Medical notes
along to Macarena will not only put a spring in your step 鈥� it could save lives. Enrique Carrero Cardenal at the University of Barcelona, Spain, and his colleagues found the upbeat tempo of the Spanish-language megahit by Los del R铆o is perfect for timing chest compressions when performing CPR.
A study compared how accurately 164 medical students performed CPR on a mannequin over 2 minutes. One group received no help, another used a phone app to keep time, while the third used Macarena as a mental metronome.
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Although the app proved the best pacesetter for compressions, three-quarters of the Macarena-assisted group kept good time too, compared with only 24 per cent of those who got no assistance.
Of course, any song with a tempo of around 100 beats per minute will suffice. In the UK, a popular choice for first aiders in search of a beat is the Bee Gees鈥� 1977 hit Stayin鈥� Alive.
鈥溾�漇ince nominative determinism has resurfaced,鈥� writes Graham Hagens, 鈥渋t may be appropriate to note that a large funeral service in South Africa is called Human and Pitt鈥濃��
A new look
THE fashion industry is often criticised for the barely-there appearance of some catwalk models. But anyone watching footage of a recent fashion show in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, found they couldn鈥檛 see the women at all.
Instead, empty dresses floated down the runway like wraiths, suspended from buzzing drones in front of an audience of men. Drones are certainly in fashion: a similar stunt by Dolce & Gabbana earlier this year saw airborne handbags whizz over the crowds. But the execution in Jeddah resembled less a futuristic vision of fashion than a dry cleaner鈥檚 carousel. Still, it is one way to get the size zero look.
It鈥檚 not the first time Saudi Arabia has replaced women with robots: readers may recall animatronic mannequin 鈥淪ophie鈥� was granted Saudi citizenship last year. While this was hailed as an advance for androidkind, it is worth noting that if 鈥淪ophie鈥� really is treated as a female citizen, she will have fewer rights to roam the country than an unemancipated Roomba.
Seeing red, feeling blue
THANKSGIVING is a time when families in the US come together. But for those who don鈥檛 see eye to eye with their relatives on political issues, the holiday came at an awkward time in 2016, just after Donald Trump鈥檚 election victory. Now researchers have used smartphone location data from 10 million people to study how family gatherings were affected.
They used geographical voting data to infer whether people were likely to have backed Trump or Hillary Clinton. Family members predicted to have voted for different candidates spent around 40 minutes less time together than those with the same political leaning, after controlling for factors such as travel distance. Republicans visiting Democrats shortened their stays more than Democrats visiting Republicans.
Those living in areas exposed to heavy political advertising shortened their Thanksgiving visits by three times as much as others. Altogether, partisan differences were estimated to have cost people in the US a total of 74 million hours of Thanksgiving time with their families in 2016. This year, we recommend introducing a strict rule: no politics at the dinner table.
A bone to pick
THE tale related by Guy Cox, that translators substituted rib for penis bone in the account of Eve鈥檚 creation, 鈥渋s amusing鈥�, says Reverend Peter Green, 鈥渂ut quite apocryphal鈥� (26 May).
Peter says there is no evidence that the Hebrew word tzela was used to mean baculum. In other contexts, tzela is used to describe a rafter, wall and even hillside.
鈥淐onsidering that the word is fairly regularly used for a side of a building or a leaf of a double door, it is arguable that the writer is suggesting that God took Adam鈥檚 entire side to make a 鈥榤irror image鈥� woman to 鈥榮truggle alongside鈥� the man in equal partnership.鈥� A type of reproduction still enjoyed by sea anenomes, though with fewer heavenly hosts.
On reflection
A FREQUENT criticism of mainstream science reporting, writes Raffi Katz, 鈥渋s that the journalists have degrees in English and absolutely no idea about science鈥�. But in a similar vein, some science experts appear to struggle with English, he says.
鈥淭he following was a question my daughter brought home from school: 鈥榃hy does the fact that a periscope has two mirrors make what you see through it easier to understand?'鈥�
Raffi鈥檚 daughter was quick to point out that 鈥渋f it only had one mirror it wouldn鈥檛 be a periscope鈥�. Astute, but probably not the answer her science teacher is hoping for.
Feedback supposes you could make a periscope with one mirror, perhaps for submarine commanders to keep a watch for overhead bombers. That the addition of mirrors makes things easier to understand is exciting, particular if it means funhouses can be granted academy status.
General unease
MANY of you have written in to note the nominative determinism exhibited by President Trump 鈥� across several definitions of the word. Now Howard Bobry informs us that Rear Admiral Fears is the new US homeland security and counterterrorism adviser.
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