Art & History

POO-EE! Roman Toilet Seat Found Near Hadrian’s Wall

How would you like to root around in a 2000 year-old toilet?! The Romans created aqueducts, newspapers, and bound books… but did you know they helped create the toilets we have today?
Archaeologists at a Roman excavation site in Northumberland have recently uncovered a wooden toilet seat…that is 2000 years old! While it looks a bit more basic than the toilet seats we have today, it shows that they were very concerned with cleanliness.

 

Roman toilet seat

The Roman wooden toilet seat. Not looking bad to say it’s 2000 years old! (Source.)

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Science, Nature and Tech

Is The Great Wall of China Visible from Space?

The idea that the Great Wall of China can be seen from space has been around since at least 1938 and is still popular today. It certainly seems plausible that such a large, linear structure would stand out from the surrounding landscape, but it’s actually not true.

Alan Bean, the fourth man to walk on the moon, said in 1969

“The only thing you can see from the moon is a beautiful sphere, mostly white, some blue and patches of yellow, and every once in a while some green vegetation. No man-made object is visible at this scale.”

But if you can’t see the Wall from the moon, how about somewhere closer to Earth? The International Space Station (ISS) maintains a low earth orbit of between 330-435 km above our planet’s surface.

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Events, Written By You

The Girlguide Girls’ Attitude Survey – Written By You

My name is Isla Whateley, I’m a 17-year-old Girlguiding member from Glasgow and a member of the charity’s youth panel Advocate. We discuss issues affecting girls and young women and look for ways to seek change.
 Every year, Girlguiding publishes research into the opinions of girls and young women in the UK, called the Girls’ Attitude Survey.  The findings from the latest report show that girls and young women are experiencing shocking levels of everyday sexism and discrimination at school, on the street and online.
 For example, 75 per cent of girls aged 11-12 say sexism affects most areas of their life, 87 per cent think women are judged more for looks than ability and one in five 7-11 year-olds say they have been on a diet.

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Art & History

The First Computer Programmers

Girls are told, all the time, that there are things they can’t do because, well, they’re girls. I’m here to tell you: it’s not true.
Let me tell you about a girl I know.

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