FEEDBACK has come across a touchy question of etiquette. If Nobel prizewinners are treated like royalty, how should the winners treat royalty? One insight into the dilemma comes from Richard Roberts, who won the prize for medicine in 1993 for the co-discovery of split genes.
Roberts told a meeting of the British Expats in Life Sciences group in Boston recently that at the formal prize-giving ceremony the King of Sweden had congratulated him with a friendly handshake. What Roberts hadn鈥檛 realised, however, was that this is the only occasion the King deigns to touch the flesh of mere plebians. So when Roberts met the king again, his attempt to shake the royal hand a second time was rebuffed with a distinctly frosty response: 鈥淥nce is enough, thank you.鈥�
Future Nobel laureates, take note.
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IN THE wake of the 11 September attacks, New 杏吧原创 ran a special report exposing the risk of a terrorist attack on the 21 tanks of high-level waste at Britain鈥檚 Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria (13 October 2001, p 10). The consequences, the article said, could dwarf those of Chernobyl.
British Nuclear Fuels, the state-owned company that runs Sellafield, quickly responded with a statement condemning the story as 鈥渟caremongering at its worst鈥� and 鈥渟cience fiction鈥�. The waste tanks, said a company spokesman, were, 鈥渁mong the most robust buildings on the Sellafield site, surrounded by a huge biological shield鈥�.
Now the company has commissioned the London Science Museum to mount a public exhibition on nuclear power at the Sellafield Visitors Centre, with an accompanying website (). Though this was paid for by BNFL, the museum was free to decide on the content.
On the topic of terrorism, the exhibition explains that nuclear waste isn鈥檛 always as heavily protected as reactors. It says: 鈥淪tores of spent fuel and waste aren鈥檛 surrounded by thick protective containment structures and, if attacked, could cause a release of radiation. The high-level liquid waste stores at Sellafield are thought to contain 80 times the amount of radioactive caesium released in the Chernobyl accident and could be the biggest nuclear target in Britain.鈥�
Now that鈥檚 what we call editorial freedom.
PHONE-IN radio programmes in South Australia ran hot during December鈥檚 solar eclipse. Their advice ranged from how to protect yourself when looking at the Sun to directions to the remote locations where the eclipse could be seen at its best.
Not everyone was satisfied, however. Reader Robert Jenkins reports that one listener was unhappy that the tourism authorities had organised the eclipse for a weekday, when most people were working. She called Adelaide鈥檚 5DN radio station to suggest that next time it should be held on a weekend.
THERE are health food packets that subtly imply amazing benefits if you鈥檒l just buy the product, and there are those that suggest the copywriter got bored and resorted to parody.
Dan Kelly tells us about a carton of Orchard Maid Organic Cranberry & Raspberry yogurt drink he bought recently from a store in Douglas, Isle of Man. Apparently the straw supplied with the wonder carton is 鈥減roven to deliver 99 million probiotic Lactobacillus Reuteri Bacteria to the digestive system鈥�. Furthermore 鈥� please put down anything you are drinking at the moment, because we wouldn鈥檛 want a choking accident 鈥� 鈥淭o ensure that the commercially used strain would be as natural as possible, it was sourced from the breast milk of a woman living in the mountains of Peru, and this strain of Reuteri is the one which is found in the LifeTopTM 蝉迟谤补飞.鈥�
That鈥檒l be really, really natural, then.
DISCERNING comment from the recent BBC television documentary on the ups and downs of the Marks and Spencer store chain: 鈥淭hey began to think they could walk on water, and nobody can walk on water in the retail business.鈥�
AT THE end of last year, The Journal of The American Medical Association ran the sad story of a man who was strip-searched twice in New York after triggering radiation detectors on the subway system. It turned out that he had been getting radioactive iodine treatment for a thyroid problem.
JAMA deduces that radiation detectors have now been installed in New York鈥檚 transport system as an anti-terrorist measure, although there has been no public announcement of the move. The journal advises that patients receiving radiation treatment should be given letters by their physicians to avoid the embarrassment of being detained and searched.
FINALLY, a family doctor on England鈥檚 south coast tells us he received a letter from East Sussex County Healthcare. It reads: 鈥淒ear Colleagues, Following an audit of our outpatient clinics we have found a considerable amount of unattended appointments were for patients who were referred to us with memory problems.鈥�
Surprise, surprise.
From the instructions on a bottle of Color Steps Colorant shoe dye: 鈥淎pply using quick, long, even strokes back and forth in one direction.鈥� Tricky鈥