(Image: Paul McDevitt)
Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more
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A well-stuffed drugs sandwich
PITY those tasked to shore up the UK government’s counter-intuitive drugs policy with robust scientific evidence. David Nutt, the former chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), was ousted in 2009 after he found that ecstasy was less dangerous than horse riding, casting doubt on the then home secretary’s decision to keep the drug categorised on a par with heroin and cocaine. Almost half the council then resigned.
History threatens to repeat itself. The carefully repopulated ACMD has issued a witheringly polite letter to the present home secretary, warning that her bill proposing a blanket ban on psychoactive substances (20 June) is, to put it mildly, unenforceable.
In , the group commends her proactive approach to combating so-called legal highs, before detailing everything that is wrong with the bill and offering to help rewrite it completely. Notable among the many unintended consequences that the ACMD identifies is that it could outlaw much scientific work, as “no mention of exemption is made of laboratory research in academia or industry.”
Repeat after us: these reagents are strictly for personal use, officer.
“I saw an advert in New Scientist for a brilliant DVD called Master the Art of Critical Decision Making,” writes Linda Dawe. “But I don’t know whether to get it or not”
Dark matter is not a drug!
GROPING for substances that might fall outside the legislation, Simon Bellamy writes: “I suggest dark matter, if only because it is so difficult to detect, and has no known effects on human beings or animals.” He adds: “Dark energy could also be a candidate, although since it is thought to be behind the expansion of the universe, there is a reasoned argument that it is mind-expanding.” Nigel Olliver thinks the bill is fine. “Politicians will be banned,” he says: “they’re toxic, and get up my nose!”
Psychoactive cats in peril
MEANWHILE, Sally Tolladay worries about the bill’s consequences for her cats. “I may be owning them illegally, as it’s has been experimentally proven that owning a cat can reduce risk of ill health, stroking a cat can lower your blood pressure, and it certainly improves my mood.” Are cats exempt? Given that they harbour mind-bending parasites (30 May, p 42), Feedback thinks they have little hope of escaping the long arm of the law.
Getting high for justice
SO CAN the esteemed minds of the ACMD tell us, once and for all, what will and what will not be banned? Unfortunately, no. They write: “The only definitive way of determining psychoactivity is via human experience.” Keep your eyes peeled for opportunities to volunteer in the law-enforcement and judicial communities.
Those are not big fans
ON TO more unworkable plans. These days an uplifting story and some compelling visuals may be all that’s needed to achieve your dreams, thanks to crowdfunding websites. Hence the , which launched on Kickstarter with the aim of attracting $1 million of investment.
James Le Quynh claims his machine can supply power to communities in the developing world, How? By means of a windmill attached to an air compressor. The electricity generated by the windmill drives the compressor, which in turn fans the windmill.
Perfect! Sadly Le Quynh’s perpetual motion bid ground to a halt; the funding appeal closed $999,997 short of his goal. Feedback doubts that this is the sole piece of fruitloopery to be found on crowdfunding websites.
Bring out your THISPs!
ON THE subject of world-changing ideas, Feedback is reminded of Campbell Wallace, who coined the acronym THISP – meaning a Truly Horrible Idea for Saving the Planet (12 July 2008, p 23). Alongside existing schemes to seed clouds with sulphur and launch solar reflectors into space, Campbell proposed dumping masses of salted polystyrene beads into the ocean to increase reflection of sunlight, mop up oil spills – and provide much-needed jobs in coastal communities when the beads eventually make landfall and can be gathered up for re-use.
Feedback is certain that a truly great THISP stands a chance of collecting a million dollars on a crowdfunding site. Your awful submissions are invited.
Subtly seeding seeds of life
FINALLY, in The Guardian newspaper, New Scientist consultant Stuart Clark is claims that comet 67P may harbour life – as in, er, The Guardian.
The source of this startling suggestion turns out to be the familiar figure of Chandra Wickramasinghe, director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology. Wickramasinghe’s enthusiasm for panspermia – the idea that life is distributed throughout the universe by comets and other celestial wanderers – is well known, and he previously made headlines with claims that the SARS virus came from outer space. Perhaps the unkind response to many of his previous ideas has made him cautious: the abstract for a recent conference talk of his contained only a fleeting mention of “possible micro-organisms” in its final line.
Fleeting, but also effective: life may or may not have been seeded throughout the cosmos, but it seems Wickramasinghe has certainly learned a thing or two about seeding panspermia in the press.