Category Archives: science

amusements, science

July Quiz Questions

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.

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?
  2. How many bones does a shark have?
  3. Which fruit is a hybrid of the pomelo and mandarin?
  4. What creature is thought to be the closest living relative of T. rex?
  5. Which acid is mainly responsible for muscle fatigue?

Answers will be posted in 3 weeks time.

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

Monthly Links

This month’s collection of links to items you maybe didn’t want to miss.

Science, Technology, Natural World

Let’s start with one of the hard questions … What is Life? [LONG READ]

New observations from the Gaia telescope have provided the most detailed picture of the Milky Way to date (above).

At the other end of things, there is much we don’t yet know about the ocean depths and what lives there. [LONG READ]

This is amply demonstrated in ever detailed mapping of the depths of the Southern Ocean …

… current investigations of, and hunts for, underwater volcanoes [LONG READ] …

… a flourishing hidden world of marine life discovered under the Antarctic ice …

… and the mysterious sea creatures which surface at night but spend the day in the depths. [LONG READ] [££££]

Back on dry land researchers have proposed a new story of the origin of the domestic chicken 3500 years ago in rice fields.

And now two items on one of my recurrent themes: wasps …
What would happen if all the wasps disappeared? [VIDEO]
And secondly how not to let wasps spoil your picinic.

On a totally different tack, apparently trees around art galleries provide the art works with significant protection from pollution.

It turns out dandelions are more interesting that most of us knew. As a kid I learnt that the petals could be used to make very agreeable wine, the leaves could be put in salad and are a diuretic, and the roots could be roasted and used as a coffee substitute. What I didn’t know is that dandelions can be used to make rubber.

Finally in this section, scientists have discovered the world’s largest bacterium – and it’s the size of an eyelash.

Health, Medicine

Here’s the inside story of RECOVERY, the largest Covid-19 clinical trial, which transformed treatment. [LONG READ]

It is estimated that at least 1 in 7 people worldwide have contracted Lyme disease. [££££]

More surprising news is that 1 in 500 men carry an extra sex chromosome, being either XXY or XYY rather than the normal XY – and most don’t know.

[TRIGGER WARNING] From the “I thought we already knew this” file, a large study has confirmed that most miscarriages are caused by genetic errors. [££££}

Monkeypox may not mutate very quickly, but it still does mutate and adapt.

After some scientists object, the WHO is proposing to rename Monkeypox, but the placeholder name “hMPXV” (human MonkeyPoX Virus) doesn’t seem to me to be so much better.

There are tiny mites living in our hair follicles, and they have sex on our faces at night. And you thought your cat was a furry pervert!

Which brings us nicely(!?) to …

Sexuality

Yet more thoughts on how us geriatrics can still have great sex.

An interview with Julia Shaw about Bi, her new book on bisexuality.

Environment

A pair of peregrines have hatched three chicks on the roof of (my local) Ealing Hospital, which is slightly bizarre as the hospital no longer has a birthing unit.

Social Sciences, Business, Law

I’m not quite sure where these next two items should really belong, so I decided they’re “business” …

Cargo vessels are getting ever larger, but how can you rescue one when it gets into trouble?.

What do you do with an unwanted supertanker?

Some thoughts on Artificial Intelligence and the patent system from our favourite drug research chemist.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

I’ve defined this as art, because, south of Brussels, Charleroi has a truly surreal metro system. [LONG READ]

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

You’ll remember that 5300-year-old mummified corpse found in the Alps some years ago … well it seems that he’s told us a lot about ancestral diet, compared with modern diet. [LOND READ]

There’s an Iron Age site near Cambridge where archaeologists have found the burial of a huge number of frogs – and they don’t know the reason for the burial.

The remains of over 140 people have been found at an Anglo-Saxon burial site on the route of the HS2 rail line.

Another from the annals of the “thought already known” … researchers say that the Black Death almost certainly started in Central Asia.

Here’s Dr Eleanor Janega (our favourite medievalist) on drag, femininity and sexuality in the before times.

