MORE than 60 Feedback readers responded to our request for 鈥渢he Word鈥 that might have been in the beginning, or even be heard in the echoes of the big bang (5 September). Here are our favourites, so far.
Having just read Belinda Anyos鈥檚 suggestion for an ergotopographical sign 鈥 鈥淲F/\(鈽)/\鈥 鈥 to indicate that one is working from the labour ward (also 5 September) 鈥 and, for all we know, in reference to Gustave Courbet鈥檚 controversial 1866 painting L鈥橭rigine du Monde 鈥 almost illustrated above 鈥 the word that sprang to Clare Redstone鈥檚 mind was 鈥淧ush!鈥
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Following a more conventionally gendered theology, Nik Whitehead suggests that, 鈥渋nspired by the fact that God and the writer Douglas Adams were both Englishmen (and that one of them existed)鈥, the word can only be 鈥淪orry鈥. To James Webster the universe is clearly a computer simulation, 鈥渁nd a fairly iffy first stab at that鈥, so it seems only reasonable to him that the most obvious thing to find written in the stars will be 鈥渉ello world!鈥, the traditional test phrase that computer programmers use to check that their first few lines of code are communicating with, er鈥 the world.
Stephan Gyory, on the other hand, evokes the image of an exhausted forehead firmly planted in the middle of a keyboard, leading to the word 鈥渞tyui鈥. John Clayton suggests that the Prime Coder had reached an early phase of debugging, and that the word was 鈥淩ebooting鈥.
Developing the gnostic notion that the universe was created by a minor deity, Peter Davies suggests that the word was a reprimand from the Major Deity to the entity that had just created mass: 鈥淗iggs!鈥 Ian Page imagines that entity boasting to the other deities: 鈥淪ee!鈥
Jim Page, meanwhile, is convinced that the responsible entity is a lawyer. 鈥淪urely he would have to be, given all those Acts of God he commits鈥, and the word would have to be 鈥渘otwithstanding鈥.
More grimly, Peter Weinrich understands that the commonest documented last word 鈥 to be found on innumerable 鈥渂lack box鈥 recorders 鈥 is a well-known expletive beginning with the letter 鈥渟鈥. 鈥淚t seems all too likely to have been the first word too,鈥 he concludes.
鈥淎n advert exhorted Sam Westhead to eat 鈥渉ealthy chicken鈥. As a veterinary surgeon, he is sceptical about the feasibility of this, to say nothing of the advisability鈥
Can q-word magic regenerate humans?
READER Ned Goodwin says he found 鈥渁 little whiff of pseudo-science鈥 about the 鈥渉uman regenerator鈥 promoted at .
Only a little whiff, Ned? For us there was a very big whiff, especially when we read in the 鈥淭echnique鈥 section that the device 鈥 a flashily designed box resembling a coffin that you are supposed to lie in 鈥 is a 鈥淨uantum Pulse Device鈥 and that it employs a 鈥淨uantum-Cell Code鈥.
We have noted before (30 May) that the q-word is a sure-fire indicator of fruitloopery and that it never means anything when used in product descriptions. That is evidently true here, leading us to wonder, as we so often do, who on earth could ever be taken in by this kind of nonsense to the point of being persuaded by it to spend money 鈥 in this case (we are not joking) 鈧420,000 per unit.
Sadly, though, as the saying goes: there鈥檚 one born every minute.
Reapply regularly for 24-hour action
BOTTLES of proudly announce that they 鈥減rovide 24-hour action鈥 before quickly adding 鈥渨hen used twice daily鈥. Colin McLeod wonders if there are any products which claim 24-hour effectiveness but which need reapplying even more frequently 鈥 say, every 6 hours, or even every hour.
SEVERAL readers have questioned our assertion that Philips must have made a major breakthrough to manufacture an iron that produces 鈥50 per cent smaller steam particles鈥 (26 September). Chris Adams sums up the issue: 鈥淭he difference between molecular water vapour and everyday steam is something even Wikipedia gets right. What most people, especially those who use irons, think of as steam is a mist of droplets of water.鈥 Those could indeed get smaller, without the interesting consequences of shrinking water molecules.
Feedback declines to comment on whether a youthful fascination with coal-fired transport had anything to do with our taking the meaning of 鈥渟team鈥 listed first in most dictionaries 鈥 鈥渨ater in the form of an invisible gas鈥, as Random House has it 鈥 and not as in 鈥渁 great steaming pile of [insert the word frequently found on black box recorders]鈥.
Last chance to enter Darwin Now competition
FINALLY, now is your last chance to enter our Darwin Now competition at www.newscientist.com/projects/forms/darwinnow09, as it closes at 5 pm BST on 19 October.
All you have to do is tell us in no more than 50 words what selection pressure imposed by humans will produce in the animals of the future. The prize is attendance at the 鈥淥rigin Day鈥 celebrations in London on 24 November, with travel from anywhere in the world plus luxury hotel accommodation provided.