Inside out

Back page gossip from the 3 August issue of Research Europe

Which clause is that English has become the lingua franca of science, but its nuances can be unforgiving. A recent report from the Joint Research Centre on the use of evidence in policymaking used a non-restrictive clause where it should have been restrictive, with potentially catastrophic consequences. “To ensure the role of research and the continuous support of the citizens to research we should limit the funding of science, which is not at all useful to society,” it declared ominously. Fortunately the report was only a draft, so hopefully science funding won’t be choked off altogether.

Wish fulfilment Managers at German company ToasterNET must have thought they had hit the jackpot when they decided to start making mobile phone covers using images from the most popular Amazon search results. Bosses were horrified, however, when the algorithm decided that customers would most want covers displaying novelty dildos, nail infections and old men wearing adult diapers. Data may not lie, but a sense-check never hurts.