Letters : Postal viruses
by e-mail
Your recently mentioned “viruses”鈥攕upposedly spread by e-mails, but in
fact by the users who read them鈥攁re by no means a new phenomenon
(Letters, 5 April, pp 55 and
Feedback, same issue). Chain Letters and “numbers games” have
been abusing people’s goodwill/paranoia to reproduce and spread for years. This
shows it is possible to send a “virus” via the Royal Mail. No letterbox is
safe.
Letters : Ballot's no secret
Salisbury, Wiltshire
Alison Motluk asks: “How can you be certain that the way you voted will
remain secret?”, thus perpetuating the myth that it is currently secret
(“Click on the candidate”, 26 April, p 26).
It isn’t鈥攚hen you vote, your personal electoral number is written on
the stub of your ballot paper, which shares a unique number with the ballot
paper itself. All votes can therefore be traced.
Letters : Back-door strategy
Oxfordshire
Now that Nirex and the government have admitted that the geology at
Sellafield is not suitable for long-term underground storage of radioactive
waste, a fact known since 1980, they should publicly acknowledge that the
strategy all along has been to store waste above ground at sites such as
Harwell.
For the past ten years, Harwell scientists and the Vale of White Horse
District Council have been denying that the 拢50 million intermediate level
waste vault store was a long-term project. However, when visiting the site in
October 1996 we were told that at least two or three further similar stores
would have to be built if the Nirex repository was not built.
For over three years we have been lobbying the government to rescind all of
the special development orders issued by the government in the 1950s. But
despite a pledge to do so before Parliament was dissolved, the SDOs still exist.
This has enabled Harwell and other nuclear establishments to build radioactive
waste facilities without going through public consultation procedures and
without environmental impact assessments.
Letters : Nurtural evolution
Birmingham
Rarely does a social scientist get excited because a report in New
杏吧原创 supports a hypothesis, but Gail Vines achieved that effect
(Science, 19 April, p 16).
In Terminus Brain (Cassell, 1997) I suggest that not only does
adverse environmental change now cause significant levels of intellectual
decline, but that this could eventually precipitate regressive brain evolution
in some communities.
The objection has been that the heritable aspect of intelligence can only be
passed through DNA sequences, and so the consequences of any current
environmental impact, such as lead or PCBs, would not be passed to future
generations. Wolf Reik’s findings, that inheritance may also stem from changes
in the way that DNA works, increases the possibility the our brain may now be
“under threat from its own environmental behaviour”, in the present and
long-term future.
In fact there are earlier reports of possible epigenetic mechanisms. In
The Runaway Brain (HarperCollins, 1993), Chris Wills described work which
showed that rats placed in unstimulating environments displayed a decline in
brain functioning which persisted for at least three generations. There are also
claims by Meraldo Zismen that brain content has been decreasing over the past
thirty years in malnourished Brazilian communities.
Now, who is going to put the rest of the jigsaw together?
Letters : Gigantic rocket
London
In the last two sentences of the review by David Hughes of the Atlas of
Venus by Peter Cattermole and Patrick Moore, he mentions the problem of
developing a spacecraft and surface rover capable of surviving on the Venusian
surface and then adds that if this could be done, “it will then be just a small
step to returning with samples” (Review, 19 April, p 48).
Would that this was so. This apparently throwaway remark is from the
scientific, technical and engineering standpoints seriously wide of the mark and
suggests a lack of appreciation of what would be involved in any unmanned sample
return mission from either of our two closest neighbouring planets, Venus and
Mars.
The dimensions of the problem of sample recovery from Mars pale into
insignificance when one starts to contemplate recovery of even the smallest
quantity of material from the surface of Venus. Ignoring the problems of the
high surface temperatures on the planet, the 90-bar surface pressure and the
high density of the atmosphere, the close similarity of the mass and radius of
Venus to those of the Earth means that a sample return vehicle component of a
Venus lander would itself have to be quite similar in size to an Earth launch
vehicle for a direct mission to Venus and would have to be capable of reaching
an escape velocity of around 10 kilometres per second.
