The further inventions of Daedalus : a compendium of plausible schemes

One of the longest-running jokes on the scientific scene, the "Daedalus" column began in New Scientist in the mid-1960s and transferred to Nature in the 1980s. Each week it offers a new scheme to challenge accepted notions of scientific principles, schemes that are neither feasible nor completely absurd. Always entertaining, the Daedalus schemes often have a serious purpose and raise crucial questions about science (sample title: "A Womb with a View, or At Least a Phone"). This delightful book compiles roughly one hundred of David Jones's popular columns, each of which exhibits a keen and approachable mixture of entertaining and thought-provoking material. Like the collection of articles that came before it, this work will appeal to a broad audience of the scientifically curious. If so, or indeed if not, then Daedalus is your man. This book brings together 148 of his highly scientific proposals on these and allied matters. Daedalus, the court jester in the palace of science and engineering, began his amazing career in 1964 in the weekly magazine New Scientist. His remit, brilliantly achieved, was to confuse the scientific community in general. In 1988 he graduated to The Guardian and also to the prestigious pages of Nature, where he bamboozles the Nobel prizewinners. His delusive proposals steam boldly out along the solid track of accepted science and technology, but somehow rapidly go off the rails -- or do they? This second compilation of his finest schemes includes a look at one from his first compilation (The Inventions of Daedalus, 1982) which did indeed wind up in the Nobel prize lists.As a further snare for the unwary, this book includes a great deal of previously unpublished material -- extra details, references, comments and calculations, diagrams and many hilarious cartoons. It will test your sense of technical feasibility, not to mention your laughter-muscles, to the utmost. Read about the cosmological significance of fossil butterflies, the advantages of baldness in marital infidelity, how to keep cheerful with illuminated ears or slim without losing weight, and the theological advances that depend on an astronaut committing murder in Arkansas.This book will be a powerfully subversive weapon for scientists and their detractors, students and their teachers, technicians, technophobes and the bewildered in-betweens, futurologists and sci-fi buffs, and development engineers wishing to test the gullibility of their superiors. In the wrong hands it will do terrible mischief. In the right hands, maybe even more. Enjoy, but wonder. Laugh, but don't laugh it off. Statistically, 20% of Daedalus's schemes have already come true! "Daedalus is the court jester in the palace of science and engineering. His remit is to confuse the scientific community in general. His delusive proposals steam boldly out along the solid track of accepted science and technology, but somehow rapidly go off the rails - or do they? This second compilation of his finest schemes includes a look at one from his first compilation which did indeed wind up in the Nobel prize lists." "As a further snare for the unwary, this book includes a great deal of previously unpublished material - extra details, references, comments and calculations, diagrams and many hilarious cartoons. It will test your sense of technical feasibility, not to mention your laughter-muscles, to the utmost. Read about the cosmological significance of fossil butterflies, the advantages of baldness in marital infidelity, how to keep cheerful with illuminated ears or slim without losing weight, and the theological advances that depend on an astronaut committing murder in Arkansas." "This book will be a weapon for scientists and their detractors, students and their teachers, technicians, technophobes and the bewildered in-betweens, futurologists and sci-fi buffs, and development engineers wishing to test the gullibility of their superiors."--Jacket