In the print edition that is. On The Blog, anything goes, anything…

Here are some gems from our Nano Issue

Papa Dax (from the “Itsy Bitsy Rider” article)

We interviewed Papa Dax, a Honda Dax fanatic who also happens to be president of Antwerp’s Dax Association. The article being about motorbikes, we thought it slightly weird to publish a picture of him sitting on a counch. But we still love the picture, so here you have it.

Antwerp's illustrious Papa Dax (photography Sarah Eechaut)

Nanocyl’s Big Bags (from the “One for the nation” article)

The world of scientific research is extremely competitive, and consequently secretive. Photographer Sarah Michielsen and myself got a first-hand taste of this when visiting Nanocyl‘s facilities in Sambreville, Belgium. After being allowed to photograph everything except the company’s reactor, we left the company compound feeling pretty smug, having captured as much as we had wanted to. The only request from the company was that we’d show them the feature before going to print. We obliged, then all hell broke loose. “Could you use this word instead of that word?”, “Could you not say this?” and “Could you use our pictures instead of yours?”. Like we suddenly became the company’s pet little copywriter overnight. Truly shocking.

We’d love to show you the email exchanges (with a HR executive, nothing less! You’d think a company so intent on curtailing the freedom of press would have its own PR officer), but that could get us in quite a legal pickle. Next best option is to show you the picture they didn’t want us to publish – not because they were sensitive. No, because some suit simply didn’t like them.

Nanocyl's Big bags - 50kg bags used to ship their Carbon Nanotubes in (photography Sarah Michielsen)