A single stage sample return mission is possible for Mars or the Moon but not
for Venus with present technology. One can barely imagine the size of the
initial Earth lift-off vehicle to get such an unmanned SRM safely on and off the
surface of Venus.
Letters : Ozone effect
Liverpool
Anecdote and formal educational research show that there is widespread belief
that global warming and ozone depletion are the same thing. Colin Robinson
offers the view that a car advertisement’s confusing use of unleaded petrol with
ozone-friendliness may have reinforced this misconception
(Letters, 8 March, p 51).
Mike Follows sees the fact that CFCs are both greenhouse gases and
implicated in ozone depletion as a source of confusion
(Letters, 29 March, p 55).
We, too, have explored children’s ideas about these issues (International
Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, vol 5, p 186) and
would like to offer a further, more generic, explanation: imprecise use of
language coupled with loose logic. There is a predilection to use the term
“pollution” when we mean “pollutants” (“pollution causes global warming and
ozone depletion”).
Because of this, perhaps there is a tendency to think that “all” pollutants
contribute to “all” environmental problems. The situation may be worsened by the
fact that, despite their magnitude, both global warming and ozone depletion are
imperceptible to individuals, and so effectively abstract.
Letters : . . .
Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia
All behaviour is determined by a combination of “nature and nurture”. We
cannot control our genetic make-up, but it is this which determines how we react
to the first environmental conditions we experience (including the womb
environment). How this modifies our physiological and psychological selves is
thus beyond our control.
Our modified self can then only respond in one way to a given situation. We
cannot “choose” to play tennis as Richard Wilson states. Millions of factors
like weather, our experiences with regard to tennis, our physical condition at
the time, the levels of various neurotransmitters in our brains, create a unique
situation which can have only one possible outcome.
While in practice it is impossible to predict the outcome perfectly since
there are so many unknown (but still real) factors which influence our response
to the prospect of a game of tennis, there is still only one possible outcome.
Even if we consider the possibility of the existence of a soul which influences
our decisions and doesn’t necessarily obey physical laws, the soul still must
have been created by something, and must have been in existence before we
decided to play tennis.
All factors influencing the decision, including the soul, are beyond the
control of the subject鈥攚e are merely aware of what we are going to do. We
are, in essence, merely spectators on our own life, with no control over it.
As unappealing as this theory is, I can find no logical argument against it.
But who said that the truth had to be comforting?
Letters : . . .
Cambridge
Bob Wills complains about the “ultra-materialism” that wonders how the brain
produces the “mental illusion of visual perception”. Surely it is dualism, not
materialism, to argue that the brain can only produce an illusion of perception?
To a materialist, the actions of the brain are the real thing.
He also asserts “I think, therefore I am”. Fair enough, but the interesting
question is: is he really what he thinks he is?
Letters : Unfree will
Ludlow, Shropshire
It seems to me that much of the confusion concerning free will
(Letters, 12 April, p 50, and
26 April, p 52)
arises because we insist on regarding the
conscious self as some kind of object, whereas it is actually a process: the
process of subdividing our internal models of the world into two categories,
“me” and “not me” (an obvious survival skill for any complex creature).
The dividing line constantly shifts according to the needs of the moment. In
certain circumstances we may dissociate ourselves from our bodies or even our
thought processes (“my big toe”, “my decision” etcetera). On other occasions,
such as dancing or playing tennis, our sense of self may seem to expand well
beyond the boundaries of our body. Occasionally, the separate self may dissolve
entirely, as when we become “lost” in a beautiful sunset.
We experience our will as “free” to the extent that the factors determining
our decisions lie within the boundaries of our self at any particular moment.
Depressed people often feel dissociated from precisely the positive, optimistic
memories that would enable them to change. They feel that these memories are not
really a part of them, and this perception leads to an impoverished sense of
“will power”.
The idea that “the reason for our illusion that we can will things to happen
is that we see our own actions being planned” (Roger Carpenter) misses the
point: dividing the world into a “self” and a “not” self is an essential part of
most planning. “Self” and “will” are aspects of the planning process itself, not
something separate from it.
