Letters : Empty vessels
duncan.simpson@bbsrc.ac.uk
On the question of homeopathic medicines that are extremely dilute and
reputedly become more potent as they are diluted
(Feedback, 30 August
and Letters, 13 September, p 58),
what should you use to wash out the bottles for
reuse once they are empty?
Letters : Woolly babies
Riverwood, NSW, Australia
With a new baby in the house, we appreciated the idea of genetically
engineering woolly babies
(Feedback, 13 September). But down under we’d have to
keep shearing the baby most of the year, so we prefer the bald variety.
Letters : Arachnophobia
Leicester
“Why are all these scientists making such a big fuss about this
faster-than-light travel business?” asks Charles Norman
(Letters, 20 September, p 62).
He forgets that, according to relativity theory, a length contraction
must always be associated with a time dilation. In scaling down the Universe to
the size of his bedroom, he has scaled up the time taken to cross it by the same
factor, which I estimate to be approximately 3.4 x 1018 years, or around 200
million times the age of the Universe.
As for his discovery of a spider the size of five galaxies, I can only
suggest that he publish his results on the World Wide Web.
Letters : . . .
Edgware, Middlesex
Perhaps one way of curtailing the use of the pesticide methyl bromide would
be to label “ozone-friendly fruit”, in a similar spirit to the labelling of
aerosols. This would at least raise public awareness, and should encourage
growers to find alternatives.
Letters : Fake fat
Taplow, Berkshire
John Blundell’s findings that appetite suppressants contribute little to
weight loss
(This Week, 20 September, p 24),
coupled with the fact that such
drugs are known to increase the risk of developing fatal conditions such as
primary pulmonary hypertension, will hopefully lead to a decline in their usage.
Indeed, the health risks associated with the use of appetite suppressants have
recently been demonstrated by the damning evidence linking fenfluramine and
dexfenfluramine to heart valve malfunctions in otherwise healthy individuals
(This Week, 20 September, p 7).
Moreover, fat substitutes may not be the answer to slimmers’ prayers. There
is evidence that the substitutes may hinder absorption of many fat-soluble
nutrients such as vitamins A, D, E and K, as well as beta-carotene and several
other carotenoids. The use of “fake fat” may therefore increase the risk of
heart disease, cancer and macular degeneration. Problems with calcium
metabolism, blood clotting, vision and immunity may also result.
I am sadly aware of the negative emotional effects on obese people resulting
from the social pressure to be slim, but I feel strongly that endangering one’s
health for the sake of vanity is too high a price to pay.
Letters : Frightening fallout
Montserrat
Rob Edwards is wide of the mark when he stresses the possibility of a
cataclysmic eruption on Montserrat
(This Week, 30 August, p 10).
The thrust of the argument is out of step with the views of many of the
world’s finest volcanologists who have visited Montserrat. The likelihood of a
cataclysmic eruption is very low.
More dangerous are the pyroclastic flows, which threaten some areas that are
still populated. For various reasons, including the lack of alternative
accommodation, the inhabitants are leaving such areas only slowly.
We are confident of this analysis because for more than two years we have
been using state-of-the-art technology to monitor the volcano’s activity. A
dedicated team of scientists at the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, led by
volcanologists from the British Geological Survey, British academia and the
University of the West Indies, is breaking new ground in our understanding of
how andesite dome-building eruptions work.
Talk of a cataclysmic eruption in the scientific media only adds to the
difficulties of the people of Montserrat. Neither does it help scientists here,
who in arduous conditions are trying to inform a frightened population about the
real dangers of the Soufri猫re Hills volcano.
Letters : Worlds apart
rowland@ffutures.demon.co.uk
Your article “Next stop Mars”
(20 September, p 27) includes an interesting
reference: “From Jules Verne and his War of the Worlds…” As distinct
from H. G. Wells and his 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea, presumably.
Oops! Apologies to Jules Verne and H. G. Wells鈥擡d.
Letters : Catastrophic history
plopbob@classic.msn.com
I was baffled to read
(Editorial
and “What really killed the dinosaurs”, 16 August, p 22)
that the cosmic impact theory of species extinction was invented
in the 1980s by Luis Alvarez in the US. I cannot be the only New 杏吧原创
reader who has a dog-eared copy of Immanuel Velikovsky’s books Worlds in
Collision (1950) and Earth in Upheaval (1956) on their shelf. Velikovsky
proposed that a series of catastrophic cosmic encounters and near misses had
shaped the geological and historical development of the Earth. Velikovsky
himself was gracious enough to acknowledge his debt to Georges Cuvier, the
French catastrophist.