Queen Elizabeth I commissioned the pirate Sir Francis Drake to chart the west coast of the Americas, disrupt the Spanish colonisation, and naturally bring back booty. In the process Drake, in the Golden Hind, became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world, taking 1017 days.

And from the same era, here’s a stunning piece of French interior: La grande cheminée du manoir de Coëtcandec, exposée au château des Rohan à Pontivy. [It’s in French, but the images are stunning.]
[LONG READ]

A century later HMS Gloucester was wrecked off the Norfolk coast. It was carrying the future James II at the time; and I seem to recall Samuel Pepys was involved somewhere. The wreck has been located and is being investigated.

London

Here we have three items from IanVisits …

There are 13 green huts dotted around London; they’re the remaining Cabman’s Shelters (originally there were at least 61). Now another two have been given listed status, making 12 of the remaining 13 protected.

In Pinner churchyard there’s a strange coffin floating in mid-air (well, sort of!).

And here’s Ian’s report of a recent tour of Harrow School.

Food, Drink

It seems that climate change is altering the chemistry of wine, and not always in a good way. [LONG READ]

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Finally an number of items on one of my core beliefs: naturism and nudism …
12 reasons to be a nudist.
On the many benefits of naturism.
No, nudity is not sexual – unless you make it so.
Three reasons why nudity is not better accepted.

history, links, medical, natural history, science

Monthly Links

Our monthly collection of links to items you may have missed. It’s the usual miscellaneous collection.

Science, Technology, Natural World

That big explosive volcano in Tonga is still surprisngly intact although the caldera looks to be a huge hole.

On the curiosity of organ pipes apparently violating a rule of sound.

And now for something completely different, for which I see many new applications … Apparently female mice release banana-scented urine when pregnant to deter males. [£££]

You all know by now that wasps are one of my favourite subjects. Here are two articles from Seirian Sumner, who’s book on wasps Endless Forms is out this week. First a piece in the Observer Magazine, and then her take on five facts about the gruesomeness of solitary wasps. [Prof. Seirian Sumner is the academic who runs the Big Wasp Survey which I’ve contributed to over the last several years.]

Back to more mundane(?) animals, researchers have been looking at the domestication of the horse. [LONG READ]

Jackdaws are democratic and use noise to make decisions.

Health, Medicine

Medicine in particular, and all of us in general, need to reassess and update our knowledge and the history of the female body.

Having said which, here’s a piece on how sex affects our immune systems and our brains.

Sexuality

The UK’s Office for National Statistics has found that for the first time ever over 10% of young women identify as “lesbian, gay, bisexual or other”.

Social Sciences, Business, Law

On the issues around making conscious software, why we should an why we shouldn’t. [£££]

Art, Literature, Language, Music

Historian and mythographer Marina Warner visits the British Museum’s exhibition Feminine Power: The Divine to the Demonic, which explores the volcanic power of goddess cults.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

New research on human coprolites reveals parasite eggs which suggest the builders of Stonehenge ate undercooked offal.

Workers at Osuna in southern Spain have uncovered an important, and hitherto unknown, Phoenician necropolis.

The Romans used silphium for just about everything: perfume, medicine, aphrodisiac and condiment. But in trying to cultivate it and increase yields they killed it.

Researchers have managed to successfully sequence the genome of a Pompeii victim. Turns out he was “Italian”!

Melting ice on an alpine pass in Norway has revealed a 1500-year-old shoe amongst many other artefacts.

The Amazon appears to be full of lost pre-Columbian settlements and urban sprawl.

A short item on Ragged Schools, and especially the one for girls in Hastings.

Modern purple dyes were invented in London in the 1850s and initially manufactured close to where I now live.

Two short articles on the eccentricity that is Winchelsea Beach in Sussex.

IanVisits goes to look at the de Haviland Aircraft Museum on the edge of North London.

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Now here’s a real first world problem if ever there was one … should we embrace a cashless society? But one thing the author overlooks is that in a cashless society everything becomes electronic – which is fine until there’s a computer or power outage (accidental or sabotage).

