A Big Idea
I thought I’d share this, part of the Big Ideas series produced by Cardiff University, because it features our own Haley Gomez:
In the video Haley explains how enormous quantities of dust have been found by astronomers in the School of Physics & Astronomy. We just can’t get the cleaning staff, you see. In fact more recently there have also been discoveries of damp, mould, crumbling ceilings and broken windows.
I don’t want to steal Haley’s thunder in any way, but I should mention that an even more startling discovery has recently been made elsewhere in the School of Physics & Astronomy at Cardiff University. In my office, in fact. Not dust, but anti-dust!
In the Dark 
October 25, 2011 at 12:57 pm
What happens when pasta and antipasto mix in your stomach?
NB Men particularly like dust because they are made from it (Genesis 2:7).
October 25, 2011 at 4:00 pm
Not just “dust-free” but “anti-dust”. Impressive!
October 25, 2011 at 4:05 pm
I thought that cheese was anti-chalk.
I believe that ‘anti’ in Geek can mean ‘alternative’ as well as ‘against’…
October 25, 2011 at 4:45 pm
..the same is also true in Greek.
October 25, 2011 at 5:29 pm
Ops!
October 25, 2011 at 5:45 pm
I think you’ll find I have more readers who are Geeks than who are Greeks.
October 25, 2011 at 6:32 pm
Warning against freeware on your computer:
Beware of Geeks bearing gifts.
October 25, 2011 at 7:23 pm
Planets form out of dust. So anti-dust could be dangerous. A WMD, perhaps?
October 25, 2011 at 7:40 pm
Are there any planets in the constellation of Crayola?
October 25, 2011 at 8:05 pm
None that I know of. Shows that the stuff worked.
October 25, 2011 at 10:12 pm
Do I remember “Cosmic Anti-Dust” chalk in British universities years ago (instead of Crayola)?
Or am I imagining it?
October 25, 2011 at 11:04 pm
It most definitely did exist, you can see a picture here, but I’m not sure if it still does…
October 26, 2011 at 9:22 am
Yes, I thought so.
While lecturing once, I grasped the top edge of the blackboard, unaware that chalk dust had accumulated there over the years. There was a long line of chalk dust right along the top edge of the board. Horrible stuff.
October 26, 2011 at 6:08 pm
There’s an even better advert here:
They don’t make them like that any more!
October 26, 2011 at 11:03 pm
I see. And produced in a very grand factory in Bedford.
Although the advert states that the company headquarters were in London, and, coincidentally, looking at the address, I must have walked past the building on my way to a concert earlier this evening. I didn’t notice what is there today, unfortunately.
April 20, 2015 at 7:33 pm
No I remember Cosmic chalk too. It had a kind of ceramic skin.