Enter our Darwin Now competition
YOU may have noticed that 2009 has been a big year for Darwin 鈥� and it鈥檚 not over yet. On 24 November, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of the most revolutionary book ever, the British Council, the Charles Darwin Trust and publisher John Murray are organising 鈥淥rigin Day鈥�, a day of events in Albemarle Street in the swanky district of Mayfair, London. The day will kick off with a debate at the Royal Institution and finish with a private party at number 50, home of the family of Darwin鈥檚 publisher, John Murray, and the house from which On The Origin of Species was released to the world.
Would you like to join the celebrations? We have an amazing prize to give away: entry for two people to the debate and the party, including travel expenses from anywhere in the world to and from London, two nights鈥� stay at the luxurious five-star Rocco Forte Brown鈥檚 Hotel, situated just down the street, and subsistence costs.
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To enter the competition, answer the following in no more than 50 words: animals and plants are now evolving in response to humans 鈥� for example, hedgehogs are less likely to freeze in headlights, and elephants are losing their tusks 鈥� so what will the selection pressure imposed by humans produce in the future?
Post your entry to Darwin Now Competition, Lacon House, 84 Theobald鈥檚 Road, London WC1X 8NS, UK, or enter online via the competition page www.newscientist.com/projects/forms/darwinnow09. For terms and conditions see here. The closing date is 5 pm BST on 19 October 2009 and the results will be published on 21 November. The editor鈥檚 decision is final.
鈥淎 car dealer promoting the Volvo XC60鈥檚 braking system invites Steve Jones to 鈥済et behind the wheel and experience a car that breaks all by itself鈥�
WHO knew that hair dye could be so interesting? Craig Meade reports seeing a printed advertisement for a new brand of Clairol hair dye claiming that it is 鈥�40 per cent more dimensional鈥�.
At first, Craig thought this meant that it has the first three dimensions 100 per cent covered and now extends into 40 per cent of the fourth dimension, time. Cosmologists tell us that time started 13.7 billion years ago in the big bang, which would imply that Clairol鈥檚 40 per cent of it began around 5.5 billion years ago 鈥� before the Earth formed 鈥� and the dye would work continuously from then up until the moment you applied it. Looked at another way, if time is considered to be infinite, then Clairol鈥檚 40 per cent is even longer.
Then Craig decided that was rubbish. Clearly the old dye had the conventional three dimensions and the new has 40 per cent more 鈥� making 4.2 dimensions in all. That covers time in full and takes us into the fifth dimension, from which, perhaps, people with their hair dyed with Clairol are looking down pityingly on the rest of us 鈥渁s we bang around trapped in our usual four dimensions鈥�.
But hold on. What is it that has a number of dimensions that is not a whole number? A fractal does. So either the new dye鈥檚 physical extent is a moderately crinkly fractal 鈥� raising the prospect of customers walking about with Mandelbrot-set-coloured hair 鈥� or its temporal extent is fractal, the thought of which makes Feedback鈥檚 head hurt.
Attention dogs 鈥� please read carefully
WOULD the Feedback reader working for Chiswick Park, a large West London office development, please get in touch so that we can give them a credit? We assume that only such a person could be responsible for creating a sign there 鈥� and then anonymously sending us a photograph of it 鈥� that reads: 鈥淎ttention dog walkers 鈥� Please pick up after your dog and keep on lead. Attention Dogs 鈥� Grrrr, bark, woof. Good dog.鈥�
Mary had a Little Lamb promotes God
WHERE does the concept of a deity come from? Luc Strange offers an addition to the plenitude of hypotheses. He used an internet device to translate the not-explicitly-religious words of the nursery rhyme Mary Had a Little Lamb from English to Latvian to Chinese and, by a circuitous route, back to English.
The text went in as: 鈥淢ary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow / And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go鈥︹�� It finished with: 鈥溾�榃hy, Mary loves the lamb, you know鈥�, the teacher did reply.鈥�
It came out thus: 鈥淢aria in a small sheep, wool is white / everywhere is to estimate a flock of sheep who will not go鈥︹�� It finished with: 鈥溾�榃hy, Marian, as the lamb, you know鈥�, God replied.鈥�
So it鈥檚 all a translation error. Possibly.
FINALLY, on a visit to the South Lakes Wild Animal Park near Dalton-in-Furness on the fringes of the UK鈥檚 Cumbrian mountains, Karl Turner鈥檚 6-year-old daughter Jessica was rather bemused by a sign she spotted, which read: 鈥淭here is nothing currently in this area鈥�.
After pondering this for a moment, she commented, 鈥淲ell, I鈥檓 here.鈥