Matilda's Lab Newsletter #58
This week we get around a bit. We have more self-medicating animals, a new type of wonder material, cancer-hunting sniffer-bees, transatlantic butterflies, new songs, new merch and a very big bang.
I didn’t even attempt to do a newsletter last week, there was just too much going on. So I’ve got a double catch up this time around.
What we’ve been up to
The last 2 weeks kicked off with Father's Day; and what a welcome distraction from the manic working weeks it was. If the fathers that you know are anything like the fathers that I know, then they are notoriously hard to buy for. Therefore, I make sure to tell people when I see things that I like but can’t justify buying for myself. This Father's Day, one such thing appeared. A little something that I’ve been needing to finish off my homemade pallet barbecue table.
That metal mollusc is a ridiculously elaborate bottle opener; and I absolutely love it!
I was then taken out for breakfast, to my favourite American smoke-house restaurant. I am very adventurous with my food choices and this place gets me. So for breakfast, I had; pancakes (so far so normal), with maple butter (yep, checks out), topped with deep-fried chicken (hang on a minute), covered with Louisiana hot sauce (excuse me?). And the crazy thing is that it really works. The hot/sweet sauce beautifully ties together the savoury and sweet elements of the dish.
Later in the day, we met up with friends for a beach walk. The dogs played, Nathaniel found every rock to step on, and Matilda scoured the beach looking for bivalve shells and occasionally discovering discarded pieces of crustaceans.
And then there was nothing but work. I travelled every day of the week. On Thursday, I even had to go to France! On Friday, I needed to travel to Wiltshire for the weekend. That’s a good 3.5 to 4 hours drive from ours. So I left my French hotel at 5am, drove 2 hours to the airport to fly home via Dublin (first time in Ireland for me, I had to go through customs for my connection, so yes it does count!) then drive home before embarking on the next trek down this country. Thankfully, Cat drove most of that one.
Cat was going to a hen (bachelorette) party in Bath. My Mum lives close by, so it was a great chance for the rest of us to see her and for her to meet Edison for the first time. A particular point of interest from the weekend, when helping my Mum with her gardening, was a discovery that I made in her bag of compost:
My Mum’s garden seems like an odd place to find a common toad, but we needed that compost, so I liberated it to a nearby hedgerow; where it could go about seeking out a new unsuspecting bag of compost.
New Blog content
The downside of not getting a newsletter out last week was that I couldn’t shout about the new single. Fame & Fortune is now available on streaming platforms. Once again, we’re tackling a new angle on the science song. This song is a reworking of an old song of mine, which was originally called Fame & Fortune (I know; I’ve come a long way). The old version was critique on the subject in the title, but for science purposes I’ve now made it about Thomas Edison. Edison was both rich and famous, and like many people in that position, he upset a lot of people getting to where he did. He was reputed for his underhand tactics and is even suspected of being involved in the disappearance of the man who invented moving pictures, in a bid to get a hold of the technology. This song is upbeat, and once again includes both Matilda and Nathaniel on backing vocals.
I’ve also increased the range of Matilda’s Lab merch by adding a new shirt/hoodie design. In addition to the original Northern Giraffe, there is now a Sidewinder available in my online store. More products will be on the way soon.
From the Archive
Since the last newsletter went out, the sad news broke that Donald Sutherland had died. As an inductee of the Matilda’s Lab Hall of Fame, I could not let the moment pass without reminding everyone that this great man was also a qualified engineer.
Science News
In all the noise of election excitement in various countries and European Football, it’s necessary to dig a little deeper for science new at the moment.
New material alert! A hard and glassy, yet gel-like self-healing material has been created somewhat by accident. There could potentially be many uses for a material like this.
The other week we covered the story of an Orangutan who treated an injury they had suffered with a plant known to have medicinal qualities. They are not alone. A new study has confirmed that Chimpanzees also self-medicate with medicinal plants.
Diagnosing cancer early is highly important for potential recovery, but is often hard to achieve in practice. Potentially to the rescue; sniffer-honeybees could possibly be trained to smell out lung cancer.
It’s long been known that butterflies undertake large migrations. For the first time, evidence has been found that painted lady butterflies have flown across the Atlantic Ocean! Not the short way. We’re talking 4,200 km (2,600 miles).
Kicking back
For when you’ve definitely had enough of elections and football:
When you hear that there won’t be another train for a whole 5 minutes…
And it all started with a big bang.
I can’t say it often enough. Speeling is inportant!
I’m not sure why this artist believes that a skeleton is essential to the ability to grow hair.
That’s it for this week.
Please feel free to get in contact with any questions, suggestions or comments either via Substack or at matildaslab@gmail.com.
Please share this with anyone who you think will appreciate it. And remember to share with me any cool sciencey stuff that you find, to make sure that I can pack this newsletter with the best new science content each week.
Until next time, remember that one person’s old news is another’s revelation; so explore. Sometimes it’s not about being the first up the hill. The view’s still going to be breathtaking, no matter how many people have seen it before you.