Research on work design and job characteristics clearly indicates that a key driver of the effectiveness of remote working is the structure of the work.
Only recently has some spectrum that fits these characteristics been found, and work is still under way in the UK to make it available for commercial use.
Dr Whitelaw's work is one part of a growing body of evidence suggesting that understanding inherited epigenetic features may be necessary to work out how animals pass on physical characteristics or susceptibility to disease.
With enough tweaking, engineers assured me, they eventually could come up with reduced-distance balls that would work, even though the feel and flight characteristics might take some getting used to.