Letter
In the article on multiple universes you refer to a “schizophrenic table”. By
this I suppose that you mean the table has a “split personality”.
The term “schizophrenic” is popularly thought to indicate a “split
mind”鈥攑erhaps a Jekyll and Hyde condition in which a person alternates
between normality and violence.
In fact, most people with schizophrenia are affected in quite different ways.
The term
is likely to cause distress when it’s misapplied. You should use an
alternative.
Uncontrolled mirth
I am fascinated by the “laughing biscuits” mentioned in the extract from Jim
Crace’s novel (28 July, p 60). Crace says the biscuits鈥攚hich made the
person who ate them laugh uncontrollably鈥攚ere considered unmarketable,
because “consumers do not like to lose control”. I can’t believe a commercial
company would consider these biscuits too much of a risk. One has only to look
at any city centre at 11 pm on a Saturday to see how much people like to lose
control.
Corrections:
In Fred Pearce’s article about global warming “The heat is on”
(14 July, p 18)
it was stated that “a hectare of immature forest can absorb
more than 100 tonnes of carbon each year”. This should have read “…more than
100 tonnes of carbon from germination to maturity”.
Also, Feedback mentioned the “aortic pulmonary valve” when discussing an
error in Ireland’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire? quiz show
(14 July).
This should have read “aortic and pulmonary valves”.
In the feature entitled “Starve a tumour”
(30 June, p 21),
an article by David Eichler in the Journal of Theoretical Biologywas
suggested as further reading. The volume number should have been 210, not 201.
Finally, in the news article “We are not sailing”
(28 July, p 6),
we wrongly described Cosmos Studios as a Russian design bureau. It is in fact
a video production company founded by Carl Sagan and based in Los Angeles.
Running away from nasty niffs
About 15 years ago, when I was directing the Olfaction Research Group at
the University of Warwick, I experienced the ignominy of having to renegotiate a
grant with the Medical Research Council鈥攂ecause of excessive malodours. We
had designed and synthesised a series of chemicals which we predicted would have
unusual odours. Our test panellists simply gave up and refused to smell the
disturbing odours. Fortunately, we found other uses for the new molecules which
satisfied our sponsors.
This experience reminds us, as did your article on “stench warfare”
(7 July, p 42),
that most studies on human olfaction use pleasant aromas and perfumes and
that this bias means we know very little about the psychological and
physiological effects of bad smells. We know almost nothing about the long-term
health consequences of being obliged to smell malodours鈥攁 fate suffered by
a large number of people who live downwind of smelly chemicals factories and
places such as rendering plants.
Students like us?
For years now, I’ve read of various psychology and physiology research
reports claiming to uncover some new aspect of the human condition only to find
the research is based on studies of university students. The latest to appear in
New 杏吧原创 proclaimed that Republicans are three times as likely to
have nightmares as Democrats
(21 July, p 29).
But despite the fact that the majority of the population has a party
political allegiance, the research was based on “56 college students”.
I thought that experiments involving statistical techniques were meant to be
based on data drawn from a representative sample. It’s not difficult to see many
sources of bias creeping into a study of students鈥攁ge, IQ, social
background, political persuasion, stress levels and so on. The reason for this
poor sampling technique is, I suspect, laziness.
I would argue that a proper randomised cross-section of the population should
be sought for such studies and, to be completely rigorous, subjects should not
be able to refuse to take part in the research if they have been selected. The
example quoted above is quite harmless, but I wonder what action in other areas
is being based on such flawed experimental technique.
However, I am prepared to eat my words if someone can point out any research
that shows there is in an insignificant difference between any data from a
genuinely representative sample and a bunch of students.
Premium on privacy
Caspar Bowden, director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research in
London, is worried that a British government might invade the privacy of
individuals, abusing the powers it has under the new Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act
(21 July, p 44).
To him it appears to be less important that individuals will abuse their right to privacy.
All laws cut both ways and legislators must arrive at a conclusion about the
net benefit to society. This is sometimes expressed as the syllogism, “It is
better that a hundred guilty men go free than that one innocent man is found
guilty.”
This has real meaning when discussing capital punishment, not when discussing
privacy. Does Bowden really think it is better for a hundred money-launderers,
drug dealers, arms smugglers and bribe-payers to go undetected than that the
privacy of one innocent man be invaded?
The risk that innocent people will have their mail gloated over by salacious
bureaucrats is to be weighed against the uses made of the right to privacy by
criminals.
