrplexing story of the British Museum cats.

ARCHI is a UK archaeological site containing old maps (largely Victorian, it seems) which you can overlay on the current map to see what was there before we were.

London

Here are two pieces from the History of London on the area to the east of the Tower of London. First, the St Katherine’s area, and second the development of the area around Stepney.

Going Medieval (again) introduces us to the magnificent Agas Map of London (it’s detailed and zoomable!) as well as the lfe of medieval and early modern cities. [LONG READ]

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

And finally for this month … Dungeness is one of my favourite places and the late Derek Jarman’s cottage and garden (thankfully saved for the nation) is an absolute delight (below). Now there’s an exhibition about Jarman’s garden at the Garden Museum in London.

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

Monthly Links

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.

amusements, natural history, photography

Squirrel

In the latest episode of photos from my Flickr, we have the local squirrel and it’s hunters – finally captured on film this morning thanks to my new Canon 90D and a mega-long zoom lens.

[Click the images to get a larger view on Flickr]

Squirrel 1

We have this grey squirrel around the garden who has almost no hair on its tail. It looks very odd, especially when he sits around doing that squirrel thing of waving its tail. It’s been around all winter and otherwise looks to be in good health, so there’s no obvious reason for the hair loss.

Squirrel 2

As this next photo shows he’s male, and has been observed knocking up the ladies!

Squirrel 3

While he’s happily devouring our bird seed, Tilly cat approaches from starboard …

Squirrel Hunt 2

… and Boy cat undertakes a blocking manoeuvre to port, while desperately hoping the squirrel falls off!

Squirrel Hunt 1

Needless to say, the squirrel won with a good six foot leap from the top of the feeder pole to the apple tree. But it needs to be careful as Tilly is known to have caught a squirrel in the past.

And notice the wildlife-friendly, aka. unkempt, bottom half of our garden. It is sort-of half intended to be woodland floor!

history, links, medical, natural history, science

Monthly Links

In the middle of these interesting times we’re living in, we bring you a diversion by way of our round-up of links to items you may have missed this month. And I promise it is Coronavirus-free.

Science, Technology, Natural World

The Rainfall Rescue Project are looking for (online) volunteers to help transcribe old rainfall records from the handwritten sheets, so they are digitised and useable for in depth research.

We thought we understood it, but rock samples brought back by the Apollo moon missions are reopening debate about how the moon formed. [£££££]

It seems that people who get lost in the wild follow strange but predictable paths. [£££££]

Dust is often not what you think, especially in museums.

A brief look at five dinosaurs which, once upon a time, roamed the British Isles.

The smallest known dinosaur skull has been found in a piece of amber.

Crows understand death, at least death of a fellow crow, but can we work out what they’re actually thinking?

Now, while we’re all in solitary confinement, is a good time to take up birdwatching: there’s a surprising number of birds go past your window and they’re not all sparrows and pigeons.

If they share a vase, daffodils kill other cut flowers. Here’s why.

Health, Medicine

Copper is great at killing off microbes (it’s been used in horticulture and viniculture for centuries) and yet in a medical context the more inert stainless steel is preferred.

A small number of women are born with the rare MRKH Syndrome, where they lack a vagina and possibly other internal reproductive organs.

We all know about tree rings giving information about the growth of the tree, but it seems our teeth also document our life’s stresses.

Environment

A small Japanese village is leading the way into our carbon-neutral future, but it ain’t easy.

The Guardian gives us fifty simple ways to make life greener. [LONG READ]

Social Sciences, Business, Law

Many of us like to belief we have free thought uninfluenced by others; but can we ever be a truly independent thinker?

Art, Literature, Language

Aubrey Beardsley is one of many artists whose has work been suppressed for obscenity, and is the subject of a new exhibition at Tate Britain (assuming museums are ever allowed to reopen). [LONG READ]

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

A new study reports that a supposedly important collection of Dead Sea Scroll fragments are all fakes.

Archaeologists suggest that a collection of bones found in Kent church likely to be of 7th-century saint

Drake’s Island in Plymouth Sound is to be opened up and get its first visitors in 30 years.

London

London blogger Diamond Geezer takes a look at the genesis of London numbered postal districts.

Lifestyle, Personal Development

And finally … Should ladies’ loos provide female urinals, and would they be an answer to the queues for the loos?

