This year our Ten Things column each month is concentrating on science and scientists.
Where a group is described as “great” or “important” this is not intended to imply these necessarily the greatest or most important, but only that they are up there amongst the top flight.
Great Biologists
Again this year we’re beginning each month with five pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. They’re not difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers, so hopefully you’ll learn something new, as well as have a bit of fun.
October Quiz Questions: Biological Science
Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.
Here we go again with this month’s collection of links to items which interested me and which you maybe didn’t want to miss.
Science, Technology, Natural World
On the colours of the stars. [££££]
There are some small “earthquakes” on the moon, and the cause is somewhat surprising.
They’re still hunting for the missing flight MH370, and now there is hope of finding it using divination by barnacles.
Scientists have found a huge, remote, Fijian cave, and it’s full of tiny endangered bats. [££££]
Scientists are looking at dreaming and REM sleep across the animal kingdom.
So just how old is the oldest aquarium fish? We know koi carp can live to 80, but Methuselah is even older.
Health, Medicine
Explaining both the neuroscience and physiology of fear and anxiety.
More screening for cancers sounds like it could be good for many of us, but there are serious questions over whether the NHS could cope with it.
Girls, your vagina has it’s own microbiome (just as our guts and skin do), so here are a few pointers on how to look after it.
Yes, it turns out the so-called “male menopause” is a thing for at least some men. [££££]
So is pee sterile?
The medicinal leech has a long history, and is still used today.
Most of us suffer from delusions of some form, however mildly. Here are the five most common.
We all have childhood memories – some of us more than others – but how reliable are they?
It seems that some people whose brains flatline but survive can recall lucid “experiences of death“.
Sexuality
Just what were the rules around masturbation in Ancient Greece? As if one can put rules round such a thing! [££££]
Here are some things most of us don’t know, but probably should, about emergency contraception.
Environment
A recent report says that Britain’s ocean fish populations are in a quite some trouble.
Art, Literature, Language, Music
Seemingly the speed at which someone talks has no relationship to intelligence.
History, Archaeology, Anthropology
Researchers have calculated that the species which were to become Homo sapiens suffered a population bottleneck, and could have gone extinct, almost a million years ago.
Meanwhile researchers in southern Africa have discovered some ½million year old timbers which appear to have been woodworked.
5000-7000 years ago there was a culture in what’s now Eastern Europe which burned its houses down every couple of generations – but we don’t know why.
On the age of, and reasons for, the Egyptian pyramids.
Along with Greek rules around masturbation (see above) the ancient world had various rules about with female beauty. [££££]
Two rare Roman cavalry swords from around 200AD have been found in the Cotswolds.
On a similar note, an early medieval warrior buried with his weapons has been found in Germany.
In around 900AD there was a very powerful woman who ruled over that Papacy.
On the involvement of the Templars in the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170.
A bit further on … a 14th-century cannon has been found off Swedish coast.
Cannibalism in human history has rarely been just about eating to survive.
An Ode to the Rag-and-Bone Man.
Food, Drink
Notable Sandwiches #68: Francesinha e Francesinha Poveira.
Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs
Do opposites attract? Apparently not as research is suggesting that couples are more likely to be similar than different.
Another for the girls … Attractive though it may be, in more ways than one, apparently going braless does come at a cost. However if you’re going to wear a bra, then find your correct size, ‘cos it probably isn’t what you think.
So what is it about school nicknames? Harry Mount suggests that while they can be fantastically rude, the ruder they are, the more affectionate.
Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!
Finally, this year’s Ig Nobel Prize winners have been revealed.
This year our Ten Things column each month is concentrating on science and scientists.
Where a group is described as “great” or “important” this is not intended to imply these necessarily the greatest or most important, but only that they are up there amongst the top flight.
Things Science got Wrong
Here we go then with this month’s selection of links to items which interested me, and which you may have missed.
Science, Technology, Natural World
Let’s start with 16, possibly unexpected, facts about sweat.
Turmeric is supposedly one of those “cure-alls” but despite some interesting chemistry it looks like its claims are overstated.
Still on turmeric, here’s a report on how researchers uncovered a scam of improving the colour of turmeric with lead. [LONG READ]
And while we’re on things yellow, a researcher thinks they’ve found a long-thought lost Ancient Greek and Roman medicinal plant.
And then there are wasps – in his case the common “yellow-jacket” Vespula vulgaris – where researchers using data from the Big Wasp Survey have found that the UK population is essentially genetically homogeneous. [Full disclosure: I’ve been part of Big Wasp Survey since its inception.]
Researchers are claiming that worms frozen in permafrost for 46,000 years are still alive and the oldest known living animals.
