Andy Purvis, biological sciences, Silwood Park, has taken the world title in singles tiddlywinks.

The Imperial College lecturer went head to head against American Larry Khan who was defending his world title. Andy won by 30 and a third to 11 and two thirds after becoming hooked on the game almost 20 years ago as a student at the University of Cambridge.

“It’s a brilliant game which deserves to be taken seriously,” he said. “It is complex, quite creative and there is a lot of strategy but it is not frustrating like chess because you can recover from mistakes.”

January is the 50th anniversary of modern tiddlywinks, invented by Cambridge University students Bill Steen and Rick Martin.

A spider called Sarah

Sarah Zylingski, a gap year student from Imperial, is to have a white spider named after her. She discovered the new genus while cave diving for cockroaches in the Australian bush.

After trapping it in an air pocket near an underground lake, she sent the spider for analysis and was told she had found a new species which she could name.

“I’m still trying to decide if it’s too conceited to use my own name when I christen it,”she said.

Retirement

Dr Michael Carabine, lecturer in the department of chemical engineering and chemical technology, retired this month after 39 years at the College.

A key player in the setting up and consequent expansion of the Erasmus exchange programme, he also worked as a warden for Linstead Hall and was admissions tutor for the department from 1982-89 and 1999-2003.

Poster

Gregory Offer, department of chemistry, was runner-up in the perspectives poster competition at the BA Festival of Science. He received £250 for his poster, What happens when the oil runs out? The competition gave postgraduate students and postdocs the chance to explore the social and ethical implications of their research.

Student administration and management system (SAMS)

Staff Reporter 6 October, stated that ‘applicants are now able to apply online, students can view their records remotely and departments can process data directly on the central database.’ These enhancements to the basic SAMS system have not yet been delivered but are planned for the next few months.