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Cold calling
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THE LAST WORD Off colour
shock”, and he fled the treatment room screaming in pain. Some victims of the defective equipment died of radiation poisoning. The beam energy of this machine was a mere 25 megaelectronvolts. Richard Miller London, UK
I spotted this blackbird in the garden (see photo). It is not black but light grey, and it did not have pink eyes so I guess that it is not an albino. It spread its wings and lay in the sun; in due course it flew off. I’ve never seen a blackbird with this colouring before. Can anyone tell me more about it? (Continued)
This week’s questions
n The reason given by an earlier correspondent from Canada for the off-colour blackbird’s behaviour seems questionable. In my garden in the south of England, birds often show this behaviour. The species involved include blackbirds, robins, sparrows and pigeons, and all behave the same way: wings spread and tail raised, with their back to the sun. They choose various parts of the garden and seem only to do this on sunny days. I’ve not seen any evidence of the involvement of ants killing parasites on the birds’ feathers as your correspondent suggests. This behaviour is frequent in the late spring, often involving more than one bird at a time in different parts of the garden. Is it possible that they are just enjoying the warmth of the sun? The stretching, the closed eyes and the orientation certainly suggest this. I haven’t seen first hand the behaviour of ants in Canada, as your correspondent obviously has, but perhaps they are just taking advantage of the
n At least one unfortunate person – Anatoli Bugorski – has already been struck by a high energy particle beam. In 1978, his head was briefly caught in the proton beam of a particle accelerator, the U-70 synchrotron in Russia. He reported seeing a flash of light “brighter than a 1000 suns” but experienced no immediate pain. The full extent of his injuries only became apparent over the
The writers of answers that are published in the magazine will receive a cheque for £25 (or US$ equivalent). Answers should be concise. We reserve the right to edit items for clarity and style. Please include a daytime telephone number and an email address if you have one. New Scientist retains total editorial control over the published content. Reed Business Information Ltd reserves all rights to reuse all question and answer material that has been
submitted by readers in any medium or in any format and at any time in the future. Send questions and answers to The Last Word, New Scientist, 110 High Holborn, London WC1V 6EU, UK, by email to [email protected] or visit www.newscientist.com/topic/lastword (please include a postal address in order to receive payment for answers). Unanswered questions can also be found at this URL.
Dud suds
temporary shade provided by the blackbird’s wings. Mike Garrett Woking, Surrey, UK
Inside out What effect would the accelerated particles in the Large Hadron Collider have if they hit a human body? And what would happen if particles aimed at each other collided inside you, or collided with one of your own particles?
next few days – he lost half of the skin on his face where the beam had burned a path through it and experienced various other complications. To the surprise of doctors, he survived, albeit with lifelong symptoms. It isn’t clear whether the beam was operating at its full capacity of 70 gigaelectronvolts at the time of the accident. Presumably, if one did the same thing at the Large Hadron Collider, which has a beam energy of 6.5 teraelectronvolts – almost 1000 times greater, and double again at the point where the beams collide – the aftermath would not be pleasant. There is also the experience of Ray Cox, one of the North American victims of the infamous Therac-25 radiation therapy machine in the mid-1980s. As a result of poor hardware and software design, he was targeted with an electron beam that was more than 100 times the intended dose. In his own words, this felt like “an intense electric
When a loop coated with soap film is waved through the air, why does the film close over to form bubbles, rather than collapsing into droplets? David Beck Hinckley, Leicestershire, UK Lunar loser
If the moon were to disappear, how long would it take for the tides to stop? Martin McCann Worcester, UK Cold calling
Vaccination against flu viruses is well established and reasonably successful, especially in high-risk groups such as the very young and elderly. Colds are also caused by viruses and, although they are less virulent, they occur more frequently, making the sum total of sickness and workdays lost comparable. Why is there no vaccination programme for the common cold? Alan Bundy Edinburgh, UK
Question Everything The latest book of science questions: unpredictable and entertaining. Expect the unexpected Available from booksellers and at newscientist.com/questioneverything
