(Don't) stay away from that jackdaw

Plus talks and lectures on: smart aerospace, tiger conservation, and the shape of brains

Author

Leonie Mercedes
November 12, 2024

Hello, friends!

(…and apologies to those who don’t remember the ’80s children’s claymation series The Trap Door, and for whom that subject line makes absolutely no sense, but that pun was far too good to pass up.)

It’s flyers and tigers and brains, oh my! today. Let’s go!

🍿 online talks and events 🐧

All times are GMT.

Tuesday 12 November

The convoluted brain: wrinkles and folds, hybrid lecture by Gresham College, 18.00, free: Professor Alain Goriely ponders the human brain’s distinct and complex appearance – all valleys and ridges folding over themselves – asking questions such as how do these shapes emerge? and considering how simple mathematical models can help us understand these patterns.

Restoring Nepal’s roar: tiger conservation in the Nepalese Terai, online event by ZSL, 18.00, free: Speakers from the Zoological Society of London’s Nepal team share their experiences of habitat interventions in Nepal that help to increase tiger, elephant and rhino populations, also exploring how these animals can live safely alongside people.

Wednesday 13 November

Navigating the future: smart aerospace vehicles, hybrid event by Imperial College, 17.30, free: Aeronautics professor Zahra Sharif Khodaei explains how new systems will enable the safe flight of the next generation of aerospace vehicles, including electrical aircraft and space launchers.

Thursday 14 November

Life and work of James Clerk Maxwell, online talk by the Institute of Physics, 14.30, free: Dr Alan Walker discusses the life of 19th century physicist James Clerk Maxwell, whose work with electromagnetism – and I really can’t overstate this – had a profound impact on physics.

🔭 in a sky near you… 🌖

Where’s the Moon? By Jove: At about 7pm on Sunday evening (17 November) look for the almost full Moon in the low eastern sky and you’ll find Jupiter just five fingers at arm’s length away from it. They’ll hang in close formation all night.

👀 closer to Earth 🐦

Two for joy: Keep an eye out for the jackdaw (Corvus monedula) in parks, woodland and near the coast. The UK’s smallest crow, this mostly black bird has a distinctive silver “hood” and unmistakable grey-blue eyes. Bonus points if you can spot a pair of them – jackdaws mate for life and will stay together for years, even if they’ve not managed to breed.

💫 we need answers

Last week, I asked:

Which scientist, whose words have been carried in the pockets of millions in the UK (and were famously mangled in the name of an Oasis album), wrote the following about his friend Edmond Halley’s journey in a diving vessel in 1718?

“…when he was sunk many fathoms deep into the water, the upper part of his hand, on which the sun shone directly through the water… appeared of a red colour… the under part of his hand, illuminated by light reflected from the water below, looked green.”

The answer is… Isaac Newton. This is an extract from Opticks, Newton’s 1704* work on the fundamental nature of light, which controversially proposed that white light is composed of different colours. Newton’s likeness appeared on the £1 note – and so was carried by millions, perhaps? – from 1978 to 1988.

*Not 1718, as it appears in the question. Looks like I was referring to a later edition last week – KFS regrets the error.

🤔 until next week…

I hope you’re not put off… spring into action for this one: What do cattle, whales and icebergs have in common?

Answer comes next week. See you then! x