MANY readers will have seen the picture put out by the European Space Agency last week of a cloud of dust swirling round a distant star known as V838 Mon. ESA鈥檚 press release told us breathlessly that the image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, bore 鈥渞emarkable similarities鈥� to Vincent Van Gogh鈥檚 famous painting Starry Night, and newspapers around Europe obligingly printed the two pictures side by side with headlines like 鈥淐osmic life imitates art鈥�.
We have looked long and hard at these two images, and see no similarities between them whatsoever. What kind of postmodern art appreciation course have the people at ESA been on recently?
Clearly, it doesn鈥檛 matter much, since so many picture editors bought the idea anyway. But we wonder if this is the beginning of a trend in press releases, whereby scientific images are arbitrarily linked to famous works of art in an attempt to get them noticed. Expect to see images of brain scans alongside Picasso鈥檚 Les Demoiselles d鈥橝vignon with captions telling us how startlingly alike they are, or magnified pictures of E. coli beside photos of the 鈥渁mazingly similar鈥� David by Michelangelo.
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JERRY CROOK, chief executive of management software specialist Cramer, was named CEO of the year last week at the sixth Annual UK Technology Partnering and Investment Forum. While congratulating him on the honour, we can鈥檛 help noting that the response of many people to the headline announcing his success, which read 鈥淐rook named CEO of the year鈥�, was: 鈥淪o what鈥檚 new?鈥�
RIGHT up there with the news, the March issue of Planetary and Space Science has an article explaining how to work out where Beagle 2 has landed from the pictures it has sent back (鈥淏eagle 2 position determination from the returned camera panoramas using MOLA data鈥�, by G. G. Michael, p 271).
Not to be outdone, the March issue of Icarus has a paper on what Beagle 2鈥檚 UV sensor is likely to be picking up (鈥淭he UV environment of the Beagle 2 landing site: detailed investigations and detection of atmospheric state鈥�, by Manish R. Patel and colleagues, p 93).
Feedback likes this idea of posthumous technology, and proposes to write an article for the 快猫短视频 technology section explaining how the construction of the Titanic has ensured it could never be harmed by icebergs.
CLEANING out his email, a colleague found an electronic newsletter from the American Institute of Physics caught in the spam filter. What could be objectionable about a report on the theory that the expansion of the universe is accelerating?
The problem seems to be describing the theory as 鈥渢he notion that the big bang enlargement of space-time is not slowing down but actually gathering speed鈥�. And if you can鈥檛 spot what the filter objected to there, you haven鈥檛 been getting enough spam lately.
THINKING of applying for a pension? Go ahead, there鈥檚 little to stand in your way 鈥� not even your demise, it seems. The end of the application form for a retirement pension from the UK government鈥檚 Pension Service states: 鈥淲hat to do now: Check you are sending us all the documents we have asked for. These could be your birth certificate, your marriage certificate, your decree absolute, certificate of annulment, decree of divorce or death certificate.鈥�
As reader Andrew Clarke points out, spending the money in your post-death state might be a little difficult.
IF you type 鈥淎tmos curry鈥� into Google 鈥� as one does 鈥� you will be rewarded with what modestly claims to be 鈥淭he only website (as far as I know) where York鈥檚 curry houses are expertly reviewed by trained scientists鈥�. Reader Mel Parrac, who told us about this, speculates on other ways websites could link British culinary delights to science. 鈥淲hat next 鈥� a particle physics cream tea site?鈥� he asks.
Given that Parrac lives in York, Feedback has a sneaking suspicion that he has just won a bet with his mates by getting this into print. In which case, Mel, enjoy the drink. And it would be only fitting to have a curry after, wouldn鈥檛 it?
ANOTHER truncated subject line. Reader John Stewart of Harare, Zimbabwe, talks of his 鈥渉eart-stopping disappointment鈥� when his hubristic fantasies were fuelled by the subject line 鈥淎ppeal for assistance to run the unive鈥︹�� only to be brought back to earth by the rest of the message 鈥溾�sity student council elections鈥�.
FINALLY, an example of quantum superimposition on roads of the English midlands. Ben Cooper reports that a sign on an exit from the M40 motorway exhorts drivers to 鈥淯se both lanes for A34鈥�. Fortunately, he says, most drivers use either one or the other.
Last month, the Australian Capital Territory Education Department issued guidelines to schools on how to avoid 鈥渢hermal heat stress鈥�. Unfortunately, reader Ian Fraser tells us, there were no suggestions as to how to deal with the other kinds