Louvre robbers could be the infamous Pink Panther gang
Authorities are scrambling to find the gang behind the heist that targeted high-security display cases in the famous French museum. The criminals, who disguised themselves as construction workers on a cherry picker, are still on the run. Authorities fear the one-of-a-kind, and therefore highly recognisable items, will be melted down and destroyed before thieves sell them on. There are fears that those responsible could be a part of the ‘Pink Panthers’ – a gang which previously stole £23,000,000 of diamonds from Graff jewellers in London back in 2003. Many members of the gang are ex-soldiers with extensive backgrounds in paramilitary training. The Panthers have a history of targeting museums as well as jewellers. In 2008, a museum in Switzerland had a Monet, Van Gogh, Cézanne and a Degas stolen, with an estimated worth of £119,162,880.(via MetroUK)
Time moves faster the higher up you go so your head is a little older than your feet
Scientists have long known that time passes faster at higher elevations — a curious aspect of Einstein's theories of relativity that previously has been measured by comparing clocks on the Earth's surface and a high-flying rocket. Now, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have measured this effect at a more down-to-earth scale of 33 centimeters, or about 1 foot, demonstrating, for instance, that you age faster when you stand a couple of steps higher on a staircase. Described in the Sept. 24 issue of Science, the difference is much too small for humans to perceive directly—adding up to approximately 90 billionths of a second over a 79-year lifetime—but may provide practical applications in geophysics and other fields. The NIST researchers also observed another aspect of relativity—that time passes more slowly when you move faster—at speeds comparable to a car travelling about 20 miles per hour, a more comprehensible scale than previous measurements made using jet aircraft. (via NIST)
A Swedish fisherman digging for worms uncovered a trove of medieval silver coins
When a fisherman recently went digging for worms near Stockholm, he stumbled upon something unexpected: Instead of bait, he found a hoard of medieval treasures. The 13-pound cache includes thousands of silver coins, beads, rings and pendants. Most of the artifacts date to the 12th century. The digger reported his discovery to the Stockholm County Administrative Board, and archaeologists are now investigating the artifacts. According to the board, the coins were found inside a copper cauldron. Some of the coins are embossed with the name and likeness of the Swedish king Knut Eriksson, who ruled between roughly 1173 and 1195. The 12th century was a tumultuous period for Sweden, which was then home to several competing kingdoms. Eriksson ruled over much of Sweden, but after his death the country eventually descended into civil war. During these unstable years, many Swedes may have hidden their valuables. (via the Smithsonian)
Hi everyone! Mathew Ingram here. I am able to continue writing this newsletter in part because of your financial help and support, which you can do either through my Patreon or by upgrading your subscription to a monthly contribution. I enjoy gathering all of these links and sharing them with you, but it does take time, and your support makes it possible for me to do that. I also write a weekly newsletter of technology analysis called The Torment Nexus.
No one knows where words like dog or girl came from and terrific used to mean terrible
Take slang, the informal language that fills our world. Everyone knows what slang is, but not where the word comes from. Is it related to the narrow strips of land known as “slangs,” or with the Scots “slanger,” meaning to dawdle, or with the Norwegian “slengjeord,” meaning a mocking word? Neither slang experts nor the OED know. Which brings us to the three words no etymologist wants to write: “Of unknown origin.” For instance, no one knows the origin of dog. Similarly, frog, hog, pig and stag. They certainly look to be related, but beyond that, etymologists are stumped. What’s surprising is how many everyday words are “of unknown origin.” One might expect the source of girl or ink or tantrum would be known. But such words often have ancient roots, and the longer the history, the murkier the evidence gets. (via LitHub)
Researchers found a spider in Thailand that is half male and half female
A team of researchers has unearthed a previously unknown species of spider tucked away in the forests of western Thailand. And not only did they find a species that had escaped the notice of the scientific enterprise, they found a rare individual that was half male and half female. This is all the more unusual because the species, described for the first time in the journal Zootaxa by scientists from the Center of Excellence in Entomology at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, displays striking physical differences between the sexes. The female is larger — about one inch in length — with a distinct orange coloration, while the male is roughly half that size and appears grey due to a mysterious white substance covering its body. Among the orange and grey arachnids collected by the research team was an oddball—a specimen that was half orange and half grey. The researchers investigated this specimen and found that this particular spider was a rare gynandromorph. (via Nautilus)
Don't watch this person climbing an ancient staircase if you are afraid of heights
Acknowledgements: I find a lot of these links myself, but I also get some from other newsletters that I rely on as "serendipity engines," such as The Morning News from Rosecrans Baldwin and Andrew Womack, Jodi Ettenberg's Curious About Everything, Dan Lewis's Now I Know, Robert Cottrell and Caroline Crampton's The Browser, Clive Thompson's Linkfest, Noah Brier and Colin Nagy's Why Is This Interesting, Maria Popova's The Marginalian, Sheehan Quirke AKA The Cultural Tutor, the Smithsonian magazine, and JSTOR Daily. If you come across something interesting that you think should be included here, please feel free to email me at mathew @ mathewingram dot com
