CHILDREN, it goes without saying, should be initiated as early as possible
into the world of computers and the Internet. So let鈥檚 welcome the pilot project
running at the Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City, California.
Newborn babies at the hospital are routinely sent home with a birth
certificate, a box of toys and nappies. But now this baby starter kit includes a
novel addition鈥攖he baby鈥檚 very own website domain name. In collaboration
with domain name provider Namezero.com, the hospital invites new parents to
register their infants online with a special password. The first year is free,
and after that it costs $29.95 a year to maintain the site.
The idea, at least initially, is for parents to post cute photos and news of
their baby on the site for friends and relatives to coo over. But it鈥檚 also
intended as an investment for the future. Says Cheryl Regan, spokeswoman for
California-based company VeriSign, which keeps a registry of domain names: 鈥淚t
could quite possibly become as important as a birth certificate. Some people
even look at them as a family heirloom they can pass down.鈥�
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STAFF working at a charity dedicated to conserving British woodlands were a
bit miffed to receive a letter from a supporter complaining that they had failed
to plant any sweet chestnut in a newly created woodland site, as had been agreed
during the local design consultation exercise. The complainant wrote: 鈥淭he only
trees which appear to have been planted . . . are oak, rowan, alder and elder .
. . and a large amount of willow, with an unusual tree with broad serrated
leaves that nobody can identify. There appears to be a complete absence of sweet
chestnut, which is a great shame.鈥�
As many readers will know, the sweet chestnut is easily recognised by its
broad serrated leaves.
COUGHS and sneezes spread diseases, but here鈥檚 an unnerving thought: what
about farts? Australian science broadcaster Karl Kruszelnicki (popularly known
as 鈥淒r Karl鈥�) was asked by a caller to find out, so he arranged for a
microbiologist friend Luke Tennent and his colleagues to set up an
experiment.
A volunteer was asked to lower his trousers and break wind over a blood agar
plate at a range of 5 centimetres. The plate was incubated overnight and studied
for signs of germ life. The team were not disappointed. Most striking was the
concentration of gut bacteria thriving at the centre, in what the team dubbed
the 鈥渋nitial blast zone鈥�. Moving out from there, the 鈥渟platter ring鈥� contained a
more dispersed mixture of skin and enteric bacteria.
Based on these alarming preliminary findings, Tennent et al are now inviting
sponsorship for a large-scale investigation. As they explain, 鈥淲e propose a
series of tests involving farting onto agar plates from varying distances (5 to
30 centimetres) after the ingestion of specific foods and beverages. In addition
to this we hope to utilise a peak flow meter to test the power of the fart, and
how this corresponds to culture results.鈥�
Feedback supports the team鈥檚 call for further research into an unacknowledged
and potentially grave threat to public health. Meanwhile, Dr Karl鈥檚 report on
the Tennent experiment can be found on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation鈥檚
website at www.abc.net.au/science/k2/homework/s312551.htm.
READER Alex Guite was developing some photos in a darkroom recently, when the
notice on the darkroom鈥檚 colour film processor impressed him. 鈥淒o not attempt to
move. It contains chemistry.鈥�
THE SEARCH for knowledge can often involve the humblest of materials.
鈥淪paghetti lubricated in olive oil is shedding light on why knotted ropes or
strings used by sailors, anglers and mountaineers snap where and when they do,鈥�
we learn in the current issue of the New Journal of Physics,
the online publication from the Institute of Physics and the German
Physical Society.
In a paper entitled 鈥淟ocalization of breakage points in knotted strings鈥� in
the current issue, Giovanni Dietler of the University of Lausanne in Switzerland
says: 鈥淔inding the breakage point on a rope with some degree of accuracy is very
difficult. Materials like nylon break so fast that it is impossible to see where
or why a break occurs, even with a high velocity camera. Instead, the best
material to see a breakage turns out to be well cooked spaghetti.鈥�
鈥淲E HAVE MOVED鈥� announces the NASA website on tectonic plates at
cddis.gsfc.nasa.gov/926/slrtecto.html. It continues: 鈥淭he SLR Tectonic Plate
Motion Pages have moved. Visit the new site at . . .鈥�
We wonder if the new site is closer or further away from Europe than the old
one.
THE CAN of Simple moisturising shaving foam proclaims that it is 鈥渘ot
perfumed, not coloured, just kind鈥�. Beneath this legend is a 鈥渟eal of
authenticity鈥�, which contains the single word: 鈥淧ure.鈥�
On the other side of the can the ingredients of the foam are given: 鈥淎qua
(water), Stearic Acid, Triethanolamine, Glycerin, Butane, Propane, Ceteth-20,
Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera), Myristic Acid, Isobutane, Potassium
贬测诲谤辞虫颈诲别.鈥�
We dread to think what a shaving foam that isn鈥檛 pure would have in it.
A POLICE notice at Guy鈥檚 Hospital, London, warns: 鈥淏eware! pickpockets
operate in this area.鈥� Somebody has scrawled underneath it: 鈥淪o do
蝉耻谤驳别辞苍蝉.鈥�
FINALLY, reader Liam Stewart bought a pair of DeFeet Wool-E-Ator athletes鈥�
socks recently. The information on the back of the packaging told him: 鈥淢achine
wash cold. Tumble dry low. No chlorine bleach. Do not eat.鈥�
We鈥檝e heard of people eating their hats or challenging others to eat their
shorts, but their socks? Surely not.