Did anyone get into a muddle when the clocks changed over the weekend? If so, don’t move to Saturn. New results from the Cassini probe, via Imperial College and thence the pages of Science, have thrown into confusion how long a day takes on the sixth planet.

The cores of gas giants are buried deep beneath layers of swirling gas, giving no fixed surface points for rotation measurements. Instead, the information can be inferred by probing the planet’s magnetic fields. Not so on Saturn, say researchers. Geysers on the moon Enceladus spew ice and water vapour into planetary orbit. This plays havoc with Saturn’s magnetic field, making it an unreliable measure of the planet’s rotation.

Watery geyser erupts from Enceladus. Credit

The team at Imperial includes Prof Michele Dougherty, the PI on Cassini’s magnetometer. “The direct link between radio, magnetic field and deep planetary rotation has been taken for granted up to now. Saturn is showing we need to think further,” she said in a press release.

A group at UCL are interested in numerical discrepancies of a more personal nature. Roi Cohen Kadosh and co-workers report in Current Biology that the right parietal lobe is responsible for dyscalculia, a condition affecting the understanding of numbers. By magnetically stimulating this area of the brain, they were able to momentarily induce dyscalculia in healthy volunteers.

A more attractive way to get your numbers mixed up is to visit the campus bar. Imperial College has launched a new beer to celebrate its centenary. The Imperial 100 draught ale is brewed by Blindman’s Brewery in Leighton, Somerset, and is available from the Union bar. By all evidence, Sir Richard Sykes has been installed as bar man.

Cheers!