news of the
cuttlefish
IN CASE you were beginning to think research scientists waste their time in truly obscure and pointless pursuits, here's some news from the University of Minnesota, in the US.
Scientists there have fitted cuttlefish with red/blue 3D glasses and watched to see if they can make out 3D movies the way humans can, according to Sky News.
Wowie! They can! The scientists showed them a 3D video of shrimps swimming about. And they made a beeline for those shrimps, bumping into the glass screen.
The scientists could barely contain their excitement. Cuttlefish see the same way we do. Another exciting piece for the journal, Science Advances.
It was not easy, says Trevor Wardill, assistant professor of ecology, evolution and behaviour at the university. "It took a lot of coaxing of the cuttlefish to make them wear their glasses." (Eventually it was achieved with glued-on Velcro)
Cuttlefish, by the way, are not those white things you find on the beach. Those are cuttlebones, backbone of the cuttlefish, which is a mollusc closely related to the squid and the octopus.
Onward with scientific research! Roll on the day when cuttlefish, squid and octopi queue at uShaka Marine World to watch 3D movies. Can the sardine shoals be far behind?
It's the march of science. Unstoppable!
Then as now
"I WALKED home, and there come into my company three drunken seamen, but one especially who told me such stories, calling me Captain, as made me mighty merry, and they would leap and skip and kiss what maids they met all the way."
This was written in the 17th century. The navy hasn't changed at all since then. Nor London much.
Is it not rather marvellous that the Samuel Pepys Diary should be reaching today's youngsters on social media? (The Nkandla party line, for all its qualities otherwise, offers nothing of the kind).
Commas, fullstops
PUNCTUATION is all. Consider:
"I'm giving up drinking for a month
"Sorry, bad punctuation.
"I'm giving up. Drinking for a month."
Horror stories
IN HIS latest grumpy newsletter, investment analyst Dr James Greener deplores the backlog in official documentation.
"One thing that a developed state should be able to do swiftly and seamlessly is provide those services which it demands that citizens make use of. Like obtaining documentation such as passports, driver's licences, identity documents and other certificates from the Hatched, Matched and Despatched departments.
"No gathering of friends these days is complete without a horror story of delays, inefficiency and errors on the part of the civil servants tasked with providing these things. This week the very old allegation that the nation owns just one machine that can produce the laminated driver's licence, surfaced again.
"In fact, the officials responsible for keeping this precious device in working order cheerfully admit to a backlog of more than 120 000 licence cards countrywide. Can anyone else think how to unblock this bottleneck?
"And now it turns out that citizens who live overseas and require a passport are being made to wait almost a year for this vital document. Reportedly the problem may be transport between Pretoria and overseas diplomatic missions.
"What? Is the daily diplomatic pouch a myth?"
Tailpiece
A SCIENTIST walks into a pharmacy and asks: "Do you have any acetylsalicylic acid?"
"You mean aspirin?".
"That's it! I can never remember that word."
Last word
Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language. - Ludwig Wittgenstein
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