Continuing with the bizarre, in the deep Atlantic Ocean there lives a creature with 20 arms.
And so to the even more esoteric … Scientists continue to puzzle over whether nothingness exists.
On average your friends are on average more popular than you – on the paradox which links epidemiology and sociology.
Health, Medicine
Various scientists are making the observation that we aren’t prepared for the next pandemic (whatever that is) – here’s one. [LONG READ]
Covid cases have seen a small spike this summer; here’s why, and some thoughts going forward.
Here’s a look at six slightly surprising effects of common medicines. [££££]
In this one young researcher looks at the challenges she faced with OCD.
On the stigmatisation of menstruation through history to the current times.
Sexuality
There are different things helping towards great sex at various stages of life. [LONG READ]
Environment
Forget rich soil, try gardening with hardcore. [LONG READ]
More on wasps! There have been a number of sightings this year of Asian Hornets (aka. Yellow-Legged Hornet, Vespa velutina [image above], which is slightly smaller than a European Hornet, Vespa crabo [image below]) in the UK, most notably a cluster in Kent. While these are alien predators (often taking large numbers of honeybees) they are not the so-called “Murder Hornets” (aka Asian Giant Hornet, Vespa mandarinia, which are larger) which have invaded the American west coast. [As usual the article doesn’t really live up to the goriness of the headline.]
And there’s an even more recent report from the London area.
Art, Literature, Language, Music
Researchers at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium have used infrared light to reveal a hidden portrait beneath a 1943 painting by René Magritte.
One scientist offers some tips for good scientific writing – and they aren’t what we’ve often been taught.
History, Archaeology, Anthropology
As always let’s start old and get younger, with an overview of our extinct human relatives the Neanderthals.
They’re still researching Ötzi the Iceman, and have now determined that he was balding and had dark skin.
Who was the first literary hero? There’s a suggestion that it is actually the ancient goddess Inanna.
The remains of an Iron Age female warrior have been discovered on the Isles of Scilly.
Just take a look at the magnificence of the Roman Lighthouse at Dover – the oldest in England.
Staying with the Romans, some marble fragments are giving an insight into Emperor Hadrian’s diary.
Further east in the Roman Empire archaeologists have uncovered a Roman amphitheatre with blood red walls.
A medieval historian appears to have recognised a new source about the Norman Conquest of England, and it was hiding in plain sight.
Laying to rest the myth that the medieval Kerrs were left-handed and that spiral staircases were always built to advantage the defender.
People
In an interview for the Big Issue, Professor Alice Roberts says she got side-tracked into academia.
Why do we always think that terminally single (and childless) women are unfulfilled, because they’re often happier?
Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!
And finally two amusements. First one young lady pots up her Lego succulents.
And finally, finally someone has installed a urinal on the side of Sonning Bridge over the River Thames.
This year our Ten Things column each month is concentrating on science and scientists.
Where a group is described as “great” or “important” this is not intended to imply these necessarily the greatest or most important, but only that they are up there amongst the top flight.
Great Chemists
We bring you this month’s action-packed collection of links to items you may have missed.
Science, Technology, Natural World
When cells divide how do they accurately copy their DNA once, and only once? [LONG READ]
Bats in the UK harbour coronaviruses; none apparently immediately dangerous to us, but we need to know more.
China has a mysterious wildcat, but is the Chinese Mountain Cat actually a discrete species? [££££]
On the Byzantine labyrinths that make up a cat’s nose. [££££]
In potentially good news there’s a plan to establish the UK’s first feline blood bank.
Octopuses change their skin patterns while sleeping, which suggests that they may be dreaming.
If insects actually have memories, it seems they may not survive across metamorphosis. [LONG READ]
Scientists have discovered a species of palm that flowers and fruits only underground, but they don’t yet understand how it is pollinated.
Health, Medicine
It seems that we have a gene which prevents most bird flu viruses from infecting us.
Nightmare Warning … There’s an unidentified something which causes a green hairy tongue – luckily it’s benign, just disturbing.
Sexuality
In a possible explanation of why vibrators are so effective, researchers have discovered neurons in the clitoris and penis which are especially sensitive to vibration. [££££]
One couple talk about sex in their mid-70s.
Social Sciences, Business, Law, Politics
One tax specialist is of the opinion that the UK’s Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) has a completely erroneous view of the economy. [LONG READ]
Art, Literature, Language, Music
Some rarely seen Holbein sketches of the Tudor court are going on display later this year at the Queen’s Gallery.
When the fantasy world wants a pest do they always choose rats?
History, Archaeology, Anthropology
Pendants made from bits of giant sloth indicate that humans settled in the Americas a lot earlier than previously thought.
