A Gentleman's Commonplace

Doh!

In the Guardian's Honey, I shrank the motor, Philip Ball meets the man who met Richard Feynman's 1959 challenge to build "an operating electric motor which is only 1/64th inch cubed".

Bill McLennan achieved the feat and made ten of these machines but sadly, forty years on, they are no more:

"They've all met their demise," McLellan added wistfully - but perhaps none with quite as much bathos as the one he lent to the BBC. It was to be shown to viewers by filming it through a microscope. But as the BBC technician lowered the lens towards the device, he misjudged the distance and squashed it like an ant.

The flying Dutch frog

I've been to Technorati and I'm a bit surprised no-one is linking to this, as noted by the Guardian's Bad Science column: floating frogs, strawberries and grasshoppers. There's a great explanation of how it works too. (Best with broadband, I suppose)

DNA study finds chihuahuas aren't dogs

What more can I say? The Watley Review

Thanks to Suw Charman for making me aware of this. Anyone told Rentokil?

We regret to announce

Timmy the tortoise dies aged 160

As Secretary of that most secretive but august organisation, the Society of Tims, I regretfully announce the death of our oldest member following an innings his contemporary W.G.Grace would have been proud of.

A real gent.