Our favourite zen master, Brad Warner, is another one with a new book coming out.

And finally … they’re generally hated, but we should really like them: stinging nettles. Eat them, make fabric from them, or just let them be to grow butterflies.

medical, science

Monkeypox 4: SitRep

My latest update on the background to the monkeypox scare.

UK Situation

  1. As of the time of writing the UK has identified 71 cases. [4]
  2. The vast majority of identified cases are isolating at home and do not require hospital admission. [1]
  3. The closest contacts of confirmed cases are being offered the smallpox vaccine. This is the so-called “ring vaccination”. [1]
  4. These closest contacts – anyone who has had direct or household contact with a confirmed case – are being told to isolate for 21 days (ie. the longest incubation period). [1,2]
  5. The same high-risk contacts are advised to avoid immunosuppressed people, pregnant women and children under 12, as these groups are more vulnerable to serious infections. [1]
  6. Contacts are being asked to provide their details for contact tracing. [2]
  7. Sexual Health Clinics are still open for business, but are reported to be doing telephone triage. [4]

Global Situation

  1. More than 131 confirmed cases are being investigated in 15 countries. [4]
  2. More than half the cases are in Spain and Portugal. [1]
  3. The WHO says the outbreak is “containable” and is providing advice to countries on how to tackle the situation. [4]
  4. There seems to be some scaremongering (emanating from the NHS?) that you can be infected by eating meat. [5] Frankly, in my view, this is nonsense. Yes, in theory it may be possible to catch monkeypox from eating undercooked meat from an infected animal – which almost certainly means bushmeat. The chances of a food animal getting monkeypox and getting into the human food chain has to be vanishingly small.

Epidemiology

  1. Genetic analysis of three monkeypox viruses from the outbreak have found it closely matches the virus that spread from Nigeria in 2018 and 2019. [1]
  2. Monkeypox is less transmissible than SARS-CoV-2; the original Wuhan strain had an R0 of about 2.5. Monkeypox has had R0 under 1 in past outbreaks. [3]
  3. A high fraction of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, maybe half(?), comes from people who aren’t showing symptoms at the time; whereas monkeypox transmission before symptom onset seems to be relatively rare, if it happens at all. [3]
  4. The fact that very little if any monkeypox transmission occurs without symptoms means that if people start isolating once they begin to feel sick, they should be able to prevent almost all onward transmission. [3]
  5. Moreover monkeypox spreads slowly (symptom onset is 5-21 days from infection) compared with Covid (symptom onset 1-4 days). [4]
  6. This long incubation time gives contact tracers more time to identify contacts and set up ring vaccination. [3]
  7. Putting that all together suggests that cases are unlikely to rapidly increase and get out of control. [3]
  8. Studies suggest that a Belgian man contracted the virus on a recent trip to Portugal. [1]
  9. The pattern of the outbreak suggests the virus is spreading primarily through sexual networks. [1]
  10. Super-spreader events may have boosted the outbreak since it arrived in Europe. [1] This could be around the rave scene in Spain; a Gay Pride event in the Canary Islands is apparently being investigated. [6]
  11. Cases are being found which have no identified contact with west Africa. [2]
  12. Scientists have a big challenge as they currently do not know how many unreported cases there are; they’re currently seeing only the tip of the iceberg. [2]

References

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/22/monkeypox-uk-health-security-agency-to-announce-more-cases
[2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61546480
[3] https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1528450298901155841.html
[4] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-61570562
[5] https://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/national/uk-today/20159989.monkeypox-nhs-issues-warning-anyone-eats-meat-uk-cases-rise/
[6] https://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/national/uk-today/20160206.monkeypox-outbreak-sex-raves-spain-belgium-may-blame/

medical, science

Monkeypox 3: Viral Replication

Following up on my earlier comment about monkeypox being a DNA virus and different to SARS-Cov-2 (which is an RNA virus), I figured a bit more (very low tech) explanation may help. First off some very simple explanations. (Don’t worry if you don’t know what any of these things are; just think of them as “stuff” or “method”.)

