Letter: Broad education
I welcome your editorial (31 March) supporting the need to keep science
teaching in schools broad. There is indeed a mismatch at the moment between
the content of GCSEs and the demands of A-levels, but all A-level syllabuses
are to be revised by 1994 to remove this mismatch. Nevertheless, you are
right to be concerned about the significant opposition to the idea that
all pupils should follow a broad science course. But I take exception to
the view you encourage that higher education should be the whipping-boy
for these problems.
The Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals has put unambiguously
on record the need for a broader curriculum in schools and has urged universities
to change their own curricula accordingly, specifically to make the AS grade
acceptable for entry. It is through the use of AS syllabuses, which are
half A syllabuses, that breadth is possible and pupils will be able to keep
a proper base to their science education.
In spite of the folklore about the power of admissions tutors, universities
are changing. My own faculty has changed many of its courses and is in the
process of changing others to make AS grades acceptable as an entry qualification.
We appreciate the need for a broad science training, as well as the need
for those in the 16-19 age group to be able to keep open a wide range of
academic options.
Rather than pursuing your present line of thought, can I encourage you
to investigate the situation further and air the findings in your columns?
You would be surprised at the changes which are taking place in schools
and higher education, all very much to the benefit of educating the young
in science.
D. H. Jennings Dean, Faculty of Science University of Liverpool
Letter: Exploiting research
John Emsley concluded his article (Science, 17 March) on poly (sulphur
nitride) conductivity with: ‘Banister and his colleagues have only just
made public their work because they took out a provisional patent on their
discovery in 1988. Now, however, the patent has lapsed. They could not find
a British company to back the project.’
By implication, Emsley is criticising British industry. Our industry
is often criticised, but academic studies show that British industry in
general, and the chemical industry in particular, are fully competitive
internationally. Our poor economic growth over the last hundred years can
be attributed, not to industry, but to the high taxes with which we have,
historically, burdened our economy so as to pursue democratically chosen
social ends.
In the words of Hugh Dalton, the Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer,
who in retirement grew to regret many of his own decisions: ‘Free economy
Germany will be forging ahead . . . and we, in our mismanaged, mixed economy
shall become a second-rate power.’
One way in which we have forgone the free economy is in science. If
the work of Professor Banister and his colleagues has been wasted, then
it should not have been funded in the first place. Before funding it, the
granting body should have lined up at least one company that was prepared
to develop the product. Having not done so, the granting body was practically
planning on wasting its money. Was it the taxpayers’ money? It simply is
not fair for science granting bodies to pour such sums of money into academic
research so as to overload the development capacity of industry.
The fastest-growing economy of this century has been Japan’s. The Japanese
avoid this sort of waste by entrusting their research almost exclusively
to industry. They know that governmental bodies are too far removed from
industry’s needs or capacities.
Terence Kealey University of Cambridge
Letter: Can't pay, won't pay?
I fear you have bought the myth of a shortage of scientists and engineers
in the USA (Comment, 3 March). I’ve seen such predictions regularly now
for 30 years. There never has been such a shortage and there is none now.
What there is a shortage of is smart, eager, dedicated workaholics willing
to work for peanuts. It is in the interest of corporations and universities
to maintain an excess of trained scientists and engineers to keep salaries
down. It is much cheaper to replace an older, more expensive head with a
younger, cheaper one.
The day I hear of universities trying to hire experienced professors
instead of new graduates, the day I see headhunters stalking the halls of
academe, looking to hire professors to staunch these phoney shortages –
that’s the day perhaps I will begin to believe.
Robert Nicklin Appalachian State University Boone, North Carolina, USA
Letter: Greens – on your bike
I have always had a great respect for Ariadne’s sagacity, until now.
She has revealed her human fallibility in suggesting (24 March) that electric
cars offer anything for the problems of the greenhouse effect, atmospheric
pollution and the congestion of our roads. Does she not see that the fuel
required would be many times more with the inefficiencies of electric motors
and generators? Perhaps you should have given her the lesson that Debora
MacKenzie learned from her review of Lester Brown’s book State of the World
1990 in the same issue. The book analyses how bicycles could lessen dependence
on fossil fuels.
Cecil Parkinson’s less velvet-voiced colleague spoke for enlightened
self-motivation when he said ‘get on your bike’.
Hedley Brown Gosforth
Letter: Liming acid waters
The article by Woodin and Skiba (‘Liming fails the acid test’, 10 March)
goes into some considerable detail about some of the constraints and adverse
effects of liming. Unfortunately, the authors have not been so rigorous
in their assessment of the opportunities and environmental benefits to be
gained and their article cannot therefore be regarded as a balanced appraisal
of the technique.
For example, in quoting results from Llyn Brianne streams (where liming
was undertaken by the former Welsh Water Authority and not the University
of Wales as stated), the authors quote results from a site, treated early
in our research programme, where there has been some chemical instability.
They ignore the sites where a high pH has been maintained. In fact, the
behaviour of the ‘unstable’ site is now sufficiently well understood to
prevent a recurrence of the instability in any future liming. Results from
many studies show that a single application of lime applied at rates of
10-15 tonnes/hectare to hydrological source areas will probably remain effective
for about 10 years.
There are also important broader issues which the authors fail to address.
