When you 'grow up' often a lot of your school-day education gets forgotten.

It's how the brain works, in the end, it doesn't tend to hold onto information that doesn't have a direct application.
 When I was in secondary school I did very well in all three sciences (ie I scored good grades) but I was never really scientifically minded at all. Really, the good marks were more testament to a talent to approaching exams and coursework in the right way rather than scientific intelligence. I have always been interested in how things worked of course, but at the time I was blinkered in science lessons away from how what they were teaching us (all tables and formulae) actually served to make the world tick. I saw no beauty in it.
Now, as an adult, that curiosity has come back, as has an appreciation for what science acrtually is and does. And it frustrates me no end that iIve forgotten so much of what I was taught as a kid in such detail.

Enter PBS Spacetime.

PBS Spacetime is a brilliant Youtube channel that takes astronomical science and makes it acessible but in a very detailed way. Unlike some other youtube channels there is no 'dumbing down' of the science, but they have a talent for keeping the audience engaged and intrigued nevertheless. As a result, they can get into some pretty deep and detailed topics but maintain an open and interactive dialouge with their audience. The hosts are excellent, both being very informed in the subject and clear presenters. It's impossible to leave a PBS Spacetime video without feeling like you have genuinely been taught something valuable.

Some of the topics on offer are:

• Can you trust your eyes in spacetime?
• When time breaks down
• The origin of matter and time
• Why haven't we found alien life yet?
• What does dark energy really do?
• Will the universe expand forever?
• Why the big bang definately happened

So if you're curious about space, you could do a lot worse than PBS Spacetime. Check them out!



Other 'Preludes Recommends' Posts:

-Crash Course
-Brian Cox and the Wonders of the Universe
-PBS Ideas Channel
-Vsauce



Keep in touch....

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Stay curious!

Today I want to try something a bit different and give you a walk through my non-fiction bookshelf.

I never realised how many non-fiction books I had accumulated over the years until I moved into my new flat and actually attempted to organise them on a bookshelf. So in this Vlog I take you through some of my favourites for learning about social history, psychology & philosophy and science.

This is my first attempt at a vlog and was filmed on my ipad, so apologies for the occasional dip in sound volume. But you do get to actually hear my voice so...bonus?

You can view the video above or click here to go directly to Youtube.

Have a good weekend, and keep curious ;)

Got A Spare 10 Minutes?

If you're a curious sort and would like to learn more in bite sized chunks, then Crash Course might just be the youtube channel for you. On the channel Hank green teaches you Anatomy and Physiology, Phil Plait teaches Astronomy, Craig Benzine teaches American government and politics and Adriene Hill and Jacob Clifford teaches Economic.

It's a varied course full of cute graphics and high production values, so it's well worth subscribing to.

You can find the playlist here - happy learning!

Space is Pretty Damn Awesome.

I'm no scientist, but I don't think I'm alone in being fascinated by outer space ever since I was a child. This week I wanted to nudge you towards a brilliant video that I found by Matthew Sontoro who will take us through the 10 most fascinating things that were ever found in space. I hope that you enjoy!

In Other News, I'm Moving House!

It's my first big move after university so of course it's quite emotional and quite hectic and as a result the blog will be put on the back-burner a little while it's all sorted out. Hopefully I should be all settled in with the internet working within a couple of weeks, but I wanted to let you guys know that there will be a semi hiatus. I'll try to keep putting up cool content like Matthew's video every Sunday until I get myself into gear, but don't expect any fully-fledged articles for a while.

As ever thank you for your support and your views and feel free to comment - I'm always at the end of an email ;)

Ever since the earliest of times, we humans have valued our hair.

The origins of such strange long head hair, contrasted with a relatively hairless body, has been a topic of debate for some years, but perhaps the leading theory is that sexual selection was at work. While long hair offers benefits of warmth in cold climates or protection from a hot sun, nevertheless it's likely that the existence of longer hair in largely due to associations of femininity or health. Whatever the reason, the longer head-hair was here to stay and humans, always eager to define their identities through their looks, jumped on the chance to get creative with their locks. This week I'd like follow the lead of the wonder Medievalists.net's recent post, and show some historical hairstyles that you can try at home.

Statue of Faustina the Younger

These come courtesy of  Janet Stephen, a hairdresser and amateaur archaeologist who was fascinated by how historical hairstyles were created. While many archaeologists and historians suggested that these hairstyles could only have been created with wigs, Janet instead discovered that through using a form of sewing in hairstyles, they could easily and quickly be replicated and used in the day to day. This breakthrough came in 2005 when, studying translations in Roman literature, she found that  the term 'acus' was likely being mistranslated. In the books, this was translated as a 'single-prong hairpin' but in fact it could also be translated as 'needle and thread'. Her theory was published in the Journal of Roman Archaeology in 2008 and she made a name for herself in historical circles.

"I could tell even from the first version that it was a very serious piece of experimental archaeology which not scholar who was not a hairdresser - in other words, no scholar - would have been able to write." John Humphrey, the journal's editor, explained.

