SURPRISING scientific claim of the week: Thaddaeus Frogley draws our attention to H2Om water, āthe worldās first vibrationally charged, interactive waterā. Each bottle of this water, we are told at , promotes āpositive thinking and positive energy for people and the planetā.
How so? Well, it works like this: āOnce our water is in the bottle, we play restorative compositions of music, frequencies, and spoken word to the water.ā Ah. That makes a difference, does it? Apparently so. Water, you see, āis mutable, receptive and sensitiveā¦ In fact, recent scientific studies have proven that water is directly effected by the words, sounds and thoughts it is exposed to.ā
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Frogley tells us he couldnāt find these studies, and unfortunately we canāt either. Until we do, we feel obliged to add āinteractive waterā to our ever-expanding list of fruitloopery indicators.
HERE is a very strange definition. A press release from the European Space Agency received by Martin Gardiner talks of remotely monitoring the use of āPlant Protection Productsā in Europe. Wondering what these are if they arenāt what we normally call pesticides, he did a bit of web searching and eventually came up with the answer on the website of the German governmentās Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety at .
āPlant protection products are substances which are intended to protect plants or plant products against animals, plants, micro-organisms or diseases. Substances which destroy plants, regulate growth or inhibit germination are also regarded as plant protection products.ā
āSeen on the package of a compact fluorescent light bulb at the market in Oxford, UK: āSaves approx 80 per cent more energy than a standard light bulb.ā Oliver Tickell asks: āCan anyone explain?ā
Is that clear?
ON THE outside of a nice new kettle that Vanda Hamilton bought there is a sticker below the spout that has a line on it and says āmax fillā. This would be handy information, she observes, if the kettle were see-through ā but it isnāt. It is matt black enamel. So she has to find out how full the kettle is when it is under the tap by resorting to the old-fashioned method of waiting until the water comes out of the spout, and then tipping some more out to be sure.
THE great American humorist James Thurber wrote that his aunt made sure the electric sockets in her house always had a plug in them because she was worried that if they didnāt the electricity would leak out. Julian Clokie wonders if the prosecution in a court case in Hampshire, UK, had a similar view of electricity. According to a report in the Portsmouth News, a man owning an electronic stun gun pleaded guilty in court to a charge of āpossessing a weapon designed for the discharge of a noxious liquidā.
Lake in an island on a lake in an islandā¦
MAX MAGUIRE has a question for us. āEverybody knows that the largest lake is the Caspian Sea,ā he says, āand the largest island is Greenland. But have you ever wondered what the largest island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island is?ā
We hadnāt, but the question seemed sufficiently odd for us to click on the link he gave us ā ā where Elbruz, the Dutch scientific and educational organisation, supplies the answer. You can click on the link too, if you badly want to know. In the meantime we can all reflect on the strange things some people do with their time.
IAN BRAY tells us ā and why shouldnāt we believe him? ā that the manual for servicing the keel-lifting mechanism of a Beneteau Oceanis 311 yacht advises: āUnscrew the bolt THM8 located at the end of the endless screw.ā
Flirt with science competition
FINALLY, donāt forget to send in your entries to our āFlirt with scienceā end-of-the-year competition. This year you are invited to seduce the person of your dreams with a science-related chat-up line (17 November).
You may submit more than one entry. All entries must reach us by Monday 3 December 2007 and should be no longer than 30 words. Send entries by post to: Ā鶹“«Ć½ Feedback Competition, Lacon House, 84 Theobaldās Road, London WC1X 8NS, or by email to: feedback@newscientist.com ā please write ācompetitionā in the subject line ā or enter online at www.newscientist.com/feedbackcomp.
Ten lucky winners will each receive a Ā鶹“«Ć½ goody bag consisting of: one 128-megabyte USB stick, a set of the three Ā鶹“«Ć½ best-selling books (How to Fossilise Your Hamster, Why Donāt Penguinsā Feet Freeze? and Does Anything Eat Wasps?) plus a fabulous Ā鶹“«Ć½ bag (vibrant blue on the outside with a zingy red lining, a zipped pocket under the main flap and an internal pocket to secure your laptop).
The results will be published in the 22/29 December issue of Ā鶹“«Ć½. The editorās decision is final.
