DAVID ADAMS writes about the odder side of life…
An artist’s impression of ‘Oumuamua. PICTURE: ESO/M Kornmesser
• There will be some disappointment, no doubt, but researchers have concluded that a strange, cigar-shaped object spotted speeding through space in 2017 – the first time an object from another solar system had been seen passing through our own – is not an alien spacecraft. The 800 metre long reddish object, which was named ‘Oumuamua after a word which means a messanger arriving from a great distance in Hawaiian, was first detected by the University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS1 telescope on 14th October that year and tracked until early January, 2018. It had prompted some speculation that it was an alien spacecraft but an international team of scientists have now announced – in findings published this week in Nature Astronomy – they could “find no compelling evidence to favour an alien explanation”. They believe the object’s properties are consistent with a natural origin but, as astronomer Matthew Knight of the University of Maryland, points out, the object is “really a mystery still”.
• The latest viral challenge to take hold of the internet involves participants using their foot to spin the cap off a bottle without knocking it over. The ‘Bottle Cap Challenge‘ was apparently started by taekwondo instructor Farabi Davletchin and then popularised thanks to UFC champion Max Holloway with the likes of musician John Mayer and actor Jason Statham trying their skills. What’s the point? We’re not sure there is one.
• Motorists across the world have become increasingly reliant on Google Maps to help them find their destination. But late last month, Google’s instructions reportedly led more than 100 drivers to a dead stop (and a dead end). A crash on a Colorado road near Denver International Airport saw the app prompt drivers to take a detour down a dirt road. But recent rains had softened the surface, leading some cars became bogged and trapping about 100 other cars behind them. Order was eventually restored.
