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Prickly sensation
Feedback doesn't want to overstate it, but we think we've found a problem that will rewrite a huge portion of music and literature and force us to reconsider one of our most beloved metaphors.
It all started when we wrote about how teachers are using Taylor Swift music videos to introduce botany to their students (September 27). Reader Gerald Legge wrote to highlight a couple of issues. First, one of the topics we said the students were learning was “lightning competition.” Obviously it had to be “lighting”. In our defense, we checked original scientific articleand there it is also wrong.
However, it was Gerald's second remark that sent the feedback into a spiral. As a passing joke, we said that “botany is a rose garden filled with thorns” (if you didn't get the link, we can only assume there's a blank space where your Taylor Swift knowledge should be).
Gerald says: “Sorry, but botany is not a rose garden full of thorns, unless you have bushes like blackthorns. Roses do not have thorns, but have thorns, which are superficial outgrowths of the epidermis, while thorns are modified stems.”
Reviews were submitted to a number of search engines and expert sources such as New York Botanical Garden website. Finally we were convinced that yes, roses do not have thorns. These sharp things are thorns.
The point is that this distinction invalidates more than one Feedback joke or Swift text. First, we'll have to rewrite William Shakespeare—twice. Sonnet 54 warns readers that “The canker flowers have as deep a dye/As the fragrant tincture of roses/Hang on such thorns,” which is completely wrong. And then there is Sonnet 35which should begin with the words: “Mourn no more for what thou hast done / Roses have thorns, and silver springs of mud.”
That's exactly what Henry Van Dyke should have titled his poem Thorn and Roseand began it like this: “Much richer than a rose without thorns / Whose branch never shines with beauty.”
Reviewers are beginning to think that botanical literalism may not be suitable for poetry and song. However, there are also advantages. We will preserve the works of Johann von Goethe. Heidenrosleinbecause Goethe only says that “The rose defended itself and pricked itself,” without indicating which appendage pricked.
And, what's nice, a saggy power ballad Every rose has a thorn hair metal suppliers The poison can be safely disposed of. Every cloud has a silver lining.
Sperm tracking
Earlier this year, Feedback devoted many column inches to a Scunthorpe problem: the fact that innocuous words and phrases often contain letter sequences that can be offensive when viewed in isolation, making it difficult to build automated tools for moderating online conversations (April 26).
We thought this well might have dried up, but educator and researcher Bernd Würsig tells us otherwise. In the early 2000s, Wuersig led a team of researchers studying sperm whales in the Gulf of Mexico—and attentive readers may have already guessed where this was going.
One of the researchers sent written reports daily via satellite phone, but only half of them were received. Finally, the scientists realized that many of the reports used the word “sperm,” so the university server deleted them.
They got around this by sending reports with lines like, “We photographed and tracked the whale matriarchy.”
Just one letter
Our ongoing search for the most inspiring and/or unconvincing scientific acronyms continues.
Christina Chiers begins by highlighting the institute, which is now called Australian Center for Disease Preparedness. It's one of those biosafety labs that studies “highly contagious animal diseases,” she said.
Over its 40-year history, the center has changed its name several times: it was given its current name in April 2020. Previously it was called the Australian Animal Health Laboratory. However, according to Christina, he once had a third name.
In its early days, the center was called the Australian National Animal Health Laboratory, “until the snickering of many scientists alerted bureaucrats to the pronunciation.” [of its acronym] and the word 'National' was removed.”
Curiously, Feedback could not find any mention of this small acronym offense on the center's website. However, after some digging, we found an article in Australian Veterinary Journal from 1974, describing the proposed laboratory and its advantages. Not only does the article mention the Australian National Animal Health Laboratory multiple times, including in the title, but it even uses an unfortunate acronym.
But if you want a really confusing acronym, try Niall Leighton's proposal – a European research project that studies “how online narratives, including conspiracy theories and disinformation, spread and evolve, with a focus on people aged 45-65.” (Unable to read New scientistlike this.)
The project is called Social Media Narratives: Combating Extremism in Midlife. It should be shortened to SMNAEM(A), but for some reason it was shortened to SMIDGE. Niall says (“but I'm guessing”) that it works like this: Social Media Narratives: Tackling Extremism in Midlife.
If anyone can top this, it's a REALLY SMART but humble person.
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