Category Archives: science

history, science

National Mills Weekend

National Mills Weekend is Saturday 11 & Sunday 12 May.

National Mills Weekend is the annual festival of our milling heritage and provides a fantastic opportunity to visit mills, of all types, many of which are not usually open to the public.


Until the advent of the steam engine, wind and watermills provided the only source of power for many different processes — from making flour, paper, cloth to hammering metal and extracting oil. You can explore mills that produced, or still produce, these products — some restored to working order, some derelict, some still working commercially.

As usual there is more information on the National Mills Weekend website at www.nationalmillsweekend.co.uk.

books, medical, science

Book Review

Mary Roach
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal

If there is one thing Mary Roach does well it is write. Her style is light, airy and humorous while being informative. It needs to be because she has made her stock in trade writing about taboo subjects like sex (Bonk), death (Stiff) and now our guts. For instance in writing about the biblical story of Jonah and the whale she says:

While a seaman might survive the suction and swallow, his arrival in a sperm whale’s stomach would seem to present a new set of problems. (I challenge you to find a more innocuous sentence containing the words sperm, suction, swallow and any homophone of seaman.)

She takes us on a journey through the gut — from top to bottom. Well, except that she doesn’t; it’s a journey through the top half, as far as the stomach. There’s a black hole of the small intestine should be. And a fast water chute through the colon. So despite the good writing I felt short changed by Gulp. I wanted more, and I wanted a bit more in depth science.

Sure, Roach talked to all the right scientists and medics. But this wasn’t as in depth as either Stiff or Bonk — at least it didn’t feel that way. And as I say the really interesting bits (well, to me, at least) beyond the stomach were too quickly glossed over.

So I was left feeling as though I’d had a decent starter, followed by some sorbet and coffee, but without a main course. Which is a shame because Roach writes too well for this.

Overall rating: ★★☆☆☆

books, science

Book Review

Dr Geoffrey Garrett and Andrew Nott
Cause of Death: Memoirs of a Home Office Pathologist

For over 30 years Geoffrey Garrett was the senior Home Office pathologist for NW England. This means he got all the juicy jobs, like working out how some notorious murders (like one of the Moors Murders) were committed and the actual cause of death.

Most of it would have hardly been routine, even for an experienced pathologist, but you would never think so from reading this book. Garrett makes the job sound absolutely mundane and boring most of the time. And that’s a reflection on the book, because clearly the job wasn’t at all routine on the ground and Garret says this in a few places.

But I found the book dull. So dull I almost gave up reading it. The style is to me very flat and lifeless — like the corpses Garrett is so often examining. Not that we get much detail of those examinations, beyond a few bare medical facts: so many wounds, such and such internal damage, a few broken ribs and skulls. And a lot of it obfuscated in medical terminology which is hardly ever explained.

Indeed the book is so bland it is not at all gruesome. Surely it should be gruesome? OK we don’t need great detail of the basic autopsy method every time (Garrett covers that once in the introduction, though even that is a bit sketchy) but we would benefit from more on the methods specific to the cases. For instance, what is the test done on blood to determine the level of carbon monoxide present; and how is it done? We’re never told. As a scientist, I wanted to know.

Yes, I wanted a lot more. More on the tests which are done, but also more on the forensic investigative process; more interesting puzzles to solve and how they were solved. I had expected this and that I didn’t get it left me feeling somewhat short-changed.

This should have been an interesting book, illuminating a world which, thankfully, most of us are never involved with. But sadly for me it failed.

Overall rating: ★★☆☆☆

links, science

More Amusements You May Have Missed

Another round of amusements you may have missed. In no special order except the most Christmassy bits are last …

Some models of the universe suggest that we’re living in a computer simulation run by some higher order. But how would we ever know? Would we ever care?

Did you worry that oblivion was going to happen on 21 December? No of course you didn’t, and here’s why you didn’t.

