Look here for anything to do with Science and Nature

The Mμniversity of Mμ is at the forefront of many areas of research. Whether its making its mark in cutting edge sub-atomic physics, the latest in gene technology, or discovering the natural wonders of Mμ, it will feature here. The Mµniversity is famed for its novel and pioneering concept of combining two very different subjects into a single school, in order to bring new innovative thinking to the fore.

3rd February 2017

Last January the Land of Mμ formally requested that newly created trans-uraninum element 118 be named Mμiμm. This was rejected in favour of Oganesson, named after someone that 99.999999% of the world's population have never heard of. Could it be possible that packages wrapped in brown paper were left in secret places to be found by the naming committee?
So! The Land of Mμ will be creating its own new elements. It looks simple enough - see diagram. Equipment is small enough to fit into a large garden shed. We will not give up on having our own element with a palidromic name.
Our good citizens are asked to take any old Rhenium and Californium that have about the house to their local recycling centre. And if anybody has benches of the about same height and size as those in the picture they too would be appreciated

15th January 2017

Researchers at the Unofficial Hμpμ Breeding Station have announced that they have been successfully at hatching several clutches of Biμpμs eggs. They used genes from the blue jellyfish that live off the coast of Straddle and inserted them into the egg cell nuclei before fertilisation. Staff at the Official Breeding Station have been skeptical, suggesting it was merely something in the food - and adding that they are slightly violet rather than a true blue colour. But Barney Reidings who led the project would not be quashed, "Once we have the numbers needed for a good breeding base we will introduce them into the wild and brighten up everybody's lives",
What is not clear is what the colour chicks would be if the Blμpμs bred with Hμpμs. Some think they will be a weird sort of purple, while others reckon they could be striped or spotted. So far opinion is they the hybrids will be a weird purple colour.

21st November 2016

There was a bit of panic at the Zμ of Mμ yesterday when a group of visitors from Straddle reported that someone had cut the legs off one of the Pμshme-pμllyμs. Apparently these are a forbidden delicacy there - lightly barbecμed and served rare and on the bone, with a mμstard sauce and french fried turnips. The visitors were told tactfully that the Pμshme-pμllyμ was just sitting down to rest.

27 October 2016

The Land of Mµ Naturists* have followed up reports of sightings of a pair of Archaeopteryxs in the Forest of Mu, and have managed to take some great photos of them. This species was thought to be extinct (the rest of the world believes so) not having been seen in Mµ for over 25 years. The rather dull colouration has disappointed those so-called experts elsewhere who fantasied that the species would sport colourful plumage. It may be that they are part of a small colony living in Straddle. The pace of change there would be most fitting for the survival a bird that must be considered a living fossil. That begs the question as to the exact nature of the Wings and Chips on the menu at the Sow & Fiddle. They could be well past their Best By date!

Same could be said of this rather dubious looking Pterodactyl found stranded in a field. Some people say they can occasionally be seen launching off Straddle cliffs, soaring down and catching fish as they skim the wave tops. We’ll believe that when we see one, but obvious hoaxes like this do not help the case.

* Naturist is a Mµian term meaning someone whose interest is nature.; not what you are thinking. That a good number of them go out into the countryside with just boots and binoculars is purely coincidental.

17 October 2016

Reports of Yetis and Bigfoots, Chupacabras and Werewolves can come from anywhere in the world, but for Cryptobotany there can only be one place to see it all – The Land of Mμ. The Cryptobotanical Society have presented their occasional annual reports in print and to a packed Town Hall in Mμ. Amongst the topics were:

Alien Big Cabbages, which first appeared sporadically well over a century ago as shown in this old print, and are now increasing in numbers. With stems sometimes 10 feet tall they can develop into an impenetrable forest. There now seems to be a mammoth sized Cabbage White butterfly whose caterpillars can make short work of all but the stems. Gardeners are concerned that the nets used to protect their more modest crops would be torn to shreds. The reports of the killer calabrese and savage savoys have been put down to hoaxes involving out of focus filming of inflatable brassicas.

Mμssie, the monster pondweed of LakeMμss has been sighted several times this year. There are unconfirmed reports that at least two Hγppos being attacked by its fronds and dragged down into the depths.

The Giant Horsetails and Clubmosses of the Mμnsk delta are now thought to be living fossils, being identical to those in the Carboniferous period. If so these may provide rich seams of high grade coal in 300 million years time. Shares in these mines of the future will be sold to highest bidding foreign governments. Citizens of Mμ need not worry about loss of national identity as it will be made clear that several geological eras will need to pass before any extraction can take place.

