Category Archives: science

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.

memes, science

Ten Things: January

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 Physics Discoveries

  1. Gravity
  2. Laws of Motion
  3. Wheel
  4. Atomic structure
  5. Speed of light
  6. Transistors
  7. Electromagnetism
  8. Spectrum of light
  9. Heliocentric planetary system
  10. Doppler Effect
beliefs, environment, science, thoughts

Mars & the Moon

Stop building a spaceship to Mars
(and the Moon too)
and just plant some damn trees.

Stop building a spaceship to Mars and just plants some damn trees
Isn’t it more important that we protect this planet against global worming etc.?
Just think how much good all that money could do, and how much
environmental refurbishment could be done by just 10% of the money.

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

Monthly Links

And so to the final 2022 edition of my monthly links to items you may have missed.

Science, Technology, Natural World

There are quite a few scientific discoveries this month, so let’s start at the bottom and work up …

Scientists have discovered what they think is the world’s longest animal off Western Australia: a 45-metre-long deep-sea siphonophore.

Also found in the deep off Madagascar, scientists have named two new species of rare six-gill sawsharks.

Female sexual anatomy is generally poorly studied in all species, and snakes are no exception. So it’s only now that scientists have discovered that female snakes have a clitoris, or two. Two articles: one from Science News, the other from The Scientist.

So what do you find in a museum cupboard? In this case the thought lost pelt and skeleton of the last Thylacine (aka. Tasmanian Tiger).

Still in Australia, a group of female cowgirls, sorry graziers, have discovered the first intact fossilised skull, and most of the body, of a 100m-year-old plesiosaur.

And still going up, scientists have now found that the Tonga volcano eruption last January was larger and more interesting than previously thought.

Finally for this section, the Guardian had a long article on the epic task of shutting down and cleaning up the Sellafield nuclear facility. [LONG READ]

Health, Medicine

Scientists are beginning to rethink their ideas about what actually causes Alzheimer’s Disease. [VERY LONG READ]

Careful scientific analysis shows that Covid vaccines can temporarily disrupt the menstrual cycle – although Covid itself doesn’t. [£££]

There’s been a huge rise in the number of girls questioning their gender identity, and the professionals don’t really understand why. [LONG READ]

Art, Literature, Language, Music

There’s now brouhaha surrounding the artist and sexual abuser Eric Gill, as Ditchling’s museum effectively chooses to totally ignore their most famous artist. (Just don’t get me started! None of this is new, his abuse has been known about for at least 50 years.)

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

The area around Stonehenge continues to throw up important archaeology. Experts have now figured out that some Neolithic stone axes were much later used as part of a goldsmith’s toolkit.

A group of researchers have discovered over 100 previously unknown designs in Peru’s ancient Nazca plain.

Archaeologists in Rutland have uncovered a barn which was converted into a Roman bathing suite (complete with steam room) for use by the house’s owners.

Yet more archaeologists, this time in Northamptonshire, have uncovered an early medieval burial with a stunning necklace. Two reports from the BBC and The Conversation.

London

The Houses of Parliament are probably hiding a medieval river wall.

Food, Drink

Are sweeteners as harmless as we thought? The jury is still out but it looks doubtful. [LONG READ]

Don’t despise the humble Brussels sprout; they contain as much vitamin C as oranges plus many other health benefits.

And while we’re on healthy food, here are six reasons why, despite popular myth, potatoes are good for you.

So microbiologists have found the ancestor of modern brewing yeast, and then discovered it living under their noses in Ireland.

Finally on food, Ali Ahmed Aslam, the inventor of chicken tikka masala, has died aged 77.

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Yes, I am a nudist, so what?

People

And finally for this year, here are 10 reasons why Richard Feynman was more than just a physicist.

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

arts, environment, history, links, medical, science

Monthly Links

2 Comments

Here’s this month’s collection of links to items you may have missed – with minimal reference to last week’s state funeral.

Science, Technology, Natural World

It’s that time of year when we celebrate the Ig Nobel Prizes. [LONG READ]

In yet another round of modelling calculations, based on detailed measurements, scientists are suggesting that Saturn’s tilt and its ring system may be down to a missing moon.

Palaeontologists have studied growth lines and elements preserved in fossil teeth of Pantolambda bathmodon (a sheep-sized mammal and one of the first to expand into large-animal niches left vacant by the extinction of the dinosaurs) to reconstruct its day-to-day life.

Image: Smithsonian

There really are some strange creatures in the ocean depths; here’s one with eyes for a head.

Returning from the depths, Japanese scientists have found that tweezers modelled on a crow’s beak outperform our traditional design. [£££]

It might surprise you to know that bees and ants are both descended from primordial waasps. While we like bees, we mostly dislike ants and wasps. But ants are interesting, and incredibly useful in their own right.

Health, Medicine

Good grief! Archaeologists in Borneo have discovered the remains of a youngster who had a successful foot amputation 31,000 years ago!

I think we’ve been told about this before, but there is a Scottish woman who can smell if people have Parkinson’s disease years before they have symptoms – and she’s helping scientists develop a test.

Good news for some of us! A study has found that drinking tea may be linked to a lower risk of early death.

Sexuality

Scientists in Japan appear to have shown that significant female emission at orgasm is release fluid from the bladder. I cannot get my head round who would do this experiment, and who would willingly consent to being one of the guinea pigs. [£££]

Environment

A camera trap in south west London appears to have captured images of a wild pine marten; the first spotted in London for over 100 years. And it’s a damn good walk from the nearest known population.

