ON THE WHOLE, it was another triumph for the life sciences. But physics had
some of the best openers in the Opinion Summer Competition. Like this from
John Warr in Hertfordshire: 鈥淎lbert Einstein stated with some conviction
that `God does not play dice.鈥� God, on the other hand, was willing to bet that
Einstein was just guessing.鈥� Or this from John McLellan of
Middlesex: 鈥淔or over sixty years a cat has been sitting in a box. It鈥檚 waiting
for someone to open the lid of that box to see if it鈥檚 OK, but the cat is not at
all sure that it wants this to happen.鈥�
Cloning and global warming are two of science鈥檚 hottest fields.
Phillip Gething from Hampshire had this entry: 鈥淚n 1980 I left Bob
Winston鈥檚 team to pursue research in human cloning and organ replacement.
Strictly speaking such work is illegal, but Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
gave a special waiver to help our gracious royal family. My patient, who must
remain anonymous, is now a healthy centenarian. Her liver . . .鈥�
And this from Colin Varney in South Australia: 鈥淚 met myself for
drinks at Dolly鈥檚 Bar. We were both wearing gaudy paisley ties, but he ordered
ouzo and I baulked. And while my clone was checking out the girl in the short
blue dress, I ogled the waiter.鈥�
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Chris Park of the University of Lancaster drowned the east of England:
鈥淐ambridge had not yet adjusted to the demands of being a seaside town. Its
reputation as a world-famous seat of learning had little prepared it for the
impacts of sea-level rise caused by global warming. Over the past 50 years the
coasts had crept ever closer to it, a casualty of winter storms and higher
蝉别补蝉.鈥�
While some entries were for books on the latest research, others looked to
keep up with trends in popular publishing. This comes from Kevin Black of
the University of St Andrews: 鈥淚n 1989, Raymond Siever, a Harvard geologist,
published a book simply (and appropriately) called Sand. Since then I
have seen books published on water and wind. Somebody has even written a book on
dust. So here is my own contribution to monosyllabic popular science. Welcome to
惭耻诲.鈥�
More horror than pop science was this bloodcurdler from Jacqueline
Govier of Wiltshire: 鈥淗e鈥檇 had no choice. The thick, putrid mess seeped over
his collar. He felt its coldness creep into the folds of his body like a dead
lover鈥檚 fingers.
He knew the risks.
Two MAFFI men emerged from the barn, their white body suits glowed in the
latent full Moon.鈥�
And from Norway, Baard Bugge sent a machine鈥檚 poignant plea: 鈥淲hen you
read this, I鈥檒l be dead. Actually I was dead when I wrote it. I鈥檝e been dead all
my life. This bothers me a great deal. The problem is, I don鈥檛 feel dead. On the
contrary, I feel very much alive. But I鈥檓 not. You see, I鈥檓 a machine.鈥�
If you thought science and supermarket novels don鈥檛 mix. Try the
bodice-ripper approach to biology from Gerry Parker of Edinburgh: 鈥淗is
hands caressed her neck and shoulders as he slipped the filmy material from her.
She gasped as his fingernails raked her back. They kissed deeply as her
trembling fingers struggled with his buttons. 鈥淒arling,鈥� she whispered huskily,
鈥淲hat genes did you sequence today?鈥�
And finally, Ashley Summerfield gets back to basics: 鈥淵ou might not
think that childbirth and the conservation movement have much to do with plain
old shit. But they have. Although it鈥檚 fashionable鈥攆rom organic foods to
escaping city stress鈥攖o want a more natural existence, the brutal truth is
that nature is often pretty horrible.鈥� The book of horrible nature? You鈥檇 have
to read on . . .
This was a tough one to judge. Our congratulations to the winners and thanks
to everyone who took part. All 10 winners will receive a copy of Mark Buchanan鈥檚
Ubiquity (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), and a bottle of a prizewinning
single malt whisky from the Isle of Skye, courtesy of Talisker.