1 August 2020 | New Scientist | 55The back pages Feedback
The Great Bare
With so much unpleasantness
at ground level in recent months,
it is hardly surprising that people
around the world have sought
solace in the heavens.
Particularly widespread hay
was made of the recent arrival
of Neowise, a comet that was
first spotted in March and is now
making its closest approach to the
sun. C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), as the
giant iceball is properly known,
has a 6800-year orbit, meaning
that this approach may well be the
last time any of us gets to see it.
We aren’t talking about any one
person, obviously, but the human
race as a whole.
Sigh. Of all the times to drop by,
it had to pick the days of covid-19.
Not really looking our best, are we?
Feedback in particular hasn’t had
a haircut since late 2019. We have
had to attach our fringe to the
backs of our ears with bulldog
clips so that we can still see the
computer screen.
By some standards, though,
that’s practically overdressed
for the occasion. According to
a (since corrected) article in the
Metro online, Neowise “has been
spotted streaking across the night
skies around the world and will be
visible to the naked here in the UK”.
Feedback correspondent
Dominic Driver, who sent the
clipping in, confesses to being
“somewhat surprised by the
requirement to strip off to view
the comet and wondering why
it is only a requirement in the UK.
Perhaps something to do with
social distancing?”
Good thought, Dominic. We
would certainly advise keeping
well away from any astronomers
who are wandering the countryside
in the altogether.Space names
On the subject of space, Feedback
was over the moon to receive
Alan Ashton’s correspondence on
the contrived acronyms used in
much astronomical research.
Not only does he agree with ourSome certainty
In yet another entry in this week’s
“Previously on Feedback” sequence,
reader Bob Mays wrote to us some
time ago to object to our use of the
expression “more than probable”,
and requested a reference table in
which he could determine the exact
probability referred to. We humbly
prostrated ourselves before him
and ceded his point.
But now, it seems that we
may have ceded our ground too
swiftly. Permit us, then, to quickly
clamber back up onto the moral
high ground and pretend we never
left it in the first place. Sami Wannell
has written in to direct us – and we
quote – “to Sherman Kent’s work
with NATO around how people
interpret different ‘estimative
probability’ terms”.
The study in question shows
that people consider “unlikely”to be more likely then “little chance”,
but less likely than “improbable” –
which, in turn, is seen as less likely
than “likely” and even more
unlikely than “probable”.
What’s more, the study reveals
that “probable” is seen as less likely
than “very good chance”, “highly
likely” and “almost certainly”.
Which means, Bob, that our
posteriors are very amply covered.
Profuse thanks to Sami, who – in
classic Feedback fashion – points
out that his surname is pronounced
one-L but spelled with two.Rhea sighting
At some point in the fairly recent
past (the months, where do they
go? Answers on a sterilised
postcard), Feedback returned
to the subject of unusual social-
distancing yardsticks.
We focused in particular
on an Australian airport that
suggested staying one cassowary
apart, a whimsical idea on which
we riffed airily, pointing out that
the cassowary’s famously
dangerous claws may warrant
staying at least one cassowary
apart from any cassowary.
Another flightless bird
has made headlines since then,
this time on the other side of
the world. The scene is Brazil,
and the protagonist is a noble
rhea that took it upon itself to
stroll around the grounds of
the presidential palace.
The villain of the affair?
Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro,
who foolishly violated social-
distancing protocols by trying to
feed the bird. The result? A pecking
that – from a photographic point
of view, at least – looks pretty
painful indeed.
With Bolsonaro’s popularity
on the wane in Brazil, not
everybody was immediately
sympathetic. According to The
Guardian, Margarida Salomão,
a member of congress for the
Workers’ Party, was particularly
scathing. “This rhea represents
us,” she tweeted. Duly noted. ❚Written by Gilead Amitfundamental point, he provides
some very compelling receipts
on the subject.
“One project,” writes Alan,
“is H0LiCOW. This stands for
‘H0 Lenses in COSMOGRAIL’s
Wellspring’ where COSMOGRAIL
refers to ‘COSmological
MOnitoring of GRAvItational
Lenses’. They are hoping to
reconcile the results from
H0LiCOW with SH0ES, ‘Supernova,
H0, for the Equation of State of
dark energy’.” All of which is
wonderfully ARSE (AcRonym
abuSE) about FACE (Frankly
Absurd and self-indulgent
aCronym crEation).
Alan goes on to tickle
Feedback’s fancy by suggesting
the coinage of a neologism.
“Astronomers seem to have
cornered the market in bizarre
acronyms. Maybe they should
be called Astronyms.” We love it.Got a story for Feedback?
Send it to [email protected] or
New Scientist, 25 Bedford Street, London WC2E 9ES
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