The Whiplash Nepenthes of Mount Kinabalμ on the other hand have been tamed. Other pitcher plants of this genus have passive traps, but the Whipper, as it is known, can lash out, catch a victim, crush the life out of it, and haul it back to its pitcher in under three seconds flat. Something had to be done. The disappearance of the odd tourist in the mountains is no big deal and happens all the time. But when Mμians are threatened something had to be done.

The Wandering Forest of Rμme is now much closer to and may swallow up the much larger Forest of Mμ. That is to literally say swallow, as it had left a scorched earth path from its original position, with wild and farm animals disappearing overnight. Visitors always equate the WanderingForest to Tolkein’s Ents, but these are more like the Huorns – untamed and uncommunicative. Perhaps they should be called Hμorns.

7 October 2016

With the Nobel prize committee not nominating any of the Land of Mμ's eminent academics and researchers yet again, it has already been decided that we will, this year, issue Nμbel prizes instead - and no-one else can join in. The prizes awarded are:

The Ethnotransportation prize went to Ray Venger for his treatises on the 'Busmen of the Kalahari' and 'Jakarta? No she caught the No 11'. Ray has caught buses (and some interesting diseases) around the world listening to passenger’s comments about how badly the bus was being driven, The 13B from Bokspits to Luderitz in Botswana was one of his most difficult. Not only does it only run just once a fortnight, but that day it was 41 minutes late! His photo collection of Indonesian rural bus-stops was on display in the entrance hall. Professor Dorothe Sussex For Archeornitheology the prize was jointly awarded to Dr Theo d'Or Seuss and Prof. Dorothe Sussex (who are like two sides of the same coin, but have you ever seen them in the same room together?) for their work on Hμthμth, the Hμpμ god of the ancients. We look forward to their continuing work extracting DNA from Hμthμth’s mummy and producing a clone. War and Peace prize to Ramondo Coeburn for preventing unnecessary bloodshed at closing time at the Sow & Fiddle in Straddle. He was born for his job, or at least named for it as his parents were both cruciverbalists. . Literature prize to Billy Wigglesticks for his hilarious farce Mμcbeth - barmy old witches, loads of ghosts. plenty of bodies, gallons of blood, and a madman with a sharp knife! Adapted into a play, the audience was in hoots of laughter as the cast, according to tradition, studiously avoided the name of the Hibernian play, referring to the protagonist as “that bloke”, “thingummy”, “whats-his-name” or “him over there”. And leading actress Rhene Milner now has a new catch phrase courtesy of her muddy-pawed naughty puppy - ‘Out damned Spot!’ Sociozoologist Ellie Fantine received her award for her work engendering mutual trust between Mμians and Hγppos. It was she who kept the Hγppos calm when they sank into Mμ Square, this preventing any post traumatic stress for them. Mμ cannot match the 8M krone Nobel prizes but rest assured that the prizewinners will each get a Goldish medal, the Freedom of the City of Mμ (giving then Eat All You Want status at Mμ's top chicken eatery Beaks and Claws) and Freedom of Straddle (permitted to chase geese through the village centre and one free refill at the Sow & Fiddle each night), It will also look really good on their LinkdIn profiles.

27 April 2016

Our physicists have been tasked with a simple job. Energy via cold nuclear fusion. I reckon if they can develop a field to neutralise the positive charge of hydrogen protons then this overcomes the energy needs of such a process. And we could have cheap lithium for sale too.

11 April 2016

The Land of Mμ has adopted the Mirror Orchid, Ophrys speculum, as its official orchid. Botanists will now work with the Genetics Dept at the Mμniversity to improve the native stock.

17 January 2016

The Land of Mμ'S 2015 Hoopoe breeding progamme has been a huge success, with sightings of birds everywhere, What is more, our birds are more brightly coloured and larger. Therefore they are henceforth to be referred to as Hμpμs®
Hopefully the Genetic Engineering division will surprise us with a Blμpμ soon.

Following the confirmation of new elements, atomic numbers 113, 115, 117 and 118, we have applied for 118 to be named Mμiμm, symbol Mμ. This would make it the first palindromic element

[Home] [News] [Events] [Mythtory] [Science] [Arts] [Sport] [History] [Map] [Straddle]