I’m not sure if this is good or bad news. It seems that boxed wine spoils quicker than bottled wine. Apparently it’s all to do wth oxygen permeability

Boys … Finally you have an excuse for squeezing your lady’s boobs. Apparently it stops breast cancer. What do you mean you don’t need an excuse!? Tut! Tut!

Carl Zimmer is still collecting geeky science tattoos (attached to other scientists). Here’s the latest stunning example. The cleavage isn’t bag either. 😉

Interesting perspective on the development of antibiotics, how it nearly didn’t happen and what they actually do to us.

Scientists at London’s Kew Gardens have discovered over one new species of plant a week during 2012, including a previously unknown tree that the locals say weeps dragon’s blood.

More appropriate to Halloween than Christmas here are 12 horrific surgical instruments of torture.

Have you ever wondered what English would be like with an alphabet of 38 letters? Because that’s what we could have had as there are 12 letters which didn’t make the cut.

How is the Tooth Fairy like the Higgs Boson? … On the quantum mechanics of the tooth fairy.

And now the really Christmassy bits …

Prof. Alice Roberts on our early ancestors’ relationship with the amazing reindeer.

And last, but by no means least …

How the Three Wise Men could so easily have ended up in Botswana or at the North Pole.

Happy Christmas everyone. This feature will resume next year!

ramblings, science

The Strangeness of Days

The more I think about it, the more puzzling time becomes. Not just from a scientific point of view — and who knows that’s bad enough! — but from an experiential view.

There are two things which especially puzzle me; confuse me, even; despite that I think we all experience them.

The first is the way in which time is not linear.

OK, we know that time works only in one direction: it marches inexorably forward. As far as we know there is no way in which time can run in reverse; physicists tell us this doesn’t accord with the laws of nature they know about, hence our continuing quest for time machines.

But we all know from experience that time is not linear. There are days when one gets up and follows one’s normal routine — some combination of coffee, shower, shave, hair-do, feed the cat etc. — only to fine one is 15 minutes late leaving for work/school. The next day you’ll do exactly the same and be ready 15 minutes early. Some days the afternoon disappears without you realising; other days it drags and you seem to be checking the clock every few minutes wondering how many hours have passed.

Scientists tell us this is impossible; that time is perfectly linear. Yet we all experience it. And no-one so far can explain it satisfactorily.


The second puzzle, which may be related to the first, is the nature of days. Again no-one to my knowledge has ever satisfactorily explained this.

How is it that on Thursday, I was convinced it was Friday? Yesterday (Friday) morning I thought it was Saturday. And by yesterday evening I thought it was Thursday again. Worse, yesterday evening (what time I was existing in Thursday) Noreen was convinced it was Saturday. And today? Well I have no clue; my head is just too full of cold germs to be sure of anything beyond it’s dark, it’s raining and I’d rather be huddling under the duvet.

Now I can understand how it may be possible to explain the way in which time passes faster as one grows older. The theory is that as one ages there is less new to take in; the brain measures time in notable experiences; hence as there are fewer, time seems to pass faster.

But that doesn’t explain the non-linearity of time at either the level of minutes and hours or at the level of days. I’ve been pondering this for years, and still have no idea what’s going on here. Is it just that all our brains are faulty, or is there some underlying system of local time-warps? Has anyone got any clues?

links, science

More Things You May Have Missed …

Another round in our series bringing you links to items you may have missed and which may amuse. In no special order …

So common sense seems to be filtering into government circles with the announcement that there may (notice only may) be a way to vaccinate badgers against bovine TB rather than slaughtering them.

Just so you’re no longer confused, here’s an interesting article on the non-difference between “skeptic” and “sceptic”.

Seems that a lot of those wonderful medieval stained-glass windows in Canterbury Cathedral are early 20th century fakes. My father — brought up in Canterbury — must be having apoplexy in his grave.

I’ve mentioned the Wellington Arch, at Hyde Park Corner, before (here and here). They currently have an exhibition about Egyptian architecture.

Apparently Australian Fairy-Wren chicks have to sing the right password to get fed by their parents. Even more amazingly the female bird teaches them their specific password before they hatch. Mums, what did you teach your child before birth?

