The power of cute, Victorian thrill rides, and a birding mystery

Awright me ol’ China?!

Yep, this week’s dispatch has a bit of a London accent this week. The girl apparently can’t help it! Also coming up:

🐶 how looking at cute things could make us better surgeons (maybe)

🤩 a shiny surprise in the sky for early risers

🪲 what flesh-eating beetles and making breakfast have in common.

Let’s go!

read all about it

The ‘wrong bird’ in Charlie’s Angels that’s tormented birders for almost 25 years: This was a lot of fun. Forrest Wickman takes us artfully through the intricacies of film production as well as a canned history of bird conservation to solve a mystery: how a dodgy avian mish mash made it into one of 2000’s biggest action movies. (Slate)

How Yiddish and Cockney influenced each other in London’s East End: “Phonetic analysis of cockney speakers who grew up with Jewish neighbours spoke English with speech rhythms typical of Yiddish,” write researchers Nadia Valman and Vivi Lachs. (The Conversation)

Meet the flesh-eating beetles preparing museum skeletons for study: “The room is pervaded by the soft, crackling sound of gnawing. ‘It sounds like something frying, or Rice Krispies when you add milk,’ said Rob Pascocello, the colony’s tender.” (New York Times – gift link)

📼 Watch the moment a mouse embryo’s heart starts to form (The Guardian)

📷 Check out this *way atmospheric* view of Mars’ smaller moon, Deimos, captured by the Perseverance rover before Martian dawn. (NASA)

that time when…

…the brand new London Underground sent VIPs on a trial run... in open wagons (24 May 1862)

Months before the London Underground – then the Metropolitan Railway – opened to the public, some were invited to try out the journey. Among the first passengers were the then Chancellor of the Exchequer William Gladstone, and the tube’s chief engineer John Fowler.

Sadly, I don’t have the rights to post a picture of these dozens of dignitaries piled into a wagon in what would become Edgware Road station, but I urge you take a look – it could have inspired the term “hold on to your hats”.

what’s happening this week?

Your agenda for Monday 19 – Sunday 25 May. All times are BST.

in a sky near you: If you happen to be up with the lark this week, look out for a very bright Venus in the east an hour before sunrise, at about 4am (I know, I know). On Saturday morning Venus’ll be joined by the Moon, just three fingers away (on an outstretched hand). The slightly dimmer ‘star’ nearest the pair, over to the southeast, is Saturn.

closer to earth: Hurray! It’s lilac time! Look for its creamy cones of pink-purple flowers and often heart-shaped leaves in hedgerows or woodland edges (or even front gardens) and take in a lungful of its crazy sweet scent.

If you have a lilac local to you, see if its fragrance changes throughout the day – some species pump out more volatiles in the early afternoon.

online talks and events

All times are BST.

✈️ Engineering the skies: The rise of electric flight, hybrid event by the Royal Institution, Monday 19 May, 19.00, pay what you can

🌳 Jonathan Watts & Gaia Vince on How to Save the Amazon, online talk by 5x15, Monday 19 May, 19.00, free

🩺 How artificial super intelligence will solve human disease, online talk by King’s College London, Tuesday 20 May, 11.00, free

🌋 Fire and fury: volcano diplomacy in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), hybrid event by the Royal Astronomical Society, Tuesday 20 May, 13.00 and 18.00, free

🤖 Explainable AI for health and medicine, online talk by King’s College London, Tuesday 20 May, 14.00, free

🧮 Bletchley Park and AI, online event by King’s College London and Bletchley Park, Tuesday 20 May, 15.00, free

🇲🇳 From Mongolian steppes to museum basements: serendipity in science and equity in academia, hybrid event by the University of Birmingham, Tuesday 20 May, 16.00, free

♾️ Changes in the concept of autism, hybrid event by the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, Tuesday 20 May, 17.00, free

📚 Re-storifying planet Earth: narratives and storylines for publics and policymakers, hybrid event by the Geological Society, Tuesday 20 May, 18.00, free

📐 Lie theory, deformations and the life sciences, online lecture by the Royal Society, Tuesday 20 May, 18.30, free

🧪 Chirality and topology, hybrid lecture by the Institute of Physics, Wednesday 21 May, 14.00, free

🎉 Celebrating neurodiversity in research, hybrid lecture by Loughborough University, Wednesday 21 May, 17.00, free

🌞 The relentless sun: how do we live with severe space weather?, hybrid lecture by Imperial College London, Wednesday 21 May, 17.30, free

😋 Why sharing meals can make people happier, online event by UCL, Thursday 22 May, 13.00, free

🌍 The UK opportunity: a new geothermal story, hybrid event by the European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers, Thursday 22 May, 18.30, free

we finally know…

…that looking at pictures of kittens can boost focus.

Source: The Power of Kawaii: Viewing Cute Images Promotes a Careful Behavior and Narrows Attentional Focus (PLoS ONE, 2012)

we need answers

Last week I asked:

The answer is… coffeehouses.

Coffeehouses in Stuart Britain were a gathering place for artists and intellectuals, where those of all backgrounds could participate in discussion. They’ve been linked to the establishment of Lloyds of London and the Royal Society. Think about that next time you dive into a Starbucks to use the loo.

until next week…

Here’s another one from the archive:

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?

Answer comes next week. See you then! x