Friend or foe?
NEVER let it be said that the Daily Mail isn鈥檛 balanced. Its coverage of the Zika outbreak certainly gave more than one side of the story. On 19 January, the newspaper asked, 鈥溾��, enthusiastically outlining plans to advance a 2012 programme which released sterile genetically modified mosquitoes to combat the spread of dengue fever and malaria.
Soon the tables had turned. 鈥溾�� the Mail demanded to know on 31 January, connecting the current outbreak to a 2012 programme which released sterile genetically modified mosquitoes to combat the spread of dengue fever and malaria.
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Feedback is inspired to propose a quantum model of journalism: rather than bothering with the facts, might it be easier to publish all possible versions of reality in the hope that one of them is actually correct?
A viral story
WHAT happened to sway the Daily Mail? The rumour that Oxitec鈥檚 sterile mosquito programme had something to do with the current Zika outbreak appears to have been started by a on the community message board Reddit 鈥� in the 鈥淐onspiracies鈥� subsection.
On 25 January, a user concocted a far-fetched and error-filled hypothesis connecting the release of sterile mosquitoes to the Zika outbreak. Although capably and thoroughly debunked by Christie Wilcox at , this misinformation was quickly republished across the internet.
Science fiction
WHEN the conspiracy theory emerged in more respected news outlets, all the erroneous details had been cut, which didn鈥檛 leave much to say, except that fears of a link existed somewhere, experienced by someone.
This may be why Russian state broadcaster bizarrely chose to cite the British dystopian TV series Utopia as a source for claims that Zika was spread intentionally by scientists, concluding that the fictional programme 鈥渟uggests it could be a deliberate plan to reduce the global population鈥�.
A leap too far
AT THE green-inked Ecologist, editor Oliver Tickell attempted to further the case that GM mosquitoes were responsible for the Zika outbreak, dedicating a lengthy article to his hypothesis that the piggyBac transposon 鈥� the mobile DNA used by Oxitec 鈥� jumped into the virus via native mosquitoes.
鈥淭he British Astronomical Association invites Duncan Caneron to its next event. The email advises him that 鈥渟pace is limited鈥�. Well, that settles that鈥�
Unfortunately, as readers were quick to point out, the Zika strain responsible for the current outbreak has been sequenced, and shows no trace of the transposon. What鈥檚 more, piggyBac is almost as large as the virus itself, and made of double-stranded DNA rather than single-stranded RNA like the virus, meaning the proposed combination would have made for a Nobel prize-worthy discovery.
A chastised Tickell added a footnote admitting that 鈥渢he hypothesis set out above is probably incorrect鈥�.
That鈥檚 no moon
FLAT Earth theories have been in the news recently, with celebrity astrophysicist clashing with rapper BoB on Twitter over the latter鈥檚 insistence that 鈥�.鈥�
More loony ideas abound: Feedback is directed to a self-descriptive Facebook group called 鈥溾��. Here, visitors can watch videos purporting to show evidence that the moon is indeed not real, alongside other strange phenomena, such as an irrigation canal strewn with foam pollution, or as the site describes it, 鈥渁 strange phenomenon鈥� the fall of a cloud on the ground鈥�.
Cat treats
FINE dining for pets: David Cousins received some samples from cat-food maker Arden Grange, which are claimed to be 鈥渟uper-healthy, super-delicious and formulated to precisely meet the unique nutritional requirements of felines鈥�.
However, the most notable selling point for David was the promise that the food was 鈥済uaranteed not tested on animals鈥�. Does Arden Grange simply trust the food is 鈥渟uper-delicious鈥�, or did someone there have to check for themselves?
A bit of a stretch
WOULD a rose by any other name be quite as tall? Feedback is left pondering this question after Graham Worthington sends us the packaging in which his 鈥�5-inch鈥� plant labels arrived. This lists the contents in several other languages, each with their own opinion on the length of the stakes enclosed.
The etiquetas para plantas are 5 inches tall, whereas the etichette per plante are 12 centimetres. In the Netherlands, the plantlabels sprout to 12.5 cm, gaining an extra 2 millimetres across the border in Denmark as pflanzenschildchen, and finally topping out at 13 cm in France as etiquettes pour plantes. Is this some form of continental rivalry, or have standards in Europe gone to pot?
Exit stage left
FINALLY, many of you write to lament the departure of the Paris Opera Ballet鈥檚 director. Like you, Feedback cannot fathom where the organisation will find a more suitable candidate for a dance troupe than one named Benjamin Millepied.
