Letters : Correction
In the item on a hybrid rice suited to African conditions
(This Week, 20 September, p 17),
the plant breeding work on hybridisation was
done by Monty Jones, not David Johnson as implied.
Letters : Homeopathy effect
k.j.mcconway@open.ac.uk
It’s a pity your editorial on the survey of clinical trials in homeopathy
does not follow its own advice
(Editorial, 27 September, p 3). Yes, controlled
trials should be performed to the highest standards. But the comparison with the
controls has to be fair.
You criticise homeopathy trials because fewer than 30 of those published in
the past 30 years “meet the highest standards”. You do not remark on the fact
that 15 of these “good” trials were published since 1990. And you do not compare
the work with research in areas of conventional healthcare, some of which was
also not conducted thoroughly with high-quality controlled trials until fairly
recently.
You complain that trials of homeopathy are predominantly done by advocates of
homeopathy, implying that this is not the case in other areas of medicine. How
much clinical research in any area is done by “disinterested” scientists?
You also fell headlong into the same trap that I did when I read the original
paper, in thinking that the lack of evidence for efficacy in any single clinical
condition is due to failure of the results “to rise above statistical noise”.
Yes, the summary does seem to say that, but if you read the paper itself, you
will see that the authors are worried about a lack of replication of studies by
independent researchers, and not statistical significance. There is
statistically significant evidence for efficacy in several single illnesses,
even if one includes only the well-conducted trials.
If some disinterested scientists set about trying to falsify this evidence,
we might all have a better idea of what is going on. But who is going to do that
and risk a severe mauling in the editorials of the scientific press?
Letters : Where the lizard sucks
Maidstone, Kent
You are mistaken in implying that Crithmum maritimum is an
exclusively Mediterranean plant
(In Brief, 30 August, p 21). It grows on English
coasts as rock samphire, its gathering is documented by Shakespeare in King
Lear (Act 4, Scene 6) and Dover celebrated its presence near Shakespeare
Cliff by naming the new land created by the builders of the Channel Tunnel
“Samphire Hoe”.
Our own common lizard, Lacerta vivipara, also has a sweet tooth,
like the Spanish one that drinks the nectar of C. maritimum. It has
been reported as eating brown sugar and licking honeydew from leaves. I have yet
to hear that it helps pollination by quaffing nectar.
Letters : Disc fever
Lewes, East Sussex
As the producer of the Health Education Authority’s D-Code disc, I feel that
I have to point out that Barry Fox’s article is misleading
(This Week, 13 September, p 13).
The article states that D-Code “can mess up your computer” when the user
attempts to reset the colours. The disc isn’t in operation for the performance
of this function and therefore it is not the disc that is at fault but this
particular computer.
Contrary to his suggestions, 8-bit and 16-bit display options are standard
settings in both new and old machines. Using either option will obviously
necessitate a minor change in settings in those machines set to default to the
other. In later versions of Windows 95 it is not even necessary to reboot.
D-Code was very rigorously tested at an independent software testing
laboratory and passed all the compatibility and functionality tests carried out
on a broad cross section of system configurations. It would not have passed had
it caused any fatal crashes at all during testing.
Fox claims that calls have been “coming in” to the technical support
helpline. They have indeed. Out of approximately 50 calls to date, 11 have been
from people who are not confident in using their computers and wanted to be
talked through it (one wished to know where to plug in the headphones, for
example), three experienced system configuration problems with their machines,
two had impaired computer memory capacity and one said he had heard Fox on the
radio and was worried about putting the disc into his machine. Between 30 and 35
calls were from people either offering congratulations or asking where they
could obtain more discs.
Letters : . . . . .
Sherwood, Nottingham
I recently acquired a copy of the disc in question. The minimum system
requirements clearly state, and I quote, “486DX2/66 MHz, 8 Mb RAM, Double Speed
CD-ROM drive, Microsoft Windows 95 or 3.1 or later, 16-bit Windows sound card.
The preferred specification is Pentium P75 or higher, 16 Mb RAM, Quad Speed
CD-ROM drive, Windows 95.” Nowhere do I see any mention of “an old 386 computer
that uses 8-bit colour”.