Letters : Trading votes
Cambridge
Your article on ecological inference brought to mind another interesting
technique for predicting election results: stock markets
(This Week, 26 April, p 5).
The University of Iowa has run a presidential election “stock market” since
at least 1991. Its participants trade contracts (Democrat, Republican) whose
final value is equal to the percentage of the popular vote obtained by that
party’s candidate. It is therefore in the traders’ interests to make use of as
much information as possible, including that generated from opinion polls.
Consequently the stock market consistently outperforms polls.
Further, with prices changing constantly, new information is constantly being
reflected in the market, providing an up-to-date prediction all of the time.
Letters : Long drink
by e-mail
The Bognor Regis Journal and Guardian is not the only one
misinterpreting the Hale-Bopp story (Feedback, 12 April).
ITN’s News at Ten
reported a beer being renamed Ale Bopp and said it would keep its new
name until the comet left the Solar System. Rather a long wait.
Letters : Model jet
Reading, Berkshire
Your report on micro air vehicle (MAV) research reminded me of some work
which I did during a hiatus in my RAF service immediately following VE Day
(“Palmtop planes”, 5 April, p 36).
All flying stopped at the station on which I
was serving. Finding myself at a loose end and having read about the nascent
Whittle jet engines, my prewar model-making interest came to the fore and I
filled in some of the idle time by concocting a working model jet engine from
scrap materials to hand. The result possibly ranks as a world first?
Just like today’s full-size jets, it essentially was a form of blowlamp. But
its behaviour was most interesting. On a counterbalanced arm with a central
pivot, the engine would move around quite gently until the flame was fully
established. Then the sound of the jet would change to a rapid “burring” and the
thrust would immediately increase so that the engine would become a red hot blur
as it hurtled around the pivot until the fuel was exhausted. Presumably some
resonance effect came into operation but what and how was a mystery at the
time.
Shortly after demob and working with another nutter, I made two more engines
which were fitted to a free flight model of about 2 metres span with a slight
resemblance to the Gloster Meteor. The engines were underslung. We were too
ambitious. Harmonising both engines proved very difficult and the second trial
flight resulted in a total write-off, so we dropped the idea and it has remained
in my archives until now.
I wonder whether anyone back in the postwar era attempted to follow up my
reported work? It may be that a version of the gimmick made in the light of
modern technology might be relevant to the quest for a MAV?
Letters : TV altruism
Hereford
I thought you would like to know of the superb business acumen and technical
wizardry displayed on our behalf by Channel 5’s retuning team
(Feedback, 26 April).
We discovered soon after it was launched that we could receive Channel
5, but that we had a constant rain of diagonal lines across any tapes we tried
to play. I rang the appropriate help line, was passed from voice to voice the
way things happen today, but eventually spoke to a bright young lady engineer
who said: “No problem. We can send you a filter which will cut out the lines.
However, it will at the same time prevent you from receiving Channel 5.”
This seems to me altruism of such a high order that a humane society should
cultivate and encourage it strongly among its business community, and eventually
extend its practice to the rest of the population, including journalists. Not
only does the filter stop us from seeing Channel 5’s own offerings but it
improves our chances of getting good reproduction of its rivals’ products.
Letters : Morning after
Henley-on-Thames, Berkshire
Not long ago you ran a story about an unpleasant procedure involving tubes
and bodily orifices in which oxygen is pumped into the gut of people with
clinical hangovers (Patents, 29 March, p 26).
Also not long ago, many science magazines had pictures of a rat suspended in
and breathing an oxygen-rich liquid (perfluorocarbon).
By putting the two together we may finally have the ultimate hangover
drink.
Letters : Holy Microsoft
Kent
I agree wholeheartedly with your previous assumption that someone at
Microsoft must have had a divine experience
(Feedback, 1 March). My thesaurus on
Word 6 suggested that I might like to change the word “cool” to the phrase
“convert to Christianity”鈥攅ven more surprising when you consider that my
document was on custom blends of nitrile-degrading bacteria and had no
wording even similar to this anywhere in the document.
