MEGA-funded Big Science is all very well, but Feedback has decided it is time to launch the Kitchen Science Unit, to bring the delights of Occam鈥檚 razor home, next to the cheese-slice. We thank Mike Bennett for suggesting its first experiment.
Pondering the foundations of the claims made at for eSmog chips (Feedback, 20 May), Bennett came across further work by Dr Masaru Emoto at 鈥� where Emoto hypothesises that if water can be 鈥渋mprinted鈥� by impurities that will affect the shape of the ice crystals it forms, perhaps it can read print too. Here is his full methodology section, so that you may attempt to replicate his work:
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鈥淚 put the water into two glass bottles. On one bottle, I pasted a label typed, 鈥楾hank you,鈥� and on the other, 鈥榊ou fool,鈥� in such a way that water would be able to 鈥榬ead鈥� them. The water in both bottles was the same. I then froze the water in each bottle.鈥�
Emoto鈥檚 finding: 鈥淭he water in the bottle with 鈥楾hank you鈥� formed beautiful hexagonal crystals, while the one with 鈥榊ou fool鈥� had only fragments of crystals.鈥� We look forward to hearing if your findings reproduce his.
鈥淭he second of the kitten food offerings at 鈥� at least when Neil Ferguson alerted Feedback 鈥� was 鈥淐anned Kitten鈥濃��
We naturally expect that the Kitchen Science Unit will attract creative collaborators who will investigate correlations with the language, colour and typeface of the writing on the bottles, the effect of the spoken word, of music, and so on. Feedback disclaims all responsibility for the contents of your freezer after the experiment, including but not limited to the presence of despondent lamb chops or hyperactive ice cream.
AMAZON, the online retailer, has for quite some time recommended additional purchases for people buying books, based on what other people who bought the same book also purchased. Now it has started recommending other resources, such as online shops and services, targeted to the customer in accordance with their book selection.
However, microbiologist Richard Thwaites鈥檚 experience makes him wonder exactly what criteria the targeting is based on. His search for a book called Clinical Bacteriology, Mycology and Parasitology produced a recommended link to the website of Atlas International Property, a company specialising in Spanish real estate. A subsequent search for Lactic Acid Bacteria in Health and Disease threw up a recommendation for a website selling discount golfing equipment.
Does Amazon think microbiologists are so well paid that they are bound to be interested in buying Spanish villas as a base for golfing holidays? If so, says Thwaites, it is badly mistaken.
TRANSPORT Direct is one of those websites that promises the world but delivers rather less. Set up by the UK鈥檚 Department of Transport about a year ago, it offers users detailed directions for travelling from one postcode to any other in the UK. Motorists should, however, be wary of following its directions too closely.
A colleague of Feedback wanted to travel from his house in Brighton on the south coast to the local hospital. It is a 20-minute journey by bus, or a few minutes quicker by car 鈥� unless you follow Transport Direct鈥檚 directions, that is.
These start by pointing the hapless motorist the wrong way down a one-way street. The site then instructs you to turn left and drive the wrong way down another one-way street. Finally, you end up going in the right direction but find the way ahead blocked by a barrier that can only be unlocked by the police and fire or ambulance crews. It is perhaps just as well that most motorists will never get beyond the barrier, for the next leg of the journey proposed by the site is down a bus lane, into which motorists who stray face a 拢50 fine.
HARD on the heels of our discussion of animal literacy (17 June) come revelations that not only can some animals read, some can also drive. Nigel Rose reports spotting a sign on the way to the Royal Highland Agricultural Show in Scotland that said 鈥淎ll show traffic except sheep turn left鈥�. Meanwhile, Tim Parrott tells us he saw a sign in the grounds of Southport Crematorium in Merseyside saying, simply, 鈥淩ed squirrels drive slowly鈥�.
FINALLY, according to internet provider Tiscali鈥檚 Lifestyle website, 鈥淎utopsy studies show that an astonishing 1030 per cent of men aged 5060 years, and 5070 per cent of men aged 7080 years, show evidence of prostate cancer when glands are examined under the microscope.鈥�
Duncan Moore, who noticed this, says that as he is just approaching 50, he is hopeful that he has nothing to worry about.