They suppose that reduced emissions and liming are mutually exclusive policy
options and that if we reduce emissions at source, then liming will not
be necessary. Alas, the matter is not clear cut. Although in Scotland a
response to reduced emissions has already been detected in surface waters,
modelling predictions show that in Wales even the major emissions reductions
planned under the EC Large Combustion Plants Directive will not restore
fisheries in the extensive areas of acidified watercourses there.
To re-establish or maintain fish populations, particularly of salmon
and trout in the most vulnerable and valuable nursery streams, a selective
liming programme in some areas, avoiding sites of particular conservational
interest, may be the most reasonable compromise until reductions in acid
emissions have made further buffering unnecessary.
John Stoner, Ron Edwards National Rivers Authority Wales Region
Letter: Storm information
Some of the information given in your article ‘Storm warnings: can Britain
meet the challenge?’, 17 March, was incomplete. Interested readers can obtain
further details from the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (POL), at the
address below. Incidentally, the tide and surge models run at the Meteorological
Office and referred to in the article were developed and maintained at POL,
with funding from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF),
which also pays for its operation. Further development of the models is
being carried out by POL in close cooperation with the Met Office.
Other research relevant to coastal flood protection carried out by POL
(and its sister laboratory, the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences Deacon
Laboratory) and funded by MAFF includes work on air-sea interaction, the
estimation of extreme sea conditions, surge-tide-wave interaction, wave
set-up and the effect of climate change on sea levels and waves.
The measurement of sea-level for this research is coordinated for MAFF
by POL and more than 30 gauges, forming the ‘A’ class network, are regularly
inspected and upgraded.
We are confident that Britain can meet the challenge!
Graham Alcock, Roger Flather, Roger Proctor Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory
Bidston Observatory Birkenhead
Letter: Ultraviolet types
The article ‘Sun lovers turn to nature for protection’ (Technology,
17 February) stated that ultraviolet-A (UV-A) is harmless. There are in
fact multiple references to the harmful effects of UV-A in the medical literature.
In addition, it directly relates to rapid ageing of the skin. The article
also identified UV-A as ‘the tanning wavelength’. Surely UV-B is the principal
tan initiator? Another reference is to UV-C, implying that UV-C is reaching
those who sunbathe. Can you tell us where? Perhaps he or she who wrote this
report had been out in the sun just a little too long.
Clive Deverall Director Cancer Foundation of Western Australia Perth,
Australia
Letter: Wanted – employer
I read Andy Coghlan’s article ‘Crisis looms for science as teenagers
abandon higher education’ with interest (This Week, 10 February).
I am a 24-year-old male science graduate (Chemistry with Honours); plus
I also have a BTEC National Diploma in Science, with six distinctions and
the rest merits. Other exams I have passed include five O-levels (four science,
one English language). I have a clean current driving licence, but I cannot
afford to run a car.
I am willing to commute up to 90 minutes from Hounslow, where I live,
at present, with my parents.
Given the shortage of science graduates (and that science graduates
are leaving science) plus the above, how come I have been unable to get
a job in any field (or – with one exception – even an interview) since I
started seeking employment in October 1988. Is this a record?
I. G. Ruzey Heston, Middlesex
Letter: Kwashiorkor
I refer to Cathy Read’s admirable and even-handed account of current
hypotheses about the aetiology of kwashiorkor (‘Behind the face of malnutrition’,
17 February), and wish to state the case for reconciling the three apparently
conflicting viewpoints.
Golden’s research that implicates free radical generation in the pathogenesis
of kwashiorkor is not in conflict with my hypothesis that incriminates aflatoxins
but, in fact, offers support for it. The toxicity of aflatoxins is believed
to result from the formation of unstable epoxides of AFB1 which form when
the normal enzymatic capacity of the liver to metabolise and excrete aflatoxins
is exceeded.
Golden lists aflatoxins among many other factors that may generate free
radicals in children who present with kwashiorkor. I acknowledge that kwashiorkor-like
syndromes may arise in children who have had no aflatoxin exposure but believe
that the disease, as originally described, which is endemic in the tropics
and a major cause for concern, is aflatoxin-related. If this proves to be
the case then prevention of kwashiorkor (but not general malnutrition) will
need to centre on avoidance of aflatoxin exposure and/or measures to ameliorate
the consequences of such exposure where this is unavoidable. The epidemiology
of kwashiorkor and the relationships between the disease and aflatoxins
which have been established by our group support the concept that aflatoxins
are implicated in the overwhelming majority of children who develop the
disease.
Whitehead’s observations on low dietary protein intake and protein loss
in the stool as aetiological factors in kwashiorkor and the benefits of
protein supplementation to avoid or treat kwashiorkor, are not incompatible
with the aflatoxin hypothesis. There is abundant evidence that animals on
a deficient protein intake are more susceptible to aflatoxin toxicity than
animals on a good protein intake when exposed to the same amounts of aflatoxins.
Furthermore, it has been shown that animals receiving normal rations contaminated
by aflatoxins may develop hypoproteinaemia and oedema which can be reversed
by protein supplementation of their diets.
Aflatoxin metabolism is highly complex and is modified by many factors
including age, sex, vitamin and trace metal status, protein intake and so
forth. In consequence the toxicity of aflatoxins has variable dose relationships
and may also be modified by associated mycotoxin or other toxic exposure.
Over the past 50 years kwashiorkor has proved deeply mysterious. The
aflatoxin hypothesis demystifies many aspects of kwashiorkor and provides
a new focus for research not only related to kwashiorkor, but to the broader
question of the influence of mycotoxins on human health.
R. G. Hendrickse Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine