Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more
Air deterrent
EAU de deterrent, anyone? Fears about chemical nasties have consumers turning their noses up at mosquito repellents containing DEET in favour of 鈥渘atural鈥� alternatives such as citronella and vitamin B patches.
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Stacy Rodriguez and her colleagues decided to look at how effective these alternative repellents were, publishing their results in the , including two perfumes as comparators.
In tests conducted with live mosquitoes, many of the natural repellents had a negligible effect, but one concoction showed promise: Victoria鈥檚 Secret Bombshell perfume, which the manufacturers note is of a 鈥渇ruity floral鈥� type, including 鈥減urple passion fruit, Shangri-la peony and vanilla orchid鈥�.
The authors report that the pink-bottled fragrance 鈥渉as shown to be a strong repellent with effects lasting longer than 120 minutes鈥� 鈥� admirable efficacy, but Feedback suspects probably not what the manufacturers were aiming for.
The selected garment is restricted in the number of copies produced, although in fact the number may be very low or very high鈥� 鈥� Pull and Bear defines 鈥榣imited edition鈥� for Mike Barsham
Ringo was his name-o
HE WAS the dog that defied science. Ringo, a golden retriever specially bred to inherit a genetic mutation that causes severe muscular dystrophy, surprised scientists by exhibiting none of the symptoms of the disease.
Instead, Ringo was left feeling so sparky he sired a number of pups with his labmates, one of which also escaped symptoms of the disease, reports .
Tests revealed that Ringo had a second mutation which rendered him immune to the effects of the first, offering new avenues of research against human forms of the disease. Though perhaps science-defying animals are not the most useful research models.
V2.000 rocket
FIRED somewhat indiscriminately in their heyday, wartime Germany鈥檚 V2 rockets continue to suffer from questionable accuracy. Kevin Lee reads in a popular history book that the weapons flew at 鈥渁bout 5600 km/h (3479.5 mph).鈥�
鈥淟eaving aside the fact that the maximum velocity was somewhat variable anyway,鈥� he writes, 鈥渋s it not agreed that a conversion cannot go from two significant figures to five?鈥� Feedback doesn鈥檛 feel qualified to answer: this is, after all, rocket science.
Bottom line
MORE dubious accuracy: Fred Nind reports that his local Vue cineplex in Aberdeen boasts that it is a 鈥�7 screen cinema with approximately 1,531 seats鈥�.
鈥淚 guess that is because they round partial seats up or down to make whole ones,鈥� says Fred. Feedback wonders if it depends on how many Aberdonians can squeeze themselves into a single cushion 鈥� a cunning way to cut the price of admission in these austere times, perhaps?
Linguistic trick
BREVITY may be the soul of wit, but what language style do fraudsters employ? That question is pondered by David Markowitz and Jeffrey Hancock in 鈥淟inguistic Obfuscation in Fraudulent Science鈥�, a study which examines 253 papers retracted for fraudulent content to see if they share any grammatical characteristics.
Their findings, published in the , reveal that fraudulent papers showed a higher use of obfuscating language, hinting that the authors were relying on jargon, low readability and a surplus of references to hide their deceit.
However, the difference was small, and not distinctive enough to separate fraudulent papers from genuine ones. Shockingly, it appears that even honest science papers are often written in an opaque and unreadable fashion. Feedback is lost for words.
Drugs bill rehashed
LIEGH White writes to remind us that we cannot escape nominative determinism. Liegh points to the example lying right under our own noses: 鈥淲ho else could co-chair the committee to scrutinise the Misuse of Drugs Act other than an MP called 鈥楢mess鈥�?鈥� (14 November).
Watered down
SETTING a low bar: Nestl茅 claims to be 鈥渂uilding healthy lives鈥� with its Pure Life spring water, according to a flyer passed on by Julia Pallanca.
Few would argue that drinking water in moderation could be anything but good for you, but in case someone did, the advert justifies itself in the small print: 鈥淲ater contributes to the maintenance of normal cognitive function.鈥� Feedback reports that having sampled a glass of the wet stuff, our cognitive functions are indeed functioning normally.
Workplace millennials
FINANCIAL investigator Faire Sans Dire has been looking into who runs the UK鈥檚 businesses. request to Companies House, where the details of all UK firms are registered, reveals 315 incredibly busy directors who were named as overseeing more than 100 companies each.
But even more hard-working staff can be found: records at the government office show there are 319 directors aged over 100, one of whom is an improbable 945 years old.
鈥淛ust imagine the benefits of having the wisdom of a 945-year-old at your board meeting,鈥� says Faire Sans Dire chairman Bill Fairclough. Feedback can indeed imagine them, but we鈥檙e arming ourselves with garlic and stakes all the same.
Image: Paul McDevitt