Randall Munroe’s brilliant web comic XKCD which often takes a wacky look at science and logic. This week he has produced a blueprint style explanation of the workings of a space rocket in very simple language even readers of The Sun can understand.

Victoria Moore in the Telegraph asks how discerning drinkers can (still) be drinking Beaujolais Nouveau. Well I’ll tell her: we’re not all wine snobs and some of us actually drink it because we enjoy it; we don’t all like thick heavy red wines all the time.

Some while back we reported that archaeologists had found the remains of some old bras under the floor in a medieval Austrian schloss. The bras have now been dated to the late 15th century. Here’s the low down (or should that be the “prominent points”?) on the investigations so far.

Finally, following on from last week’s report of the investigations into the wildlife of the navel, Rob Dunn’s team are making their whole dataset available online so that others can look to see what they can discover from it. So if you fancy some scientific data mining, and maybe getting your name on a discovery, hare’s your chance. All are welcome.

More anon …

current affairs, links, science

Another Catch-up

More links to things which amused or interested me and which may do the same for you. This edition isn’t all science; we start off being rather more light-hearted …

Everyone seems to be flapping about some fungus which is attacking ash trees in the UK. Apparently some government minister is suggesting we should stop it spreading by washing our children. Whatever next?


Meanwhile in Egypt the Copts have used a boy child to to select their new Pope. I love the way they wear a combination of table runners and lampshades! Makes the new Cantuar look very tame. But what I didn’t know is that Egyptian Copts are internationally well known and influential; Boutros Boutros-Ghali (former UN Secretary-General) and Sir Magdi Yacoub (heart transplant surgeon) are among their number.

Not to be outdone, IanVisits looks at two churches in London’s East End and wonders what London would have been like if a Victorian mega-rail project had come off.

And talking of Victorians, a rare books dealer has stumbled upon what is thought to be an authentic Tenniel Alice in Wonderland chess board. And of course he’s trying to cash in.

Finally before the science stuff, nambawan pikinini bilong Misis Kwin (aka. Prince Charles) has been in Papua New Guinea brushing up on his Tok Pisin. The Guardian gave us a guide to this hoot of a language.

When he gets back home Prince Charles will soon be being tested by his doctor for dementia, as will we all. I can’t see why Brenda and Phil the Greek should be excluded though; I would have thought the latter is a cut and dried diagnosis.

Slime molds. They’re slimy, and brainless (yes, there’s a link there somewhere!), and it seems surprisingly intelligent. Though I guess the latter depends in the value of intelligent as well as the price of eggs.

But as far as I know, no-one has yet found slime molds growing in a navel. Rob Dunn and his team have spent two years finding all manner of other life though, including Carl Zimmer. And for their next trick … arm-pits!

While on noxious substances, Puff the Mutant Dragon writes interestingly (well to me anyway) about the chemistry behind wacky-baccy.


Be afraid! Be very afraid! There’s another new pest on the way. It seems Asian hornets, Vespa velutina, (not to be confused with the Asian or Japanese Giant Hornet, Vespa mandarinia, which is altogether bigger) have established themselves in France and are heading for the UK. They munch on honey bees (as if bee-keepers needed anything more to worry about) and they have a nasty sting!

Finally something cool for those interested in space junk. NASA has launched an app which will email or text you when the International Space Station is due to be passing over your head, so you know when to look up.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

links, science

Another Catch-up

More links to the interesting amusing or curious you may have missed …

Someone has finally realised that there is no way to totally shield children from pornography and that they’re going to find it anyway. So what?, I say. They have to learn these things sooner or later. And how much better to have it out in the open (Oooo, missus!) and that they learn about such things in the comforting environment of home. Oh, they don’t have homes. Hmmm …

Scientists reckon that after a lot of work they’re finally beginning to be able to decode the contents of dreams, without waking up the subject.

