Tag Archives: medicine

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

Links for August

2 Comments

Here’s our August collection of links to interesting items you may (or may not) have missed.

Science, Technology, Natural World

Good scientists update their theories and change their minds. What happens when the do? [££££]

Or to look at it another way, there is much weirdness, and the best we can do is to try to understand the underlying rules.

Because, for example, the Universe is static. No, it’s expanding. Or slowing? Or accelerating. Depending on who and when you are. [££££]

Meanwhile they’ve discovered a new moon orbiting Uranus – assuming you can call a piece of rock 10km in diameter a moon. [££££]

And it seems that Betelgeuse may have a small stellar companion.

After which we shouldn’t be surprised that Earth gets bombarded by meteorites from outside our solar system [££££], or that some manage to crash land here.

Continuing to look up, we’re still trying to understand what triggers lightning; and it seems to be all down to exploding stars!

From above our heads to under our feet … Earth’s core is leaking out.

Now lets turn to the animal kingdom … a small ancient whale with razor-sharp teeth an huge eyes has been unearthed in Australia.

Antarctic Leopard Seals sing to attract a mate, and their songs are very similar to nursery rhymes!

There’s a new theory that our primate ancestors evolved in colder regions and not in the tropics.

Research has confirmed that cats develop dementia in a very similar way to humans developing Alzheimer’s.

All hail the Rat King – maybe.

A new study has found that “sex reversal” is surprisingly common in birds.

They keep telling me that wasp numbers in UK have been unusually high this summer after a warm and dry Spring. All I can say is “Not here”; wasps are almost absent.

Now finally in this section, a complete change of subject … a sports scientist has looked at how strip colour impacts performance particularly in Premier League football.

Health, Medicine

Do we visualize dreams in colour or black and white?

While different diseases spread via different methods, there’s a scale of contagion.

Is it actually possible to break your penis? Spoiler: yes, and it needs emergency action.

On which note … why some penises are curved?

Environment & Ecology

Scientists have used existing air pollution monitors to assess environmental DNA (eDNA) to discover what lives nearby.

Natural England is reporting the recovery of 150 struggling species of plants and animals.

Southern Small White butterfly has been seen in the UK for first time.

A study is suggesting that reintroduced lynx could thrive in Northumberland.

Social Sciences, Business, Law, Politics

We know that the Mercator projection used for most maps of the world distorts the relative sizes of continents, and now the African Union has joined calls for and end to the projection’s use.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

There’s a Christian principle of “hate the sin but not the sinner” which we seem to have totally lost – artist Eric Gill is, again, a current target – as it’s now a case of “hate the sin, and the sinner, and their works; and airbrush the whole from existence”.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

A previously unknown species of Australopithecus (our ancestors) has been identified from some teeth. [££££]

Still with teeth, an ancient cow’s tooth may help unlock some of the mysteries of Stonehenge.

Slowly coming up to date … a 2,500-year-old Siberian “ice mummy” had intricate tattoos

A new analysis reveals that the Vikings were addicted to silver and just how far they would travel to obtain it.

Archaeologists have happened upon the tomb of an ancient Mayan city’s first ruler.

Meanwhile all classes of ancient Incan used coded strings of hair for record keeping.

DNA analysis of some early medieval English skeletons has revealed some surprising West African ancestry. [££££]

On the return of the equestrian statue of Charles I to Charing Cross.

Still with the Restoration, their women were much more creative than has been perceived.

HMS Northumberland – built 1679 as part of Samuel Pepys’s modernisation of the Navy – sank in the Great Storm of 1703, but is only now revealing its secrets.

London

And finally for this month … Three articles on transport for London …
*  London’s First Bus
*  The colourful history of London’s Traffic Lights
*  An old Underground train breaks a world record.

history, links, medical, nudism, science

Monthly Links for June

And so, already, we get to this month’s collection of items you may have missed.

