Brew and Chew

Ian Phillips 0428 858 272

Some may have doubted, but Brew & Chew does seek enlightenment on matters of import each month. September, for example, is likely to be given over in part to the physics of imparting spin on a Sherrin to produce a trajectory around corners to its goal, given prevailing aerodynamics, wind speed and initial velocity.

However, such matters are, by and large, strictly of local interest, whereas an item in the BBC newsfeed just might be of more significance in the event of, conversely, extreme global over-heating or a nuclear winter eliminating humanity.

It concerned tardigrades, (pictured right), which it turns out are not lazy school-boys, but a group of species identified as “slow walkers” (like so many of us). These creatures, about half a millimetre long, are extraordinarily ugly to our eyes, and have eight legs

(c/f. Animal Farm – “two legs good, four legs bad” x2!). But they win by being almost indestructible – impervious for years to extremes of hot or cold, “extreme pressures, both high and low, air deprivation, radiation, dehydration and starvation” (per Wikipedia). Look them up, if you have the slightest interest.

Apparently specimens were aboard an Israeli lunar lander that crashed on the moon in 2019. So, possibly by the time of the next manned mission, these critters will have multiplied and eaten all the cheese!

Brew & Chew - at the Camberwell library at 10.00am on Wednesday, October 22nd, the fourth Wednesday as always.

For further information and input, call me or email on: irp@alphalink.com.au

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