Virus. A pseudo-cell basically composed of some minimal amount of genetic code (DNA or RNA) encapsulated in a lipid (ie. fatty) membrane. It is unable to reproduce on it’s own and has to hijack the machinery of a host cell to make more copies of itself.

DNA. This is the chemical code which holds all our genes. It is composed of the “double helix” of two strands of DNA twined round each other – think of two intertwined springs. In order for the cell machinery to read the text of the DNA the two strands have to be zipped apart and then afterwards zipped back together. Think of this as a whole jumbled box of knitting patterns

RNA. This is essentially a short piece of code created from a piece of a single strand of DNA; it typically provides the instructions for making a single protein. Think of it as a single knitting pattern, extracted from that box of patterns.

Transcription is the process of unzipping the DNA and copying it to make the RNA; this happens only in the cell nucleus (the strong box which holds the DNA). As in all copying, errors can creep in. So the machinery in the cell nucleus contains a proofreading function which finds the errors and discards the overwhelming majority of them.

There are essentially two types of virus, characterised by how they store their genetic information: DNA viruses and RNA viruses.

DNA viruses (for example, monkeypox) have to insert their genetic code, held as DNA, into the cell nucleus, as that’s the only place where it can be transcribed into RNA. So transcription errors are booted out by the proofreading function and mutation happens very rarely.

RNA viruses (for example, SARS-Cov-2 and flu) don’t have DNA; their genetic code is held as RNA. RNA doesn’t use the cell nucleus for transcription and hence can’t take advantage of the proofreading function. So transcription errors don’t get weeded out and mutations happen very frequently.

The process of using RNA as a blueprint to make proteins etc. is called translation.

And that is an incredibly simplified description of the processes. The details are hideously complex, so hideously complex one can quite see why some people find it hard to believe this has arisen through evolution.

Here’s an equally very simplified diagram (what I drew) of the processes.

Very basic cell process and how it’s used by viruses
Click the image for a larger view

So that hopefully shows why Covid-19 is dangerous, why we need a new flu vaccine every year, and why we hopefully don’t need to be too worried about monkeypox.

environment, history, links, medical, science

Monthly Links

So here’s this month’s selection of links to items you missed the first time and will wish you hadn’t. And of course it’s the usual mixed bag, starting with the hard stuff.

Science, Technology, Natural World

Researchers think they’ve worked out the origin date for the ancient Antikythera mechanism – although they don’t all agree. I find this whole artefact just mind-boggling.

Antikythera Mechanism

A different set of researchers think they’ve uncovered the fossil remains of a dinosaur and some other creatures killed and entombed on the actual day the Yacatan asteroid hit 66m years ago.

First humans and animals, then trees, and now it seems mushrooms talk to each other.

Health, Medicine

Derek Lowe, our favourite pharmaceutical chemist, looks at why phenylephrine is useless as a decongestant.

Vagina Obscura, a new book by Rachel Gross, reviews the biology of female organs, including the vagina, uterus and ovaries, and how scientists are filling in the gaps in knowledge.

Maybe sometime, maybe soon, medicine will be able to “fix” menstruation.

Here’s a young lady with a very rare and disturbing visual condition.

Sexuality

If you fancy a trip to Italy you have until 15 January next year to see the current exhibition of Pompeii’s sex scenes and erotica.

Environment

It seems that peregrine falcons have have made my local (Ealing) hospital their base – well the appalling building has to be good for something!

Giant Orchid (Himantoglossum robertianum)

Meanwhile in Oxfordshire, Giant Orchids (Himantoglossum robertianum) have been found growing wild for the first time in the UK.

It’s being reported that new government rules will provide extra protection for adders and slowworms; which will be good if it happens.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

A farmer in Gaza has uncovered a 4,500-year-old statue of Canaanite goddess.

Archaeologists at Uruk in Iraq have unearthed, and are trying to recover, an ancient Sumerian riverboat.

Meanwhile in the Assam region of India archaeologists have found more than a few ancient and mysterious giant stone jars.

