Tag Archives: physics

arts, history, links, medical, nudism, photography, science, sexuality

Monthly Links for May

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Here is this month’s well packed collection of links to items you didn’t know you’d missed …

Science, Technology, Natural World

Let’s start with something which has always been a bone of contention … Do we all see colour the same way? And if so why is it that what I describe as blue, you say is turquoise?

Research has found that chimpanzees have surprisingly good hygiene habits: they use leaves to wipe bums and clean up after sex.

Down in the ocean depths there is still mystery surrounding the largest light in the sea.

And now up in the air … we’ve long known about their intelligence, but now it appears that crows can do geometry.

Scientists try to imagine what it’s like to be a raven or crow.

And now to our own intelligence … Can you convincingly explain the Monty Hall problem?

Is there really an underlying mathematical sequence which this year’s Premier League title for Liverpool has highlighted?

So there’s a new Pope, but how is the Conclave’s tell-tale black and white smoke ensured?

We’ve all heard of antimatter, but now researchers have discovered anti-spice, which makes chillies less hot. [££££]

Talking of hot … astronomers are now suggesting that a nearby ancient supernova (below) is an invader from another galaxy. [££££]

A new theoretical study is proposing that the very existence of gravity is evidence that we are all part of a giant computer simulation.

Back with the (slightly) more mundane … there’s a collection of astronomers who spend their time trying to find and catalogue the seemingly infinite number of pieces of rock that whizz over our heads every day. [LONG READ]

Health, Medicine

Just why do some of use get travel sick but others don’t?

Sexuality & Relationships

Here’s a look at sex, art and the art of sex in ancient Pompeii.

Environment & Ecology

Not just “no mow May” it needs to be “leave it alone June, July and August” … We’d help our declining butterflies (and many other species) by mowing our lawns a lot less.

Researchers are discovering that there really are fungal superhighways connecting things up under our feet.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

Here’s a look at whether Spencer Tunick’s massed nude bodies (below) constitute good nude photography or not. [LONG READ]

The Courtauld Institute in London has released a huge art photo archive online, and it’s free

Also in London, at the Cartoon Museum, there’s an exhibition of cartoon cats from Korky to Garfield.

They seem to be two unlikely bedfellows but Cockney and Yiddish influenced each other considerably in London’s East End.

Going back in time, here’s an introduction to the history of runes. [LONG READ]

Here’s the story of how English lost several letters from its alphabet. [LONG READ]

And English then underwent the Great Vowel Shift which further ruined both our spelling and writing. [LONG READ]

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

A visit to the Rollright Stones (above) – and IME they’re worth a visit. [LONG READ]

There’s a new study looking at pregnancy amongst the Vikings.

A look at the expansion of Medieval Europe. [LONG READ]

An American looks at what other Americans actually know about medieval history. [LONG READ]

It’s not quite a grimoire but the Picatrix contained all the secrets to becoming an evil wizard.

What was happening in London during the first English Civil War (1642-1646). [LONG READ]

In Austrian village there’s a mysterious mummified priest – and it turns out he was mummified via his rectum!

London

North-west London boasts several Black Madonnas.

Some of the Cold War tunnels under central London are to be turned into a permanent museum of military intelligence.

Food, Drink

How to reduce the risk of your fridge being a breeding ground for bacteria.

Aspartame: a calorie-free, but not risk-free, artificial sweetener.

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

So just how much can your name influence your future or occupation?

Here’s something on thinking slowly and recognising your biases and maybe improve your life. [LONG READ]

On the world of Berliners getting together in the nude. [LONG READ]

An Australian sex writer on learning to appreciate her curves.

And the same Australian sex writer on why she loves her full bush, even in a bikini.

On the naturist attitude to the inevitable erections.

Wow! Ha ha!

In 1990, in Calvine, Scotland, two men photographed what is reportedly the best UFO picture ever seen; but it’s remained a mystery.

And I’ll leave you with a little fable about the evolution of why women like performing oral sex.

Be good!

history, links, medical, science, sexuality

Monthly Links

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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. [££££]

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

Monthly Links

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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.

amusements, environment, history, links, medical, natural history, science, sexuality

Monthly Links for December

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So here we are with the last round of Monthly Links for 2024, and were ending with a fairly bumper bundle …

Science, Technology, Natural World

dog-like ancestral mammal

Let’s start off with Quanta Magazine‘s reviews of science during the year. [All are LONG READS]
The Year in Physics
The Year in Biology
The Year in Maths
The Year in Computer Science
For some reason Quanta don’t cover chemistry or medicine.

There’s this idea in theoretical physics that we are living in a simulation, driven by some higher powers. And now there is a possible new law of physics which could support this.

The mathematics of random gatherings is a bit of a riddle.

Exponential growth can be somewhat counter intuitive.

Meanwhile scientists have tossed 350,757 coins to prove that they’re not 50/50 heads/tails and that a fair coin is probably impossible.

By most standards our modern atomic clocks are pretty accurate, but they’re about to be superseded by nuclear clocks which are orders of magnitude even more accurate.

Somewhat at the other extreme there’s an ancient piece of space hardware which is surprisingly still working well beyond it’s intended lifespan.

Talking of space hardware, there’s growing concern at the quantity of space junk left flying about up above, and how it could destroy all possibility of further space missions.

There are, as NASA have discovered, a whole host of so-called “dark comets” flying about above our heads.

Let’s come back to earth, or rather the sea … a strange, previously unknown, predatory crustacean has been found miles deep in an ocean trench off the west coat of South America.

Land predators aren’t going to be left out … the 280-million-year-old fossil of a dog-like predator which is likely one of our oldest mammal ancestors, has been found in Spain (above).

From dogs to cats … scientists have made a lot of progress unravelling the complex genetics of ginger cats.

ginger kitten

Finally in this section, Independent SAGE, which was formed early in the pandemic to communicate good and transparent science, have been doing some navel-gazing to see what they could have done better. There are two summaries by Kit Yates of the published research paper: activities and organisation and lessons learnt.

Health, Medicine

Although it’s now a bit late for Christmas 2024, here are some generally applicable ways, from a GP, to avoid some common health hazards.

The science and medical community are getting worried about a possible pandemic of H5N1 bird flu. But how close are we really close to a pandemic?

Meanwhile Bob Hawkins is writing a series of four articles on how one models a pandemic in order to understand how various scenarios play out. Here’s part 1, part 2 and part 3.

Here’s a look at why it makes sense to vaccinate boys against HPV.

Poliovirus has been found in wastewater in Spain, Germany and Poland. How important is this?

One of our most common symbols of Christmas, mistletoe, provides a number of therapeutic agents.

The Vagus Nerve, our most complex nerve, is responsible for the messaging associated with many of our organs, but it’s role in mental health is also being unravelled. [££££] [LONG READ]

Sexuality

It seems that sexual identity is much more fluid than we previously thought.

Sex educators provide 16 ways to talk to your children about bodies, porn and consent.

Environment

beaver kits

Here are five UK biodiversity success stories.

So what does happen to the natural world when people disappear? [LONG READ]

Carbon-positive gardening in your own back yard.

Hunting wildlife to remove them doesn’t work: hunt more coyote, get more coyote.

coyote

Social Sciences, Business, Law, Politics

So how much do we know about really old people, and how reliable is it? [LONG READ]

Sweden is almost a cashless society, and that’s not good for who are left out.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

As one had always suspected, “Word of the Year” is a marketing gimmick which tells us nothing about the actual state of the world.

Many authors place imaginary books within their own real books. Now there’s an exhibition in New York which brings some of these imaginary works of literature to life.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Let’s start off with a summary of ten fascinating archaeological discoveries of 2024. [LONG READ]

It seems highly likely that the first tools were made from plants, not rocks; but it is difficult to prove. [££££] [LONG READ]

A Bronze Age pit in Somerset has revealed evidence not just of mass murder, but also cannibalism.

Back around 4500 years ago, the area which is now Iran is known to have had a number of sophisticated board games including the Royal Game of Ur; and of course there are no manuals. Now two researchers have looked at another of these games, which has not just the board but also many of the pieces, and worked out a possible set of rules for the game. (If you really want brain-ache, follow the link to the preprint paper at the end of the linked article for a detailed explanation.)

In Norway, a number of Viking women’s graves have revealed jewellery, coins, and a ‘vulva stone’

An archaeological site in Kent is turning up lots of Anglo-Saxon finds, including a remarkably well preserved sixth-century sword.

Two articles on the plethora of archaeological finds from the reconstruction of Notre Dame. First from Science and second from Good News Network.

Unexpectedly, letters from Elizabeth I, Benjamin Franklin and Lord Byron are among a collection discovered in British stately home.

Around the globe there are around 8,500 shipwrecks from WWI and WWII, and many are now a ticking time-bomb of pollution, or worse.
Polluting shipwrecks are the ticking time-bomb at the bottom of our oceans.

Food, Drink

Now here’s a curiosity … Diamond Geezer has discovered that the British are drinking a lot less tea than 50 years ago, but coffee consumption is about the same.

cup of tea

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

People have always needed to make sense of the world within their knowledge span, so they end up believing all sorts of things which later generations reveal to be rubbish.

