Explaining my PhD project to an alien
Max Tomlinson, a go-getting PhD student, speaks candidly with Max Tomlinson, an embittered alien from the planet Omicron who wants to know about these doughy humanoids that “wander around with haircuts, cluttering London’s pavements like farting skittles.” Max: Tell me about this ‘chef’ you worship, the one they call Jamie Oliver. Max: Jamie Oliver is known for rudely interrupting the carefree innocence of the mid-00s by repeatedly denouncing the Turkey Twizzler on national television. Max: Did this change anything? Max: We began to think “Maybe children shouldn’t be scoffing rubbish every day. Maybe pieces of ‘meat’ moulded into the shape of dinosaurs, while fun and tasty, are fast-tracking an epidemic of obesity for future generations.” Max: Indeed, ripples of this were felt across space on my own planet. Why was this so important for humankind? Max: Obesity effects more than a ¼ of adults in the UK, and if current trends continue this will reach half by 2030. Max: The ones you call
