environment, history, links, medical, science

Monthly Links

Yet again we get to the end of a month (how?) and it’s time for the usual collection of links to items you may have missed earlier. There seems to be a lot in this month so let’s not waste time …

Science, Technology, Natural World

Science doesn’t always get things right. Here are arguably science’s top 10 erroneous results. [LONG READ]

Believe it or not there are unaccompanied planets wandering the cosmos; they’re mystery worlds and hard to find.

There is now DNA evidence that dogs and ancient humans migrated together.

One of the scientists responsible for destroying the nest of so-called murder hornets in USA talks about the experience.

Once feared to be extinct in the UK, the great fox-spider has been rediscovered on MoD land in Surrey.

The platypus is a mysterious creature, the more so because its fur is bioluminescent.

Still in the animal kingdom, the Popa Langur is a lithe tree-dweller living primate with a mask-like face and a shock of unruly grey hair which lives in Myanmar – and it is new to science.

And not quite so animal, there is a fleet of small green robots driving around Hounslow in west London.

Health, Medicine

As in previous months I’m leaving all things Covid out of these posts, but there are a number of items elsewhere on my blog, mostly about vaccine development and logistics.

MPs have criticised NHS England’s IT plan, saying it is expensive and risky. And no wonder; government (and especially the NHS) know nothing about IT, won’t take advice from people who do know, don’t learn from past mistakes, always choose the cheapest supplier, and then keep changing the requirements.

Sexuality

The clitoris has but one function: female orgasm. Which is probably why medical science ignores it: it isn’t an essential medical feature or problem. [LONG READ]

An archive of two centuries of handmade erotic objects is witness to overlooked and hidden desire.

Environment

Why the wolf should be an essential part of our landscape and not an object of fear and loathing. [LONG READ]

I’m always amazed at how long seeds can remain viable. A scientist has discovered the grass-poly a rare plant which has reappeared from buried seed after conservationists restored an almost disappeared pond in Norfolk.

Social Sciences, Business, Law

No, you can’t use Magna Carta to avoid Covid lockdown restrictions, and here’s why. [LONG READ]

Which takes us nicely on to …

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Experimental archaeologists are making craft beer from yeast recovered from ancient artefacts.

Meanwhile British archaeologists are investigating a huge “mega henge” in Dorset.

Beds have a bizarre social history and are older than we might think.

In fourteenth-century England, one of the only ways a woman could get a divorce was if her husband was impotent. But first, she had to prove it in court. That’s a job for the medieval penis investigators. [LONG READ]

Food, Drink

So tell me about the difference between cognac and armagnac. [LONG READ]

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

And finally …

What was invented by American, John J Loud and changed a lot about writing? Yes, the humble ballpoint pen.

medical, science

Jelly up the Nose

Now this is potentially very interesting, and if it holds up could be hugely important.

Last week scientists at University of Birmingham reported developing a nasal spray which could provide protection against Covid-19 – although the work has not yet been peer-reviewed and published in the scientific literature.

Yes, OK, you may say; so what? Well the interesting – and potentially important – part is that it is based on two naturally occurring polysaccharide (polymerised sugar) gelling agents, carrageenan (E407/E407a) and gellan (E418), which already have worldwide approval for use in the food industry – so they’re already safety tested and widely available. This means, if the results hold up in vivo, a nasal spray could be developed and manufactured quite quickly and presumably cheaply.

The other interesting part is that the nasal spray uses the gelling properties of the two agents to encapsulate the virus particles (thus neutralising them), rather than any form of biochemical/medical destruction.

The spray could be especially useful in situations where it is difficult to provide normal “barrier” methods to inhibit transmission – although it is unlikely to be a replacement for such measures.

It seems to me the importance goes even wider than this. Surely such a method should be useable as a protective against many other air-borne viruses (like colds and flu) and possibly even bacteria.

This seems so simple, one has to wonder why we’ve never thought of it before!