Star signs
WHICH celeb is king of the jungle? Feedback is pondering biologistsâ propensity for cutting loose and naming critters after famous people, thus ensuring a little press boost when the discoveries are published.
The latest crop of ostentatious nomenclature hails from the Costa Rican undergrowth, where a group of âsmiley faceâ spiders known for sporting emojis on their abdomens have been identified for the first time, among them Spintharus davidbowiei, S. barackobamai, S. michelleobamaae, S. berniesandersi, S. leonardodicaprioi and S. davidattenboroughi.
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Whether having a creepy crawler with a fake smile named after you can really be considered an honour is not for Feedback to say. But it does prompt us to wonder: which celebrity can lay claim to the most organisms named after them?
A brief search of the literature puts nonagenarian TV nature presenter David Attenborough in the lead, boasting a menagerie that includes plesiosaurs, armoured fish, marsupial lions, prehistoric crustaceans and pygmy locusts (all extinct), plus Javan weevils, Madagascan ghost shrimp, long-beaked echidnas, Tasmanian semi-slugs, Peruvian rubber frogs and tropical goblin spiders. Adding plants to the list nets at least another five credits, from pitcher plants to black eyed satyrs. Can anyone trump Sir Davidâs stellar performance?
âA sign spotted by David Tweedie on the entrance to Warwick Medical School: âAutomatic door. Press button to operate.ââ
A few rules on this game: only non-scientists count, so donât write in telling us Charles Darwin pops up a lot in the taxonomic tree. And a genus only counts once, regardless of how many species it holds. Can you find a more widely credited celebrity? And what are the most egregious examples of such conspicuous christening?
Adverse angle
YOU may want to sit down before you read further: standing up at work is apparently bad for your health. Research published by the Institute of Work and Health in Canada shows that workers whose jobs required them to stand all day were twice as likely to develop heart disease compared with their sedentary colleagues, a risk factor on a par with smoking. Itâs bad news for the guards at Buckingham Palace, and Feedback has traded in our standing desk while we lobby our editors for a much healthier .
Kingâs gambit
REGARDING our recent cover featuring Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un playing chess (23 September), Jennifer Sterling says: âI play chess and looking at the board itâs impossible for Trump and Kimâs rooks to be gone with their pawns still in position.â
On reflection, though, she admits that âconceptually this illustration is actually brilliant. Neither one of them has any idea of how to even pose, much less master, the hardest game in the worldâ.
Over at ChessBase, editor Macauley Peterson leads an in-depth discussion of what famous games could have been referenced on the cover, such as James Adams Congdon sacrificing his sole attacking piece to force a draw against the more heavily armed Eugene Delmar at the 5th American Chess Congress of (). One participant notes that the positions shown are possible in 17 moves, commenting that âthe final retreating moves could be a sign that peace negotiations will prevailâ.
A lot of lard
LONDONâS subterranean arteries are clogged with plaques of hardened fat and wet wipes, and recently a monster 130 tonne âfatbergâ was discovered spanning a 250 metre length of sewer pipe under Whitechapel.
âI was just reading the SĂŒddeutsche Zeitung and found a whole load of interesting units used to describe the fatberg,â says Stuart Arnold. âAs well as the usual elephants, it apparently weighed as much as 1433 .â
Congress critter
DONâT drain the swamp: researchers at the Illinois Natural History Survey are studying a spineless, highly opportunistic bottom feeder found in a pond in Washington DC. The endangered Stygobromus hayi might not be the most charismatic of species â being small, pale and blind â but researchers have nonetheless developed environmental DNA sampling to monitor the amphipod without disturbing it.
After all, if thereâs no place in the Capitol for tiny critters like this to thrive, what hope for the megafauna?
Grave goods
LOOKING for recycling advice, Terry Klumpp writes: âAn old friend whose death is imminent has generously bequeathed me his pacemaker.â Terry wants to know, with a bit of tinkering, what uses could he put this heirloom to? Readers, tell us your flashes of inspiration.
Fuels seldom differ
MORE on petronyms: Niall FitzSimons previously related the existence of the Elpiji company in Indonesia selling (what else?) liquefied petroleum gas.
âIn France diesel fuel, also called gas oil, is sold as âgazoleâ,â says Geert Catteeuw, âand heating fuel is sold as âfioulâ. A case of onomatopoeic translation?â
On the other hand, he says that petrol â gasoline to our US readers â sells as âessenceâ. The essence of what, one wonders?
