On the Record

“It would take somebody with real balls to say to Einstein, ‘Look, this is wrong.’”

A physicist praises Ernst Gabor Straus — a young colleague of Albert Einstein's, whose collection of correspondence with the legend will go on sale next month.

“I saw this ad that said ‘Get paid to stay in bed.’ I thought it was a scam.”

Erin Peterson tells how she came to spend three months lying down for a NASA bedrest study.

Sources: Guardian, Seed

Scorecard

Spatial awareness

It turns out that NASA's DART mission failed last year because it accidentally accelerated into the satellite it was meant to be circling.

Whale songs

Anti-whaling activists launch a competition for the best music made from the remixed sound of singing whales.

Nazi researchers

A German scientist is ousted from the International Space Hall of Fame after revelations that he did experiments on prisoners in Dachau concentration camp.

Public image

The US National Science Foundation hires a public-affairs chief — former communications director for vice-president Dan Quayle. In 1991, Quayle was awarded the satirical Ig Nobel prize for “demonstrating, better than anyone else, the need for science education”.

Number crunch

Would you rather be fat or alive? A survey of 4,300 people says...

25% of people would rather be unable to have children than obese.

30% would rather be divorced.

46% would rather give up a year of their life than be obese.

Source: Schwartz, M. B., Vartanian, L. R., Nosek, B. A. & Brownell, K. D. Obesity 14, 440-447; (2006).