Letters: Protective power
Denmark has managed to make wind turbines a major export product. Denmark
recognised the potential of wind energy early, although at that time the
cost of a kilowatt-hour was absolutely not competitive. A few other countries
caught up only much later. As Britain has the experts I suggest that Britain
takes the Danish course with respect to wave energy. Or are we going to
witness another example of Britain having the experts but not the wisdom
to develop and exploit? A pinch of Salter’s might pepper the British economy.
Bert Altenburg Gouda, the Netherlands
Letters: Names of numbers
Michael Ecker’s ‘words to numbers’ game (‘Caution: black holes at work’,
19/26 December) – in which you always end up at the black hole ‘4’ by writing
the name of a number in English, counting the letters, writing the names
of that number, and so on – is, as he notes, ‘clearly language-dependent’.
But the game has interesting general properties regardless of what language
you play it in.
First, it’s obvious that to be a black hole, a number has to have the
same number of letters in its name as its numerical value. So Italian tre,
Spanish cinco, and German vier all qualify. In addition, for any such number
name to function as a black hole, there has to be another number name with
the same number of letters (such as Italian sei, Spanish siete, most of
the other cardinals 1-10 in German). Lithuanian penki (5) is a potential
black hole, but it is never reached because no other Lithuanian number
name has five letters.
In languages with no working black holes, the game seems to fall just
as inexorably into a closed loop. This is illustrated by the French sequence
trois, cinq, quatre, six. Wherever you start the game, you will eventually
hit one of those four numbers and then go round the loop forever. Some languages
have both a loop and a black hole, such as Turkish iki (2) and muc (3) –
which form a loop – and dort (4) – which is a black hole. Again, which you
fall into depends on where you start.
It’s my conjecture that any natural language, written in any writing
system that allows you to count letters or components of characters, will
have at least one closed loop if it doesn’t have a black hole. But I’m a
linguist; are there any mathematicians out there who could tell me whether
this is true, and if so why?
D. R. Ladd University of Edinburgh
Letters: Crackpot credit
I am the inventor of the ‘Crackpot Index’ described in Feedback (5 December).
While I hope it is not my most profound contribution to science, it may
well be the most practical, so some credit would appear to be in order.
After all, if Beaufort is remembered for his scale of wind speeds, why shouldn’t
I be remembered for my rating of blowhards? Free copies of the Crackpot
Index are available by e-mailing baezucrmath. ucr. edu.
John Baez University of California Riverside, California
Letters: Burning boats
In his interesting article on the engineering skills of Archimedes,
William Bown (New 杏吧原创, Science, 19/26 December) claims that most knowledge
about the ancient Greeks comes from medieval sources, and ‘there is little
evidence for the tale of the ‘burning’ mirrors’. I should like to draw attention
to the account of this event by the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus (of
Sicily) who lived from around 80-20 BC. Archimedes lived in Syracuse 200
years earlier, at a time when Sicily was a Greek colony, under siege by
the Romans led by Marcellus. Siculus wrote:
‘When Marcellus now moved the vessels off as far as an arrow can fly,
the old man (Archimedes) then devised an hexagonal mirror, and at an appropriate
distance from it set small quadrangular mirrors of the same type, which
could be adjusted by metal plates and small hinges. This contrivance he
set to catch the full rays of the sun at noon, both summer and winter, and
eventually, by the reflection of the sun’s rays in this, a fearsome fiery
heat was kindled in the barges, and from the distance of an arrow’s flight
he reduced them to ashes. Thus did the old man, by his contrivances, vanquish
Marcellus.’ (Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 1980).
Furthermore, it may not be generally known that the famous naturalist
Georges Buffon carried out elaborate experiments with sets of mirrors over
a number of days in March and April 1747, and was able to burn a piece of
wood, using only four mirrors, from a distance of 66 feet. His results were
published by l’Academie des Sciences (1747) under the title: Invention des
miroirs pour bruler a une grande distance.
Juliet Clutton-Brock Natural History Museum London
Letters: Inflating rats
Re two letters in the 5 December issue:
First, ‘Exploding ‘roaches’: I have never heard of the baking powder
remedy. However, it is somewhat similar to a folkloric (and possibly apocryphal)
American method for dealing with rats: one sets out dishes filled with fizzy
cola drink. The rats drink it up, and since they evidently can’t belch either,
they inflate. Next morning, one opens the door to a collection of furry
spheroids whose feet (hopefully) have left the floor. What one does next
is left up to the imagination.
Regarding ‘Trolley trouble’ and the breeding habits of shopping trolleys
and coat-hangers: I refer the interested reader to a story called ‘And all
the seas with oysters’, by Avram Davidson. Davidson presents the thesis
that paper-clips are the larval form of coat hangers; which is why one can
never find paperclips, but is usually inundated with coat hangers.
Peter Heinlein Yonkers, New York
Letters: Spotty hamster
On Christmas morning I somewhat foolishly gave my hamster, Einstein,
a small piece of chocolate, which he promptly ate. Two days later he developed
a small ‘zit’ on his nose. If this is a first, a rodent with acne? Has
my Einstein proved the relationship between a chocolate-free diet and clear
skin?
Lynne Galloway Coalsnaughton, Clackmannanshire
Letters: Spiffy waistcoats
As a Canadian scientist I have had the benefit of viewing the death
agonies of British science from my vantage point in the Colonies.
Why has this come to pass? After reading your article on Mark Oliphant
(‘Hydrogen’s evangelist’, 14 November), it struck me. Clearly the loss of
respect for British science is correlated to reduced funding as a direct
result of the deterioration in laboratory dress-codes for scientists.
Your photograph of the members of the Cavendish Laboratory circa 1932
shows a highly coordinated, successful and obviously focused group of scientists.
