Popular Elsewhere
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 massive ice cube being constructed to cool down a whole city. 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 £460,000.
Time readers are keen to know why research suggests people with higher IQs are more likely to take illegal drugs. The University of Cardiff’s James White even admits in the piece the research is “not what we thought we would find”. 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’s because the sample group grew up in the 1980s, when anti-drug campaigns, like Grange Hill’s Just Say No song “weren’t exactly known for their subtlety”. This, it’s suggested, “may not have targeted the smarter group well”.
Car manufacturers may spend millions on projecting a certain image but in the end they may have little control over who becomes the stereotypical owner. 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 “aura of state privilege” and a “whiff of corruption”.
Prompted by early snow in Washington, readers of the Washington post are clicking on a story questioning that old adage about no two snow flakes being the same. It turns out it isn’t a law of nature. But given the possible combinations of water molecules, the probability is incredibly unlikely. The piece finishes with a challenge:
“If you’re skeptical, you’re more than welcome to undertake your own study. But you might want to block off a pretty big chunk of time.”
14:43 UK time, Wednesday, 16 November 2011
