Welcome to the first “Monthly Links” of 2025, where we give you links to things you may have missed the first time around. And do we have a bumper crop this month!
Science, Technology, Natural World
Let’s start with a celebration … This month the Universe is 100! [LONG READ]
We do live in a special part of the Universe, don’t we? [££££]
It took Galileo’s new-fangled telescope to find these four objects which you can now see easily with binoculars.
And scientists continue to push the boundaries of the telescope … Hubble Space Telescope wasn’t supposed to ever look at the sun, but they did it anyway. [££££]
Twenty years ago there was a cosmic explosion which rocked Earth. [££££]
Slightly less dramatically, Pluto and Charon may have formed as the as the result of a kiss.
Meanwhile astronomers are hoping for a brief, but spectacular, star which appears only every 80 years. [LONG READ]
Also celebrating its centenary is the Pauli Exclusion Principle which underpins our understanding of subatomic particles.
Let’s get our feet back firmly where we can understand what’s going on … or not so firmly, as here’s a look at the strange fish which has historically struck fear into the hearts of mariners.
Still on oddities, a pair of birders in Michigan have been visited by an extremely rare yellow cardinal bird.
Why in 1926 in the USA was there a plague of mice? [LONG READ]
Going down another level in size, some caterpillars make deadly venoms which can even kill a human.
Even further down is size to our DNA, why are we all riddled with genetic errors? [LONG READ]
Health, Medicine
The series looking at modelling a pandemic has reached Part 4: Asymptomatic Transmission. [LONG READ]
OB/GYN Dr Jen Gunter takes a look at fibroids, one of the scourges if the female reproductive system. [LONG READ]
At the other end of the body, it seems the pupil of the eye can open a surprising window on the mind.
And here’s a real oddity … an 84 year old man in Hong Kong has turned grey due to silver poisoning.
Sexuality
Kate Lister says she spent a year telling men where they were going wrong in bed. [££££]
A sex expert suggests eight questions everyone should ask for better sex. [££££]
Environment
The expansion of London’s Heathrow Airport, indeed all airport expansion and air travel in general, will negate the UK’s attempts to reach net zero.
Social Sciences, Business, Law, Politics
Breaking with my normal position on politics … In what may be my only comment on the state of the USA, Ian Dunt at The I Paper looks at that Elon Musk Nazi salute and what it means for the future of the US. [££££] [These people have to be stopped, but how?]
How can we fix democracy? Ancient Greek philosopher Plato could suggest the answer.
Zoom calls and how to survive them in 2025.
History, Archaeology, Anthropology
A quarry in Oxfordshire has yielded the UK’s (and maybe Europe’s) biggest set of dinosaur tracks. (Aerial view above.)
Archaeologists have discovered that they can extract ancient DNA from dirt, so areas like cave floors are revealing yet more information about, for instance, Stone Age humans. [££££]
Meanwhile investigations are ongoing into how built Europe’s first cities.
In Egypt archaeologists have found the 4,000-year-old tomb of an overachieving magician.
An Iron Age site in Dorset is demonstrating that women were at the centre of some tribal communities, and exploding the earlier misogynistic narratives.
Excavations at Pompeii continue to reveal astonishing details of life there, including unexpected luxury.
Here’s a look at what five gold rings from Norfolk can tell us about the past.
Porch House in Stow-on-the-Wold claims to be Britain’s oldest pub dating from around 947. But is it really?
Leonardo Da Vinci always maintained that there were secret tunnels in Italy’s Sforza Castle. It now turns out he was right.
Excessively pointed shoes were the height of fashion in medieval London
Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs
Meet a sea captain who’s obsessed with icebreaking.
We’re losing the ability to write in cursive, and therefore also read it – and it’s all the fault of computers.
And finally … What do you need to start meditating? Nothing except your own mind.