Bicycle chosen as best invention
The humble bicycle has won a national survey of people's favourite inventions. Listeners to BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme were invited to vote in an online survey looking at the most significant innovations since 1800.
It was an easy victory for the bicycle which won more than half of the vote.
The transistor came second with 8% of the vote and the electro-magnetic induction ring - the means to harness electricity - came third.
Interplanetary travel
Despite their ubiquity, computers gained just 6% of the vote and the internet trailed behind with only 4% of all votes cast.
People chose the bicycle for its simplicity of design, universal use, and because it is a ecologically sound means of transport.
TOP TEN INVENTIONS
Bicycle - 59%
Transistor - 8%
Electro-magnetic induction ring - 8%
Computer - 6%
Germ theory of infection - 5%
Radio - 5%
Internet - 4%
Internal Combustion Engine - 3%
Nuclear Power - 1%
Communications Satellite - 1%
The survey also asked participants which innovation they would most like to disinvent.
GM foods came top of the polls with 26% of the vote, followed by nuclear power with 19%.
By contrast the technology most would like to see invented was an AIDS vaccine.
Alas, plans to ship long-suffering commuters to distant planets may need to be put on hold with only 15% voting for an interplanetary commuting transport system.
Half voted water treatment and supply systems as the technology to bring most benefit to society.
Another 23% thought that vaccinations deserved the honour.
Each of the technologies were nominated by a different expert, including writer Sir Arthur C Clarke, cloning expert Professor Ian Wilmut and Professor Heinz Wolff.
Prof Wolff's praise of the bicycle held the most sway with voters which will come as a disappointment to Lord Alec Broers, this year's Reith lecturer.
His series of lectures - Triumph of Technology - prompted the vote.
In the first of these he expressed surprise at the results of a similar survey.
It too ranked the bicycle above scientific breakthroughs such as electricity generation, the jet engine, the discovery of DNA and the invention of vaccinations
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4513929.stm
Public relief no longer tolerated
The municipal corporation in the western Indian city of Jaipur has announced a bold initiative to prevent urination on the streets. It is all set to impose fines of 20 rupees (50 US cents), more than an average day's wages for many Indians.
"It will be taken as a charge for clearing up the mess," said Jaipur's Mayor Ashok Parnmi.
The civic body has also amended its rules to increase fines in cases related to the clearing of dirt.
Penalised
"The new steps are taken to keep the pink city of Jaipur clean", said Mr Parnmi.
He said that under the new scheme, city corporation officials would roam the streets and impose on-the-spot fine on anyone found urinating in public.
The offenders are overwhelmingly men who are also inclined to spit in public as well. But so far there are no signs that that they will also be penalised for this habit.
He said the money collected by the anti public urination drive would be used to clean and beautify the city.
But local people are not happy with new rules in a country where the authorities often cast a blind eye on males relieving themselves in public.
Local resident Sharad Bhardwaj said the corporation should first develop a better toilet infrastructure and build more urinals. He complains that the existing ones are over-used and filthy.
"If there are no urinal, where do you expect us to go?" he asked.
Mr Parnmi agreed that public toilets were scarce but he said this should not be used as an excuse to urinate on pavements.
He said the corporation plans to build more public toilets in the coming days.
If there are no urinal, where do you expect us to go?
Jaipur resident Sharad Bhardwaj
He said shopkeepers and restaurant owners would also be targeted with fines of up 500 rupees ($10) if they were caught discarding litter on the streets.
He said a stiff penalty of 1,500 rupees ($30) would also be imposed on those who attempt to deface historical buildings or monuments in the city.
About two years ago, a similar drive against public urination was launched in the Indian capital Delhi.
Sanitation magistrates were appointed to drive around the city in mobile courts to dispense justice on "litter louts".
But the move had only limited success.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4525333.stm
The age of 50 marks authors' peak
Fifty is the perfect age to write a novel, a study of the best-selling authors of the past 50 years has shown. The average age of writers who topped the hardback fiction section of the New York Times Bestseller List from 1955-2004 was 50.5 years.
"We wanted to discover the optimum age to write a best-seller," said Bob Young of Lulu, a website for writers and independent publishers.
"Unlike scientists or musicians, say, writers tend to mature with age."
Romantic novelist Judith Krantz and writer Joe Klein, who published political comedy Primary Colors anonymously, are among the novelists who topped the best-seller list in their 50th year.
Of the 350 authors who saw their novels reach the number one spot over the past 50 years, Francoise Sagan was the youngest with Bonjour Tristesse, published at the age of 19 in 1955.
By comparison, Agatha Christie was the oldest author to top the list, with her novel Sleeping Murder, published shortly after her death at the age of 85.
The authors who most frequently topped the list were horror writer Stephen King who has topped the list 27 times, and Danielle Steel who has amassed 26 number ones.
