CONTROVERSY still simmers over what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. The spectacular favourite, at the time of writing, is an asteroid splashing down off Mexico鈥檚 Yucatan peninsula, but there鈥檚 always the chance that the main rival theory could erupt onto the scene again in a resurgence of lava flows across India鈥檚 Deccan Traps.
Skulking between these giant theories 鈥� almost, we are tempted to say, like a proto-mammal evading the saurian giants 鈥� is another, put forward somewhat shyly by the makers of the 3D Imax dinosaur movie imaginatively entitled Dinosaurs 3D.
What鈥檚 that theory, then? A colleague, one rainy day in London, decided to sample this marvel of cinematography. The enormity of the dinosaurs was indeed impressive 鈥� as was the filmically inevitable point where the image of a large herbivore lumbered out of the screen and into the auditorium, over the audience鈥檚 heads. While all around ducked, Feedback鈥檚 colleague looked up. The film-makers鈥� theory was made plain.
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No genitals.
Aluminium-free apart from the aluminium
GREEN People, a company that sells skincare and beauty products to people opting for an 鈥渙rganic lifestyle鈥�, says of : 鈥淕reen People鈥檚 range of natural deodorants is free from pore-clogging aluminium, parabens, phthalates, ethyl alcohol and harsh, synthetic ingredients.鈥�
It then goes on to say: 鈥淭he naturally occurring mineral salt ammonium alum (alunite) is added for its strong impact on germs.鈥� However, Philip Shaw, who noticed this, says: 鈥淎mmonium alum is actually ammonium aluminium sulphate dodecahydrate, which does contain aluminium.鈥�
Philip is quite right. So it鈥檚 disappointing to find the British 鈥渜uality鈥� newspaper The Guardian failing to contest Green People鈥檚 promulgation of the non-aluminium myth. Mike Whittacker spotted this in an article entitled in the paper on 19 May: 鈥淔ears about the safety of aluminium-based antiperspirants have led to some people switching to natural products offered by brands such as Crystal and Green People. These contain ammonium alum, a mineral salt formed in the Earth鈥檚 crust.鈥�
It doesn鈥檛 stop there. A quick PubMed search locates a paper on this very subject by H. Gallego and colleagues from the department of dermatology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (). Its abstract tells us: 鈥淭wo patients developed an irritant dermatitis of the axillae [armpits] shortly after using an over-the-counter 鈥榥atural deodorant crystal鈥� product containing alum. We discuss this previously unreported, untoward reaction to alum, an ancient agent with new-found popularity as an alternative health product.鈥�
鈥淩eader Kevin Picton wishes to disobey the instruction that his new password 鈥渕ust contain at least 0 non-alphanumeric characters鈥� and seeks your assistance鈥�
WHAT exactly does this mean? Jamie Bowers directs our attention to entitled 鈥淣ew Zealand Extractive Industries Mining, Coal Mining, Quarrying and Tunnelling ~ Serious Harm Accident Summary 2003鈥�, which, as well as sporting this extremely tortuous headline, contains 鈥淭able 1: classification by source鈥�. The first three items on the table are:
- 鈥淪truck by falling object: 3
- 鈥淪truck by moving object: 4
- 鈥淪truck by stationary object: 2鈥�
We have tried without success to understand the third category. We can only assume the headline writer was at work again here, and an attempt to convey the idea of people walking into things had not come off very well.
FINALLY, would you like to own a piece of the moon?
Depending on which time zone you happen to be in, 20 or 21 July 2009 sees the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing. Our competition to celebrate that historic event offers a fabulous prize for the winner: some rock from the moon.
The competition is simple to enter. You will doubtless know the words spoken by Neil Armstrong when he stepped off Apollo 11鈥檚 lunar module and onto the moon itself: 鈥淥ne small step for [a] man 鈥� one giant leap for mankind.鈥� Can you think of something else he might have said instead 鈥� something equally memorable, or perhaps something funny?
Your entry should be no more than 75 characters long (including spaces). You can send your entries by email (address below; please put 鈥淐ompetition鈥� in the subject line), by fax or by post, or online at www.newscientist.com/article/dn17213, where you can also read the specifications of the rock from the moon that you could win, along with an analysis of it performed for New 杏吧原创 by a team at the Open University in the UK. See also this week鈥檚 feature 鈥淲hen the moon lands鈥� (page 40) on how the analysis was done.
The competition closes on 29 June and the results will be published in the 18 July issue of New 杏吧原创, in anticipation of the anniversary of the landing.