Science, Technology, Natural World
Has any cat owner actually managed to fully decipher their cat’s meows? Well now researchers are trying to use AI tools to do just this. [££££]

Whether your cat is vocal or quiet may depend on its genes.

So, we’re still finding microbes we didn’t know about. In one case a microbe with a bizarrely tiny genome (above) which could just be evolving into a virus.

And in a further demonstration of how little we know about our home rock, scientists continue to be baffled by an apparent, and mysterious, link between Earth’s magnetism and oxygen levels. [££££]

Extending this lack of knowledge outward … Was the Big Bang really the beginning of our Universe? We don’t know, but there is research which suggests it could all have happened within a black hole!

Health, Medicine

Despite what they told you at school, insulin is made in the brain, and not just in the pancreas.

The ancient idea of the wandering uterus may be wrong, but the female reproductive tract is surprisingly mobile.

Sexuality

Who knew that semen allergy was a thing?

Another oddity … Orgasms can trigger colours in people with sexual synaesthesia. [££££]

Social Sciences, Business, Law, Politics

Denmark is deploying “saildrones” (above) in the Baltic Sea to monitor undersea cables and protect them from hostile action.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

English spelling will never make sense. Here’s something about why. [LONG READ]

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

One archaeologist thinks he’s uncovered a fraudulent scam involving Roman wine.

Also in the Roman world, a huge haul of fragments of Roman frescoes has been found in South London. What a nightmare jigsaw puzzle!

Here’s a review of a book on the making of books in the Middle Ages.

The Inca had a system of “writing” based on knotted strings, and some ancient examples are revealing Peru’s climate history.

There seemed little he couldn’t turn his hand to for the profit of humanity in general, making Benjamin Franklin (below) a phenomenon even during his lifetime.

London

Who knew that London still had sheriffs?

IanVisits investigates the one-time secret tunnels beneath Holborn, and looks at the plans to open them to the public.

In North London there’s a forgotten Tudor house that’s seen better days.

Coming right up to date … there’s to be a national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II. And of course it will be in London’s St James’s Park and being designed by Norman Foster. [No comment.]

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs
Continuing one of our recurrent themes, here’s an article on helping people understand naturism and social nudity.

Shock, Horror, Ha ha ha!

So let’s end with two unlikely items …

Did you know that Disney produced educational films about periods and family planning as long ago as 1946?

And finally a Dutch museum has put on display a 200-year-old, mint condition, condom (below) decorated with an explicit scene of a nun and three clergymen. It is believed to have been a “luxury souvenir” from a fancy brothel in France.

environment, history, links, medical, science, sexuality

Monthly Links for April

This month’s links to items you maybe didn’t want to miss …

Science, Technology, Natural World

It’s fairly superficial, but here are 15 common science myths debunked. [LONG READ]

Robin McKie reflects on over 40 years as the Observer‘s science editor. [LONG READ]

Pharmaceutical chemist Derek Lowe takes issue with the idea that we could kill off all disease within 10 years.

Meanwhile Corey S Powell discusses why it is that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence … [LONG READ]

… And Prof. Seirian Sumner outlines the how we might best create a more nature-literate society.

Somewhere hiding in Britain the government has a collection of deadly fungi.

The tiny and mysterious hominin Paranthropus lived alongside early members of our Homo genus. [££££]

After which it is maybe no great surprise that intelligence evolved at least twice in vertebrates. [LONG READ]

No wonder scientists have recently created the largest mammalian brain map to date. [££££]

Going back down the size scale … just how do insects and the smallest animals survive in Antarctica.

Still with insects, it turns out that flies are masters of migration, travelling huge distances.

Back up in size, a group claims to have de-extincted the Dire Wolf, but have they? Two articles (amongst the many in recent weeks): a blog post from Bethany Brookshire [LONG READ] and an op-ed from Michael Le Page in New Scientist [££££]. Spoiler: No they haven’t.

