The 50th anniversary edition of Richard Dawkins’s popular science classic The Selfish Gene features a DNA double helix on its cover that is depicted backwards. The “I” in “SELFISH” has been replaced by a colourful little drawing of a DNA double helix. Geneticist Simon Fisher pointed it out on Bluesky: “You know a gene is selfish when its DNA twists the wrong way, as demonstrated by the left-handed double-helix proudly adorning the 50th Anniversary Edition of the multimillion copy bestseller on this topic.” In reality, it is a right-handed double helix, but the one on the book cover is left-handed.
It turns out that The Selfish Gene‘s art has been wrong for at least a decade. Patrick Goymer, an editor at PLOS One, shared the cover of the 40th anniversary edition on Bluesky, and it has the same left-handed DNA in place of the “I”. Feedback notes that our own copy is the 30th anniversary edition, and the DNA is correct. At some point since 2006, the DNA on the cover has flipped into a mirror universe.
In a separate report, a paper published in Cureus, titled: “Massive fecaloma dissolved by Coca-Cola: A case report”, describes a medical procedure involving a large lump of impacted faeces. A faecaloma is a large lump of impacted faeces trapped in a person’s rectum. In this case report, the faecaloma had a maximum diameter of 12.2 centimetres.
The doctors reported that they tried “conservative management”, which apparently consisted of “polyethylene glycol, senna, mineral oil, and sodium phosphate enemas”. But the faecaloma didn’t budge, so they turned to a more drastic solution. The authors tell us that “isolated case reports have described the use of Coca-Cola enemas for fecaloma dissolution with favorable outcomes”. This is because “Classic Coca-Cola acts as a mucolytic agent [it makes mucus less thick and sticky], a source of carbonic acid, and an effervescent solvent”. Hence the doctors administered two 1-litre Coca-Cola enemas, which shrank the faecaloma enough to resolve the situation.
The column also highlighted three instances of unfortunate technology-induced truncations and abbreviations. Stuart Arnold was bemused to find Facebook recommending a post about an obsolete form of aircraft called a Rotodyne, which never made it past the prototype phase. It is best described as “a plane, but stick a set of helicopter rotors on top”. Unfortunately, due to the character limit in the Facebook feed, the post was cut off as follows: “designed to take off vertically, then fly faster and fart…” “It’s probably a good thing that the program was cancelled,” says Stuart.
