Smart hawks, infected agents, and a strong drink

Plus 6 online talks and lectures on astronomy, animals, medicine, and more

Author

Leonie Mercedes
May 23, 2025

Hello, friends!

How have you been this week? I’ve been spending a lot of time in the library lately, reading up on the history of refrigeration and Oreo cookies.

It’s been a lot of fun (nerrrrd!), but apparently I’m at an age where sitting down for long periods of time is just as knackering on the body as constant motion. I’m looking forward to shaking it all out on a long walk this bank holiday weekend.

Coming up:

🐼 how to approach a baby panda responsibly (and adorably)

🧳 what every amateur scientist should pack on their next holiday

🤢 why James Bond should think about washing his hands more often.

Let’s go!

read all about it

Meet the hawk that uses pedestrian crossing signals to ambush prey: “The hawk… appears to have learned to interpret a traffic signal and take advantage of it, in its quest to hunt,” Katherine J. Wu writes. “Which is, with all due respect, more impressive than how most humans use a pedestrian crosswalk.” (The Atlantic)

These researchers are looking to thicken Arctic ice… with robots: “[UK company] Real Ice is trying to thicken seasonal ice so that it lasts longer into the warm months, keeping the planet cool,” writes Alec Luhn. “All it would take, Real Ice says, is half a million ice-making robots.” (Scientific American)

📷 See this keeper cradling a panda bear cub for a health check, in a fetching disguise. (New Scientist)

that time when…

…Scientific American suggested trading in your bougie holiday for a microscope, and having some real fun (June 1925)

Where there’s muck there’s science. Composite image by yours truly.

“The trouble with vacations is that they have a way of being just what their name implies: too vacant,” goes the editorial. “Science can help.”

Readers should head to muddy streams and ponds and see what they can find, it suggests. “There is a vast and interesting world of tiny creatures… Science calls them animalcules, protozoa, protophyta, and other long names.”

How can we see them, SciAm? “For the price of one week-end visit to a moderately fashionable resort you can buy a microscope.” Sold. “You can take it out anywhere in the country and discover for yourself this intensely interesting world of mud dwellers.”

what’s happening this week?

Your agenda for Monday 26 May – Sunday 1 June.

All times are BST, and sky views are from London.

🔭 in a sky near you: At 8.30pm Wednesday evening, so just before sunset, spot Jupiter three fingers (on an outstretched hand) below an extremely fine crescent Moon. They’ll be very close to the horizon, towards the north east.

👀 closer to home: If you happen to find yourself in the woodlands of southeast England this bank holiday weekend, keep an eye out for stag beetles, which start emerging in May to search for a partner.

Elsewhere, and as No Mow May draws to a close, admire the blankets of dandelions in parks and grasslands, providing a bounty of nectar and pollen to insects. Bonus points if you spot a bumblebee chowing down.

online talks and events

🗣️ Can you hear me now? Using sound to study marine mammals around the world, online talk by St Andrews, Tuesday 27 May, 17.15, free

🍴 Chimpanzee engineering prowess: making the best tools for the job, online event by the Linnean Society, Wednesday 28 May, 12.30, free

💉 Viruses, vaccines and the written word, hybrid lecture by Imperial College London, Wednesday 28 May, 17.30, free

🛰️ A new sky, hybrid lecture by Gresham College, Wednesday 28 May, 19.00, free

📣 Science under threat: the politics of institutionalised disinformation, hybrid event by the Royal Society, Thursday 29 May, 18.30, free

🧠 Digital intelligence vs. biological intelligence, hybrid event by the Royal Institution, Friday 30 May, 19.20, pay what you can

we finally know…

…that many of James Bond’s most frequently encountered health threats relate to food safety.

A word cloud-style infographic referencing the opening of a James Bond film, where the character appears among a variety of colour-coded health risks

James Bond’s exposure to infectious diseases and other relevant travel-associated risks. “Given how inopportune a bout of diarrhoea would be in the midst of world-saving action, it is striking that Bond is seen washing his hands on only two occasions.” Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

we need answers

Last week I asked:

Which consumer product, manufactured in Cumbernauld and Milton Keynes, and of which about 6.5 litres are sold every second in its country of origin, is said to contain 0.002% ammonium ferric citrate?

The answer is… Irn Bru. So it could have been made – a tiny little bit – from girders.

until next week…

Here’s another from the archive:

Where would you find Mount Terror, the Onyx river, Amundsen’s tent and Cape Disappointment?

Answer comes next week. See you then! x