And now for something completely different … new work is finding that astronomers were wrong about Uranus and it resolves some mysteries.

Much more interestingly, astronomers are trying to work out what’s happening inside Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io.

Health, Medicine

Researchers are now beginning to understand the actual role of carbon dioxide in airborne disease transmission, and this should be a key to safer indoor spaces.

Professor of Mathematical Biology, Kit Yates, asks whether the risks of brain injury in contact sports is being overstated. [LONG READ]

Drinking urine is an ancient practice to improve health, but are the risks worth it?

Sexuality & Relationships

Dani Faith Leonard writes a review of the medical discovery of the clitoris, and takes a sideswipe at DOGE incels in the process.

Here’s a history of (not just pubic) hair removal through the ages. [LONG READ]

And then there’s a pictorial history of the “full bush”. [LONG READ]

Meanwhile a different sex writer talks about her approach to “self-pleasure”.

Now over to you boys … First off, just what is the relation of penis size to monogamy?

And when you’ve got over that shock … apparently you need to wake up to your declining fertility. [££££]

All together now … Here are some thoughts on why some marriages last while others fail.

Which brings us to various ways to improve a sexless marriage.

Social Sciences, Business, Law, Politics

Following which, this seems an opportune time to consider nine ways to spot falsehoods on the loose.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

So from a linguistics point of view apparently “she” is a very weird word. [LONG READ]

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Archaeologists have uncovered a huge horad of Iron Age metal work; everything from cauldrons to horse harness fittings.

If you’re a Roman, how do you get a lion from Africa to York? Because a skeleton (presumably of a gladiator) in a Roman York cemetery has bite marks made by a lion and is the first physical evidence of gladiators (well people) fighting lions as sport.

History is sometimes hard to understand and interpret, but it seems Christopher Marlowe tackled the problematic Edward II.

Archaeologists in Barcelona have uncovered the remains of a wrecked medieval boat.

Mercury and weasel balls … medieval treatments so often make one doubt the sanity of ancient medicine.

Newly discovered wall paintings show off the tastes of wealthy Tudors.

And finally for this month … there’s a brouhaha over the display of a book bound in the skin of a 19th-century Suffolk murderer.

history, links, medical, science, sexuality

Monthly Links

2 Comments

Here’s this month’s round up of links to interesting(?) items you may have missed.

Science, Technology, Natural World

Yes, everything is chemicals! Here are the first two articles in a series for reasonably intelligent non-scientists explaining from the ground up how everything is chemicals so you can navigate the modern world of misinformation.
1. Everything is chemicals – yes, even you.
2. Cyanide is natural, Aspirin is synthetic. Which one do you trust?
[LONG READS]

How to use a significant lack of data to estimate the power of the enemy.

The Blue Bus Paradox and the legal system.

American researchers are asking cat owners to share their pets’ habits and quirks (and if you’re in USA) their fur for genetics. The hope is this will shed light on how cats’ health and behaviour are influenced by their genes.

Astronomers have now discovered 128 previously unknown moons of Saturn. It begs the question: how large does a rock have to be to be called a moon.

Another big rock, the asteroid Bennu, turns out to be a lot weirder than it was thought. [££££]

And there’s another very odd small rock (below), a meteorite, which appears to be the relic of a lost planet. [££££]

Lastly in this section, Prof. Christina Pagel paints a gloomy dystopian picture of the possible future of British science.

Health, Medicine

An Australian man, who has died recently aged 88, was the most prolific blood and plasma donor in Australia ever! It is estimated that he gave blood over 1000 times.

Environment

Coyotes don’t like money. While they like green space like parks, they choose against against golf courses and cemeteries in wealthier areas.

Social Sciences, Business, Law, Politics

75 years ago an engineer turned economist, created one of the first physical models of an economy, using salvaged parts from a WWII Lancaster bomber.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

Here’s an interview with Richard Blair, about his extraordinary father George Orwell. [LONG READ]

So what and how changed the way we spoke English during the late Medieval and Early Modern periods?

