When the wind blows
Hadrian Jeffs repeats what one reads over and over again: that wind turbines are shut down at wind speeds over 25 metres per second (3 December, p 25).
I have always wondered why this is necessary. From my sailing days I clearly remember the variable-pitch propeller. This goes into “vane position” for sailing, just like the rotor blades of wind turbines when turned off. Progressively adjusting the pitch of the blades as the wind speed increases above a certain level would effectively reduce their rotational speed 鈥� presumably to within acceptable limits, even with very much higher wind speeds 鈥� while maintaining power output.
I would expect there to be more noise from such blades set this way, but given the noise generated by the wind itself at those speeds, that would probably not be audible anyway. So what’s the catch?
Totting up energy
I read with amazement the article describing a $5000-per-home system to measure energy usage every 30 minutes with readings made available via a PC (3 December, p 30). For some time an Australian system, Electrisave, has been available in the UK for the sterling equivalent of $140 (see ). The Electrisave has the added convenience of a self-contained remote reader rather than the necessity of a PC, and the user can configure how often it measures electricity usage.
Seeing the Earthrise
The “Earthrise” pictured at the end of Finis Dunaway’s fine book Natural Visions: The power of images in American environmental reform was not, as you suggest in your review, taken from Earth orbit (19 November, p 53). It was taken from Apollo 8, humankind’s first flight away from our home planet, as it orbited the moon in December 1968.
Sadly for me, you did not credit the photographer of this iconic photo, which Dunaway and many others before him believe kick-started the environmental movement’s surge in the 1970s. Though Apollo crews were trained to observe and photograph lunar features, our main “discovery” was the Earth.
For the record
鈥� The report on athletics authorities preparing to detect “gene doping” (10 December, p 6) stated that myostatin is an enzyme. In fact, myostatin is a growth factor, not an enzyme.
鈥� Our story on the Kinkajou projector (10 December, p 29) contained several inaccuracies: it costs $50, not the $12 we quoted; the light source is a 5-watt LED, not 6-watt; and the aim is to produce 15,000 projectors for half a million learners over the next five years, not half a million projectors. Furthermore, Kinkajous are not rodents, as we stated. They are a procyonid, which means racoon-like, but they also have prehensile tails.
Forgotten crimes
Gaia Vince raises the spectre of criminals taking a memory-wiping drug to ensure they do not recall their crimes (3 December, p 32). Even more troubling is the prospect of criminals forcibly administering such a drug to their victims 鈥� or even some of the drugs available now, which do no more than lessen the emotional impact of a traumatic memory.
What if a rapist made his victim take such a pill, in the expectation that they would be less inclined to report the assault and press charges? The offender might also argue that this would reduce the emotional harm suffered, rendering the crime less serious. These prospects are truly horrifying.
Atlantic hurricanes
There is an interesting link between Fred Pearce’s two articles in the 3 December issue about the apparent weakening of North Atlantic currents (p 6) and the possibility that global warming leads to more intense hurricane activity (p 36). Climate scientists on have pointed out that a weakening of the North Atlantic circulation would provide evidence counter to the theory that this year’s extremely active North Atlantic hurricane season is part of a natural cycle.
As the second story reports, the hurricane scientist William Gray has cast doubt on the idea that stronger hurricanes are caused by global warming, attributing them instead to the natural Atlantic multidecadal oscillation, which is now near its peak. As part of that oscillation, hurricanes are understood to be strongest when the North Atlantic circulation also runs most strongly.
Yet it now appears that this year’s exceptional hurricane season has coincided with a weakening of the circulation reported by Harry Bryden and his team. Admittedly nobody knows if this is temporary, and by how much the current has weakened, as error margins in the study revealed that the slowing of the current could be anything between 8 and 56 per cent. But despite these uncertainties, Bryden’s findings should pretty much demolish Gray’s theory and many doubts about some of the power of recent hurricanes being man-made.
The editor writes:
鈥� It might at first sight seem unclear why, in the absence of global warming, a weakening of the Atlantic current should be expected to lead to a decrease in hurricane activity. The reason is that the current pushes warm water from the South Atlantic over the equator into the North Atlantic, so when the current weakens, sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic fall and hurricane activity should fall too.
Firearm forensics
In your article on firearm forensics, Robin Mejia writes: “Someone entering a crime scene after a shooting could have more particles on them than a shooter who runs away immediately,” (26 November, p 6).