Nonetheless, authors like JK Rowling and Da Vinci Code writer Dan Brown, who both achieved global fame in their thirties, appear to be bucking the trend.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertain...ts/4540705.stm
Early humans 'followed coast'
The first humans who left Africa to populate the world headed south along the coast of the Indian Ocean, Science magazine reports. Scientists had always thought the exodus from Africa around 70,000 years ago took place along a northern route into Europe and Asia.
But according to a genetic study, early modern humans followed the beach, possibly lured by a seafood diet.
They quickly reached Australia but took much longer to settle in Europe.
Dr Martin Richards of the University of Leeds, who took part in the study, says the first humans may have moved south in search of better fishing grounds when stocks in the Red Sea dwindled due to climate change.
"That might have been the push that set them off," he told the BBC News website.
DNA clues
When the first modern humans evolved in Africa, they lived mainly on meat hunted from animals. But by 70,000 years ago, they had switched to a marine diet, largely shellfish.
The new research suggests they moved along the coasts of the Arabian peninsula into India, Indonesia and Australia about 65,000 years ago. An offshoot later led to the settlement of the Middle East and Asia about 30 to 40,000 years ago.
The data comes from studies by two teams of scientists on the DNA of native people living in Malaysia and on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands between India and Burma.
Scientists can estimate how closely related we are by studying the DNA of the energy producing parts of the cell, our mitochondria.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4543767.stm
Fantastic response to 'Piano Man'
A helpline set up to identify a mystery man who stunned carers by giving a virtuoso classical piano performance has been inundated with calls. The man has not said a word since police picked him up wandering the streets of Sheerness, Kent, in a soaking wet suit and tie on 7 April.
His social worker Michael Camp said the man, in his 20s or 30s, is usually very anxious but "comes alive" at the piano.
Orchestras around Europe are being contacted to see if they know him.
The National Missing Persons Helpline is appealing to anyone who recognises the man to come forward.
Mr Camp said there had been a "fantastic" response.
"We have had one definite lead, but I haven't had time to follow it up yet.
"A name has been given of a possible person from the Sussex area.
"We had one of these before, from the local area, and it sounded promising but... we'll just have to wait and see."
The man's talent came to light after staff at the Medway Maritime Hospital gave him a pen and paper in the hope he would write his name.
Instead the patient, dubbed The Piano Man, drew very detailed pictures of a grand piano.
The man shocked staff with a performance of classical music after Mr Camp showed him the piano in the hospital's chapel.
The mystery man produced a pencil drawing of a grand piano
Mr Camp said: "When we took him to the chapel piano it really was amazing. He has not spoken since the day we picked him up.
"He does not make any sounds but I think I can communicate with him through tiny nods."
The man has since written music, which has been verified as genuine.
Mr Camp added: "It is extraordinary. The first time we took him down to the piano he played for several hours, non-stop."
Several lines of inquiry have been followed, and the hospital brought in interpreters to see if the mystery patient was from Eastern Europe.
He is now being held in a secure mental health unit in north Kent while an assessment is carried out. Mr Camp said he was "extremely distressed" and may have suffered a trauma.
'Very frightened'
Karen Dorey-Rees, adult mental health manager for the West Kent NHS and Social Care Trust, said the mystery man was very vulnerable.
"He is not talking at all, he is very frightened," she said.
"We are aware that he is a very vulnerable man and we would be putting him in a dangerous situation if we let him go."
She said that the labels had been removed from every item of clothing the man was wearing when he was found on The Broadway in Minster, Sheerness.
The case has drawn comparisons with the 1996 film Shine which depicts the story of acclaimed pianist David Helfgott who suffered a nervous breakdown.
Ms Dorey-Rees was unable to say what music he had played.
"Nobody was skilled enough to recognise the music, they just knew it was classical music and he played very well."
Anyone who has information about The Piano Man is urged to call the National Missing Persons Helpline on 0500 700700.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4550069.stm
Kuwaiti women win right to vote
The Kuwaiti parliament has voted to give women full political rights. The amendment to the Kuwait's electoral law means women can for the first time vote and stand in parliamentary and local elections.
It was passed by 35 votes for, 23 against, with one abstention. Council elections are due this year.
The result, announced by the speaker of parliament, was greeted with thunderous applause from the public gallery where backers of the amendment were gathered.
"I congratulate the women of Kuwait for having achieved their political rights," said Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah.
Kuwait's ruler Sheikh Jabir al-Ahmad al-Sabah issued a decree giving women full political rights in 1999.
The change in the law, which was agreed at the end of a 10-hour session, had previously been blocked by a majority of tribal and Islamist members of parliament.
Many of these had argued that Islamic law prohibited women from positions of leadership.
The amendment requires women voters and candidates to abide by Islamic law.
Correspondents say this is an attempt by the ruling family to reassure Islamists. But it could also place restrictions on women campaigners.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/4552749.stm
