12 October 2019 | New Scientist | 53The back pages Feedback
Heartbreaking sushi
Can sushi break your heart?
That’s the question posed by
doctors writing in The BMJ, after a
60-year-old woman ate a mouthful
of wasabi and went into cardiac
arrest. The unnamed woman was
attending a wedding in Israel when
she mistook a bowl of the peppery
horseradish paste for avocado.
She experienced pain in her
limbs and went to hospital some
time later, where doctors diagnosed
her with takotsubo cardiomyopathy,
also known as broken heart
syndrome. The condition arises
when the heart’s left ventricle,
responsible for pumping blood
around the body, becomes enlarged
and weakened. It is most often
seen in older women experiencing
emotional distress, such as the
death of a loved one. Though
serious, the condition is usually
temporary. Following treatment,
the wasabi-addled woman made
a full recovery within a month.
Buying limbs
Looking to get rich quick? The US
military has a unique opportunity
for you to net a cool $2 million.
One catch: it will cost you an arm
and a leg. Left or right, you choose.
According to a procurement ad
posted to the Federal Business
Opportunities website, the US
Army Medical Command needs
fresh frozen limbs, presumably
for use in ballistics testing or
for training combat medics.
Either way, it is a once in a
lifetime opportunity to serve
president and country – or
possibly twice in a lifetime, if you
are feeling particularly generous.
The solicitation requests 16 arms
(shoulder included) and 16 legs
(pelvis to toe, sacrum included),
so get a local rugby union team
involved to really maximise your
reward. We should specify that
the ad does insist limbs should
be taken from cadavers rather
than volunteers, but if they really
cared about getting a quality
product, they wouldn’t have
advertised online.
flushes out Sarah Dry, author
of the recently published Waters
of the World. Meanwhile, Danielle
Outlaw is a frequent fixture of
the Feedback inbox, thanks to
her role as chief of the Portland
Police Bureau in Oregon. We
are sure you have more – help
wean us off this terrible
addiction for good.Dog days
“As someone with a very soft
spot for rabbits and hares, I
enjoyed your report of Peter
Duffell’s testimony about literate
lagomorphs in Northumberland,”
says Nigel Sinnott (31 August).
“There are literate dogs too, a
little further south.”
Walking in the outskirts of
Sutton-in-Craven in Aire valley,
UK, Nigel came across a cattle
trough, above which was a noticewith the stern message: “Dogs not
allowed to drink at this trough”.
“I don’t imagine Airedale’s
literate canines took the slightest
heed of the prohibition,” he says.Basket case
The perils of automation:
Paul Huggett’s online search for
the laxative CosmoCol returns the
following advert at the top of his
results: “Get Quality Constipation,
Diarrhoea, IBS & Wind at Tesco.”
Is there nothing you can’t pick up
at the supermarket these days?Foreseeable errors
A colleague tells Feedback
that New Scientist’s content
editing system “offers the option
to search for stories that were
modified next week”. That should
make spotting corrections easier. ❚Gluten tag
“The coconut oil hand cream I
bought recently smells good enough
to eat,” writes Christine Duncan. “I
hope that’s why the information on
the tube tells me that the product
doesn’t contain gluten, because
otherwise I would have to conclude
that the world is taking leave of
its collective senses.”
Before you raid the bathroom
cabinet to whip up a batch of
macaroons, Christine, be aware:
our investigations tell us that the
warning exists because topical
applications of gluten can still
prove irritating to coeliacs.
Nonetheless, Feedback
has noticed a proliferation of
“gluten free” labels in the local
supermarket, often on items that
have no obvious connection to
wheatgerm. While it is technically
true that steak is gluten free,
advertising this fact only serves
to cast doubt on the coeliac-
friendliness of the adjacent chicken
breasts that sport no such label.
Which is, perhaps, the intention,
as food sellers try to snatch some of
the “conscious consumption” aura
that a gluten free sticker bestows.
Your most egregious examples of
this labelling chicanery to the usual
address, please.Contra-noms
John Davies chides our faltering
resolve when it comes to swearing
off nominative determinism
(we have a problem, this much
is clear). He suggests a suitable
prophylactic: dismantle our
hypothesis by collecting names
that work in the opposite way.
“For a start,” says John, “I
give you David Pannick,” the
barrister who challenged the
UK government’s prorogation
of parliament. “In his recent
appearance before the Supreme
Court, his performance was
widely seen as the epitome
of calm control.”
Indeed, such anti-nominative
determinism (or should that be
nominative anti-determinism?)
isn’t so hard to find. K BundellGot a story for Feedback?
Send it to New Scientist, 25 Bedford Street,
London WC2E 9ES or you can email us at
[email protected]Twisteddoodles for New Scientist