A sticky situation
ADVERTISING a product using a flimsy scientific premise: it鈥檚 a ploy you either love or hate, and our colleagues are firmly in the latter camp. So it鈥檚 no surprise that they felt a press release claiming a genetic basis for a Marmite preference was not an idea worth spreading. Many other media outlets did, however, and it falls to Feedback to unpick the notion.
The work in question, by genetic testing company DNAFit, purports to explain a liking (or lack thereof) for the popular yeast-based spread. Genetic samples from 261 people were examined for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), bits of the genome where one letter varies from person to person. They found five SNPs that were common to self-described Marmite lovers.
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But a study like this can鈥檛 prove that genes have an effect on breakfast spread preferences. Even if there was no genetic component to people鈥檚 reaction to Marmite, you could still find SNPs shared by those who love to put Marmite on their toast. And who better to share SNPs than family members? It could be that people simply develop a taste for things their parents have on the kitchen table.
To really find out if an SNP makes a difference, you would need to put each version of it into mice and study their breakfast habits. That鈥檚 a much more complicated endeavour than just doing a quick bit of genetic testing in a bid to score headlines.
The press release ends by mentioning that for just 拢89.99, interested readers can order their own genetic scan from DNAFit and 鈥渄iscover for themselves if they were born Marmite lovers or haters鈥�. Those on a budget might consider a cheaper test 鈥� a small jar of Marmite and a spoon.
鈥淭he UK鈥檚 拢10 notes are being replaced. Barbara Wager is left cheered, if sceptical, by the Bank of England鈥檚 claim that the old banknotes will 鈥渞etain their face value for all time鈥濃��
Subway to the stars
AWAKENING the spirit of Feedback in a new generation, physics teacher Rebecca Cornwell asked her students to estimate the distance in kilometres from Earth to various objects in orbit, including the moon.
鈥淎 pupil spontaneously asked if they could measure in 鈥榮ubways鈥� instead, as they could visualise that more easily,鈥� she writes. It took her a moment to work out that the student meant the products of a baguette-based sandwich chain.
鈥淚t did prompt an interesting discussion, however, about the need for a standard 鈥榮ubway鈥�,鈥� says Rebecca. Truer words were never spoken, thinks Feedback: only last year, the company settled a class-action lawsuit after it was revealed that many of its 鈥淔ootlong鈥� sandwiches measured .
Fat chance
PREVIOUSLY, Feedback asked you in what ways we might adapt humans to better survive climate change (2 September). 鈥淧rotection of the human species has already started,鈥� says Roger Denison, who correlates the increasing frequency and severity of obesity with the increasing frequency and severity of flooding. 鈥淎 good layer of blubber tends to keep us warm in the water and aids buoyancy,鈥� he says, 鈥渨hich must help us survive tidal surges and flooding from torrential rain.鈥�
Roger also suggests that the resulting increase in the surface area of human bodies might even tip the balance in favour of photosynthetic skin. Feedback thinks getting humans fat enough to cross this threshold would probably sequester so much carbon that climate change itself could be averted.
Notional potion
RESPONDING to our cost-saving strategies for homeopathic remedies (9 September), Barrie Barton writes in with a further suggestion. 鈥淚 simply omit the active ingredient, as per the best tradition of homeopathy, and also leave out the carrier substance, the container and even the label.鈥�
Barrie says this is 鈥渢he ultimate homeopathic preparation available and is also very cheap鈥�. And, he adds, it鈥檚 just as effective as the shop-bought version.
Do no harm
FURTHER to the West Yorkshire medical practice known as the Kilmeny Surgery (9 September), Michael Hitchman reports the existence of the Amwell Group Practice in Islington, London. 鈥淧ossibly another example of the North-South divide?鈥� he asks.
Crystal radio
HOPING to find a new USB charging cable for his phone, Richard Mellish is snagged by some truly unbelievable hardware from AudioQuest. 鈥淚s digital audio really just ones and zeroes?鈥� the site asks. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 believe so.鈥�
In Feedback鈥檚 experience, the audiophile market usually contains quite a lot of zeroes. AudioQuest鈥檚 鈥淒iamond USB Type A to Type Mini B Cable鈥� is 75 centimetres long, has 鈥渟olid 100% perfect-surface silver conductors鈥�,
What do you get from a USB cable that costs as much as the phone it鈥檚 connected to? Hi-Fi+ magazine said this was an 鈥渁udibly superior USB cable that offers exceptional retrieval of low-level details and three-dimensional soundstaging , which also conveys a heightened 鈥� indeed, almost 鈥榮culptural鈥� 鈥� sense of rock-solid imaging鈥� .
Not mentioned: the remarkable efficiency with which cables like these can siphon money from audiophiles鈥� bank accounts.