Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more
Space oddities
THE aliens have landed 鈥� though you would be forgiven for missing them, because these ones are invisible. Daily Express journalist Jon Austin (鈥渃overing science, nature, and the paranormal鈥�) the scoop of the century with the news that Ruggero Santilli, CEO of Thunder Energies Corporation, has detected invisible entities using a specially designed telescope 鈥� although the results look suspiciously like shaky, out-of-focus blobs of light.
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Feedback could spend a page discussing the lifetime output of Santilli, which is rich in both uncorroborated discoveries and unsuccessful lawsuits, but find ourselves distracted by Austin鈥檚 opus.
In , the Express correspondent published news of multiple items discovered on Mars that NASA hasn鈥檛 publicised, including , , , and more; and clocked up a dozen reports of aliens and UFOs visiting us on Earth.
Most perplexing of all was the that the surface of Mars was actually blue. On this topic, however, even Austin鈥檚 source 鈥� Scott Waring, editor of UFO Sightings Daily 鈥� 鈥渄id not go on to explain what the motive for NASA making people think Mars was red instead of blue would be鈥�.
鈥淵ou say Dik Kok is a fitting name for a Dutch urologist,鈥� writes Fons VandenBerg. 鈥淥nly if he were a chef: his name means 鈥榝at cook'鈥濃��
A sense of proportion
LAST week, Feedback discussed strange advice from the BBC to measure snowfall using your dog. Robert Patterson writes to tell us of more dodgy comparisons: The Times newspaper reports the discovery of a fossilised crocodile, the 10-metre-long Machimosaurus rex, by comparing it in size to a bus, a woman and a light aircraft.
鈥淎part from the wonderful mix of dimensions, do we yet have a standard size for a woman and a light aircraft?鈥� ponders Robert 鈥� neither the woman nor the aircraft were included in the accompanying diagram.
Feedback vaguely recalls their silhouettes cropping up in similar images used for size comparisons, alongside the ubiquitous double-decker bus and waving man. We think someone ought to compile these silhouettes into a single collage 鈥� resolving these size questions once and for all.
Pass the dog and bone
AN ONLINE pet store had journalists eating out of its hand after unveiling plans for the ultimate pet-lovers鈥� gadget: a collar that translates your dog鈥檚 barks. The pet collar converts woofs into English and delivers them to you by text message anywhere in the world.
Sadly, the stuff of science fiction is, er, science fiction: WhatsYapp! and two other pet gadgets touted by the company exist only in the fertile imaginations of a PR team behind the online pet store. Although the public is encouraged to have their say on which of the three they鈥檇 like to see developed into a prototype, the destination web page for this vote is likewise non-existent.
So don鈥檛 count on chatting to your dog via instant message any time soon. It鈥檚 probably just as well 鈥� Feedback can鈥檛 imagine yapping pups make good conversationalists.
Parked in a higher orbit
BEN EVANS is fascinated by recent experiments to demonstrate quantum effects at a macro scale (2 January, p 9) but writes to say he is surprised 鈥渁s I encounter such quantum effects all the time鈥�. He relays a phenomenon as yet uninvestigated by physicists: quantum parking.
鈥淎ll parking spaces exist in a superposition of being both occupied and unoccupied at the same time,鈥� says Ben. 鈥淭hey only collapse into one state or another when observed.鈥�
His evidence to support this? 鈥淚f I attempt to park very near my destination, then all the parking spaces collapse into a state of being occupied. However, if I park further away, when I arrive at my destination on foot at least one of the nearby parking spaces will have collapsed into a state of being unoccupied.鈥�
String theory
FEEDBACK is reminded of another everyday item that famously exists in superposition until observed: USB cables. Many readers will know that the ubiquitous wires never plug in on the first attempt, requiring you to flip the connector once 鈥� often twice 鈥� to find the correct one of two possible orientations. Can you think of any others?
Taken for a ride
THE road to hell is paved with good intentions, and wheelchair users can now find themselves propelled along it at the whim of a remote user. Jiajun Shen and his colleagues have unveiled their concept for 鈥淎 telepresence wheelchair for elderly people鈥� in a paper published on .
The innovation combines a motorised wheelchair, a remote control system and a telepresence rig that, in principle, allows someone to control the wheelchair while chatting face-to-screen with the person sitting in the chair.
Feedback can鈥檛 help but ask 鈥渨hat could possibly go wrong?鈥� In an era where there are public databases of unsecured baby cameras, through which you may watch someone else鈥檚 children sleep from the comfort of your home, the temptation to follow it up by taking a stranger for a spin in their wheelchair could be too much for some to resist.