Still in the ancient world, the grave has been found of an ancient Peruvian who was buried with tools for cranial surgery.

Nearer to home, and to our time, Dr Eleanor Janega, of Going Medieval, looks at the old moneymaking trick of selling indulgences.

Eleanor Janega also writes about a favourite saint: St Sebastian.

In 1580 there was an earthquake, with an epicentre in the Dover Straits, which damaged London’s (Old) St Paul’s Cathedral; needless to say this spawned a flurry of pamphlets – the Facebook of their day.

And almost right up to date, IanVisits looks at a new exhibition about the history of the UK’s postcodes.

London

On another track, IanVisits takes a look behind the scenes at the huge upgrade project nearing completion at London’s Bank Underground station.

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Dungeness (Image: IanVisits)

Oh no! Not again! Yet another item from IanVisits! This time he takes a day trip to Hythe and Dungeness – to explore both and also ride on the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway.

Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!

And finally for this month Tom Lamont in the Guardian takes a look at a day in the life of (almost) every vending machine in the world. [LONG READ]


amusements, science

April Quiz Answers

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

April Quiz Questions: Physical Science

  1. How much water is there on Earth per human being? Roughly 175 trillion litres ± 15%
  2. What was the name of the first, Russian, man-made satellite? Sputnik I
  3. How many internal reflections of light take place in the formation of a primary rainbow? Two
  4. Roughly how long does it take for the sun’s light to reach Earth? Eight minutes
  5. Which Russian chemist published the first widely recognised Periodic Table? Dmitri Mendeleev

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2021.

amusements, science

April Quiz Questions

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.

April Quiz Questions: Physical Science

  1. How much water is there on Earth per human being?
  2. What was the name of the first, Russian, man-made satellite?
  3. How many internal reflections of light take place in the formation of a primary rainbow?
  4. Roughly how long does it take for the sun’s light to reach Earth?
  5. Which Russian chemist published the first widely recognised Periodic Table?

Answers will be posted in 3 weeks time.

environment, history, links, medical, science

You May Have Missed …

Here’s this month’s selection of links to items you may have missed.

Science, Technology, Natural World

Would you like to fly round the moon? If so, then NASA are giving away free flights for your name on their upcoming Artemis I mission.

Image NASA. Click for larger view.

Cosmologist Katie Mack talks about spotting and combating physics falsehoods online.

Researchers have found the huge and mysterious Hiawatha crater in Greenland to be 58 million years old.

Zoologist Lucy Cooke is waging war on Darwin’s prevailing view of the dominance of males and their benefit from promiscuity. Two articles, the first from the Guardian, the second from New Scientist [£££].

Palaeontologists have described a ten-limbed ancestor of modern octopuses, and named it after Joe Biden.

The largest ever family tree of humanity reveals our species’ history, where we originated and how we spread across the world. [£££]

The Eden Project in Cornwall have succeeded in getting their nutmeg tree to fruit for the first time since planting in 2001.

Image Eden Project

There’s a new drive to produce the red dye cochineal industrially without having to squash thousands of insects.

Health, Medicine

Here’s an interesting article about the work to identify which flu strains to put in this year’s vaccine – and some of the people who spend their lives trying to spot the emerging strains. [LONG READ]

And now another pair of articles, this time looking at the long-term, but haphazard, effect of Epstein-Barr virus, which is responsible for glandular fever. Again the first is from the Guardian, and the second from The Atlantic. [LONG READS]

Environment

One American academic has demonstrated that by just redesigning both homes and industrial processes it is possible to use almost no external power – and overall it is the cheapest solution! And yes, he has actually done it, and lives in the house.

An iconoclastic letter in New Scientist suggesting that as we’ve paved over much of our world we would do well to rip it up and plant trees instead. [£££]

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

1700 years ago a Roman boat sank in shallow waters just off Mallorca on the Spanish coast. Archaeologists are now retrieving the amazingly well preserved cargo.

In what shouldn’t be a surprise the teams restoring Notre Dame in Paris have found early tombs and a lead sarcophagus under the cathedral’s floor.

