QUESTION Have a number of newly found animals been named after The Muppets?
Scientists uncover new species on a regular basis they usually have a penchant for naming them after well-known characters.
A species of fossil trilobite found in China in 2007 was referred to as Geragnostus waldorfstatleri after Statler and Waldorf, the cantankerous duo that heckle the opposite Muppets from the field seats. One other trilobite of the genus was named after Han Solo.
There’s a Tasmanian tube-dwelling spider named Ariadna gonzo after The Nice Gonzo, the Muppets’ long-nosed, passionate, but hopeless, stuntman.
The extant glass frog Hyalinobatrachium dianae is popularly generally known as the Kermit Frog due to its resemblance to the Muppet
Kermit the Frog has been honoured with a whole genus. Kermitops is an extinct genus of amphibian whose fossil was found in Texas in 1984.
As but just one species is thought, Kermitops gratus, but when additional family members are found they are going to bear the identify. One other species of frog was named Hensonbatrachus kermiti in 2015.
The extant glass frog Hyalinobatrachium dianae is popularly generally known as the Kermit Frog due to its resemblance to the Muppet.
Simon Forrest, Cirencester, Glos.
QUESTION Given perfect situations, how lengthy might a cleaning soap bubble stay intact?
Cleaning soap bubble experiments had been fashionable on the flip of the Nineteenth-Twentieth century. They had been used to exhibit the properties of liquid, fuel and fat, in addition to to check the phenomenon of diffusion.
There was one thing of a contest to create probably the most long-lasting bubble.
The skilled within the area was the Scottish scientist James Dewar (1842-1923), greatest identified for his invention of the vacuum flask.
In 1916 Dewar managed to create a twelve-and-a-half-inch vast bubble that lasted for 108 days. To attain the feat the bubble was contained inside a sealed container with purified air.
There’s a {photograph} of Dewar admiring his bubble, taken by Olive Edis.
Bubbles burst when the membrane turns into too skinny, because the water within the membrane flows to the underside as a consequence of gravity, or it merely evaporates. Horizontal movies could be maintained for for much longer, and Dewar stored a cleaning soap movie disk with a diameter of seven and a half inches for greater than three years.
In line with the Guinness E book Of Data, the longest-lasting bubble is one yr and 100 days, achieved by Aymeric Roux and colleagues on the College of Lille, France, as verified in 2021. This was no typical cleaning soap bubble. It was fashioned utilizing a excessive focus of glycerol and contained plastic particles to cling to the bubble movie to help its integrity.
A. E. Rowley, Rugby, Warks.
QUESTION What’s the story of the Elizabeth Canning kidnap case, a prison thriller that occurred within the 18th century?
The Elizabeth Canning case stays a historic enigma, reflecting deep societal divides and prejudices of the time. Pictured, an illustration of Elizabeth Canning
Elizabeth Canning, an 18-year-old maid, disappeared on January 1, 1753, and reappeared nearly a month later, on January 29, in a distressed and emaciated state. She claimed she had been kidnapped close to Moorfields in London and held captive in a home in Enfield, the place she was imprisoned in a loft by Susanna ‘Mom’ Wells and accomplices.
Canning alleged that one of many accomplices was a gipsy girl referred to as Mary Squires who gave her solely crusts of bread and a few water to outlive. Her account sparked public outrage and led to the arrest of Wells and Squires.
The pair had been placed on trial and, regardless of conflicting testimonies and proof, Squires was convicted of kidnap and theft and sentenced to loss of life by hanging, whereas Wells was sentenced to branding on the thumb and 6 months’ imprisonment.
The case quickly unravelled. The trial decide Sir Crisp Gascoyne discovered Canning’s story fanciful. He’d been disgusted by Canning’s supporters’ rowdy behaviour, taunting the accused and intimidating witnesses. He then led a non-public investigation that exposed inconsistencies, together with alibis for Squires, who was purportedly removed from London through the alleged kidnapping.
Public opinion grew to become sharply divided, with ‘Canningites’ supporting Elizabeth and ‘Egyptians’ (named after Squires’ supposed gipsy ethnicity) doubting her account. One notable Canningite was the Justice of the Peace Henry Fielding, famed for his 1749 comedian novel The Historical past Of Tom Jones, A Foundling.
Beneath mounting stress, the case was retried, and Squires was acquitted, whereas Canning was prosecuted for perjury. In Could 1754, Canning was discovered responsible and sentenced to transportation to America for seven years. She by no means returned.
The Elizabeth Canning case stays a historic enigma, reflecting deep societal divides and prejudices of the time. It highlights points of sophistication, gender, and the judicial system’s vulnerabilities.
Ashley Farquar, Holmfirth, West Yorks.