Take care, everyone, and stay safe!

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

Monthly Links

Once more, dear friends, unto our monthly collection of links to items you may have missed the first time. And we have a well stuffed list this month.

Science, Technology, Natural World

First off something to worry you (well maybe) … Scientific American looks at how easy it is to hack GPS, and the USA’s lack of a backup. [£££]

I’ve never liked the way we change the clocks twice a year, and it seems there is evidence that daylight saving time does affect our health.

Another of my bêtes noir is the way wasps get such a bad press and abuse. We need to learn to love them as they’re amazing pest-killers and useful pollinators. [£££]

Many more birds migrate than we realise. Now a Robin has been recorded doing 140 mile crossing of trhe North Sea in just four hours

And now for some good news … a mouse deer thought to be extinct (it’s not been seen for nearly 30 years) has been found alive in Vietnam.

Now you now we had to get to cats eventually! It seems that our cats are more attached to us than we thought. [£££]

A mysterious 300 million-year-old fossil known as the Tully Monster could be a vertebrate or an invertebrate: scientists are still trying to decide and the oddities keep multiplying.

Do animals speak to us? Dutch philosopher Eva Meijer says that they do but we don’t (know how to) listen to them.

Finally in this section, one not for the squeamish. A look at how forensic scientists are studying the microbiological decay of corpses using human bodies. [LONG READ]

Health, Medicine

In the 1950s, photojournalist Lennart Nilsson set out to capture photographs of foetuses, and his Foetus 18 Weeks may be the greatest photograph of the 20th century.

Why is measles such a dangerous illness, even after recovery? Because it appears to make the body forget how to fight infection.

Now here’s something very odd: apparently some left-handed women can smell normally despite having olfactory bulbs in their brain. And this is only left-handed women!

So are women’s experiences of menopause psychosomatic? It seems they may be (at least in part) as women’s experience of menopause appears to be related her family’s experiences.

Sexuality

So here are seven myths about fertility.

New in London: the world’s only Vagina Museum. Needless to say it’s dedicated to female genitalia. [LONG READ]

Environment

We aren’t nearly good enough at recycling, so here are 15 ways to reduce your plastic footprint.

The National Trust is set to release families of beavers at sites in Somerset and Sussex as part of plans to ease flooding and improve biodiversity.

Art, Literature, Language

Italian police have arrested over 20 people in connection with the trafficking of archaeological artefacts.

Now here’s another oddity. It appears that our (western) perception of musical octaves is learned and not hard-wired in the brain.

Art can be cathartic, as Laura Dodsworth discovers when talking to high security prisoners about her work.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Should the Iron Age really be called the Flax Age? [LONG READ]

The Ancient Egyptians mummified millions of sacred birds, but were they wild caught or captive bred?

So just why was the year 536 AD the worst year to be alive?

Researchers are linking the Catholic Church’s ban on cousins marrying (well, incest in general) to the emergence of western individualism. [£££]

We all know that inflation happens, but how much has the value of money changed over the centuries? It seems it depends on how you measure it, and that isn’t easy.

It is a wise child who knows its father. New research shows this is truer in cities than rural areas.

London

The Museum of London is planning to move into part of the old Smithfield Market. IanVisits looks inside the space before construction work begins.

Meanwhile London blogger Diamond Geezer gives us an A to Z of Kew Gardens.

Food, Drink

Ten of the world’s most environmentally controversial foods.

Zoe Williams in the Guardian contends that there’s a generation gap in food.

Lifestyle, Personal Development

Collective worship in schools must be provided for all pupils in an appropriate way for their beliefs, and not be single religion.

One woman tells the story of how she became an astrologer, what it was like, and why she stopped.

The patriarchy is not the natural human state, after all hunter-gatherer societies remain remarkable for their gender equality. [LONG READ]

Attachment: are you a secure, avoidant or anxious partner?

We all know about green space, but blue space? It appears that time spent near water is the secret of happiness.

So fifty fascinating facts about our friendly felines.

People

And finally … Who would have guessed that Rod Stewart has spent over 20 years building a mega model railway?

Another instalment in the dull days following Christmas! Have a good one.

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

Monthly Links

Here goes then with this month’s selection of links to items you may have missed the first time round, and probably shouldn’t have done!