Janet's practical work is shown on her youtube channel, where you can find out how to make such beautiful historical hairstyles for yourself, while also learning of where she found her sources.



Agrippina the Younger

 


Ancient Roman Hairstyles For Men

 


 Empress Plotina

Faustina The Younger 

 
 18thc 'Butterfly'/Papillote Curls

 I thoroughly recommend that you spend some time browsing Janet Stephens' youtube channel if you have any interest in fashion or history. 
For one she is an inspiration showing us how, no matter what your background, if you have interest, confidence, creativity and passion you can make a lasting contribution to the study of history. 
For another, her work is living proof of the value of experimental history and archaeology in how to bring what we read in the texts to life for for practical purposes and for emotional ones. In her study of these hairstyles Janet offers a unique insight to what had been an ongoing debate on historical hairstyles, but in doing so she also let us see with real intimacy into the lives of the people that made use of these hairstyles in the day to day. In how their family lives were set up (for example, why they needed someone else to do their hair), how they valued their appearance, and how much physical time and patience that these people would have had to give to making these creative styles happen. With such a life breathed into such a small but important part of these historical figures' daily routines, they are grounded and - as observers from the future - we can see just how like us our ancestors really were.


Sources

-Why is Human Hair So Long?
-Medievalists.net: Medieval hairstyles
-On Pins and Needles: Stylist Turns Ancient Hairdo Debate on Its Head

This week I'd like to nudge you in the direction of a fantastic Youtube series: PBS Ideas Channel

As you may have noticed from my previous recommendation for the Youtube channel Vsauce, there seems to be a direct correlation between quality educational videos and awesome, balding, beardy geek-men.
Hrm. 

So, this week I bring you another Youtube channel that I often spend my breakfasts enjoying...





Hosted and written by Mike Rugnetta, the channel explores the links between popular culture, science and technology, maths, philosophy and art.

Quick-paced, bright, interactive and with it's finger on the pulse of internet (and 'real life') pop culture, the channel  encourages you to look deeper into many aspects of our life that we take for granted, pulling them apart and comparing them across a whole host of genres.

Who knew, for example, that retro 'bullet-hell' games could be seen as 'meditative'? Or that seeing the movie Ender's Game could be a political action? Or that glitchy art shows us that broken is beautiful? Or even that a tagged Instagram serves a far greater purpose than being just a photo? You could even ask, if you were feeling seasonal, what Father Christmas and wrestling have in common.

What I enjoy about PBS ideas channel is the philosophical feel behind all of the topics, and the genuine appeal to human curiosity. Mike and his team are very well read and so often the arguments - while very approachable - are quite academic and detailed. Yet they remain light-hearted, and inspiring.

At the end of every episode Mike shows up the best comments from the community of subscribers and interacts with them. He's always open to having his mind changed, and can even openly criticise himself and his own views, occasionally returning to certain topics more than once. The community if vibrant and enthusiastic, and so there's a great dialogue that goes on even when the episode itself comes to an end.

Simply put, I love the channel, and it served as an inspiration for this blog, so you should definitely check it out.

In other news...

I've recently found a couple more PBS-funded channels which look like they have great potential: PBS Games Show and It's Okay to be Smart
I might take a closer look at the latter soon. Alas, this blog isn't gaming-focused, so I'm unlikely to speak about the former any time soon. (If it was, I'd be nudging you towards Pewdiepie, Robbaz and Vanoss too. So many great lets plays out there.)

Who needs TV when you have youtube, eh?

I tend to watch a lot of Youtube while I eat breakfast.

One drawback is that it ends up with a lot of milk splashed about on my ipad, because apparently I have the motor control of a toddler. But you'd be surprised how much you can learn between crunches of cornflakes, especially from a website famous for its cat videos.
One of the jewels in youtube's educational crown is the fantastic Vsauce.

Created by Michael Stevens, the show aims to show what makes our world amazing by following our natural curiosity. Through seemingly silly questions like 'is the five second rule true?', 'How much does a shadow weigh?' and 'What if everyone jumped at once?', Vsauce create an avenue to lead us into fascinating scientific discoveries in a delightfully accessible way.
It doesn't just begin and end at science. Giving us permission to question with childlike wonder, Vsauce also take us into the territory of psychology and philosophy with such videos as - one of my favourites - 'Why are things Creepy?'...

...And, it's natural antidote: Why are things cute?

There's not an awful lot I can say but encourage you to watch them. They serve as an inspiration for the spirit of this blog and the spirit I think that we should all take into life.
You'll certainly not have a boring breakfast again.


Some More Great Vsauce Videos
Distortions
What's the brightest thing in the universe? 
What does human taste like?
Why is your bottom in the middle?
Mistakes
Moving Illusions
Why are bad words bad?
Names

Last words
Why do we clap?
Why do we get bored?
Are we ready for aliens?
Why do we feel nostalgia?
What if you were born in space?
Why do we kiss?

And, of course, many more.