Field failure
Diane Martindale states: “All it takes for a current to flow is for a channel to open up linking the two sides, either through damage or deliberately. And where there is a current flowing, an electrical field inevitably follows” (15 May, p 39). Ahem!
The space between the two charges would have an electrical field whether or not a current was flowing. When a current flows, a magnetic field is generated. The electric field is already there. No current could possibly flow if there were not an electric field present.
Buckyball alert
Should chlorinated C50 buckyballs be produced in large quantities to test their possible properties (8 May, p 18)? Your story appears to be an invitation to start manufacturing these compounds without regard to their environmental effect. Prior experience with halogenated compounds, particularly those which are completely novel 鈥� that is, never found in nature 鈥� suggests that we should proceed extremely warily.
For example, polychlorinated biphenyls, halogenated pesticides and mixed-halogen hydrocarbons such as freons were all presented as safe means of solving one or more of humanity’s problems. The detrimental effects of introducing them into the environment should warn us of the potential for unexpected responses. While I accept that there may be problems that are so important that any solution is better than none, the uses of chlorinated buckyballs seem unlikely to fall into this category.
The claims that these substances were “safe” appear to translate as “they presented no anticipated problems”. This is akin to maintaining that jumping off high buildings is safe 鈥� as it is, until you meet the ground.
Weight and mortality
The evolutionary explanation for the preponderance of high-birthweight babies in the poorest countries is spurious (8 May, p 17). There is a much simpler explanation. It is well known that infant mortality is much higher for babies with low birthweight. In the poorest countries, low-birthweight babies will be less likely to come to full term and survive the birth. Any study based on live births is therefore likely to show a preponderance of heavier babies in the poorest areas.
Fat not fiction
Paul Campos makes the best case to sell his recently released book, rather than provide a critical counterpoint to the obesity epidemic debate (1 May, p 20). He is mistaken in his claims that “the current war on fat is an irrational outburst of cultural hysteria, unsupported by sound science”.
The American Cancer Society cancer prevention studies examined over 1 million adults for 14 years, analysing more than 200,000 deaths. They concluded: “The risk of death from all causes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, or other diseases increases throughout the range of moderate and severe overweight for both men and women in all age groups” (The New England Journal of Medicine, vol 341, p 1097). A 16-year US study of 115,000 nurses, reported earlier in the same journal (vol 333, p 677), concluded: “Body weight and mortality from all causes were directly related among these middle-aged women. Lean women did not have excess mortality”.
I could go on. I can also draw on my own experience as a clinician with special interest in infectious disease. I am dismayed to see more and more adults with devastating physical disabilities from obesity. These include limb loss from infection in type 2 diabetes, which is strongly associated with obesity, and increased occurrence and seriousness of other soft tissue infections in obese individuals. This is no trumped-up scare to generate research funds, but a genuine public health crisis.
Robonurse first
You report on a monitoring system for the elderly that is about to be sold in the US by General Electric (15 May, p 22). A system with similar functions was developed at Brunel University in a programme that started in August 2000.
It differs from the reported system in that when it detects a problem in the home, it starts to negotiate with the occupant. It encourages them to correct the abnormality, for example, by having breakfast or locking the back door. Only if the negotiation fails does it alert a carer or care organisation. This saves carer time and supports continuing independence.
Real people have been living in a pilot installation in 10 flats in Greenwich, London, for over 18 months. The Insight system is now commercially available from Huntleigh Healthcare, one of the project partners.
Grave concern
Your article on guidelines for the archaeological excavation of cemeteries in England and Wales (15 May, p 8) was timely, although it should have made clear the guidelines are at a consultation stage until the end of June. Also, calls for reburial have been sporadic and capricious. There is no groundswell of opinion demanding reburial of human remains excavated within the UK. The general public remain remarkably relaxed about the subject.
The consultative document is a valuable contribution to the current multifaceted debate, which includes consultation on plans by the Home Office for burial law; policy on overcrowding in active burial grounds; and the recommendations of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport working party on the repatriation or retention of human remains held in UK museums and other institutions.
Mummies dearest
The editorial “Two parents, same sex” puzzles over what the phenomenon should be called. It suggests using the unwieldy “homoparentism” (24 April, p 8). May I suggest “Amazonogenesis” from Greek mythology? Of course in those times the women actually went once a year for temporary unions with Gargarensians, rearing only the female children, at least according to several of the myths about them.
