April 03, 2004
Mysterious 'fairy circles' defy explanations
The three main theories to explain the origins of the mysterious "fairy circles" of Namibia have just been dismissed, following an in-depth study by South African researchers.
Fairy circles are discs of completely bare sandy soil anything from two to 10 metres in diameter. Found exclusively along the western coastal fringes of the Namib desert in southern Africa, they are easy to spot because they are barren in the middle yet have unusually lush perimeters of tall grasses, which stand out from the otherwise sparse vegetation of the desert.
From the time researchers began to take an interest in how they were formed in the early 1970s, three major explanations emerged: termites, radioactive soil and toxic debris left in the soil by Euphorbia damarana, the poisonous milkbush plant.
Found at New Scientist
April 02, 2004
April 01, 2004
Stink Ray
A new device can track an individual, shoot an aroma directly at their nose, and leave the person next to them completely unaffected.
But marketing specialists could seize on the air cannon as a way of tempting shoppers by wafting the scent of the latest perfume or an expensive blend of coffee in their direction - perhaps in conjunction with in-store video adverts. Or high street poster sites could fire ad-related odours at you as you wander past.
When the cannon is fired, a coil like the driver coil of a loudspeaker pushes the diaphragm forward to compress air inside the chamber, forcing a fine jet of aroma-rich air in the required direction.
But there are also potential civil rights problems with using scents in this way, Jacobs warns. Customers might object that having scents forced upon them is the olfactory equivalent of subliminal advertising. And some people might be allergic to the scented materials.
Found at New Scientist