Things that are utterly bloody fascinating

Also, Georgiana Spencer and her life

Learning about so much of oceans unexplored and creatures that live very very deep, Marianna Trench, microbiology

I found out 2 years ago I am a human fusion chimera. I absorbed the cells of my non identical twin in early pregnancy and have twos sets of DNA. I have two completely separate sets of reproductive organs including 4 ovaries. 2 mine 2 my female twin. Twins are the only ones working.

I keep loosing babies because I have a rare blood type and she wouldn’t have had so my body has aborted 4 babies in a row as technically they are completely foreign bodies. Heart just stops.

I have various other signs autoimmune conditions and organs in different places and a heart shaped pancreas.

All a bit strange.

🙂

I've always found the murder story of the Russian Romanov family fascinating.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MurderofftheRomanovvfamily

I also often sit and ponder how much stupider the human race is getting every year in comparison to our ancestors who built Rome, the pyramids, etc.

I also often wonder how people discovered random things like baking (who decided to mix yeast and various ingredients together to make bread, cakes, etc?) or home remedies - like cabbage leaves on engorged breasts to get rid of mastitis?

The gut brain link and new research on the microbiome. It's fascinating and will be changing a lot of healthcare.....

@Hermya How about ivf conception?

What was your ancestor's name? I could look her up for you in the papers and the HO files.

We had paternosters in the main library at uni in the 1980s.

And I never tried them out because the only time I set foot in the library was freshers week (in my defence, all our books were in the department library).

Feels like a missed opportunity.

Monarch butterflies do the same in the Americas - generations working their way up and down the continent twice a year, and always going back to the area their ancestors came from (unless butterflies from different groups mate, in which case their offspring will go back to a location half way between the 2 ancestral homes).

DNA, how we it is passed down, how actual segments can be traced back to different ancestors, how we can identify relatives just by spitting in a tube and having the saliva analysed in a lab. How it looks like a human barcode when the chromosomes are mapped. How we share more DNA with some cousins etc than with others. How we all have pieces of all our great grandparents in our actual individual DNA mix. How ancient people's beliefs about 'bloodlines' are actually kind of scientifically true. DNA - it's amazing.

Paternoster lifts I've spent hours reading about and watching them after riding on one In Germany

Some genuinely brilliantly interesting stories on here...if I now don't get to sleep until 2am because I am lost in the virtual shelves of the internet I am blaming this thread :)

Octopi are as intelligent as humans

You need to listen to this too:

It all started with rumours of an 800-meter underground organism hidden under the streets of Cambridge and a plate of mushrooms on toast.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00132xm

I would also like to nominate octopuses. They are intelligent in such an alien way to us.

What we traditionally understand of how the immune system works in pregnancy (like a transplant organ) isn’t actually true. There’s been a whole raft of research, including a textbook, that shows the absolutely fascinating way the body actually adapts.

There is now research to suggest that there is an immunological clock in pregnancy, and we can set our watches by it.

Additionally, some other research that suggests that some miscarriages are caused by the body not making the correct cytokine shift at an early stage in pregnancy.

Quite frankly every pregnancy is an absolute miracle biologically.

@Tabitha1960 if you're in, or visiting, London, I do recommend the National Archives at Kew. They have a huge collection of suffragette material. And some really interesting books in the shop - I had to be forcibly restricted to buying only 2.

I know it's fascinating

Yes I would love to see this programme too!

my ancestor was put in prison following a protest outside parliament. Id love to know more about these women!

Black holes and galaxy clusters. Mind blowing.

Absolutely love threads like this!

For anyone interested in old, derelict buildings / asylums / hosipitals / miltary bases/ etc - check out
www.28dayslater.co.uk 28 days later

It’s an urban explorers website, updated regularly and absolutely stuffed with photos, I’ve lost hours and hours searching through in fascination!

I have been re-watching QI recently, starting with the very first episode. Utterly bloody fascinating stuff. God I love Stephen Fry! The podcast (No Such Thing As A Fish) is also really good.

(Not to derail, but ArseMenagerie if you don’t know him already look up this guy who is such a champ at guessing! www.instagram.com/georainbolt/?hl=en)

Place marking as this is fascinating