Here are three articles from Corey S Powell in which he takes a cosmic look at thought …
Perspective from the stars
You Are a Ripple of Information
Your information bubble is your legacy

How Polynesian voyagers navigate Earth’s biggest ocean.

So just why don’t more women choose to propose to their male partners? Spoiler: patriarchy.

Once they reach 40 many women become invisible to men, and they won’t all accept it. [££££]

Another look at why women wear bras.

And finally for this year … ten reasons why you need to sunbathe naked.

nude sunbather

environment, history, links, medical, science, sexuality

Monthly Links

Here we go with this month’s collection of links to items you’ll wish you’d not missed.

Science, Technology, Natural World

First off, wasps … apparently hornets are able to hold their alcohol amazingly well. [££££]

hornet

Birds listen to their songs in a totally different way than we do. [££££}

Scientists have found a surprisingly intact sabre-toothed tiger kitten frozen in Siberian ice, and it’s revealing unknown details about the species.

In 2023 researchers sent a dummy alien signal to Earth, without telling anyone, and it has now been decoded although not understood!

Jupiter is large enough to swallow at least 1000 Earths, and yet it has no surface.

NASA has a large number of satellites studying the sun, and they’re providing some surprising discoveries unrelated to the sun.

Look deeper and you find that comets have sinkholes, which generate jets of material.

In another piece of work from NASA, they’ve discovered two galaxies, looking like bloodshot eyes, which seem to be in the process of merging.

And finally in this section, astronomers have rediscovered a “dandelion-like” supernova first spotted in 12th-century China and Japan. [££££]

dandelion supernova

Health, Medicine

H5N1 bird flu has been detected in pigs, which is a big cause for concern as they are a well-known “mixing vessel”. And a teenager hospitalised in Canada has H5N1 with mutation(s) which may make it more transmissible between people.

It turns out that humans evolved to share beds, and not only with their romantic partner.

Synaesthesia is strange (especially for those of us who don’t have it) but ticker-tape synaesthesia, where real life comes with subtitles, is really bizarre.

Sexuality

Girls, is it that you just don’t like sex, or is it that you don’t like patriarchal sex? [LONG READ]

So how do you like your dirty talk during sex? [££££]

Is using lube really that much of a taboo for straight couples? Seems it is. [££££]

Environment

OK, so let’s change track …

Japan tiny forest

Apparently British cities are taking on the Japanese concept of “tiny forests“.

And in a similar vein, relatively small patches of wildflowers in cities are as good as natural meadows for insect biodiversity.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

An amateur archaeologist has discovered another two stone circles on Dartmoor, and believes they add to the theory of a sacred arc of stone circles.

So who was Gunhild? And was she a victim of medieval ethnic cleansing?

On the other side of the world, a postgraduate student has serendipitously found a lost city in the Mexico jungle.

In Leicester they’ve found an 800-year-old burial pit containing 123 bodies, and it’s a complete mystery.

In the mid-13th-century, in what is now Turkey, a kingdom changed hands in exchange for a hat.

siren and centaur

In order to make sense of the world as best they could medieval people had lots of supernatural beliefs: elves and fairies; abductions and the undead.

On which subject, here’s a look at some medieval animal ghost stories.

When you’re a peasant economy and don’t have the resources to feed lots of livestock through the winter, November becomes Blotmonath, the month of animal sacrifice and trying to store the meat.

The British Library currently has an exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words. Here’s a review.

Food, Drink

Our drinking water contains many “forever chemicals”, but practically and personally what can we do to ameliorate this?

Wow! Ha ha!

So it’s that time of year, the season of Winter Vagina.

winter vagina

amusements, memes, science

November Quiz Answers

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

Physical Science

  1. What does a Geiger-Müller Counter measure?  Ionising Radiation
  2. Which British-Italian engineer obtained a patent for radio in London in 1897?  Guglielmo Marconi
  3. What man-made spacecraft is generally recognised as the first to leave the solar system?  Voyager 1
  4. What is the speed of sound in a vacuum?  Zero; sound cannot exist in a vacuum
  5. Who discovered that the earth revolves around the sun?  Nicolaus Copernicus

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2023.

amusements, memes, science

November Quiz Questions

Each month we’re posing five pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As before, they’re not difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so hopefully you’ll learn something new, as well as having a bit of fun.

Physical Science

  1. What does a Geiger-Müller Counter measure?
  2. Which British-Italian engineer obtained a patent for radio in London in 1897?
  3. What man-made spacecraft is generally recognised as the first to leave the solar system?
  4. What is the speed of sound in a vacuum?
  5. Who discovered that the earth revolves around the sun?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

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. [££££]