It is page 92 of Lord Robert Baden-Powell’s ‘Scouting For Boys: A Handbook For Instruction in Good Citizenship’, originally published in 1908. This scan comes from the 1963 edition.

Only two days in and Weol got in there first with the correct answer, followed swiftly by Nemo. Other suggestions we recieved were an illustration from the ‘The Giant Book of Fantastic Facts’, or drawings of Mike, Marsh and myself (who’s who, I wonder?), presumably as part of a bizarre promo for Skeptics With a K!

So, you’re here, you’re reading, let’s have a look at the next picture. What/who are we looking at in the picture below?

Last week (sort of), we asked you what this picture was (it would be a crap competition if we didn’t):

The answer is (insert drumroll here)… a dying nerve cell, photographed using an optical microscope. No right answers, although most of you were on the right track in suggesting cells of various kinds, so handclaps all round. Cancer cells were suggested, as was phagocytosis, blood cells and breast tissue. So well done to all who made those suggestions.

As usual we got some more left-field suggestions too, such as the light show at a Hawkwind gig, a curled up caterpillar and a Van Gogh painting. Personally, I think it actually does look like a Van Gogh, though I’m not sure about the other two suggestions! That said I’ve never been to a Hawkwind show. If their light shows are anything like the picture above, then that’s probably a good thing.

Anyway, I guess you’re all reading this to find out what the next picture is, so I’ll shut up now. Ready? What are we looking at in the picture below?

No-one actually supplied the correct answer, although Johan Strandberg did post a link to a websearch he had done to find the answer, complaining that it was too easy to find. Which kind of defeats the point. We may be geniuses here at the MSS, but regularly defeating search engines is beyond our capabilities! It’s always possible to search quickly for the answer, but we want you to use your own knowledge to get the answer, not steal Google’s. So I propose a second rule to the What Is It? competitions, beyond the one in the title itself: no search engines. Dissenters will be poked aggressively in the shoulder with a disapproving finger.

For those who didn’t follow the link, the image is of an influenza virus, taken via a TEM (Transmission Electron Microscope). Special mention should go to Alex, who suggested Cowpea Mosaic Virus. Hopefully none of you out there are currently suffering the results of infection by this beautiful blue and yellow bastard (the flu virus that is, not Alex). If so, you now know the face of your enemy.

So, well done to, er, TinEye.com, apparently! Lets move on from flu and search engines and have a look at the next What Is It? picture. Put your thinking caps on, lean into your screen and tell us what it is you are looking at in the picture below:

Most of you decided to make jokes about the severed heads, which is fair enough! Jo suggested it was an early ventriloquist double act, while Michael Gray offered the notion of a lost property auction. Jon D suggested the man on the left was showing off his homeopathic Roman legion. We’ve always room on here for a homeopathy joke.

Don’t worry though, someone did get the right answer. Paul Smout got in there early on with the second comment. It is, of course, the founders of Rome: Romulus and Remus.

The image shows the brothers marching triumphantly from Alba Longa. Romulus, on the left, bears aloft the head of his treacherous uncle Amulus, while Remus carries the head of the wild priest Camers, who counselled the King to drown the twins. The illustration itself comes from “The Lays of Ancient Rome”, 1881.

So there.

That one was got rather quickly, so let’s see if we can fox you all for a little bit longer with this week’s image. No severed heads in this one. You know the rules by now (there’s only one). See if you can tell us what this is a picture of:

We got some interesting answers for this one. Gittins suggested it was the design for a pair of socks that he had bought from Primark. It isn’t, although I think I have a pair of the same socks he’s talking about. Nigel put forward that it was an aerial view of a field of genetically engineered plants, while Rob thought that it might be a piece of tribal art, the bit on the right being a hand, the left being the side of a face.

All wrong, I’m afraid, although I like the tribal art answer. Closer was Jon D’s contribution, which suggested it was a nano-motor of some kind. Closest of all though, close enough in fact to call it a win, was Michael Gray’s answer:

“An etched silicon circuit.”

The picture is of a silicon tower complex at a height of 100 nm. It is a test piece for new semiconductor designs. So there you go! If we had a prize, it would go to Mr Gray.

Right, we’ve another off the wall offering for you this week. It’s quite a different picture from the last one. We like to keep things fresh!

You all know the game by now: what are we looking at in the picture below?

Last week, we asked you who the man in this picture was:   

What Is It? #11 (Click to embiggify)

It wasn’t Paul Simon, Jim Carrey or a member of the Polyphonic Spree. It was Claude Vorilhon, facial hair enthusiast and self-proclaimed alien contactee, who changed his surname to Rael and founded the bonkers Raelian movement after his supposed visitation by alien beings.   

