THE “Compétence Anti-Age” cream that Susan Forde was given is part of the “RNA/DNA Renaissance” line, according to the leaflet that accompanies it. The cream, it says, “is based on an exclusive complex containing RNA and DNA, fundamental cell components which contribute to basic metabolism and play a key role in cellular renewal”.
The leaflet also explains that this “RNA/DNA Complex… is a powerful tool in the defence and repair of the epidermis. In addition, it ensures hydric balance, its firming effect helps counteract slackening in tissues and its line-smoothing action helps keep skin looking younger.”
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Forde wants to know if this leaflet provides an accurate description of the product. We wonder too. For example, the leaflet doesn’t tell us whether the RNA and DNA in the cream are there as normal components of an organic substance or whether they have been isolated somehow. Nor does it tell us how they penetrate the cells of the skin to achieve the “anti-age” effects described. Nor does it tell us what kind of RNA and DNA are in the cream. Are we talking about human RNA and DNA here, or the RNA and DNA of a sheep, a crayfish, a bluebottle, a thistle, or several million other possible varieties?
Furthermore, why is the cream more effective than smearing gravy on your face, given that meat and vegetables are rich in RNA and DNA?
We are forced to the conclusion that either Coryse Salomé has made a major and quite terrifying breakthrough in gene therapy, or these claims for the Renaissance line are, to put it very politely, optimistic.
Arthur C. Clarke’s lost billions
OBITUARIES for Arthur C. Clarke have been reminding us that he never patented his ideas for geostationary satellites, and so never made a penny from the satellite revolution.
In reality, he didn’t miss out on anything that he might have earned. Clarke’s ideas were published in the October 1945 issue of Wireless World, in an article called “Extra-Terrestrial Relays”. The UK had been bombarded with V2 rockets, and it had occurred to Clarke that such rockets travelling at twice their wartime speed could break out of Earth’s atmosphere and become satellites, or “second moons” as he called them.
Once an idea has been published for all to read, it cannot be patented. Some people have suggested that Clarke made a considered, charitable decision to publish rather than patent. So when he lectured at the National Film Theatre in London a few years back, 51¶ŻÂţ correspondent Barry Fox asked him about this – and how much he was paid for the article.
Clarke recalled being paid ÂŁ10 and left no doubt that he had never seriously considered patenting. In any case, Fox points out, patents have a limited life. If Clarke had filed for a patent in 1945, his rights would have been expiring just as the first geostationary communication satellite was being launched by Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral to broadcast the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.
Even so, the fact that he only got paid ÂŁ10 for ideas that spawned an industry worth billions seems a tad ironic.
WHAT is the largest sum available from the indefatigable authors of so-called “Nigerian” email scams? James Moon received an email purporting to come from a Maxwell Kofi, manager of the Dansonman branch of the Metropolitan and Allied Bank in Ghana. After apologising for “not having the liberty of knowing your mindset before writing you this letter without any formal introduction”, Kofi goes on to say: “I write to solicit for your partnership in claiming the amount of $5,300,000M from an account at our Head Office”.
Moon wants to know if $5.3 trillion is a record, or are there readers who have been offered even more?
THE parcel that Harry Lake received by US mail had an “Insured mail” sticker on it that said: “To file a claim for damage or loss of contents, the article, container and packaging must be presented.”
“Several of the doors at the college where Julien Eley works have two notices on them. One says “Automatic door. Keep clear”. The other says “Pull to open””
WINDOWS Live Spaces is “The best place to share your world online”, according to . Patrick McHugh decided to sign up – and was told “Please enter a number between 18 and 255 for Age.”
The terms have since changed, and silver surfers of more than 113 years old are no longer allowed to share their world online. Will Microsoft be sued for ageism?
Those born yesterday are, however, now allowed in.
FINALLY, visitors to the Evolution House at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, UK, are informed: “Some bacteria alive today are direct descendants of Precambrian single-celled life.”
“Fine,” says Jon Hallett. “But what did the other bacteria descend from?”
