52 | New Scientist | 1 June 2019
The back pages Puzzles
Quick crossword #32 Set by Richard Smyth Quick quiz #05 Puzzle set by Rob Eastaway
#05 Murphy’s law of socks
I am convinced that my washing machine
eats socks. Every time I wash a load,
another sock disappears. Last week
I ran out of socks so I bought myself
three new pairs.
What is the chance that, after my first
three washes, I will be left with three odd
socks? Indeed, what is the chance I will
even have one pair intact?
Answer next week#04 Which door Solution
On a game show, Nico chose three doors
out of five, hoping to pick the one hiding
a prize. The host then opened three doors,
including two of Nico’s, none with the prize.
When Nico phones his friend Leah, he asks
if he should stick with door B, his original
choice, or switch to C. Which door should
Leah suggest and what should Nico do?It doesn’t matter which door Leah suggests,
she has no information to differentiate
between the two, so from her point of view
the prize is equally likely to be behind B or C.
But to maximise his chance of winning,
Nico should stick with door B regardless of
what Leah says. There is a 60 per cent
chance that the prize is behind door B, and
only 40 per cent chance it is behind door C.
Why? Nico had a 60 per cent chance of
picking the prize when he chose three out
of five doors. In opening three doors that
she knew had no prize, the host revealed
no new information, and the probability
therefore didn’t change.1 White-nose syndrome is
a fungal disease that has
wiped out large numbers
of which flying animals in
North America?
2 Hanford, in Washington
state, and Livingston, in
Louisiana, house the
detectors for which
physics megaproject?
3 What network of
membranous tubules
is responsible for
manufacturing and
packaging up proteins
in most eukaryotic cells?
4 What acronym refers to
the binary strings, originally
7-bit, used since 1963
to encode individual text
characters in electronic
communications?
5 Daltonism, named after
the English chemist John
Dalton who did early
research into it, is a
form of what?Cryptic
Crossword #07
Answers
Across 7 Oblate, 8 Popper,
10 Atomise, 11 Helix, 12 Tool,
13 Fleet, 17 Krill, 18 Sate,
22 Quorn, 23 Surplus,
24 Abacus, 25 SéanceDown 1 Royalty, 2 Alcohol,
3 Staid, 4 Cochlea, 5 Apply,
6 Proxy, 9 Cellulose, 14 Cranium,
15 Sapling, 16 Perspex, 19 Equal,
20 Molar, 21 GreekQuick quiz #05
AnswersBats 1eter The Laser Interferom 2Gravitational-Wave Observatory,or LIGOic reticulum The endoplasm 3erican Standard ASCII (Am 4ation Code for InformInterchange)Colour blindness 5Answer to last week’s bonusViking, connection question:Dover, Sole, Shannon, Portlandand FitzRoy are all areas in theUK shipping forecastAcross
1 Cell structure formed early in
embryonic development (8)
5 Dilute solution of NaClO (6)
9 Tennessee city; Manhattan
Project production site (3,5)
10 Country in which the Nobel
prizes in chemistry and
physics are awarded (6)
12 NaCl (for one) (4)
13 The study of the sea (10)
14 Rudolf ___, German
engine pioneer (6)
16 Substance containing H 2 0 (7)
19 Of a fluid, resistant
to deformation (7)21 The ___ Bay, peer-to-peer
file sharing index (6)
23 Baroness Susan ___, UK
neuroscientist and writer (10)
25 Form of inflammatory
arthritis (4)
27 In linguistics, the state of
requiring context, as with the
words “there” or “then” (6)
28 Computer programs
distributed at no cost to
the user (8)
29 Simple eyes (6)
30 Silicate mineral, harmful
to humans (8)ABCDEAnswers and the next cryptic crossword next week.Down
1 The extraction of live cells or
tissues for examination (6)
2 Cocaine, caffeine and
nicotine, for example (9)
3 One of two offspring produced
by the same pregnancy (4)
4 Following a valid process
of reasoning (7)
6 Kind of lorry or trailer, can
also be called a lowboy (3,6)
7 Sound (5)
8 Aphid secretion (8)
11 ___ number, measure of
speed based on the speed
of sound (4)15 Large wading bird,
Platalea leucorodia (9)
17 Collins, Aldrin or Armstrong,
for instance (9)
18 Amedeo ___, scientist
whose constant is
6.022×10^23 molī (8)
20 Dermis (4)
21 North star (7)
22 Pressure; strain (6)
24 Space-trading video game
launched in 1984 (5)
26 Waxy structure at the base
of a bird’s bill (4)
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