There was no messing about this time around. Rob got the correct answer with the very first comment:   

“Claude Rael – Founder of Raelian Movement and apparently the beneficiary of a visit by aliens. Also started Clonaid who claimed to have cloned a baby called Eve.”   

Hopefully, this week’s puzzle will give you something to chew over for a bit longer. It’s a classic ‘What’ rather than a ‘Who’ this time round. So, what is it we are looking at in the picture below? Answers on a postcard. Well, not really. On the comments board below will do nicely!  

What Is It? #11 (Click to embiggify)

It’s that time of the week again, where we show you another of tricky photos and ask you – What Is It? This week, the Prof has taken some time off (these lazy academic types!) so I thought I’d give you this offering – another ‘Who Is It’ this time. Answers below, please.

Last week we showed you this photo, and asked you what it is. The answer? It’s a cryobot probe, currently being used by Russian scientists to break through the 2.5 mile thick ice in Antarctica to access ‘Lake Vostok’ which has not seen light between 250,000 and 25,000,000 years. This lake could be sterile and if so means there will be an inexhaustible supply of high oxygenated water. It may be connected to other ‘under ice’ lakes in the region by rivers which means if they contaminate it, they contaminate them all – to the concern of other, non-Russian scientists. Find out more on Lake Vostok.

Winner this week was Hugh Randolph, who was first in with:

Is it a submarine used to explore “frozen” lakes?

Hugh wins for the fastest sort-of-right answer. However, we did also get an exactly-right answer, from Thomas:

It’s a Cryobot, a robot that can burn itself through thick layers of ice.

Well done Hugh and Thomas. Good luck with this week’s!

What Is It? #10

Well, once more it’s that time of the week – the time we ask you the age-old question: What Is It? Admittedly, throughout the ages it’s been applied to grandiose things like planets, comets and tiny tiny dogs (seriously, a pomeranian? What the hell IS that?), yet here at the MSS we use the question to usher in Prof. Dowling’s latest teasing photograph. As ever, tell us what you think this photo is.

Last week we showed you this photo, and asked you what it is. The answer? Pure fakery! Neither are penned by President Truman nor by founding father of the US,- Ben Franklin as they claim – instead they were penned by none other than Dr Joe Nickel of the Centre for Inquiry. Joe’s something of a skeptical hero, with having spent many decades and countlessTV appearances investigating paranormal claims.

A genuine Joe Nickel Fake

Winner this week was, well, no-one. The nearest was Jon D, who jokingly suggested the Franklin letter might be a fake expenses claim, although still penned by Franklin. No-one posted a right answer, in fact hardly anyone posted an answer at all this week! We are very disappointed. We’re crying but you just can’t see us.

We need to up the game. We mentioned pomeranians earlier. Right, for every What Is It that goes unanswered, we drown a pomeranian. Or at least hold one over some water. So, save the pomeranians and post your answers below…

What Is It? #9 (click to enlarge)

What Is It? #9 (click to enlarge)

It’s that time of, erm, let’s just say ‘week’ again – time for our sort-of-regular What Is It? competition, courtesy of Prof. Dowling. You may remember the rules from last time, if not don’t worry, they couldn’t be simpler:

1. Look at these photos
2. Guess what these photos show
3. Tell us

Easy! So, get cracking.

Last time out we showed you this photo, and asked you who it is. Unbelievably, none of you were able to recognise that it was none other than the self-appointed superhero Mike Adams, Health Ranger. Mike is the charming, educated and definitely-not-a-lunatic behind the Natural News website – the one stop shop for all your anti-vaxx paranoia.

Mike Adams Health Ranger

He’s also got a sideline in anti-vaxx pop classics, such as his hit ‘Don’t Inject Me (The Swine Flu Vaccine Song)‘. Toe-tapping, I’m sure you’ll agree.

None of you got it. None. Must. Try. Harder.

What Is It? #8

It’s that time of the week again – time for our What Is It? competition, courtesy of Prof. Dowling. Or at least, this week, it’s more of a Who Is It? The rest of the rules are the same, so tell us who/what you think this photo is.

Last week we showed you this photo, and asked you what it is. The answer? Pure gold atoms (as if there were any other type!).  The spacing between the gold atoms is 2 Angstroms (or 0.2 nm). They are not gold coloured due to the image having been taken with an electron microscope. Find out more on NanoNews-Now.

Not many of you attempted an answer this week. It was a difficult one, sure enough, and no-one quite got there in the end. The closest to the correct answer were probably Tom and Jon D, with graphite and crystal joints in metal respectively. Sorry, Stu, it wasn’t a stipple pad for artexing the ceiling, nor was it cake decorations on a biscuit tin lid, which was Jon D’s alternative offering! Better luck next time.