At the same time archaeologists believe they’ve found the USA’s oldest stone tools to date. [LONG READ]
Back in the UK a rare Neolithic polissoir has been found hiding in plain sight in Dorset.
Pyramids and other remains have been discovered off the western tip of Cuba.
The Carnyx, a brass musical instrument, was used as a psychological weapon of war by the ancient Celts.
Pompeii continues to provide surprises. In a current excavation archaeologists are uncovering a building containing a bakery oven (above), courtyard, a fountain and a number of frescos including one of what has (jokingly) been described as an early pizza (below).
The story of Salisbury’s Medieval Giant.
London
London’s Hyde Park was once the playground of Tudor and Stuart monarchs, courtiers, and the upper echelons of society. [LONG READ]
There’s a hidden world underneath Waterloo Station, which is being revealed on its 175th anniversary prior to redevelopment.
Food, Drink
The Guardian‘s food writer, Felicity Cloake, looks at a few food rules and suggests they can be safely ignored.
Rachel Roddy recreates that Pompeii “pizza” (see above).
Do we need to be worrying about the sweetener aspartame in diet drinks? Spoiler: probably not. [LONG READ]
Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs
A ramble around body hair and hairless bodies through the ages.
Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!
And finally, please enjoy some highlights from this year’s Finnish Hobbyhorse Championships.
This year our Ten Things column each month is concentrating on science and scientists.
Where a group is described as “great” or “important” this is not intended to imply these necessarily the greatest or most important, but only that they are up there amongst the top flight.
Top Poisons
And yet already we arrive at time for our monthly round-up of links to items we thought interesting, and you might too.
Science, Technology, Natural World
A new dinosaur species has been discovered on the Isle of Wight.
There’s a crack squad of hunters keeping the island of Jersey free of the invasive Asian Hornets (above). And no these aren’t the “murder hornets” which are invading the west coast of North America which are even nastier.
Scientists are taking another look at just when animals like foxes started living alongside humans. [££££]
A new study is finding clues to when masturbation evolved in primates – because it isn’t just humans that indulge.
Palaeontologists believe that Homo naledi in South Africa may have made etchings on cave walls and buried its dead. [££££]
Well now this (isn’t) surprising … it seems that air quality filters are picking up airborne DNA which reveals what species are nearby.
Changing tack somewhat … the US is being urged to reveal its UFO evidence amid (more) claims it has intact alien vehicles.
Meanwhile the “gateway to the underworld” megaslump in Siberia is revealing secrets from 650,000 year old permafrost.
And back to humans … there’s a myth that we use only 10% of our brain, but it is just a myth. [££££]
Health, Medicine
Here are nine things you probably didn’t know about saliva.
Also from the Zoe Health Study, here’s a look at the importance of bile.
Sexuality
Some curious scientist has taken an in-depth look at the condition known as “Blue Balls“, and discovered some interesting things about sexuality.
Who knew that until fairly recently many countries officially provided whores for wartime soldiers near the battlefield? No, it isn’t much known and talked about. And it wasn’t just in wartime.
Social Sciences, Business, Law, Politics
England is apparently going to trial providing a “universal basic income“. The trial will be in just two places with a very small number of people for two years, so don’t hold your breath.
One historian is suggesting that we’re on the brink of civil war – the US in particular but the Western world in general – but that we can avert it if we wake up. [LONG READ]
Art, Literature, Language, Music
So who actually knew there were officially many shades of black? [LONG READ]
History, Archaeology, Anthropology
Archaeologists have found evidence of plague in Britain 4,000 years ago. And it is being suggested this might be the reason the culture and people who built Stonehenge suddenly vanished from the record.
A stunning 3,000 year old bronze sword (above) has been found in a Bronze Age grave in Bavaria.
Cricket clubs don’t generally expect to be the custodians of several Roman gods’ heads.
Also with the Romans, a stunning mausoleum has been discovered on a building site in Southwark.
Here’s the story of St Ursula and the 11,000 virgin martyrs. [LONG READ]
Minstrels played an important role in medieval society, and it is now being appreciated that their work could be mad, bad and bawdy.
A pair of shipwrecks full of Ming era porcelain in the South China Sea are telling us a lot about the historic Silk Road trade routes.
Myths based in medieval goings-on are not always accurate. Here’s the case of the Fowlmere Tunnel. [LONG READ]
Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs
And finally for this edition, here are 13 signals all cat owners should recognise. [LONG READ]
This year our Ten Things column each month is concentrating on science and scientists.
Where a group is described as “great” or “important” this is not intended to imply these necessarily the greatest or most important, but only that they are up there amongst the top flight.
Important Chemistry Discoveries