Letter
When I did maths exams there would be, say, nine questions and full marks were given for correct answers for six. It’s worth checking before printing patronising comments. Silly Feedback.
Exam arithmetic
Feedback reported James Joyce being surprised by his old maths paper (8 May). The reason it needed to say that full marks could be obtained by correct solutions to all questions is that in some maths exams, if you write down a correct answer but no working, you will not get the full marks possible for that question. On his paper, a solution with no working was enough to get all the marks.
Daily sale
Feedback reports a child remarking on the impossibility of Wal-Mart offering “Lower Prices Every Day” (1 May).
It’s not impossible if it has higher prices every night.
Letter
The chemical information company Accelrys has been selling a failed reactions database for several years. As well as helping chemists avoid wasting effort and materials on doomed syntheses, the actual reactions are sometimes more interesting than those intended.
Letter
Ian Simmons has only to type “journal of negative results” into any search engine to see that this useful 鈥� some would say essential 鈥� area of knowledge is beginning to be compiled. There are already examples in biomedicine and speech and audio sciences, at least.
Negation flourishing
Ian Simmons presents his suggestion of a journal of negative results lightheartedly (15 May, p 29). I think it has serious potential. Suppose each discipline had such a journal that printed abstracts only. The cost per report would be far lower than an ordinary journal, but the savings in wasted research effort could be huge. When I worked in research I would have loved to have had such a resource.
Dirty cleaners
While reading the article “Rising tide of micro-plastics plaguing the seas” in New 杏吧原创’s online news (4 May), I wondered whether the researchers realise that many hand-cleaners produced for the motor trade and other industries include polymer granules to act as an abrasive to get the dirt off. This mixture is rinsed off and ends up in the sewage system and, most often, is then dumped or piped into the ocean. Could this be one of the sources of the micro-plastics?
Self-cooling trash
Smart wrappers are not a wise trend. They merely present another technological problem to fix when they are finished with (24 April, p 26). Yes, everyone wants their food to be as fresh as possible, to preserve vitamin content and keep the microbe count low. So why not provide it from the farm around the corner, instead of burning fossil fuels to jet it across the world, refrigerated all the way?
Aaron Brody sounds as excited as a kid in a toy shop about all these wonderful new ideas 鈥� but I wonder just how much R&D has gone into the problem of recycling items like the self-cooling beer can, for instance?
My advice to the mum who doesn’t want her kids to eat mouldy strawberries is to take them to the local pick-your-own place. Not only will they get a free lesson on renewable resources, they might even work off some of their couch-potato podge as well.
Hope over depression
I was profoundly moved yesterday when I first read Peter Farley’s “The anatomy of despair” (1 May, p 43). I have suffered from major depression since 1962 for certain, and very likely since 1952. It has wrecked my life, but by some fluke I am still alive at the age of 60. I have never been impressed with existing theories on the aetiology of depression, and I hoped I might at least live long enough to know how this mood disorder really starts and works.
Peter Farley’s account is plausible 鈥� and very elegant: it accounts for almost all of what I know about depression, but without unnecessary elaboration. In other words, it complies with Occam’s razor.
I have one grouse. You say “even physical exercise 鈥� known to improve depressive symptoms in humans 鈥� could induce neurogensis”. Physical exercise does give some people partial relief from depression 鈥� I do not argue with that 鈥� but in my case physical exercise almost invariably makes depression worse, sometimes much worse, by increasing suicidal ideation. In fact, if I enjoy exercise, or feel in need of exercise, this is a very reliable sign that my depression is already deep.
In spite of my criticism, I hope this article will be widely circulated and publicised, particularly to mental health professionals and to depressed people and their families.
Save and spend
Robert Laing says he would not drive any further if his new car used less fuel than the old one (8 May, p 30). But he would save money on petrol, and presumably he would spend that money on something he would not otherwise have bought. Pretty much everything I can think of that he might buy will have used energy in its manufacture, distribution or during its use. So, cheaper energy does lead to greater use, even if the connection between the two is not direct.
Omnia animal tristes est
While Robert Peveler may not have spotted any mythical animals at the “humped zebra crossing” he mentions (Feedback, 24 April), I fear he is missing a more obvious candidate: how about a run-of-the-mill zebra that just happens to be in a post-coital state?