I have fond (0) of working for a large organisation that had a department for Operational Research. The researchers were (1) in studying the working (2) of employees but the conclusion they (3) seemed obvious, a matter of common sense. (4) to what one might expect, however, this did not (5) an end to the research but was used as the basis for further experiment. A recent report in a scientific journal indicates that this is standard (6) and by no (7) uncommon. And when all is said and done, it is reassuring to find that when the researchers investigate areas with which we call all claim to be (8) everything turns out to be very much as (9) . For example, a recent psychological study has shown that people are far less (10) to lose their temper and shout at the boss than at members of their own family. Realising they risk being (11) , they bottle up their anger but then (12) it out on the innocent folk at home. Another great psychological discovery was that children take after their parents. They not only look like them but copy their behaviour. Concerned to (13) , their work from being thought completely pointless, researchers take refuge in jargon, which makes the conclusion sound less obvious. The ultimate test of the researcher, though, is to be (14) to undergo hardship for the (15) of a theory. A study of weather patterns over the past 15 years in Antarctica has finally solved the mystery of what killed Captain Scott and his companions on their expedition to the South pole. It was the cold.