Since I possess a computer with the minimum requirements less a sound card, I
thought that I would reset my machine to 8-bit colour, try it out, and see what
happened. The result was disappointing in that it simply did not function
without the sound provision.
When I bought my machine only three years ago, multimedia had not yet become
the norm. It is therefore inconceivable that there are many 386 machines about
with 16-bit sound cards. The statement that the disc checked out satisfactorily
in a professional test house is of no help either since the disc probably does
work (if you happen to have a Pentium machine running Windows 95 and 8-bit
colour).
However, all is not lost, one can always reset the computer for 8-bit colour,
run the software, then attempt to reset the computer back to 16-bit colour
without accidentally selecting a screen mode that does not totally crash the
video. This is a very real risk for the novice, and would entail a complex reset
from basics, or a call to a help desk.
It is quite clear to me that the Health Education Authority has dropped a
real big one here. How many of these discs will end up in the bin?
Letters : Vastly enriched
Melbourne, Australia
Gerry Harant of Friends of the Earth takes issue with the obvious
(Letters, 27 September, p 54).
Certainly there are other aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle
that require energy inputs. The point is that uranium enrichment is potentially
the biggest, and the only one that doesn’t correspond with similar inputs for
coal-fired electricity generation.
Also he seems oblivious to the fact that nuclear power generates 17 per cent
of the world’s electricity, thereby saving 2.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide
emissions each year. If this isn’t putting a “dent in the greenhouse problem”,
then what is?
The world’s fossil fuel electricity generation accounts for over 7 billion
tonnes of CO2 per year. For every 30 tonnes of uranium oxide used, 1
million tonnes of CO2 emmission is avoided, relative to coal.
At what point will practical solutions displace ideological hang-ups?
This correspondence is now closed鈥擡d
Letters : Tragic trade
Washington DC
Your telling editorial accurately depicted Japanese and South Korean
involvement in the illicit trafficking in parts and products of endangered species
(Editorial, 30 August, p 3).
Sadly, such illegal and unethical activity
is not limited to whales and other marine species whose future is in
jeopardy.
The recent tenth conference of the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES) rejected Japanese proposals to weaken the protection
given to several different species of whales and the endangered hawksbill sea
turtle. However, Japan did succeed in winning a down-listing of three
populations of African elephant. As a result, the country will enjoy a monopoly
on the trade in ivory through exclusive access to the ivory coming out of
Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana.
Even a disinterested observer would conclude that Japan vigorously pursues an
interest in profiting from the decimation of threatened and endangered
species.
South Korea has an equally abysmal record on wildlife protection,
particularly with respect to its citizens’ illegal trade in bear parts. Parts
and products from North American, Russian and Chinese bears are sold throughout
South Korea and, in some cases, are worth more per gram than cocaine. The Korean
appetite for bear parts and products has pushed the highly endangered Asian bear
to the brink of extinction and threatens to debilitate the stable populations of
North American bears.
The only way to persuade Japan and South Korea to change their ways is to
keep a close eye on what they are doing and to exert international pressure on
them.
Letters : Warm thoughts
Angeles City, Philippines
Your “thought for the day”
(Feedback, 9 August) states “the destruction of
the ozone layer has nothing to do with global warming”.
I seem to remember reading somewhere that an increase in ultraviolet light
penetrating the stratosphere tends to destroy oxygen-producing microorganisms in
the ocean鈥攁 major source of the planet’s atmospheric oxygen.
If this is true, a decrease in the proportion of atmospheric oxygen would be
reflected by an increased proportion of atmospheric carbon dioxide. This would
exacerbate the global warming problem, wouldn’t it?
Letters : Dammed if I do
Laleham, Middlesex
Although C. Stevenson’s suggestion that water-wheel generators could replace
dams makes a valid point
(Letters, 13 September, p 57), there are a number of
drawbacks to such schemes. On a small scale, as seen in war zones where
electricity supplies are inoperative and also in small communities such as
Nepal’s Himalayan villages, such devices are indeed practical. However, in the
large-scale production of electricity, dams have a number of overriding
advantages.