Maybe Microsoft knows something we don’t? Perhaps the end of the world is
nigh?
Letters : . . .
Gwynneville, Australia
Following on your series on fortuitous authorship, and not to be outdone by
Young, Pretty and Black, here are Small and White. A paper published in 1930
entitled “Carbon dioxide in relation to glasshouse crops. Part IV. The effect on
tomatoes of an enriched atmosphere maintained by means of a stove” (Annals
of Applied Biology, vol 17, p 81), was written by T. Small and H. C.
White.
One hopes the tomatoes were not.
Letters : . . .
Kalimantan, Indonesia
Unlike the colourful cooperation seen in some multiple authorships
(Letters, 8 February, p 51 and
22 March, p 54), there is ample evidence for competition
amongst taxonomists and nomenclaturists, with the scientific names of plants and
animals frequently changing to better reflect who first thought up the
definitive name for the species in question.
One of the more colourful of these examples, and my favourite because of the
look of disbelief it caused on the faces of some Ugandan foresters I once had
the pleasure to work with, is an African rainforest tree of the genus
Celtis, which for a long time was given the name C. brownii but
then suddenly changed colour and became C. wightii.
Letters : The name game
Birkenhead, Merseyside
Your anonymous correspondent (Letters, 5 April, p 57)
is obviously not aware
that a joint paper by two directors of Bidston Observatory and one of our
present senior engineers would be by Lennon, McCartney and Harrison.
There is no truth in the rumour that we are actually seeking applications
from Starr (or Starkey), Sutcliffe or Best.
Letters : Unfit for a museum
Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire
So now the world knows just how unfit New 杏吧原创 reporters really
are (Review, 19 April, p 48).
But when the fun had stopped, what had Justin
Mullins learnt about science at the Science Museum’s Science of Sport
exhibition?
I went to the exhibition on a busy Saturday and was, on the whole,
disappointed with the show. OK, so virtual volleyball is a novelty, and it’s fun
to see your friends humiliated on the racetrack, but I learnt nothing I couldn’t
have found out at my local sports centre鈥擨, too, confess to being
uncoordinated and unfit.
Sports science is a relatively new discipline, but this exhibition did little
to show off our growing understanding of the physical and mental state of
athletes; the advanced technology now used to enhance training programmes; and
the burgeoning of “high-tech” sports equipment. This was little more than a
“sports theme park” with sports-related rides, many of which were not much more
advanced than you’d find in a seaside amusement arcade.
The sports science exhibition may have gone a few steps towards showing kids
that science isn’t all white lab coats and mad professors; but I can’t help
thinking it did more to inspire budding Linford Christies and Sally Gunnells
than potential Stephen Hawkings or Helen Sharmans.
Letters : Aussie sponges
Adelaide
The discovery of fossil sponge spicules from late Ediacaran cherts in
Mongolia is interesting, but hardly world shattering news
(New 杏吧原创, Science, 12 April, p 19).
Body fossils of sponges have been known from the Ediacara fauna of South
Australia (the time period and its fauna are named after the locality in South
Australia’s Flinders Ranges) for some time. These impressions (the spicules have
dissolved away) show enough anatomical detail as to be identified as
hexactinellid sponges and were named Palaeophragmodictya reticulata.
This species adds yet another phylum to the growing list of forms in the
Ediacara fauna which have modern descendants that are reducing our picture of
the suddenness of the “Cambrian explosion”. The Mongolian finds are a welcome
confirmation.
Letters : . . .
Rushden, Northamptonshire
I find the control of a small aircraft of 2 metres wingspan, flying at 50
kilometres per hour such a challenge that I can’t afford to take my eyes off it.
How much of a problem is a soldier going to have with a MAV that is only 15
centimetres across, travelling at up to 300 kilometres per hour?
The difficulty of hand-to-eye coordination in the control of model aircraft
makes it a minority sport around the world鈥攕o palmtop planes look as
though they are going to be more than just a handful.