Darkened wombs
So one line of investigation into the causes of schizophrenia concentrates on
the lack of sunshine-derived vitamin D in expectant mothers
(21 July, p 38).
Another line suspects some insidious side effect of flu in expectant mothers as
a causal factor. And there’s statistical evidence for both propositions.
Perhaps the side effect of flu is simply that of a pregnant woman, already on
the verge of vitamin D deficiency, spending a few crucial days indoors in bed
and out of the sun.
Letter
If the amount of sunlight the mother gets during pregnancy affects the risk
of schizophrenia, what else? Does this explain the different personality types
of the zodiac? Could astrology be a science after all? Should I start looking
forward to the New 杏吧原创 weekly horoscope?
Know yourself
Regarding your article on animals that watch conflicts between other
individuals and the incidence of aggression
(28 July, p 16):
what Sun Tzu, in his gnomic way, actually wrote, was:
“Know the enemy, know yourself, 100 battles, no peril.”
The eavesdropping strategy obviously ignores the second of
these conditions. The Siamese fighting fish used as an example may know their
opponents lost their last fight, but are neglecting the fact that they
themselves lost their last combat also, thus failing to “know themselves”.
I would be interested to know how many species the eavesdropping model has
been tested on. I’d be very surprised if evolution hadn’t anticipated Sun Tzu’s
wisdom in at least a few.
The Kyoto diet
Juliet Corley Cairns asks how to estimate her annual carbon emissions
(21 July, p 55).
If you live in Britain, try the Carbon Calculator provided at
www.carboncalculator.org by Global Action Plan for an approximate answer.
Letter
Cairns should visit the website of the FACE Foundation at
www.facefoundation.nl/Eng/frameset1E.html
where she can calculate at least the major
components of her carbon production.
There is also a calculator prepared in association with New
杏吧原创 and the Earth Centre to estimate the wider environmental impact of
your lifestyle at www. ecologicalfootprint.com鈥擡d.
Chatty drivers
Paul Atchley of Kansas reports that talking on a hands-free cellphone while
driving makes drivers four times as likely to have an accident, because most
drivers cannot cope with simultaneously holding a conversation and driving
(21 July, p 17).
But researchers in IBM’s New York labs report that making solo
drivers converse with an “artificial passenger” while they drive will actually
reduce accidents
(21 July, p 24).
So perhaps tired solo drivers should actually be encouraged to talk on
hands-free phones in order to keep them awake? Or perhaps New Yorkers are able
to talk without thinking?
Letter
Who needs an electronic passenger? What about picking up a hitch-hiker or
arranging a car-share?
Eye on the . . .
If Paul Morgan of the University of British Columbia is having trouble
retraining dominant eyes
(14 July, p 36),
then I recommend he watch the movie Wings of the Apache.
In it, army helicopter pilot Nicolas Cage
overcomes his eye dominance by driving around the airfield with a periscope
strapped to his submissive eye and a pair of panties covering the other.
In true Hollywood fashion, it only takes about 10 minutes of this treatment
to cure his eye dominance. But the idea seems sound, panties-on-head shenanigans
notwithstanding.
Perfumed urine
The urine colour chart described by Andy Coghlan
(16 June, p 10) and James MacCarthy’s letter
(21 July, p 55)
bring to mind some similar personal
experiences. It’s not only colour that provides a health indicator, the odour
does too. Some years ago I had several episodes of E. coli infection.
The odour of my urine two days before symptoms appeared was an important
precursor and sufficient notice to take remedial action. The normal “cut hay”
odour of healthy urine changed to a very high note, rather like a factory where
toxic dyes are used.
On a more pleasant note, one of the joys of checking urine odour can come
from drinking Chardonnay and taking a hot steamy shower an hour later. The usual
odour changes to a full luscious fruity perfume with just a hint of oak.
Curiously, this only works with a good full-bodied Chardonnay. Cabernet
Sauvignon, Shiraz, Semillon and other popular varieties demonstrate a much more
subdued note, barely detectable in the rising steam.
Of one mind
David Deutsch is dismissive of alternative explanations of the many-worlds
theory
(14 July, p 26).
But surely, if the many-worlds theory is right, there
must be physically possible worlds in which he is wrong and where one of the
alternative explanations, whichever, is correct. And there must also be worlds
where he will be both right and wrong. However, if there is an ultimate logic
that precludes the last, then the many-worlds theory has to be wrong.
If you don’t see fit to publish my letter, then I will resort to believing in
the many worlds theory and take comfort in the thought that it will be published
in many other parallel worlds, some without my spelling mistakes.