Popular Elsewhere
14:43 UK time, Wednesday, 16 November 2011
A look at the stories ranking highly on various news sites.
A popular article in the Guardian reports what could at first glance be understood as a . The trial in Ulan Bator is slightly more complicated but no less incredible. The plan is to drill down below ice to make water come to the surface and freeze. The aim is to cool the city during summer and if it works could be used in other cities where the winters are very cold and summers very warm. The biggest surprise may be that this experiment will cost just 拢460,000.
Time readers are听keen to know why听research suggests . The University of Cardiff鈥檚 James White even admits in the piece the research is 鈥渘ot what we thought we would find鈥. But he still has some theories for why this might be. For one, he says, people with high IQs are more likely to be open to new experiences. But he also hints that Grange Hill may be to blame. That鈥檚 because the sample group grew up in the 1980s, when anti-drug campaigns, like Grange Hill鈥檚 Just Say No song 鈥渨eren鈥檛 exactly known for their subtlety鈥. This, it鈥檚 suggested, 鈥渕ay not have targeted the smarter group well鈥.
Car manufacturers may spend millions on projecting a certain image but in the end they may have little control over . A New York Times article says this is not better illustrated that in China. Among foreign cars, if you drive a Mercedes, you are assumed to be retired. Meanwhile the Audi A6 has become the choice of Chinese bureaucrats. The tinted windows, the article suggests, exude an 鈥渁ura of state privilege鈥 and a 鈥渨hiff of corruption鈥.
Prompted by early snow in Washington, readers of the Washington post are clicking on a story . It turns out it isn鈥檛 a law of nature. But given the possible combinations of water molecules, the probability is incredibly unlikely.听The piece听finishes with a challenge:
鈥淚f you鈥檙e skeptical, you鈥檙e more than welcome to undertake your own study. But you might want to block off a pretty big chunk of time.鈥