The damming of river valleys allows the creation of large heads of water and
thus the potential to generate much more electricity than is possible with the
gradient of natural river valleys alone. Damming means such heads can be
generated in more mature river valleys, where natural flow velocities cannot
generate much electricity. Thus the source of power generation can be located in
regions of higher population density than is generally found around young, steep
river valleys.
Another advantage of having a dammed reservoir of water is that this provides
a continuous supply for electricity generation. In contrast, water wheels would
be subject to seasonal and storm fluctuations in river flow. This factor is
especially relevant in regions with a monsoon-type climate.
The reservoir also provides a source of water for public, agricultural and
industrial usage and guards against shortages in times of drought.
Although dams often result in the displacement of large populations (1.9
million, in the case of China’s proposed Three Gorges project) they also protect
large populations living downstream. By regulating the peak flow of rivers
during seasonal and storm surges, the lower reaches of dammed rivers can be
saved from cataclysmic flood events.
Letters : Wars with heaven
Adelaide, Australia
Dinosaur extinction through cosmic impact is often presented as an idea
dating from as recently as 1980, but it has a much longer history
(“What really killed the dinosaurs?”, 16 August, p 22).
In 1694, Edmund Halley suggested that cataclysmic cometary impacts were
possible, as did William Whiston (1696), Thomas Wright of Durham (1755), and the
Marquis de Laplace (1816), but the calculated frequency (maybe 1 per 100 million
years) meant that it was a matter of little concern.
By the middle of this century, several authors had speculated that asteroid
impacts may have been responsible for geological boundary events. Notable among
these was a book in 1950 by Allan O. Kelly and Frank Dachille, entitled
Target Earth. They are quite specific in apportioning blame for the end of
the dinosaurs: “The extinction of the great reptiles came about with a sudden
change through the agency of cosmic collision.” Not stopping there, Kelly and
Dachille argued that humankind needs to protect itself against meeting a similar
end, envisioning a space surveillance programme and the capability to divert
approaching asteroids.
Kelly and Dachille were far-sighted, but some had thought of planetary
defence rather earlier. In 1822 Lord Byron had the following to say: “Who knows
whether, when a comet shall approach this globe to destroy it, as it often has
been and will be destroyed, men will not tear rocks from their foundations by
means of steam, and hurl mountains, as the giants are said to have done, against
the flaming mass? And then we shall have traditions of Titans again, and of wars
with Heaven.”(Thomas Medwin’s Conversations of Lord Byron.)
Letters : The real Pangloss
Quebec, Canada
It was the philosopher Gottfried Leibnitz, not Voltaire as stated, who became
well known for the opinion that “this is the best of all possible worlds”
(This Week, 13 September, p 11).
Voltaire was too aware of the arbitary aspects of
life to have ever endorsed such a view. In fact, it was Leibnitz that Voltaire
caricatured in his writings as Dr Pangloss.
Letters : My bit of Mars
Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland
I read with considerable interest your editorial about celestial real estate
and the articles about Mars
(“2011: A Mars odyssey”, 20 September, p 28).
Many areas on Mars seem to be named after members of my family. The
Pathfinder probe landed in a valley named after me, Ares (pronounced RS)
Vallis.
I have generously decided not to charge NASA for the use of my Martian real
estate.
Letters : Added bladder
St Neots, Cambridgeshire
I was struck by the proposal in the Feedback competition
(13 September) that
bladder walls genetically engineered to be “more elastic” would be an
improvement.
While I don’t doubt that a reinforced detrusor muscle would be advantageous,
I can’t help but be amused by the fact that this article and three full-page
advertisements for beer appeared in the same issue. Are we to read anything into
this chance coincidence, or is this a case for the 6X files?
Letters : Red faces
London
Even in a review of a science fiction novel, I was surprised to read about
“the rouge faction in the USAF”, not least since closet homophobia is hardly Ian
Stewart’s style (Review, 13 September, p 50).
Perhaps it was a rogue typesetter at work?