Science, Technology & Natural World

Cheeky monkeys! Apparently squirrels eavesdrop on birds’ chatter to find out if there’s a security alert.

After which it isn’t surprising that squirrels’ cousins, the rats, love games, giggle and jump for joy.

Insects deserve much more respect than they get; without them we’d not be here! [LONG READ]

One insect group deserving of greater respect, and admiration, are the wasps. Not just the annoying “yellow jackets”, there’s a whole diversity of species and they’re brilliant predators.

On the other hand we all like butterflies, and this has been an especially good year, especially for Painted Ladies.

Health & Medicine

Research has shown definitively that babies born by Caesarean have different gut bacteria compared with vaginal births. Why does this surprise anyone?

Statistical analysis shows that 26 September is the busiest day for births (at least in the UK) at about 10% above the average. Yes, you guessed it: it’s all down to Christmas and New Year shagging.

Sexuality

The world’s first Vagina Museum opens in November at London’s Camden Lock. Aim: to educate and raise awareness of vaginal and vulval health and fight stigmas.

Environment

Apparently the fish stock calculations were way off and North Sea cod should not have been labelled as sustainable.

What practical things can you do to combat climate change? One thing we seldom consider is to plant your own trees.

Art & Literature

After 119 years the Wallace Collection in London is to start lending out its artworks. Under the terms by which they were established they thought they couldn’t do this, but now they think they can.

History, Archaeology & Anthropology

Archaeologists have uncovered over 250 Neanderthal footprints, many of children, in northern France. They promise to throw some light on Neanderthal lifestyle.

Again, I’m not sure why this is surprising, but there is now evidence to suggest that the first people in the Americas came by sea.

Archaeologists are also now suggesting that prehistoric babies were fed animal milk from pottery bottles.

Coming more up to date, English Heritage are concerned that damp is putting many ancient murals, especially church wall paintings, at risk.

A piece of what is thought to be Elizabeth I’s lost dress is to go on display at Hampton Court.

In Scotland there is a plan to establish a national witches’ memorial.

London

While Britain’s parliamentarians are letting off quantities of hot air, the Houses of Parliament are threatening to collapse on their heads. [LONG READ]

One of our favourite London bloggers, Diamond Geezer, takes a random walk from Oxford Circus.

Food & Drink

No part of the pig is ever wasted. Now chefs are beginning to sign up to fin-to-gill eating – cooking fish without discarding anything.

Lifestyle & Personal Development

A pair of (American) researchers are suggesting every couple should have eight intense discussions to cement and develop their relationship. When you read their book, although they are deep discussions, it is the usual structured common sense – but something many will not easily do without a prompt.

It has apparently now been confirmed that there are benefits to being left-handed.

Shock, Horror, Humour

And finally, it’s time for this year’s Ig Nobel prizes. Amongst this year’s winners is a study of French postmen’s testicles.

More next month.

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

Monthly Links

Time flies, probably like a banana, when you’re too busy to notice. So we’ve suddenly arrived at this month’s collection of links to items you missed the first time round – and considering it’s the “silly season” (aren’t they all nowadays?) we’ve got a well packed, and very varied, bag this month.

Science, Technology & Natural World

A lot of what we now consider normal technology has its origins in the Cold War.

We often forget that there are volcanoes under the sea as well as on land, and they can produce huge rafts of pumice.

The universe is weird, and weirder than we can imagine. Look at the night sky and you’re being blasted by all manner of high energy radiation. Now astronomers have found the Crab Nebula emits incredibly high energy gamma rays.

An infographic about the majesty of trees.

For a long, long time the Japanese have looked upon sightings of rare fish as an omen of earthquakes. Now they are being urged not to as there is no evidence to support the belief.

Well who knew? Apparently black squirrels (yes, they are a thing; they’re in the UK and I’ve seen them in Washington DC; they’re rather handsome!) are the result of an interbreeding between grey squirrels and close relatives fox squirrels which produced a faulty gene now being passed down through grey squirrels.

At least one species of ant keeps its nurseries cleaner than we humans keep ours.

Every ten years Painted Lady butterflies undergo a massive population explosion and there are millions of migrants to the UK.

Health & Medicine

A top epidemiologist takes a look at the nightmare which is infectious disease aboard cruise ships.

Anyone, especially older people, on a medley of medication has an increased risk of unintended harm.

