Yet another collection of interesting and/or curios items you may have missed, starting as usual with the more scientific stuff.
I’m trained as a chemist, so chemicals have meanings for me. But most people hate the word “chemical”. Why? Everything is “chemical”!
And here’s some news about real chemicals, as dispersed in the Fukushima disaster. First there’s a scientific piece showing the truth about the ocean radiation from Fukushima – nothing like what most are saying with false images. Secondly a forthright and slightly worrying piece about the challenges of sorting out the stricken Fukushima reactors — yes it’s a daunting task, but one that should be perfectly achievable. But in all this let’s remember that (a) this was an accident born not of poor planning rather than technological failure in which no-one was killed by radiation and (b) there real disaster is the humanitarian one of people killed and displaced by the tsunami itself and those who are worrying themselves sick about a relatively tiny radiation risk. Which is not to say it isn’t a pretty mess!
After which shit in space seems quite tame!
From shit to … shitty smells made by our domestic wolves. Scientists are getting interested in the composition of dog farts.
More than that, it seems dogs connect us with the wild in ways we maybe don’t realise.
But then cats are sneaky. Far sneakier than we knew. One species of South American Spotted Cat has been disguising itself as a totally different species.
Here’s an interesting look at ten ways in which an ant’s nest is like your house. And it isn’t that far fetched. You have quite a des res really!
From ants to … bacteria (and yeasts). It seems likely that a large part of the taste of that wine you love is down to the differences in the microbial ecology of the vineyards.
A few days ago the Guardian fashion blog looked at the question of nudity for the over-50s. Seems it is much like for anyone else: some have hangups and some don’t. But I still don’t get the problem with nudity.
Moving on from humanity to the humanities, the British Library was recently moved to write a blog post about the need for the recent closure of the Newspaper Library at Colindale. OK so there are good reasons, but why is there no replacement?
And still on history, the Londonist looked at the secret history of the London Brick.
And finally, I have to leave you with some stunning images taken by crane driver working on one of Shanghai’s tallest skyscrapers. Some of them are just breathtaking.
