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WALTER Scott, unlike Robert Louis Stevenson, had only a limited interest in travelling other than in his mind and imagination. He accumulated volumes which he used to add colour to his narratives, but by temperament and inclination Scott was happier as an imaginary traveller. Observers report seeing him bent over maps in libraries in Abbotsford or in the archives of the Faculty of Advocates, but he was in another part of his mind surprisingly prey to that very British distrust of “abroad”, lands of poor diet and banditry. When he did devise plans to travel abroad, he frequently found re...

The Uses of Urine in Ancient Rome While today we flush or urine away without giving it a second thought, in ancient times it was considered a valuable commodity. Urine contains a wide array of important minerals and chemicals such as phosphorus and potassium. The Romans believed that urine would make their teeth whiter and keep them from decaying so they used it as a mouthwash and mixed it with pummis to make toothpaste. In fact, urine was so effective that it was used in toothpastes and mouthwashes up until the 1700s. As far as the Romans were concerned, the best and therefore the most exp...

Over a hundred thousand people have now died of Covid-19 in the UK alone; people around the world have been separated from their family and friends, and entire economies have come to a standstill. All of which raises an important question: how can the world prevent another pandemic? The obvious place to start is at the beginning – before a pathogen has been seeded around the world and serious damage has been caused. If we can predict where the next pandemic will come from, perhaps we can stop it at its source. It's a simple idea, but is remarkably difficult to put into practice: infectio...

(Updated: December 23, 2020) If this man were smart, he’d be heading into Rome’s Cloaca Maxima to look for archaeological treasures buried among the ancient poop. National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain Among its many fine qualities, human waste gives archaeologists a wealth of information about people's daily lives—what they ate and drank, what critters set up shop in their guts, what plants and animals lived alongside them—information that can be hard to find in historical accounts. It can also preserve artifacts and biological remains for centurie...