Sideswipe: Why doctors see 007 as a superspreader risk

A group of epidemiologists have analysed all 25 James Bond movies to assess the risks Bond encounters on his travels around the globe. Published in the journal Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease, the tongue-in-cheek paper covers everything from foodborne pathogens to ticks and mites, hangovers and dehydration from all those martinis, parasites, and unsafe sex. The findings include that 007 should wash his hands more often, that he frequently risks dehydration and heatstroke due to improper hydration, often engages in unsafe sex with partners whose sexual histories are unknown to him, and endangers his sexual partners ("27.1 per cent of them died shortly after sex"). Most interesting is the speculation that Bond contracted Toxoplasmosis from a cat in From Russia With Love and that's why he engages in risky behaviour all the time: "Those who contract the parasite tend to exhibit reckless behaviour, such as mice losing their fear of cats. Bond engages in all manner of reckless behaviour, and the authors suggest he may have contracted the parasite from Ernst Stavro Blofeld's fluffy white Persian cat (featured in both From Russia With Love and Spectre)." (Via Kottke.org)

The good oil

A rumour that the Scottish Government has bought 20 Tesla electric cars to transport COP26 delegates, and then didn't have enough compatible charging stations so hired diesel generators to charge them, is false. The distortion spread on social media comes from this - The Scotsman reports: "A fleet of luxury electric cars carrying world leaders to the COP26 conference could be recharged using cooking oil-powered generators because of a lack of charging points. The fleet of some 240 Jaguar Land Rover vehicles will be provided to ferry the 120 visiting heads of state and their entourages between their hotels and the SEC venue in Glasgow next month. A COP26 spokesperson said where generators were required for charging the vehicles, they would run on hydrogenated vegetable oil - recycled cooking oil - derived from waste products."

True-life horror

Outdated phrases

Ralph Williams remembers his feisty nan had a few pearlers: "On a heavy Central Otago frosty morning after milking, I heard her say to my uncle, 'Looks like there'll be more wrinkles than inches this morning Jack'. As an 8-year-old boy I couldn't understand what she was getting at. Fortunately, I refrained from requesting an explanation."