How about instead of women suffering through the menopause because they can’t be open about it, we actually fix society’s attitude so there can be open discussion and greater understanding from employers?

A significant minority of women suffer painful sex due to vulvodynia, and all too often it is not taken seriously.

And why we’re on lady bits, here’s an article explaining why the vagina doesn’t need to smell like a bouquet of flowers. And anyone who says otherwise is either indulging in patriarchy or marketing bollocks.

Oh no! We’re still on the same topic! One young lady, a sexual abuse survivor, was scared of having a smear test, but was helped through it by Twitter.

And still more … An interview with Canadian OB/GYN, Dr Jen Gunter, who is on a crusade to tell the truth about women’s health and expose the purveyors of snake oil. And here’s another interview.

And still with Dr Gunter, here’s a long essay adapted from her new book The Vagina Bible: The vulva and the vagina – separating the myth from the medicine. Buy the book; I’m reading it and it is excellent. [LONG READ]

Sexuality

One lady appreciates her pubic hair.

Well from there the only way is up …

Environment

A report in the RSA Journal argues that we need to be building homes not housing and that property should be on a human scale.

On continental Europe, apparently wild boar are being a problem in cities. This article looks at how Barcelona is fighting back. [LONG READ]

Ungardening … how to make your garden a wildlife haven.

Social Sciences, Business, Law

Ten reasons why you should be worried about facial recognition technology.

So how will the world’s major religions cope with the discovery of alien life?

Do you need to be able to address anywhere on Earth? Even the middle of the ocean? You need What3Words, a brilliantly simple idea with an app that has saved lives.

Language

We keep hearing that the English language is going to the dogs. But language always has changed, and always supposedly for the worse. Maybe it’s time to stop worrying about the English language. [LONG READ]

Wherever there is language, people swear, so trying to ban swearing is pointless. Besides there is some evidence that people who swear are more honest.

Art & Literature

How can medievalists get excited about a scrap of parchment? When it contains a fragment of a “vagina monologue”.

Following on from which there is a new translation of the gleefully indecent poems of medieval welsh feminist poet Gwerful Mechain.

We all know about haiku, but there was a ruder equivalent called Senryu. [LONG READ]

You’ve almost certainly heard of Eric Gill, but did you know he had an equally talented younger brother MacDonald “Max” Gill? This is an old review of a long gone exhibition, but serves as an introduction to his work.

History, Archaeology & Anthropology

So who were the mysterious people who preceded the Ancient Egyptians?

Still with Ancient Egypt, an article of the hugely important role of the scribe. [LONG READ]

Archaeologists have found evidence of early fish tapeworm infection at one of Britain’s most important prehistoric sites.

Coming forward several thousand years, metal detectorists have uncovered a huge hoard of important late Saxon and early Norman coins.

Now we enter the modern era! The Victorian introduction of the penny post revolutionised the way we communicate.

Lifestyle & Personal Development

Our favourite Zen master, Brad Warner, on the meaning of life.

And finally … The Victorians (of course!) apparently convinced married couples to sleep in separate twin beds. So how and why did this change?

Phew! There was a lot of that – hopefully something for everybody. More next month.

environment, natural history, thoughts

Alfred Hitchcock is Missing

The Birds. Or rather the lack of the birds.

There’s something very odd going on near me. Maybe elsewhere too.

In the last couple of weeks almost every bird has disappeared.

We used to have several dozen feral pigeons around – I not infrequently count upwards of 20 at a time sitting on my neighbour’s roof. Yesterday I counted a grand total of four, and that’s the most for several weeks.

Similarly we used to have dozens of house sparrows. A few week ago they were around. In the last couple of weeks no more than a handful. And there isn’t the usual incessant chirping from the hedges.

Starlings? Not one. Wood pigeon? We usually have two pairs around; but at present just a single scruffy bird. And almost nothing else which uses the gardens.

Am I sure? Yes, because I contribute (every week) to the BTO’s Garden BirdWatch project, so I regularly count and log the local birds.

Now we know that the sparrow population crashed a few years ago, but it had generally recovered hereabouts. However I have seen an article from BTO that sparrows are susceptible to a form of malaria (the same genus as the malaria parasite which affects us, just a different species), and that could be one factor in their decline.