This one is definitely not for teatime, and maybe not for work! Pictures of the world’s most revolting cakes. Nah, there must be worse than these, surely!


More pictures, and of all sorts of things. But these are seen microscope photos and many are rather beautiful. See how many you can correctly guess.

So we’re always being told we should drink 8 glasses of water a day. Why? Well actually no-one really knows, or where the myth started. I’ll take my share in beer, thanks!

We’re always being told that fresh pee is sterile. So in another item Mind the Science Gap asks “Mommy, why do I need to wash my hands if I only pee?“. Interesting take on house-training boy children!

Waht to really stand out from Nature’s crowd? Be true blue!

They think it’s good, but from here it looks more like a disaster for book publishing. Penguin and Random House to merge (subject to regulatory approval).

Duke of York Column
Somewhere in London there’s an observation tower, masquerading as a memorial column, which has been closed to the public for 130 years. IanVisits would like to see the Duke of York Column, just off Pall Mall, reopened. I bet most Londoners don’t even know it exists!

And finally it’s party time down in Kent. Archaeologists have found the remains of what appears to be a 6th century Saxon nightclub (ie. a feasting hall) in Lyminge. It sounds seriously impressive.

links, science

Science-y things you may have missed

In this edition of links to interesting items I’ve collected this week, we bring you mostly science-related things. In no special order …

The Bristlecone Pine is an amazing tree which can live for thousands of years. It chronicles climate change past and it looks as if it may be showing the way into climate change to come.

So what are you actually running scared of? Biologist Rob Dunn is always good value and here he looks at how our “fight or flight” mechanism is still running from nasty, big predators.

Still on biology here are a series of amazing microscopy photos of creepy crawlies. Preferably not for mealtime or just before bed, but the images are so brilliant!

We all get earworms. No, not more bugs! I mean that song or tune which loops endlessly in your head despite distractions. Now psychologists are trying to understand why.

Psychologists again! It seems they’ve concluded that what we’ve always been told is true: that men and women can’t be “just friends”. OK, guilty as charged, sometimes — though I’m far from sure it is true of all my opposite sex friendships.

There have been several articles recently about the age of puberty having fallen over the last 100 years in both boys and girls. Do scientists really not understand why? How about better nutrition and hormones in meat? I bet they account for a large percentage of the change. But OK it will be hard to prove.

Finally on the basis of some meta-studies some scientists have come to the conclusion that premenstrual syndrome is probably a myth. Probably true for some women, but I find it hard to believe it’s all in the mind. I think a lot of people will need a lot of convincing.

May your weekend run smoothly!

current affairs, science

Are Scientists Now Able to do Their Jobs?

So yesterday six internationally respected scientists, plus a government official, were convicted by an Italian court of manslaughter for not issuing a warning of the magnitude 6.3 L’Aquila earthquake of 2009 which killed 309 people. They were each sentenced to 6 years in prison.


For what? Yes, that’s right: doing their job to the best of their ability.

On the basis of the best evidence available to them, these experts didn’t issue a warning about the imminence of the earthquake because that evidence didn’t indicate there would be one; because predicting earthquakes is (still) effectively impossible. It’s a decision which most of their colleagues around the world apparently support.

They made an honourable scientific decision based on the evidence. So how can they be culpable?

Now I’m no expert on earthquakes, but my friend Ziggy Lubkowski is a world leader in earthquake engineering. And he is even more quietly and coldly furious than am I. You can see what he says on his work weblog. I commend it; he says it much better than I can!

It would seem to me that the direct consequence of this is that no scientist should now express any opinion as to any the future happening. Or perhaps the only comments should be either “No comment” or “We don’t know”. Surely to do anything else leaves one exposed. That means scientists — which includes the guys who forecast our weather! — will no longer be able to fulfil their roles in society. It will stifle science, progress and more immediately public safety. Would I blame anyone for taking such such an approach? How can I?!

Surely any legal system which can allow such a prosecution to even get to court is deeply flawed. For everyone’s sake let’s just hope that this travesty of justice gets overturned on appeal.