This week’s biggest stories
The biggest news this week is further evidence that the use of vaginal mesh needs to be looked at again: NHS figures suggest that traumatic complications mean one in 15 women fitted with the most common type of mesh support will require surgery to extract it. While we’re down there, a survey has revealed that pubic grooming has a surprisingly high injury rate. And if you need a steadying post-depilation whisky, two chemists say they have discovered why diluting your dram might make it taste better. It may be that whisky is not enough to banish your waxing woe. If that’s the case then good news: memories (specifically those of fear in this study) can be permanently erased, researchers have shown. Their work in mice reveals a new approach to wiping memories from the brain, demonstrating that specific memories can be weakened or strengthened. One thing you won’t want to forget, however, is the excitement of Chilesaurus, “the most bizarre dinosaur ever found”. Originally classified as a relative of T rex, analysis shows Chilesaurus belongs to a different dinosaurian group, with implications for the dinosaur family tree – basically, it’s the missing link in dinosaur evolution.
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Science show of the week
Well, I couldn’t get tickets for Mosquitoes at the National Theatre, sob, sigh. But if you’re in the same boat (and in London) and want to see something a bit funny and a bit sciencey, then Boom, a semi-scientific tale of fish, sex and the end of the world at Theatre 503 could be just the ticket.
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Straight from the lab – top picks from our experts on the blog network
‘Rivers of bones’: rituals of life, death and hunting in the American west | The Past and the Curious
For thousands of years the Native peoples of North America thrived on the great plains, a landscape that is often perceived to be desolate and barren. A key subsistence practice was communal hunting of the large game that existed there - bison, but also bighorn sheep, muledeer, pronghorn, and elk. These communal hunts left behind some of the most romanticised archaeological site types, immense bison bone beds, looming cliffs, and incredible game drive systems ... These drives, and the jump sites themselves, were sometimes re-used year after year. Head-Smashed-In is estimated to have been used regularly for 6,000 years.
A ‘murder’ mystery with a toxic twist ... and pygmy goats | Notes & Theories
Some animals really do have impressive tolerances to chemicals that would kill others. Some rabbits are remarkably resistant to the effects of deadly nightshade; the Golden Bamboo Lemur can eat cyanide-packed bamboo shoots to its heart’s content without any nasty side-effects; humans can munch away on quantities of chocolate that would kill dogs. Goats may not be very discriminating when it comes to food, but that doesn’t mean it’s all good for them.
Beards and Gore-Tex: does palaeontology have an image problem? | Lost Worlds Revisited
Palaeontologists have acquired a set of stereotypes, many shared with other Earth scientists. They are not entirely unfounded. When visiting geology departments – where palaeontologists are often ensconced – I’m baffled by the prevalence of outdoor-gear worn by researchers. Are the departments sponsored by Tiso? These academics look ready to trek from the tea-room to the Trossachs at a moment’s notice. Forget that most walk no further each day than the distance from their suburban home to their desk; should a geological emergency occur that urgently requires sedimentary logging, they’ll be prepared.
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Alex Bellos’s Monday puzzle
Are you a bright spark? Or did Alex’s match-based puzzles this week fail to kindle your mathematical majesty?
Visit Alex Bellos’s Adventures in Numberland blog for more marvellous maths
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Science Weekly podcast
In 1962, Stephanie Shirley – now Dame Shirley – set up the computing company Freelance Programmers with just £6. The company was one of the first to commercialise software which, until then, had often been given away for free with computers. And with a gender balance of roughly one man for every hundred women, the company was pioneering in other ways too. In this week’s podcast, Shirley speaks to Hannah Devlin about her life as a woman in tech, having a son with autism, and how it all led to her later role as a philanthropist.
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Eye on science – this week’s top video
It’s basically robot Mr Bean. Far funnier than a non-mammal falling about ought to be.