We beg to differ. The main aim of the experiments mentioned in your article which we undertook was only to map how long gunshot residue (GSR) particles stay in the air after the shot, and to show when the number of falling particles is highest. Our conclusion was: “Experiments have confirmed the assumption that GSR particles stay in the air for a certain period after the shot. Hence there is an imminent danger of contamination of people who appear at the crime scene several minutes after the shooting…Likewise, if the shooter leaves the crime scene immediately after the shot, the amount of GSR on his hands or clothing may be less significant.”
We have never said that someone who enters a crime scene after a shooting could have more particles than a shooter who runs away immediately. In our opinion, the shooter usually “wears” more particles on his hands than someone who enters the crime scene after a shooting, depending on the amount of time since their contact with particles.
Lemurs in Indonesia
Commenting on the newly discovered mammal in Borneo, Nick Isaac of the Institute of Zoology in London said that while it looked like a lemur, it could not in fact be one because lemurs are found only in Madagascar (10 December, p 14).
In the past, Madagascar was settled by seafaring people of Indonesian stock. Is it not possible that some of these folk took a few lemurs with them on a return voyage to Indonesia, where the animals could have escaped into the jungle and evolved? Worth considering, isn’t it?
Alien designers
Marcus Chown outlines Stephen Wolfram’s claim that, among other things, any discernible alien “messages” are likely to be complex by design, perhaps as complex as a star (26 November, p 30). Surely theorising that massive celestial bodies could be purposeful messages left by visiting aliens puts the talents of such aliens on par with those of the creator who figures in arguments for intelligent design. Creating life on Earth would be easy in comparison.
Of course, the other thing that both aliens and such a creator have in common is that there is no available proof that either actually exists.
Relativity and relativism
I read with interest the article on science and art by Arthur Miller (29 October, p 44). To take things further, I have often wondered if there is a relationship between the development of the social theories of moral relativism and postmodernism on the one hand, and the theory of relativity and Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle on the other. From my understanding of recent history, it seems that the physical theories preceded the social ones 鈥� perhaps a further instance of science nurturing and developing theories outside its direct province.
Less sex please
I certainly don’t have more sex than the general population (10 December, p 23). In fact, I do everything to avoid it. That’s because I don’t want to have sex with most people. I want angels, giants, tigers, and I would love to love myself. As an artist, I work with myself constantly. I don’t think it’s a good idea to have sex with someone you work with. But a lot of male artists do it very successfully 鈥� with their wife. As for the schizophrenia, there’s not enough research, but you’re not going to practise on me. I’ve seen films about that kind of stuff.
What was the question? Ask the dogs and the cats in the world and you’ll think they speak the same language. The miaows, the woofs 鈥� all on the same side, baby!
As an artist I feel totally sane in this world.
Folic acid folly
Your judgemental headline about the need to medicate the UK’s daily bread with added folic acid rests on the fact that cases of spina bifida in the US have fallen by 25 per cent since fortification began in 1998 (3 December, p 5). There are several other factors that can explain this.
The “five a day” campaign has succeeded in increasing consumption of green leafy vegetables, a primary nutritional source of folic acid. Wholegrain consumption has also increased. GIs who were exposed to Agent Orange in the Vietnam war are no longer fathering children. And women are nowadays advised to take folic acid supplements three months before going off the pill, reducing a major risk factor.
A healthy diet is “win-win”, as it not only prevents neural tube defects, but also reduces the risk of cancer and heart disease because of all the other valuable nutrients found in vegetables and wholegrains. To medicate bread is to admit defeat at a time when the battle to educate people about sound nutrition is being won.
Real health risk
You are right to highlight the recent finding that a supposedly harmless bean protein could trigger allergic reactions in mice when the gene that produces it is transferred into a pea plant (26 November, p 5). However, your editorial (p 3) is in danger of misrepresenting the arguments of many of those who oppose genetically modified crops.
It is not “silly” but actually consistent and fully scientific to oppose the introduction of all GM crops if there is a concern that none of them has been produced or tested to standards adequate to protect public health. Which standards are considered adequate depends upon judgements concerning the plausibility of various risk factors. The transgenic pea findings are surprising precisely because this particular risk factor 鈥� that a transgenic protein could have a medically relevant difference from the native version of the same protein 鈥� was considered highly implausible.
Thus the significance of the pea research is that it reveals the dangers of a source of risk that would typically be considered beneath regulatory consideration. In doing so, the researchers have exposed in a dramatic way how we are still very far from distinguishing correctly between plausible and implausible concerns when it comes to GM plants. This is the real and disturbing lesson.