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Science or silliness?
We thumb through the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy in search of the answer to our Ultimate Question - are there any facts behind the fiction?
There are some parts of the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy that are simple and believable -"Space is big. Really Big" and "Love: avoid if at all possible" being two good examples. But what about the super-intelligent dolphins? Could there ever be a machine detects what food we're craving? Follow our guide to The Guide and find out more.
"THE UNIVERSE....Some information to help you live in it. ONE: AREA. INFINITE. As far as anyone can make out. TWO: IMPORTS. NONE. It is impossible to import things into an infinite area, there being no outside to import things in from."
 No one is completely sure whether the universe is infinite, in other words endless, or not. In fact people have been arguing about this since the ancient Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle was alive. "Although it is hard to imagine what an infinite universe is like," says cosmologist John Barrow, "it is harder to imagine a finite one. A finite universe has an edge (what happens when you get there? or when you throw a spear over the boundary as one Greek asked?) and it has a centre. Aristotle opposed the idea of the infinite universe because he wanted the universe to have a physical centre where we are located." Unfortunately, taking sides in this debate proved costly for some thinkers. The Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake in 1600 for suggesting that the universe was infinite. Thankfully we won't be sentenced to death for believing this, and if we are right nothing can come in from outside this infinite universe because there is no outside - as the Hitch-Hiker's Guide correctly tells us!
"Is there any tea on this spaceship?"
One of the most unpleasant things Arthur Dent faces on his interstellar travels is a cup of a substance not "entirely unlike tea" produced by the Sirius Cybernetic Corporation's Nutrimatic Drink Dispenser. It should have tasted good, as this vending machine "makes an instant, but highly detailed examination of the subject's taste buds, a spectroscopic analysis of the subject's metabolism, and then sends tiny experimental signals down the neural pathways to the taste centres of the subject's brain to see what is likely to be well received."
Surprisingly, this isn't that far-fetched. Every bump on the surface of our tongues contains about 250 taste buds, giving us around 10,000 in total. These buds - which can detect sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and according to Japanese researchers a fifth taste called 'umami' - send electrical impulses along nerves to the brain whenever food or drink stimulates them. "In theory, it should be possible to measure the electrical output of taste buds by inserting tiny electrodes in them," explains food researcher Fred Mellon. "However, this is impractical and likely to be painful!" In reality scientists measure the response of our brains to taste - and to smell, which plays an important part in our enjoyment of food - with MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and EEG (electroencephalography). A new area of science called metabolomics, which looks at our total metabolism (natural chemical changes that take place inside our living tissues) is also being developed. Mellon doesn't rule out the possibility of future vending machines using information from metabolomics and also from genetics to help meet our nutritional needs and preferences. "Individuals could carry some sort of coded swipe card with details of their personal nutritional requirements and tastes and this could be used to allow the vending machine to select appropriate foods" he suggests.
"Dolphins had long known of the impending destruction of the planet Earth and had made many attempts to alert mankind to the danger; but most of their communications were misinterpreted as amusing attempts to punch footballs or whistle for titbits"
According to The Guide dolphins are the second cleverest beings on Earth - behind mice of course! You may laugh but there is currently extensive research being carried out to see exactly how smart dolphins are. Lou Herman and his team at Kewalo Marine Laboratory in Hawaii are able to communicate with the dolphins at the lab through complex sign language. The dolphins are able to respond to full sentences that are unlikely to be grasped through intensive training alone, demonstrating that they are capable of understanding. In the BBC programme Wildlife On One: Dolphins - Deep Thinkers? one of Lou Herman's dolphins responded perfectly to David Attenborough's sign language - despite the fact that she was watching him on a telly! Dolphins communicate with each other by making many distinctive sounds such as clicks and whistles as well as body language but we are still unsure as to what these may mean -although in the case of Lou Herman's dolphins perhaps it's "stick the telly on". As for mice being the intelligent force to be reckoned with - this will surely remain as fiction not fact!
The Guide - "Not only is it a wholly remarkable book, it is also a highly successful one"
 The gadget at the heart of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is a remarkable book that contains facts and rumours about everything you could possibly want to know about the universe with an easy to use interface at an affordable price. Of course we have our own successful Earth version of this - the Internet. The Internet has become an essential tool for most of us as by searching on the World Wide Web we can find out information about pretty much anything. Just like The Guide the Internet is full of rumours as well as facts. It has also become technology that we can carry around with us by using laptops, PDAs and mobile phones. Not only can we access the Internet from these portable devices we can also take photos, compose music and write an electronic diary. We can even have videophone calls, which are useful - unless you have a habit of answering your phone when you're on the loo! Siemens have been busy developing a communications device that enables you to answer your door, accept telephone calls and pick up your emails all via voice recognition - and its only the size of a badge! When Douglas Adams wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy this type of technology was thought of as futuristic and was written about in works of fiction. However, sitting at your computer screen now reading this page you are demonstrating that this fictional technology is now a fact of life.
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