THE LAST WORD Off colour
shock”, and he fled the treatment room screaming in pain. Some victims of the defective equipment died of radiation poisoning. The beam energy of this machine was a mere 25 megaelectronvolts. Richard Miller London, UK
I spotted this blackbird in the garden (see photo). It is not black but light grey, and it did not have pink eyes so I guess that it is not an albino. It spread its wings and lay in the sun; in due course it flew off. I’ve never seen a blackbird with this colouring before. Can anyone tell me more about it? (Continued)
This week’s questions
n The reason given by an earlier correspondent from Canada for the off-colour blackbird’s behaviour seems questionable. In my garden in the south of England, birds often show this behaviour. The species involved include blackbirds, robins, sparrows and pigeons, and all behave the same way: wings spread and tail raised, with their back to the sun. They choose various parts of the garden and seem only to do this on sunny days. I’ve not seen any evidence of the involvement of ants killing parasites on the birds’ feathers as your correspondent suggests. This behaviour is frequent in the late spring, often involving more than one bird at a time in different parts of the garden. Is it possible that they are just enjoying the warmth of the sun? The stretching, the closed eyes and the orientation certainly suggest this. I haven’t seen first hand the behaviour of ants in Canada, as your correspondent obviously has, but perhaps they are just taking advantage of the
n At least one unfortunate person – Anatoli Bugorski – has already been struck by a high energy particle beam. In 1978, his head was briefly caught in the proton beam of a particle accelerator, the U-70 synchrotron in Russia. He reported seeing a flash of light “brighter than a 1000 suns” but experienced no immediate pain. The full extent of his injuries only became apparent over the
The writers of answers that are published in the magazine will receive a cheque for £25 (or US$ equivalent). Answers should be concise. We reserve the right to edit items for clarity and style. Please include a daytime telephone number and an email address if you have one. New Scientist retains total editorial control over the published content. Reed Business Information Ltd reserves all rights to reuse all question and answer material that has been
submitted by readers in any medium or in any format and at any time in the future. Send questions and answers to The Last Word, New Scientist, 110 High Holborn, London WC1V 6EU, UK, by email to [email protected] or visit www.newscientist.com/topic/lastword (please include a postal address in order to receive payment for answers). Unanswered questions can also be found at this URL.
Dud suds
temporary shade provided by the blackbird’s wings. Mike Garrett Woking, Surrey, UK
Inside out What effect would the accelerated particles in the Large Hadron Collider have if they hit a human body? And what would happen if particles aimed at each other collided inside you, or collided with one of your own particles?
next few days – he lost half of the skin on his face where the beam had burned a path through it and experienced various other complications. To the surprise of doctors, he survived, albeit with lifelong symptoms. It isn’t clear whether the beam was operating at its full capacity of 70 gigaelectronvolts at the time of the accident. Presumably, if one did the same thing at the Large Hadron Collider, which has a beam energy of 6.5 teraelectronvolts – almost 1000 times greater, and double again at the point where the beams collide – the aftermath would not be pleasant. There is also the experience of Ray Cox, one of the North American victims of the infamous Therac-25 radiation therapy machine in the mid-1980s. As a result of poor hardware and software design, he was targeted with an electron beam that was more than 100 times the intended dose. In his own words, this felt like “an intense electric
When a loop coated with soap film is waved through the air, why does the film close over to form bubbles, rather than collapsing into droplets? David Beck Hinckley, Leicestershire, UK Lunar loser
If the moon were to disappear, how long would it take for the tides to stop? Martin McCann Worcester, UK Cold calling
Vaccination against flu viruses is well established and reasonably successful, especially in high-risk groups such as the very young and elderly. Colds are also caused by viruses and, although they are less virulent, they occur more frequently, making the sum total of sickness and workdays lost comparable. Why is there no vaccination programme for the common cold? Alan Bundy Edinburgh, UK
Question Everything The latest book of science questions: unpredictable and entertaining. Expect the unexpected Available from booksellers and at newscientist.com/questioneverything