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

It all happens a lot earlier than we think … 1.5 million years ago, our ancestors used hippo bones to make tools.

We all know the Venus of Willendorf, but what’s on her head? Hair? Or a hat?

Archaeologists have uncovered an unexpected Bronze Age stone circle in Derbyshire.

So why did this Iron Age culture on the Iberian Peninsula drive large nails in skulls?

London

Many strange things happened during WWII, but how did the London Underground spawn Ampersand Station?

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Scotland has created and certified an official tartan to honour its executed witches.

An Australian sex writer takes two personal looks at pubic hair:
1. If pubic hair is a personal choice, why do so many choose to be hairless? [LONG READ]
2. Why she’s OK with her full bush.

Wow! Ha ha!

And finally, sex researcher reports on wearing a Kim Kardashian £68 nipple bra for a week. [££££]

environment, history, links, medical, science

Monthly Links

This month’s collection of links to items you may have missed the firs time around.

Science, Technology, Natural World

A new theory suggests humans might not be that special in the universe after all.

A new asteroid has been found and it might hit us in 2032, but the odds keep changing as it’s orbit is refined by new observations.

A different asteroid has been found to possibly contain the building block of life.

At the other end of the size spectrum … There’s a whole world of tiny “organisms”, smaller than viruses, out there; but do they constitute life? [££££]

This is a few months old, but the Asian Southern Giant Hornet (Vespa soror) has found its way to Europe. That’s a third species: it’s not the Yellow Legged Hornet (Vespa velutina) now widespread in Europe; nor the Northern Giant Hornet (Vespa mandarinia) which has hit NW USA. [££££]

Studying babies’ minds [££££] [LONG READ] is prompting a rethink of consciousness, and maybe explains why we can’t remember our lives as babies or toddlers.

Health, Medicine

Contrary to the naysayers, we know exactly what’s in vaccines because we put it there.

Researchers using mice have found a surprising link between menthol and Alzheimer’s Disease.

It seems that it may be possible that aching joints really can predict the weather.

Sexuality

I thought we already knew that, although still taboo, masturbation really can be good for you.

Social Sciences, Business, Law, Politics

Following a recent spate of accidents, it looks as if planes are crashing more often. But are they really?

Art, Literature, Language, Music

Amongst his other achievements Leonardo da Vinci made some incredible studies of human anatomy, but they are still not getting the recognition they deserve. [LONG READ]

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

In Egypt, archaeologists have found the 3,500 year-old tomb of a missing pharaoh.

New research suggests that most Europeans had dark skin until less than 3000 years ago. [££££]

Thanks to ever-improving technology, researchers have got the first glimpse inside a 2000-year-old scroll from Herculaneum.

In London some of the earliest parts of the Roman city’s basilica have been found in an office basement.

Meanwhile a new study has found evidence suggesting the ownership of Scotland’s Viking-age Galloway Hoard.

The Oakington Women: A collection of extraordinary female burials in sixth-century Cambridge is evidence of a matriarchal society.

In West Sussex the discovery of a medieval toilet has helped uncover lost home of the England’s last Anglo-Saxon King.

What we choose to remember from the past can give a radically different picture from the contemporary reality.

A potted biography of Samuel Pepys. [LONG READ]

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

And finally (yes, pun intended) … knowing the common signs that someone is dying can help in their final days.

medical, memes

February Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to this month’s six quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.

Medicine

  1. What is dermatophobia the fear of? Skin disease
  2. How many teeth do adult humans have? 32
  3. In 2015, which country started thanking people via text message when their donated blood was used? Sweden
  4. An absence of the SRY gene means what for a human being? It means the human is a female. The presence of the sex-determining region Y (SRY) gene is the specific factor which leads to maleness in mammals
  5. In which part of the body would you find the atlas and axis bones? Neck
  6. First developed by John Salk, the vaccine for which illness was first tested in 1952? Poliomyelitis

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2024.

medical, memes

February Quiz Questions

1 Comment

Each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As always, they’re designed to be difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so have a bit of fun.