Also we know that once the breeding season is over, birds moult and grow new feathers, during which time they’re more vulnerable so they tend to hide up. All of them? And all species? Suddenly? At precisely the same time? That doesn’t make sense to me.

On top of that I haven’t seen a squirrel in weeks, when we normally have one around fairly constantly. And the local cat population (other than ours) are also conspicuously absent.

The cats, I can understand. It’s been either hot or wet recently, so they’ll likely be hiding up somewhere cool, dry and shady. I can’t blame them! But no squirrels? That’s unusual.

Now I have a hunch, which could of course be totally wrong. I just wonder if some id.10.t has been throwing rat poison around? That would take out the rats, and the squirrels. Likely the sparrows and pigeons too as they’re grain eaters and will be attracted to the rat bait. It could also take out the odd cat if it eats a poisoned rat or mouse.

It’s a murder mystery, without any bodies. But then I wouldn’t necessarily expect to find bodies. I’m mystified.

I guess I just have to watch and wait to see if the birds come back in the coming weeks.

It’s a puzzle.

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

Monthly Links

Another month comes to a close so it is time for links to items you may have missed, but which I didn’t and collected for you!

Science, Technology & Natural World

Some elements amongst the physics community are determined that an even bigger particle collider than the current LHC at CERN is an utter waste of money.

Oh dear! It seems that at the end of WW2 the Allies managed to lose a few cubes of uranium from Germany’s failed nuclear programme.

We know that plants’ growth shows a high degree of symmetry, but how many of use realised it was quite this complicated?

Scientists reckon that plants can hear bees buzzing – and they then make their nectar sweeter.

Talking of hearing … it turns out bats can tune their sonar very effectively by constantly wiggling their ears.

When is a cuttlefish like a human? When it has arms. Apparently all creatures’ arms/limbs are built from the same set of genes, regardless of how many there are.

Health & Medicine

This month’s medical column is all about girlie parts, but the boys will want to be educated too …

Women are now asking if it is possible to have a better period (depending on their value of “better”)

According to a couple of old articles in the sacred Cosmopolitan there are nine different types of boobs and seven different types of labia. The good news is that they are all perfectly normal and nothing to be ashamed of.

The story of one survivor who is campaigning against the brutality of FGM.

Environment

It is suggested that urban trees live fast and die young compared with those in rural forests

Social Sciences, Business, Law

The current incumbent seems to get embroiled on controversy, but what really is the role of the Speaker of the House of Commons?

Language

Not everyone agrees that language is a living, evolving entity, so here are 19 of the most contentious linguistic disagreements.

History, Archaeology & Anthropology

I never knew that some of the Lewis Chessmen were missing, but it seems that one of the missing few has recently resurfaced.

High quality viniculture is turning out to be a lot older than expected.

Historians across the ages cannot agree, but it seems that Druids are fairly skilled at metamorphosis – either that or the historians are making it all up as they go along!

Lifestyle & Personal Development

Somewhere, high on the Tibetan plateau, is a matriarchal culture where men are never in charge and where the women don’t know who is the father of their children.

Back in the western world, people are asking what it means to be genetically Jewish, but maybe not culturally so.

There is more accumulating evidence that a long working week really is bad for your health, and that a shorter working week isn’t necessarily less productive.

When might a big earthquake hit Tokyo, and how is Japan preparing itself?

Taxidermy is often seen as a rather unsavoury hobby, but a growing number of women are making their mark as taxidermists.

Brad Warner, our favourite Zen Master, takes a somewhat sideways look at the way all things are connected.

Food & Drink

The public health lobby are worried that too many people are getting home hygiene wrong.

And finally … Master of Wine, Caroline Gilby, looks at how long to keep an opened bottle of wine, and what you can do with it. (No, I know. What is this commodity “spare wine”?)

More in a month. Enjoy the summer.

natural history, words

Word: Mollipilose

Mollipilose

Having a fur or plumage that is soft or fine; fleecy, fluffy, downy.


Barn Owl (Tyto alba). If you’ve ever met a Barn Owl up close
you’ll understand why I choose this to illustrate
mollipilose: their feathers are just unbelievably soft,
which is why they are so silent in flight.

A surprisingly late first usage in 1890 which is derived from the Latin mollis, soft + pilus, hair.

H/T @HaggardHawks