Glowing reports
Happy new year, happy new year 鈥� may we all have a vision, now and then, of a world where every neighbour is a friend! You catch us having our annual bath, singing along to carol and possibly still feeling the effects of one too many T铆o Pepes. Well, what do you expect in a column dated 1 January?
We are put in a particularly good mood, however, by Tony Powers, who writes with a follow-up to an article last year about platypuses, those remarkable mammals that glow in UV light, produce venom and lay eggs (8 May 2021, p 41). Tony鈥檚 鈥渟ciencechildren鈥� 鈥� like godchildren, only evidence-based 鈥� Sarah and Rebecca, aged 10 and 8, used a visit to the Australian Museum in Sydney to test animals for fluorescence using a UV hand torch. Their results in near-full:
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Platypus 鈥� do indeed glow green. Some specimens also have glowing white patches under the eyes;
Long-beaked and short-beaked echidnas 鈥� quills and short hairs glow different colours;
Mountain pygmy possum and rabbit-eared bandicoot (or bilby) 鈥� exposed skin and ear hair glows white;
Koala 鈥� white fur patches glow;
Wombat 鈥� nose glows blue;
Masked owl 鈥� white feathers under eyes glow;
Peregrine falcon 鈥� leg skin green.
鈥淭hey were unable to check if the fluorescence was an artefact of taxidermy,鈥� Tony adds. 鈥淭hat will await a trip to the zoo.鈥�
Never grows old鈥�
Also faintly glowing, Guy Cox from Sydney in Australia joins a tidal wave of mainly self-professed older readers writing in defence of illuminated toilet bowls (27 November 2021). Guy also adds to our musings on how old the internet and other authorities assume we can be (30 October 2021) with a story from his days at the University of Oxford. 鈥淎 friend of mine found that, as an ecology postgrad, he was expected to take over as Secretary of the Ashmolean Natural History Society,鈥� he writes. 鈥淗is first action was to remove from the mailing list everyone who had been on it for more than 100 years.鈥�
Out of this world comms
鈥淒ear BackPages Feedback,鈥� Rita Hardman from the Melbourne Dental School writes, startling us: we had thought that, like Rumpelstiltskin or , our given name was a thing of mystery.
Rita also has a mailing list story, reporting that she received, on 16 November 2021, a 快猫短视频 subscription renewal reminder dated 18 May 2021, embellished with a FUN! fact: 鈥淭he world鈥檚 fastest spacecraft took 12 weeks to reach the sun鈥�. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 safe to say that the world鈥檚 fastest postal service was not in charge of delivering my letter,鈥� she says.
She further goes on to calculate, in the admirable way of many dear readers, that were the letter sent at that speed from London not to Melbourne, but to the sun, she would have received it roughly 4407 years later 鈥� missing out on a goodly few issues.
Our apologies on behalf of the postal services of the world and beyond. Memo to the marketing team: if the solar system subs drive isn鈥檛 going so well, it is because the magazine is only 65 years old and they may not have heard of us yet.
For Auld Lang Syne
An objection with late fervour and a loudhailer from Melbourne to the account of our escape from the stationery cupboard to the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow (20 November 2021).
Nigel Sinnott takes issue with our reference to the city as 鈥渢he Gaelic 鈥榙ear green place'鈥�. 鈥淎lthough the Gaelic name of the place is Glaschu, I think you will find that the name was originally Old British, the parent language of Welsh and Cornish,鈥� he writes. 鈥淭he word glas (green, greenish-grey and related colours) is common to both Brythonic and Goidelic languages, but cu is probably from an Old British term for 鈥渉ollow鈥� or 鈥渞avine鈥� (Modern Welsh cau).鈥� Now how鈥檚 that for international cultural enrichment.
How many fish in a bird?
We admit we are glad not to have been woken up today of all days by 鈥淣ew Zealand鈥檚 most annoying t奴墨鈥�, the subject of a . 鈥淓very spring, New Zealand鈥檚 song birds from hell traumatise the suburbs with their raucous cacophonies. While they鈥檙e supposed to get quieter from about October, my t奴墨 obviously didn鈥檛 get the memo,鈥� writes Virginia Fallon.
Feedback has some unruly sparrows in our eaves 鈥� and no, that鈥檚 not a euphemism 鈥� but we have as yet nothing capable of mimicking a car alarm or giving out 鈥渁n extremely loud honk, something in between an airhorn and a startled mega-goose鈥�.
Martin is mainly keen, however, that we take note that the t奴墨 is 鈥渁 bird weighing just 125 grams 鈥� the equivalent of five chocolate fish鈥�. To anyone still in the new year fog, he points out that a chocolate fish is also not a euphemism, but a .
Duly added to the pile of culturally relevant standard units, Martin. And since you introduce yourself as 鈥渁 long time subscriber who *always* reads NS from back to front鈥�, may we end this column of delightful titbits from the other side of the globe by saying what a joy our world is, where not just our neighbours are our friends. Happy new year, wherever you are.
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