Medicine

  1. What is dermatophobia the fear of?
  2. How many teeth do adult humans have?
  3. In 2015, which country started thanking people via text message when their donated blood was used?
  4. An absence of the SRY gene means what for a human being?
  5. In which part of the body would you find the atlas and axis bones?
  6. First developed by John Salk, the vaccine for which illness was first tested in 1952?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

current affairs, environment, history, links, medical, natural history, nudism, science, sexuality

Monthly Links

4 Comments

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.

food+drink, history, links, medical, natural history, science

Monthly Links, October

So once more, somehow, another month passes and we come around again to this month’s selection of links to items you didn’t know you didn’t want to miss!

Science, Technology, Natural World

Starting here, it’s all downhill, because it seems that a lot of science is actually faked.

Fly brains may be tiny in size but they’re still stuffed with very complex inter-weavings of thousands of neurons, so it’s amazing that researchers have managed to map every neuron. Two reports, first from BBC, and second from Scientific American [££££].

At a different level, scientists have analysed ancient DNA to unravel how the endangered Iberian Lynx avoided extinction.

Some fish in the sea are so bizarre … here’s one that walks on six legs, and those legs can smell its prey in the sand. [££££]

Still at sea, but now above the water, research has found that the windless doldrums around the equator are caused in a completely different way than previously thought.

Staying with things geographical, apparently Mount Everest is still getting taller and not quite in the way we might expect.

It’s no great surprise that scientists have found that the asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs was not a one-off.

And talking of meteorites, there was a mega meteorite about 3 billion years ago which was at least the size of Greater London which boiled the ocean and created a 500km wide crater.

NASA has shut down one of Voyager 2’s five remaining instruments to save power.

And finally in this section, did the early universe balloon in size with “cosmic inflation“, or is there a much simpler explanation?

Health, Medicine

This month’s medical matters are all to do with reproduction, in one way or another …

There are many genetic changes that link puberty to other aspects of physiology and affect its timing.

Prof. Christina Pagel highlights why we need to stop ignoring period pain and heavy bleeding!

Why is it that many doctors don’t believe women about the menopause? [££££]

At which point the Guardian asks if wearing a bra makes breasts more perky.

Let’s segue away from “women only” … in a move labelled “bonkers” by many, an NHS hospital in Norfolk has instructed staff that they must not describe babies as “born” male or female [££££]

And finally to the morgue where pathologists have found, during an autopsy, that the deceased 78-year-old man had not two, but three penises – and it is only the second ever such report and the first in an adult. Two reports, from Popular Science and Gizmodo. And the published academic papers make interesting reading!

Environment

In the hope of re-establishing colonies right across Britain, a number of pine martens have been released at a secret locations in Devon.

Social Sciences, Business, Law, Politics

It is being alleged that companies will no longer want to force people to change passwords every few weeks to counteract cyber attacks. I’ll believe it when it happens.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

An illustrator talks about how she went about a big commission.

Brits are forever complaining about the relentless invasion of English by Americanisms, but British English regularly invades the US.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

What?! So little history this month?!

Archaeologists have found a very rare Bronze Age wooden spade in southern England.

Archaeologists have found another tiny house in Pompeii which is decorated with erotic frescoes.

Going Medieval finds that medieval people were just as much into side hustles as their modern counterparts.

Food, Drink

White mulled wine seems set to be a thing in UK this Christmas, with Marks & Spencer taking the lead.

Why did European cuisine become so bland? Apparently because snobbery decreed the removal of all the spices and contrasting flavours from the cuisine.

Is it possible to make a commercial, ethically responsible, and tasty fish finger?

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

We should put down our mobile phones and get back into the habit of reading

So just why shouldn’t women propose marriage to men?

