RE: [AV Media Matters] news story about CD & fungus

[Peter.Copeland@bl.uk]

Dear All,

A colleague has shown me another press report (London Evening
Standard, Thursday 21 June 2001 page 23), which includes a colour
picture of a CD alleged to have been attacked by the fungus. In my
opinion, several lessons may be drawn from this photograph.

(1) Only the outside edge of the CD is affected, not the centre; so
whatever caused the decay has entered the CD from its edge, not its
centre.

(2) One patch is an area roughly 0.5cm x 1cm, another only a couple
of millimetres square. (Exact dimensions are impossible, because the
disc was not square-on to the camera).

(3) The disc has gone *transparent* as a result (one can see the
"label" in reverse from the side carrying the recording).

(4) It is clearly the *aluminium* which is attacked, *not* the
polycarbonate.

(5) This may be consistent with the edge of the disc having received
a knock, not biological attack at all; I cannot conceive of a
biological attack upon polycarbonate leaving a mirror-finish you can
still see through. What feeds upon aluminium is another matter
altogether! Peter Copeland

Please excuse the sensationalist story below from the "Telegraph" in
England via the net.  But there may be a fragment of truth here
worth noting.

Carl

>http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=005305849264780&rtmo=3H3KSSmM&atmo=rrrrrrrq&pg=/et/01/6/18/wfung18.html
>
>Scientist finds fungus that eats through compact discs
>By Robert Uhlig, Technology Correspondent