Note the short hair cuts, the liberal use of Brylcreem (where applicable),
sensible shoes, frocks for the ladies, trousers with turn-ups, jackets,
winged collars, ties and the occasional spiffy waistcoat. A well-brushed
derby did not go amiss either. Of course there are rebels in any organisation:
viz three retrogrades without ties, who no doubt presaged the demise of
British science. If only this delinquent trio and the many like them had
been turfed out, or at least turned from their destructive path, things
might have fared better for all concerned.
Tony Sturz Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island Canada
Letters: Disgust
Have Mei-Fang Cheng, the ethical committee of Rutgers University, and
New 杏吧原创 all gone mad? This is the sort of science that drives sane
people like me into the arms of the animal rights activists, and the animal
rights activists into acts of violence.
What possible justification can there be for these chilling experiments,
and how can New 杏吧原创 describe them without critical comment?
Balint Bodroghy Hove, Sussex
Letters: Primary care
In seeking to justify the high level of hospital provision in inner
London, Edwin Gale (Letters, 19/26 December) claims that ‘the notion that
improved primary care will reduce the need for secondary care is demonstrably
incorrect’ and that ‘good primary care increases specialist referral rather
than reducing it’.
Unfortunately these statements are not supported by the evidence. In
the US, studies have demonstrated how patients are admitted to hospital
for conditions that should have been managed in the primary care setting.
The admission rate for these conditions from individual areas is strongly
associated with lack of access to primary care. In Britain, there is increasing
evidence that many chronic conditions, such as diabetes and asthma, are
better managed in the primary care setting, and that high-quality primary
care can reduce the rate of admission to hospital for exacerbations or complications.
The population of London has, for many years, been faced with the paradox
of proximity to ‘centres of excellence’ that treat rare diseases, but lack
of access to basic services, including primary care and basic secondary
care. At last, the Tomlinson Report provides an opportunity to redress the
balance. Gale may be right to be cautious about the extent to which primary
care will be adequately improved, but, if real improvements are brought
about, the demands on in-patient secondary care are likely to fall, not
rise.
Martin McKee London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine University
of London
Letters: Fried sperm?
The newspapers recently reported two studies indicating that a significant
reduction in sperm production and semen quantity has occurred in young
men in recent years. May I suggest a possible cause? There has been a growing
awareness among radio amateurs of the possible harmful effect of spending
long periods subject to a high magnetic field from radio transmitting equipment.
I recently bought an American meter capable of measuring the magnetic field,
to ensure that the field strength at my operating position was below what
is considered to be the safety threshold of 3 milligauss.
Various sources of magnetic field were found in the home in addition
to my transmitter, such as a fish tank air pump and central heating pump,
but as the field strength is inversely proportional to distance, and falls
away rapidly, none of these was any cause for concern.
However, on testing the field in my car I discovered there was a high
magnetic field in the front passenger area which was emanating from the
alternator. The legs were in a field of 40 to 50 milligauss, the lower trunk
30 and the head about 2.5.
When I mentioned this discovery to a medical friend he commented that
there could be no risk because with so many millions of man hours spent
in cars in recent years, results would have shown by now. Perhaps the above
studies have done just that.
M. Birch Thirsk, North Yorkshire
Letters: Protective power
‘Will Britain turn its back on wave power?’ (This Week) and the feature
‘When the tide comes in . . .’ (both 2 January) complement each other, as
wave power units installed off threatened coasts would lead to a build up
of new beaches giving natural protection.
If saving on coastal defences is put into the equation, the balance
is tipped in favour of wave power, which looks a better bet than covering
the countryside in ugly wind-powered generators, or burning finite gas reserves
for power at about half the efficiency of burning direct.
Maurice Barker Barton on Sea, Hampshire
Letters: Disgust
It was with interest that I began to read Georgia Mason’s article on
the role of cooing in the reproduction of doves (New 杏吧原创, Science,
9 January). However, interest soon turned to disgust as I read about the
techniques used in research on this subject: cutting nerve pathways in the
female’s brain, puncturing the syrinx, and even deafening selected birds.
As a science writer, I realise that many important discoveries have
been made through experiments on living animals. Pavlov’s dogs, for example,
had a pretty rough time of it. I did imagine that we now lived in more enlightened
times, but the dispassionate tone of this article suggests otherwise.
Were the sufferings of these doves really justified?
David Burnie Beoley, Worcestershire
Letters: Fitting the crime?
You reported (This Week, 21 November) that would-be waste smugglers
faced execution in Nigeria, following a series of scandals involving dumping
of Western toxic waste in Africa. This led to my question at the London
Waste Regulation Authority, about penalties for environmental offences
in this country (Feedback, 2 January).
What appears to be the first prison sentence in an environmental case
in Britain was imposed in October 1992 in Glasgow on the director of a waste
disposal company. He got six months for his third offence involving special
waste. In England, the courts normally impose small fines and costs, with
much time to pay, despite the immense damage and high earnings of organised
fly-tipping and other pollution offences.
In December, Manchester City Magistrates fined a man 拢10 on each
of two counts of failing to comply with orders to remove waste from a site.
The Greater Manchester Waste Regulatory Authority estimates that the operator
had made around 拢1 million in charges to customers. In contrast,
Preston Crown Court made a three-month suspended sentence on a Blackpool
offender substantive in December, and he spent Christmas in jail. Not surprisingly,
the National Association of Waste Regulation Officers is dismayed by these
bizarre contrasts, which undermine the work of all concerned with the environment.
I would welcome other evidence from your readers of difficulties in
enforcing waste regulation. It may be possible to press for changes in the
Environment Agency Bill expected from the government in the autumn.
Mike Rowlands London Waste Regulation Authority London