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history, links, science, sexuality, topographical

Monthly Links

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Our monthly selection of links to items you may have missed …

Science, Technology, Natural World

So what if this Universe was made in somebody else’s laboratory? [LONG READ]

Voyager 1 is way beyond and listening to the stars – but for how long? [LONG READ]

Juno is another space probe which is still working after many more years than expected surveying Jupiter. [LONG READ]

On the curious history of Dark Matter.

There’s a recent, and rather inexplicable, international agreement to abandon leap seconds and maybe sometime impose a leap hour. Two reports, the first from The Guardian, and the second from The Conversation.

Now we mention time, it is being suggested that animal life may be significantly older than we have hitherto thought.

The sexual behaviour of animals (including humans) changes with the advent of autumn.

We end this section with something completely different … surprising as it may seem, the humble sheet of A4 paper is one of humanity’s greatest achievements.

Health, Medicine

Flu has kicked off early this year, but how do the various suggested causes stand up to scrutiny?

Sexuality & Relationships

The Dutch, being progressives, have a new word for labia, but will it catch on?

The thoughts of one man on what he feels it’s like to have a foreskin.

So here’s an explainer – for the boys and anyone educating them – about wet dreams … because most of us were never told and had to work it out for ourselves.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

A look at how we talk about pregnancy.

Etymologist Susie Dent takes a look at collective nouns.

So you thought you new English grammar and punctuation? Well here are 19 strange punctuation marks you never imagined you’d need.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

It appears that the Neanderthals may have been a lot more violent than previously thought.

Archaeologists have found the world’s oldest known shipwreck off the cost of Turkey.

Meanwhile in Scotland archaeologists have uncovered a long suspected major early monastery. [££££]

Now we’re deep into medieval mysteries with the Green Children of Woolpit.

Until the Black Death changed everything, rabbits were a luxury for the wealthy.

Here are a few very odd mediaeval beasts you’ve probably never heard about.

It seems to have been medieval month, because there’s yet more with the discovery of a major leper hospital in Lincoln.

Scholars have recently suggested that their predecessors have been reading the mysterious Voynich Manuscript all wrong, because it has been wrongly bound.

A book of advice for the 14th-century young housewife.

There’s a huge amount of controversy over which is the oldest pub in England, so Dr James Wright has taken a long, detailed look.

We’re gradually coming up to date with some of the most astonishingly bad Puritan names.

So where, and when, was the first flight in England?

London

So now to London proper …

For anyone who is into maps, the Historic Towns Trust has detailed maps of Medieval and Tudor London.

The fields to the north of the City had lots of marks for archery practice; one survives. [££££]

General Roy’s Bollards [££££]

A look at the darker side of wartime Covent Garden.

Finally in this section, a look at a few of London’s secret wartime defences. [££££]

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Now here’s an oddity: the legend of the Mongolian Death Worm.

And finally … why wants to be an ordnance expert? A behind the scenes look at the art of defusing a WW2 bomb and living to tell the tale! [LONG READ]

books, environment, history, links, medical, science, sexuality

Monthly Links for April

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As usual in this month’s collection of links, we’ll start with the hardest stuff …

Science, Technology, Natural World

Quite a lot of years ago, mathematicians worked out why waiting for a lift (elevator, for those in America) always takes forever. [££££]

How likely are you to be killed by a primordial black hole? [££££]

Whether you believe in astrology or not, your star sign is likely wrong, but you can find the correct one. [££££]

The Chernobyl exclusion zone has become a most unusual ecological experiments on Earth, leading to some unexpected results. [LONG READ]

So why do cats get the Zoomies, especially late at night?

Health, Medicine

If you had cardiac arrest in public, would a stranger give you CPR?

Most men have two balls, but are three balls better?

Sexuality & Relationships

The Kamasutra is more than a sex manual, with consent as an underlying principle.

A 300+ year old sex manual that got pretty much all of it wrong.

Well who would have guessed? Human sperm get lost in space. [££££]

As if boob jobs weren’t enough, labiaplasty is a growing fashion. Why? Just why? [LONG READ]

Environment & Ecology

Jaguar (below) are becoming increasingly rare, so researchers were pleased to see one in a wildlife corridor in the Honduran mountains. [££££]

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Archaeologists have discovered a variety of 12,000‑year‑old dice, and they illuminate ancient play.

The oldest known recipe for toothpaste comes from … Ancient Egypt.

So how many of the purported priest holes are actually what they’re said to be? [LONG READ]

Samuel Pepys was, in many ways, a very naughty man – even to the extent of concealing letters about being offered an enslaved boy as a bribe.

London

Matt Brown of Londonist has taken a look at the origins of some of the City of London’s street names.

Matt Brown is also creating a coloured version of John Rocque’s 1746 map of London. Here’s the latest section covering Chelsea and the King’s Road (above).

Meanwhile a researcher has been able to unravel the mysterious location of Shakespeare’s house in Blackfriars.

London Historians visits Benjamin Franklin’s London house.

Food, Drink

Here’s a quick look at some of the factors which produce the myriad types of tea.

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Humans have been documenting their appreciation of the nude body for thousands of years, and photography has made it much easier and more accessible.

The New Testament letters of Paul are not what they seem; many weren’t even written by him. [LONG READ]

Shock, Horror, Ha ha ha!

Finally, New Scientist considers the size of a “shedload“. [££££]

history, natural history, science, topographical

Monthly Links for November

Christmas is creeping ever closer, but before then we must have this month’s collection of links to items you may have missed.

Science, Technology, Natural World

The first test image from the new Vera C Rubin telescope has found a tail on galaxy M61 (above). [££££]

Meanwhile a rather strange planetary system has been spotted with three planets circling a pair of stars.

The planet which crashed into Earth, thus creating the Moon, came from the Inner Solar System. [££££]

Recently a very tiny asteroid buzzed past very close to Earth.

Here’s a tribute to Betty Webster, the much ignored woman who discovered the first black hole.

Coming back to Earth … How did a medieval Oxford friar use light and colour to find the composition of stars and planets?

A recent scientific study has found that there are four key ages in your brain’s development – and they’re not quite when you think they are!

A curiosity … It seems we have an internal lunar clock (as well as the solar one) and it’s getting disrupted by light pollution.

Scientists now calculate that the first kiss dates back some 21 million years – so it wasn’t between humans! (Sculpture below is by Brancusi)

The diversity of our dog breeds can apparently be traced back to the Stone Age.

They seem to have memory, but what do trees remember? [LONG READ]

Environment & Ecology

In the UK, on the Isle of Wight, the “White-knuckled Wolf Spider” has been rediscovered.

Would you believe that London is home to a hairy snail (above), which is now subject to conservation efforts?

Meanwhile, an exceptionally rare pink grasshopper (below) has been found in New Zealand.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Archaeologists have discovered a massive ancient Egyptian fortress in the middle of the desert.

In the UK, the find of several Bronze and Iron Age log boats is revealing details of Fenland prehistory.
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There’s a project which is mapping ancient Roman roads, and they’ve recently added 60,000 miles from right across the Roman Empire. [££££]

Here’s Going Medieval on the Dark Ages.

Well who would have thought it? Finds – including 25 shoes (one, below) – from ancient vulture nests are shedding light on 600 years of human history! [££££]

London

As so often our London section is mostly historical …

There’s a new book, The Boroughs of London by Mike Hall and Matt Brown. It’s getting lots of great reviews.

Meanwhile Londonist has an article by Matt Brown on the history of the London Plane Tree. [LONG READ]

Ongoing work under the Houses of Parliament has turned up evidence of prehistoric tools and a lost medieval hall.

In another Londonist post Matt Brown (again) continues his work revealing the detail in John Rocque’s 1746 map of London by colouring it in. He’s now got to Wapping, Rotherhithe and Shadwell (snippet below). [LONG READ]

Still with Matt Brown, and following on from the previous item, he appears to have found the lost island of Shadwell.

And coming right up to date, the 20-year old gates of City Road Lock on the Regent’s Canal are being replaced, allowing a quick peek at the workings of a lock.

Shock, Horror, Ha ha ha!

And finally, for your delectation, here’s a history of slang for virginity – and some links to similar articles from the same author.