h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

How did the number 450 cause problems for mothers in the 20th century?
No Google or Wikipedia, as usual
Plenty of points and no klaxons, however you may have trouble finding the correct answers.

Hmm. No idea about the answer, but I know about the remedy that Austrian mathematician Kurt Godel proscribed for himself. He became convinced that someone was trying to poison him, and so, being of a logical mind, decided that the best thing to do would be to stop eating and drinking, and so prevent any more poison from entering his body.

Of course, this prevented any else from getting into his body either, and he died of starvation not long afterwards.


Geggs

Which bit of the 20th century

I'll start from the other end, then.

One of the biggest problems for mothers in the 20th Century must have been the drug Thalidomide, which was prescribed as a sedative to cure morning sickness, if I remember correctly, but which went on to cause large numbers of horrific birth defects.

And no, I can't link the number to it, sorry!

That a good question: does it relate specifically to those that already were mothers, or those that were shortly expecting to become mothers?

Okay, it's possible to be in both groups at the same time, but you know what I mean.


Geggs

during WW11 baby formula milk was govt controlled and rationed and a 'bad batch' got out, all the babies who were affected by the tainted batch, became lactose intolerant.

my mum was one of them!

Icy: Did you read my mind? Thalidomide it is +3
Taff: DGI +1 for the WW2 baby milk story
Still plenty of points for working out the connection to the number 450.

The problem with the Thalidomide drug is that it is a molecule that can exist in "left" and "right"-handed isomers. Only one of the two types actually causes the birth defects.

450. Roman numeral DL. d/l is the naming convention for left and right handed isomers.

Roman numeral LD that should be.

hd: Okay, I reckon that's +9, 3 for L and D, 3 for left/right handed and 3 for the effects of the different isomers.
There are still a few points available for the name of this type of stereoisomerism.

Well, I can think of three different terms for this type of isomerism, but I've been greedy enough already, so I'll let someone else have a go.

Sounds like specialist chemistry knowledge to me. I'd look it up, but I don't think that's the point.

The only chemistry I've come across so far in my OU maths course is graph theory applied to organic chemistry molecules (benzine rings, I think it was). The theory can be used to define all the possible configurations. All the chemist has to do is go off and synthesise them (the easy job).

It's not all that specialised, Icy. I'm pretty sure I did it at A Level (the isomerism thing, not specifically Thalidomide). But that was a long time ago, so I may be misremembering.

Just to nudge things along a bit, d = dextro (right), l = laevo (left). Fructose (a fruit sugar) exists in dextrose and laevulose forms.

hd: You may well have done this at A-level. I certainly did. I think the sugar thing deserves a DGI +1

I am staying out of this. I failed GCE 'O' level general science (created for arts people who weren't going to manage Chemistry, Physics, or Biology).

And that was back in the days when people were still arguing about the new theories proposed by this Darwin chappy.

Ooh, I just found this thread. I got loads of points in this which haven't been posted yet. HELLO MIKEY .

The isomerism is known variously as optical stereoisomerism, because the different isomers polarise light in different directions, or chirality, after the Greek word for hand, or enantiomerism, which probably means something in Latin.

I looked in the dictionary. Enantiomer, from the Greek word for "opposite".

hd: +3 for optical, +3 for enantiomer, DGI +1 for enantiomer coming from the greek for "opposite".

I have the final scores here:
In first place is hygenicdispenser, who gets a massive 17 points.
In second is Icy North with 3 points
Third place goes to me with 2 points
Fourth and last, on 1 point, we have Taff
So, this thread is over.

Thanks mikey

Oh, did you offer to subedit a h2g2 university project for me last year? (but I may have the wrong Mike) If you're still interested, let me know on my PS and I'll try to get that project completed soon.)

Icy