Medievalist Dr Eleanor Janega goes looking at non-written communication in Norwich.

And here’s Eleanor Janega again, this time looking at medieval attitudes to semen and female sexuality.

Despite our misogynistic view, there were female composers in the Renaissance. Now more of the ground-breaking work of Maddalena Casulana has been pieced together and performed.

Now not quite up to date … An expedition has found the surprisingly intact wreck of Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance off coast of Antarctica.

Image Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust/NatGeo

London

IanVisits takes an opportunity for a look inside London’s Ukrainian Cathedral.

IanVisits has also managed a sneak preview of London’s new Elizabeth line railway (aka. Crossrail).

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Comedian David Baddiel talks about his life-long love of cats. [LONG READ]

Meanwhile a forensic pathologist wishes that a legacy of Covid lockdown is that we change the way we talk about death.

Japan may also need a new narrative as their so-called “killing stone” has split in two, releasing superstition and allegedly a nine-tailed fox. In two stories there’s the usual media-hyped look in the Guardian; however the Japanese think the media have the story wrong as Hiroko Yoda writes on Twitter.

And finally one of the great British train journeys which is high on my bucket list … the longest journey on a single train from Aberdeen to Penzance. I actually want to do Thurso/Wick to Penzance, with Kyle of Lochalsh, Fort William and Mallaig thrown in. I’m not holding my breath in the hope of ever doing it.


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

Monthly Links

Here are my monthly links to items you may have missed, but didn’t know you didn’t want to.

Science, Technology, Natural World

Despite extensive studies, scientists still can’t agree on Chernobyl’s impact on wildlife. [LONG READ]

Try putting your ear to the ground … scientists are discovering that life in the soil is unexpectedly noisy. [LONG READ]

So can melting permafrost release ancient pathogenic microbes? [£££££]

It seems that magpies care! They’ve outwitted scientists by helping each other remove tracking devices.

But an even bigger problem … Do birds have language, at least in a way we would recognise? [LONG READ]

Finally in this section … a very short piece on the curiosities that are Britain’s pipefish.

Health, Medicine

A very worrying look at how the GP’s job has changed in the last 30 years. [LONG READ]

Researchers are discovering that bones are a lot more than bits of scaffolding.

How does what you eat affect your sleep, and vice versa?

What happens when depression collides with the menopause and perimenopause? [LONG READ]

Oh dear! Apparently everything we thought we knew about posture is wrong. [LONG READ] [£££££]

At last some good news … Apparently dark chocolate (at least in moderation) is good for your health, and for the microbiome.

Sexuality

So here’s a relationship therapist on how to have better sex.

Environment

Cranes were reintroduced to Britain in the late 1970s, and now they’ve had their best year for 400 years.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

A fossil of a large pterosaur has been found on the Isle of Skye.

Recent research is suggesting that the meteor which killed off the dinosaurs fell to Earth in the Spring.

Palaeontologists are coming to the conclusion that the extinction of the Neanderthals was not caused by the brutal domination of Homo sapiens.

Remains of woolly mammoth, and some other Ice Age remains have been found in Devon.

Some important prehistoric chalk sculptures, thought to be childhood artefacts, have been uncovered in Yorkshire.

Trousers are one of those wonders of civilisation in that their construction is not overtly simple or logical. So it’s astonishing that the oldest known “pants” seem to have originated in Asia, and a pair is survived around 3000 years. And the weaving is absolutely amazing.

Back at home, Museum of London archaeologists have found an 8m Roman mosaic floor in Southwark, just south of the Thames.

Here’s our favourite Medieval Historian on the power and influence of women in medieval times. [LONG READ]

Still with the medieval, researchers have found what appears to be the earliest known account of ball lightning in England, dating from 1195.

London

Just one London item this month … the Museum of London will close this December for 4 years, while it moves to its new home in the old Smithfield Market.

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

And finally in this issue … British Naturism has, again, pointed out that it is not illegal to go naked in your back garden, and that it is not a matter for the police.