Social Sciences, Business, Law

We’ll have just these two items on the Queen’s funeral, both about The Queue. They’re from Prof. Steve Reicher, a specialist in crowd behaviour from St Andrew’s University.
First: Don’t be fooled that everyone queueing in London is mourning the Queen.
Second: How the wait to see the Queen’s coffin transformed people.
Expect a lot more sociology on this in months and years to come.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

Actually, I sort of fibbed to you! Here’s another item related to the late Queen. Five photographers recall what it was like photographing Her Majesty.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

A fairly thin history section this month with just two items on the medieval.

Medieval pilgrim badges were not always entirely wholesome: it seems the pilgrims often used bawdy badges as talismen to protect against plague an the like.

DNA analysis suggests that a significant find of Jewish remains in Norwich are the victims of a medieval pogrom.

London

Here’s one about my childhood stamping grounds. Bell Common, Upshire, Essex which is the alleged site of Boadicea’s last stand – except it isn’t; that obelisk is a conceit.

London blogger Diamond Geezer has been trying to set foot in every one of the 1463 1km grid squares within Greater London. And he’s down to the last few.
First he visits square TQ1575 and the Mogden Sewage Works in Hounslow.
Then he reported that he was down to two unvisited squares – no, make that one, and that last one was unvisitable as it’s in the middle of airside at Heathrow.
Oh but wait! Apparently it isn’t entirely airside, and you can legally set foot in that last square. Result: every one of the 1463 squares visited!
It’s nerdy perhaps, but that has to be some achievement!

Exeter Road

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: ★★★★★

history, links, medical, science, topographical

Monthly Links

This month’s collection of links to items you didn’t know you’d missed, and probably didn’t want to.

Science, Technology, Natural World

The universe is stealing our time! The days are getting shorter as Earth spins faster.

In an incredible feat of computing, the AI system Deep Mind has worked out the structure 200 million proteins in all the species whose genome has been sequenced.

Who first thought up the concept of zero? It seems the origins are somewhat elusive, but it looks like it may be in Sumatra. [£££]

Apparently the US regulators are imminently to certify the first small nuclear reactors. Now if they’ll just use the molten salt reactors then it will solve the problem of further high risk waste.

In more watery news a rare coloured sea slug has been found in UK waters for the first time.

The other side of the world, an incredible new jellyfish has been found off the coast of Papua New Guinea

Back on dry land, a group of scientists is planning to resurrect the extinct Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine). Hmmm … good luck with that one!

So how are large migratory moths able to fly in incredibly straight lines for miles? Scientists are trying to find out.

Health, Medicine

There are times when I struggle to believe what scientists and medics can achieve, and this is one of them … they’ve managed to change blood type of donor kidney – if this stands up then it will be a major breakthrough in transplant surgery.

There’s an outbreak of the previously unknown “tomato flu” in India. Except that it isn’t; it’s actually viral hand, foot & mouth disease which not uncommon amongst children across the globe. (Hand, foot & moth disease is NOT related to foot & mouth in cattle etc.)

Sexuality

Something else what always amazes me is the breadth of Benjamin Franklin’s interests. For instance, who know he extolled the benefits of banging MILFs?

One far-sighted mother (in Australia) got help to give her autistic sone some confidence – she booked him a session with a sex worker! Now tell me again why sex work shouldn’t be legal.

Environment

Hedges. Britain excels at them, with a greater length of hedge than roads. And farmers are coming to realise they provide vital habitat and corridors for wildlife. [LONG READ]

Art, Literature, Language, Music

A short item from History Today on the way our expletives change over the centuries. [£££]

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Researchers have been retrieving DNA from ancient teeth and estimated that the “cold sore” herpes virus (HSV-1) is a recent evolution.

It is being suggested that the reason many medieval monks has a high parasite load was because they were using their own excrement as fertiliser.

The first of our two articles this month from Going Medieval‘s, looks at sexual assault in the medieval world. [LONG READ]

And our second of Going Medieval‘s articles is all about rocking chicks what brew beer. [LONG READ]

Only 350 years after it sank in the Bahamas, the wreck of the cargo of treasure aboaud the Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas is being discovered and recovered.

Bills of Mortality, basically early equivalents of death certificates, often in church registers, are an invaluable resource. A London Inheritance blog takes a look at what they can tell is abut early modern life in London. [LONG READ]

Guédelon Castle

They said it is impossible to rebuild Notre Dame, using medieval carpentry and building skills … but France’s medieval carpenters are doing it!

London

A potted history of the London Taxicab.

A review of a book on origins of the more curious and interesting of London’s pub names.

Food, Drink

It seems there are some (natural) products which are able to interfere with your body’s ability to use the nutrients you consume – known as antinutrients.

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.

amusements, science

July Quiz Answers

OK, so here are the answers to this month’s quiz questions. All should be able to be easily verified online.

July Quiz Questions: Biological Science

  1. All plants and animals use DNA to store genetic information, and much of this DNA is common between species. How much of their DNA do humans and lettuces have in common? About 30%
  2. How many bones does a shark have? 0 (they’re cartilaginous fish)
  3. Which fruit is a hybrid of the pomelo and mandarin? Orange
  4. What creature is thought to be the closest living relative of T. rex? Chicken
  5. Which acid is mainly responsible for muscle fatigue? Lactic Acid

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2021.