The history of cosmic collision theory is fascinating. As a Frenchman, Cuvier
lived in a revolutionary society. Catastrophism seemed to legitimise political
revolution by showing that the natural world was also shaped by revolutionary,
catastrophic events.
All such “revolutionism” was seen as a major political threat by the British
Establishment. “Gradualism”, the changing of the world (for the better) by
infinitely small adjustments over infinitely extended periods of time, was laid
down as the principle underlying the British constitution by Edmund Burke, one
of the most reactionary opponents of the French Revolution.
British geologists projected similar political values on nature. James Hutton
and Charles Lyell countered catastrophism by proposing that the globe was shaped
by familiar forces acting slowly over extremely long periods. Darwin later did
the same for the living world.
With the end of the Cold War and the collapse of communism, the cosmic
collision theory should now be politically neutral. Unfortunately for
catastrophists, gradualism still has a crucial role in that dominant social
mythos underpinned by Darwinism, adherence to which seems to be the equivalent
of the McCarthy loyalty oath for scientists.
Letters : In the picture
Radlett, Hertfordshire
Your piece on embryonic fraud
(In Brief, 6 September, p 23) gives the
impression that Ernst Haeckel’s 123-year-old drawings have appeared in Gray’s
Anatomy over many years. In fact, Haeckel’s pictures were only recently
introduced, since I stopped producing new illustrations for the book.
Letters : Sex inequality
Hartley Wintney, Hampshire
In your report about the failure of women scientists to stay in the
profession or to progress as well as men if they do stay
(This Week, 13 September, p 26),
Judith Glover says: “What happens to women in the science
labour market requires considerably more policy attention.”
She may be right, but my confidence in the value of her research is reduced
by her evident belief that, in comparing male scientists generally with
childless female scientists, she is comparing like with like. A significant and
possibly critical difference between the two groups is that it is still rare for
women to have genuine financial dependants: that is, adults and children whom
they are required by law to support financially.
This reflects a continuing widespread attachment to conventional sex-role
divisions. Women feel themselves to be, and probably are, much more likely to be
criticised for failing to support their children domestically than financially,
and vice versa for men.
There are limits to what governments can do to alter behaviour if they fail
to address the underlying attitudes. They will certainly fail to effect a change
if policies in one area conflict with policies in another. I believe that there
will never be sex equality in the workplace as long as there is sex inequality
elsewhere.
Letters : Water shortage
Aberdeen
You state that: “Roughly a million molecules of water fall into the upper
atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune each second”
(In Brief, 13 September, p 27).
At first glance that figure sounds impressive. However, a quick calculation
reveals it to be totally unimpressive. I calculate that to accumulate sufficient
water to fill a normal cup (300 millilitres) at this rate would take some 320
billion years鈥攔oughly 20 times the age of the Universe.
Has something been lost in the translation from Nature to New 杏吧原创? If
not, it seems that any inhabitants of those planets would hardly need to prepare
for a deluge.
A million molecules spread over the whole planet is indeed a minuscule
amount. What we meant to say was “a million molecules per square centimetre at
the top of the atmosphere”, which yields a rather larger amount of water.
However, that is still far less than the amount of water supposedly falling to
Earth in the form of mini-comets鈥擡d.
Letters : Undercover pesticide
London
I was extremely surprised that you illustrated the article on banning methyl
bromide
(This Week, 20 September, p 12)
with a high-volume application from an
aircraft. Readers not familiar with the use of methyl bromide (MB) in
agriculture will get the wrong impression and assume that farmers typically
apply large volumes in that way, whereas most is used to treat grain in storage
or to treat soil under plastic sheets.
The traditional way of fumigating soil with MB is under polyethylene, which
provides a poor barrier and allows much of the chemical to escape to the
atmosphere soon after application.
However, it is now possible to use much smaller amounts of MB under virtually
impermeable films. Low-density polyethylene film usually has a permeability of
more than 8 grams per square metre per hour, while multilayer films with a
barrier of ethylene vinyl alcohol or polyamide have a permeability of less than
0.1 grams per square metre per hour.
Using a lower dosage and keeping the soil covered for longer gives
satisfactory control of soil pests and results in far less escaping to the
atmosphere. As there is no satisfactory alternative to MB, I suggest that rather
than a ban, we should control its use more strictly and try to reduce usage by
improving application techniques.