In vino veritas
There is science that changes the world, and there is science that just makes the world a better place. Feedback would put a recent paper in PLoS One, setting鈥�, in this second category.
Rui Miguel Costa and his colleagues at the Institute of Applied Psychology in Lisbon got participants either singly, in a duo or as a group of six to consume two glasses of Quinta da Lapa Reserva Syrah 2018, 鈥渁 silky full-bodied red wine from the Lisbon region with 14掳 of alcohol鈥�, in a Lisbon wine bar. They were then asked to fill in a questionnaire probing changes in their state of consciousness.
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Apologies to the sun-deprived for whom the word 鈥淟isbon鈥� may have appeared one or three too many times in that paragraph. We make no such apology for reporting the study鈥檚 results in detail. 鈥淩ed wine increased pleasure and arousal, decreased the awareness of time, slowed the subjective passage of time, increased the attentional focus on the present moment, decreased body awareness, slowed thought speed, turned imagination more vivid, and made the environment become more fascinating,鈥� the researchers found. 鈥淩ed wine increased insightfulness and originality of thoughts, increased sensations of oneness with the environment, spiritual feelings, all-encompassing love, and profound peace. All changes in consciousness occurred regardless of volunteers drinking alone, in dyad or in group.鈥�
鈥淒oes that mean red wine mystically gives you the effects of being drunk?鈥� a colleague asks, possibly sardonically. We aren鈥檛 sure, as we are on deadline, and we have been doing what it takes to increase our attentional focus on the present moment.
One size fits all
Just as our imagination is turning more vivid, we encounter an article sent in by Michael Zehse . The brainchild of Ryan Mario Yasin, described as a former satellite engineer, the USP of this children鈥檚 clothing is that it expands to fit.
鈥淩yan used origami principles that engineers use to fold up satellites to help design items that could open up and fit children as they grow,鈥� the article reports. 鈥淭he items are so effective that they will fit a nine-month-old baby until they are four years old.鈥�
A cracking idea, especially as apparently the process is reversible at will. We haven鈥檛 quite worked out yet how inflation and deflation works, but we like the idea of, for example, being able to inflate a child for added safety and security in a play area. We are slightly more concerned about the prospect of accidental activation either way. Mind you, we are sure they have cracked that one in space.
Feel the burn
Also innovative in the clothing department is the Craghoppers Dynamic 12000 jacket, for which Jem Moore spots an ad. Its 鈥渦nique feature is the mesh lining made from six natural minerals鈥�, it claims.
We would pay more for a mesh of unnatural mineral, say of unobtainium, but we鈥檒l settle for the natural ones since they 鈥渞eflect your body鈥檚 own infra-red rays鈥�.
We think this is a fancy way of saying 鈥渒eep you warm鈥�. All in all, however, we are rather too taken with the idea of combining this with inflation and deflation technology. Do it fast enough and you could probably generate some pretty sizable Doppler shifts in the reflected radiation, perhaps turning your body heat into visible light, say. We haven鈥檛 done the maths yet, but we are sure this is right, as we enter a phase of profound peace and all-encompassing love.
Thickly spread
In which condition, we offer our belated congratulations to the state of Western Australia for launching its first satellite on 29 August. Propelled aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from NASA鈥檚 Kennedy Space Center in Florida towards the International Space Station, the satellite is described in an of (presumably fuming) Tasmania as 鈥渘ot much bigger than a vegemite sandwich鈥�.
We have seen pictures of the cuboid satellite, and we can鈥檛 help thinking that is one thick vegemite sandwich. We understand the need to celebrate this giant leap for Western Australian spacefaring with a suitably patriotic measurement, but this one lands on our rapidly growing pile labelled 鈥淪uspect Units (Australia)鈥�.
Elephant hunting
Many thanks to all of you who came forward with suggestions for how scientists in various disciplines would find an elephant, in the room or elsewhere (4 September). John Maybury suggests that physicists might like to build a hugely expensive Large Mammal Collider to try to make elephants from hippos, rhinos and the like.
In full sobriety, meanwhile, Peter Ashby opines: 鈥淎s a Developmental Biologist I would detect an elephant by following it back into development. Only if it develops like an elephant can it be an elephant.鈥�
Full sobriety is not where we are by now. That鈥檚 why we also include an old joke sent in by Natalie Roberts: 鈥淗ow do you hide an elephant? Paint its toenails red and stick it in a cherry tree.鈥� We鈥檝e had quite enough now, and we are sure you have too.
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