A nuclear physics colleague of mine – Robin Smith of Sheffield Hallam University – Tweeted a little while ago about a tongue-in-cheek (or oxtongue-in-bap) study he made of the relative density of Greggs Bakeries vs Pret-A-Manger sandwich shops, using machine learning to define the optimum line dividing England into a Greggs region, a.k.a. "The North", and a Pret region, a.k.a. "The South". The study was then mentioned by a colleague of his at The Cheltenham Science Festival, and lo and behold the Daily Mail has picked it up. Here's a tweet from yesterday by Robin with a link to the story, and the map.
It may have taken 10 years as a practicing scientist but I have finally been mentioned in the Daily Mail 👌 🔥 🥐 🤖 Thanks @vicky_dmail ! For anyone interested in baked goods and Machine Learning, take a look 👇https://t.co/YdM4rJk97A
— Dr R☢️bin Smith (@UnclearPhysics) June 7, 2023
It's been quite a while since any light-hearted studies I did were picked up for news coverage. I hope Robin doesn't suffer too much ire from Daily Mail readers thinking scientists are spending research funding doing things like this when it is clear (even from the story in the Mail) that he did it all in his own time. Now... what similar study could I do. I think Waitrose vs Morrison has already been done.
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