51动漫

Heavy metal on Titan

WOULD you like to know what Deep Purple sound like playing on Saturn鈥檚 moon Titan?

No, the band hasn鈥檛 actually been there, and nor has a recording of its work been dropped onto Titan to be broadcast back to Earth. However, physicist Andi Petculescu at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette, and mechanical engineer Richard Lueptow of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, have developed a model that predicts the acoustic properties of gas mixtures. They then played the opening bars of Deep Purple鈥檚 classic track Smoke on the Water through filters that mimic the different atmospheric conditions on Earth, Mars, Venus and Titan.

The track sounds best on Titan, which has a nitrogen-methane atmosphere that is thicker than Earth鈥檚, making the music magnificently loud, with a rich, thumping bass.

You can hear it for yourself at , and find out more on 51动漫鈥榮 space blog at .

Use or don鈥檛 use on plastic

THE can of Car Pride Wheel Clean that Dave Taylor bought told him: 鈥淓ffectively removes dirt and grime from any wheels. Works on steel and alloy wheels, and metal and plastic wheel trims. Directions: Shake can thoroughly and spray directly on to surface. Allow to soak for 30 seconds but do not allow to dry. Wash off with plenty of water from a hose pipe, standing well back to avoid splashing on to clothes. Very dirty wheels may need a second application. Avoid contact with glass, plastic and paintwork鈥� Do not allow to enter watercourses.鈥�

Taylor wants to know: 鈥淎re you supposed to use it on plastic or not?鈥� And: 鈥淲hat are you supposed to do with all the water from the hosepipe if you mustn鈥檛 allow it to enter watercourses? Catch it all and bury it in a field?鈥�

Quantum travel instructions

QUANTUM mechanics may apply in Scotland to buses that merge in Lanarkshire (Feedback, 9 December 2006). Errol Kellas writes from Australia to point out that things were no simpler in earlier, pastoral times 鈥� or at least not in mythical ones created for marketing purposes. Indeed, at Long-Walking Lonesome Bob Badger informs us what he could not have done without his Foot Balm: 鈥淭wo paths diverged in the woods and I鈥� I took both of them.鈥�

Similarly, many readers have told us of their difficulty in obeying signs in trains that urge: 鈥淯se all doors to exit鈥�. And when Emmet McMahon was travelling into London, he was struck by a notice on one of the stations that said 鈥淟et other people off the train first鈥�. He reflected that it is a very good thing that not everybody in London can read English, otherwise nobody would ever get off the trains.

This is not a door

STRUGGLING in a similar state of quantum uncertainty, Owen Courtis tells us of a sign on a door at a shopping centre in his locality which reads 鈥淭his door is to remain closed at all times鈥�.

鈥淎s one can only pass through an open door,鈥� he muses, 鈥渢he effect of the sign is to render the thing just another part of the wall. Had Ren茅 Magritte been employed by the centre, they could have achieved the same effect by having him merely paint an image of a door on the wall, decorated with the legend 鈥楥eci n鈥檈st pas une porte鈥�.鈥�

鈥淎nother splendid website note found by Andrea Gill: 鈥淭he Botanical Society of America web site is transmitted using recycled electrons 鈥� GO GREEN鈥濃��

Dying more than once

APPLYING online for life insurance from the UK鈥檚 Nationwide building society, Beth Pipe was given the option of a joint or sole policy and opted for sole. When the quote came back it was accompanied by the statement 鈥淧ayable on first death within the term of the plan鈥�.

Pipe is impressed that Nationwide have such faith in medical science that she鈥檚 allowed to die more than once 鈥� but disappointed not to be told how much she鈥檇 get on subsequent deaths.

Just wait 28 years

DON鈥橳 all rush now. Here鈥檚 a promo from Amazon: 鈥淎s someone who has expressed interest in books by Jane Goodall, you might like to know that Jane Goodall鈥檚 Return to Gombe: Reflections on a life鈥檚 work in Africa will be released on December 31, 2035. You can pre-order your copy at a savings of $8.48 by following the link below鈥︹��

But how much will $8.48 be worth then? Could be a real bargain.

All-powerful astrophysicists

FINALLY, Paul Jordon found the following sentence on a University of Cambridge web page: . 鈥淚t could be argued that various misunderstandings of how convection operates in stars lead to the greatest differences in their long-term evolution.鈥�

Jordon notes: 鈥淚t seems Cambridge astrophysicists are so clever that they can influence the evolution of stars by their degree of understanding of convection.鈥