And last, but by no means least …

On discovering something wonderful when skint and posing as a nude model. [££££]

arts, environment, history, links, medical, science, sexuality

Monthly Links

Our packed monthly round-up of links to items you may have missed …

Science, Technology, Natural World

First up we have to highlight this years Ig Nobel prizes.

Palaeontologists have discovered several new species of extinct bone-crushing Tasmanian Tigers.

At the other end of the size scale, researchers looking in a Tibetan glacier have found over 1700 different frozen viruses.

Still with research reported in Popular Science magazine, the social white-browed sparrow weavers varying nest shapes demonstrate that birds have “culture”. Mind I thought we already knew that from the dialects of Meso-American parrots.

And while with “culture” apparently marmosets have individual “names” for each other.

Grief is well documented emotion in humans, and it seems some other species, but do cats grieve?

Scientists continue to unravel the meaning of our dreams.

So how do you know what that smell is? How does our sense of smell work? [LONG READ]

Leaving the animal world for the geological, in September 2023 something made Earth ring like a bell for nine days. [LONG READ]

Back in the early life of the solar system, it seems that Jupiter’s moon Ganymede was struck by an asteroid bigger than the one which wiped out the dinosaurs.

The asteroid Apophis is due to fly by very close to Earth in 2029, and now an astrophysicist is predicting a very slightly higher chance it may hit us.

Meanwhile, way out in the universe, researchers have discovered the largest jets ever from a black hole – and they make our galaxy look miniscule.

Health, Medicine

So how much proper risk assessment was done around Covid? And by whom? [LOMG READ]

OB/GYN Dr Jen Gunter shares some takeaways from the recent (American) Menopause Society Meeting.

Our bodies are full of nerves, but the longest one orchestrates the connection between brain and body.

While on brains, within the billions of neurons they contain there are trillions of typos – some good, some bad. [LONG READ]

And still on brains, it’s being suggested that many older people don’t just maintain, but actually increase, their cognitive skills. [££££]

And finally with things mental, a Stanford-led research group has identified six different types of depression each of which is likely to respond differently to various treatments. [LONG READ]

Sexuality

Sex historian Dr Kate Lister tries to explain exactly why women masturbate. [££££]

Environment

Nature is like art in many ways as for many humans both are subjective.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

Loughborough has installed a new memorial bell as a tribute to those who died from Covid, and a thank you to NHS and other key workers. And unusually for the UK, it’s a campanile. We need more campaniles.

In which David Hockney stimulates an academic epidemiologist and mathematician to think about four dimensional chairs.

Philip Curtis, the director of The Map House in London, talks about mapping Antarctica.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

We reported previously that Stonehenge’s altar stone had been identified as originating in NE Scotland. Now it seems that the front runner locations, Orkney, has been ruled out.

Further up into the cold lands, archaeologists are shedding light on a little known ancient culture in northern Greenland. [££££]

In Britain we are generally pretty ignorant about the way in which ancient India shaped science and mathematics.

Archaeologists in Spain have used DNA to uncover some of the secrets of a Christian cave-dwelling medieval community.

Meanwhile in Poland archaeologists have found the burial of two children suspected of being vampires.

Henry VIII did many notable things including accidentally changing the way we write history.

London

Our favourite London blogger, Diamond Geezer, visits Theobalds Grove (one stop outside Greater London). This is my home town; I was brought up just three minutes walk from this station! Needless to say it’s changed quite a bit since I last lived there in late 1970s.

I lived a couple of hundred yards down the road to the right of the church

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

So just why do men bother with depilation?

Emma Beddington set out to see what it’s like to spend a day as a dog, and finds it impossible.

People

A German mathematician who lived in France as a hermit, left thousands of pages of work. Now there’s a debate over whether he was a mathematical genius or just a lonely madman. [LONG READ]

Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!

And finally some pictures of the first UK Hobby Horse Championships.