From Undark: “One day in 1905, the French geophysicist Bernard Brunhes brought back to his lab some rocks he’d unearthed from a freshly cut road near the village of Pont Farin. When he analyzed their magnetic properties, he was astonished at what they showed: Millions of years ago, the Earth’s magnetic poles had been on the opposite sides of the planet. North was south and south was north. The discovery spoke of planetary anarchy. Scientists had no way to explain it. Today, we know that the poles have changed places hundreds of times, most recently 780,000 years ago. (Sometimes, the poles try to reverse positions but then snap back into place, in what is called an excursion. The last time was about 40,000 years ago.) We also know that when they flip next time, the consequences for the electrical and electronic infrastructure that runs modern civilization will be dire. The question is when that will happen.”
The world record for highest number of basketball points is held by a 13-year-old
From Backpages: “My own personal gospel came to me in the form of World’s Strangest Basketball Stories, by Bart Rockwell. Published in 1993, the Chinese year of the Rooster, the book was 92 pages of pure basketball bliss for young readers to enjoy. Something jumped out to me on page 11: The Swedish Scoring Machine. Some 13 year old kid named Mats Wermelin woke up on February 5th, 1974, in Sweden and then scored 272 points in a game. And didn’t let anyone else (on either team) score! Let’s assume these Swedes played a 40 minute game (as per FIBA rules). That would mean Wermelin scored 136 per half. That’s 6.8 points per minute. Knowing that there was no three-point line back then, it would equate to a basket every 17.6 seconds. And that’s for 40 minutes, straight. Bart’s source was the 1985-86 Guinness Book of World Records.”
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Unusual fossils with large brains unearthed in China may rewrite the human story
From Radio New Zealand: “A cache of human-like fossils from China has perplexed scientists for decades, defying explanation or categorization. The skull fragments, teeth, jaws and other remains unearthed at different sites across the country are clearly remnants of archaic hominins – the formal name for species in the human lineage – who lived between 300,000 and 100,000 years ago. But it’s never been clear what species the bones belonged to or where they should sit in an increasingly complex human family tree. The most striking characteristic of this previously unknown human ancestor? An extremely large brain that’s bigger than that of our species, Homo sapiens, the only surviving hominin. Christopher Bae, a professor in the department of anthropology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, suggests it may be time to formally recognize this unknown ancient hominin, and they’ve proposed officially naming it a new species.
Hi everyone! Mathew Ingram here. I am able to continue writing this newsletter in part because of your financial help and support, which you can do either through my Patreon or by upgrading your subscription to a monthly contribution. I enjoy gathering all of these links and sharing them with you, but it does take time, and your support makes it possible for me to do that. I also write a weekly newsletter of technology analysis called The Torment Nexus.
Silly String was originally invented to help doctors set broken bones
From Missed History: “While experimenting with a foam formula for medical casts, inventors Leonard A. Fish and Robert P. Cox never imagined they’d create one of history’s most beloved unexpected inventions. Their initial goal was straightforward: develop a spray-on cast for broken bones. But when they tested different nozzles, something remarkable happened – the foam shot across the room in a perfect string, traveling an impressive 30 feet. After extensive testing, they went through 500 different nozzles before finding the perfect solution. They modified the formula to make it more colorful and less sticky, transforming their medical invention into something entirely different. When they presented their accidental creation to Wham-O, it eventually became what for many was an iconic 1970s party toy: Silly String.”
Archaeologists say a toilet has led them to the site depicted in the famous Bayeux Tapestry
From Ars Technica: “The Bayeux Tapestry famously depicts the events leading up to the 1066 Norman Conquest of England, in which William the Conqueror defeated Harold II, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, at the Battle of Hastings. Two scenes show King Harold feasting in an extravagant hall in a village called Bosham. Archaeologists think they have now located the site of that feast, concluding that it was the king’s own home, according to a new paper published in The Antiquaries Journal. It has been suspected that one particular manor house in Bosham (now a private residence) stands on the site of what was once King Harold’s residence. The biggest clue was the discovery in 2006 of a latrine within the remains of a large timber building. Archaeologists have since determined that high-status homes began integrating latrines in the 10th century, so the structure was most likely part of King Harold’s residence.”
If you think you can escape a bear by climbing a steep cliff you are wrong
Acknowledgements: I find a lot of these links myself, but I also get some from other newsletters that I rely on as “serendipity engines,” such as The Morning News from Rosecrans Baldwin and Andrew Womack, Jodi Ettenberg’s Curious About Everything, Dan Lewis’s Now I Know, Robert Cottrell and Caroline Crampton’s The Browser, Clive Thompson’s Linkfest, Noah Brier and Colin Nagy’s Why Is This Interesting, Maria Popova’s The Marginalian, Sheehan Quirke AKA The Cultural Tutor, the Smithsonian magazine, and JSTOR Daily. If you come across something interesting that you think should be included here, please feel free to email me at mathew @ mathewingram dot com