But not a drop to drink
ALTHOUGH we have reported on many eclectic varieties of water 鈥� alkaline, crystal-tuned, sonically vibrated and so forth 鈥� Feedback is thrown into a quandary by neuroscientist and nutritionist Lisa Mosconi鈥檚 revelation that the world is saturated with counterfeit water.
Alan Worsley forwards a Guardian article from the food guru, advising readers on how to eat for peak mental performance. To wash down the usual prescription of kale and oily fish, Mosconi tells us: 鈥減eople often do not realise that the 鈥榳ater鈥� they are drinking is not actually water. Purified water, fizzy water 鈥� all these beverages were stripped of the precious nutrients and natural electrolytes the brain needs to stay hydrated and work efficiently.鈥�
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Feedback has heard of clean eating, but never imagined someone might achieve a level of such scrupulous nutritional hygiene that they are left dependent on water for trace minerals.
Mosconi doesn鈥檛 provide a list of waters that haven鈥檛 been watered down too much. Further answers may lie within the pages of her book, Brain Food, which enjoys a plug at the end of the article. It just goes to show that the smartest thing you can do with food is write a faddy book about it.
鈥淓ngineers at the West Japan Railway can breathe a sigh of relief, after the company announced training would no longer require sitting by the tracks while a 300kph bullet train passes by鈥�
Chicken fever
VARIOUS news outlets were aflutter in the run up to Halloween, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning against dressing chickens in costumes.
There was just one problem: no such alert existed. The CDC cried foul in a press release, insisting that it had never cautioned against chicken pageantry, although it did warn that chicken owners should wash their hands after close contact with their feathered friends.
So there you have it: dressing your chickens in festive outfits won鈥檛 kill you, but it may prove fatal to your social life.
Very large intestine
MEDICS at the University of Kansas are hugely relieved by the safe return of a giant, inflatable colon. The 3-metre-high section of intestine 鈥� used to educate the public about the dangers of colorectal cancer 鈥� went missing from a pickup truck on 18 October.
Kansas City Police announced on the 29th that they had recovered the stolen colon, tweeting that, following a tip-off, 鈥渙fficers found the giant, inflatable, pilfered intestine in a vacant house in the 7100 block of Virginia [Avenue]鈥�. The bowel burglar remains at large.
Mistaken identity
YOUTUBE comments aren鈥檛 known for the quality of debate they produce, but even so, Melanie Stuart despairs at the content exuded beneath a video of LBC鈥檚 James O鈥橞rien in discussion with Nobel prizewinner Paul Nurse on Brexit鈥檚 likely impact on the UK science sector.
鈥淢arie Curie didn鈥檛 get a government grant when she discovered penicillin,鈥� fumed one viewer. 鈥淚 suggest these whiney scientists get their fingers out and invent something that will benefit Britain and the world.鈥�
While it is true that Marie Curie didn鈥檛 see a penny of state funding for work on penicillin, says Melanie, that may have been because it was Alexander Fleming who discovered the antibiotic.
Intelligence services
THE world is facing down the spectre of unparalleled chaos that will be wreaked by unchecked climate change. Yet not all are convinced. Barry Cash forwards a letter published in the Feedback section (no relation) of a magazine he subscribes to.
Here, Paul Cottingham rails against the fake news media, contesting that 鈥渟ince 2009, causational climate scientists have been providing evidence that carbon dioxide induced climate change is, as President Trump has declared, 鈥榓 hoax'鈥�.
And which august journal has seen fit to print such climate denialism in 2018? Er, Mensa Magazine, bulletin of the 鈥渉igh IQ society鈥�.
Man of letters
DELIGHTED by our recent reporting of a typeface designed to aid the memory (27 October), Pete Boardman proves to be a font of related stories.
There is Untitled Sans, 鈥淜ris Sowersby鈥檚 attempt to design the most ordinary, utterly normal font possible, for when you don鈥檛 want anyone to judge you by your font choices.鈥�
Pete also remarks on the creation of Aver铆a, which combines the designs of all the world鈥檚 fonts. 鈥淭he result is, well, average,鈥� he says.
But it鈥檚 not all fun and games in the world of fontography. Pete forwards the cautionary tale of Joseph Schlesinger, professor of anaesthesiology and critical care medicine at Vanderbilt University, Tennessee.
His 84-page grant application for $200,000 worth of funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs was declined, after a computer glitch rendered some sections of the pdf file in 10.7pt Arial, instead of the requisite 11pt Helvetica. Rules are rules!
All at sea
AND finally, Melanie Krien has a sinking feeling about a project to build a multimillion-dollar metaphor in the form of an ocean liner designed as a replica of the ill-fated Titanic.
Scheduled to sail from Southampton to New York in 2022, the project director of Titanic II is one Clive Mensink. Women and children, Feedback assumes, get a seat in the life rafts.
You can send stories to Feedback by email at feedback@newscientist.com. Please include your home address. This week鈥檚 and past Feedbacks can be seen on our website.