One-way ticket
SpaceX founder Elon Musk may send a million people to Mars, but it won’t be to Mars and back (17 December 2011, p 45). It is the “and back” that gives NASA a headache, and adds all the zeros to mission costs. A suicide mission to Mars is fairly straightforward, and I have even heard an American geologist volunteer for the trip. I do not believe, however, that the US would condone such a mission.
Another country with different standards might, but I still think crewed travel to Mars will never happen. Going to the moon was relatively easy and misled everyone about the challenges of interplanetary travel.
From John Hirst
I can see many problems with Musk’s call to colonise Mars. The first is that there is no real appetite in the general populace to leave Earth. Cosmic radiation is also a really tough nut to crack for long-term survival.
There are countless other issues, of course. It is highly likely that without any medical or supply backups the first such mission would fail. The moon, on the other hand, is close enough for emergencies to be dealt with by supply missions. Let’s try for a base there first, to see if that is achievable. Just imagine a regular TV broadcast from the first colonists: that would really fire up enthusiasm down here on Earth.
Such colonisation would be one of the most difficult and challenging things humankind will ever attempt. Some would say it is also the most important thing for our ultimate survival. It is time for us to make the first leap, but it has to be a global effort.
Poole, Dorset, UK
Lost decade
The outcome of the United Nations climate change conference in Durban, South Africa, was indeed a deal which offers little for the poorest people already struggling at the sharp end of climate change (17 December 2011, p 8).
On the plus side, governments shunned voluntary pledges of action and turned decisively towards legal commitments. The Kyoto protocol is to continue as the foundation of global efforts to fight climate change led by the European Union, though without key nations such as Japan, Russia and Canada. Most significantly, negotiations will be launched to conclude a wider legal agreement for all countries by 2015, to take effect from 2020.
The world, however, needs to act much sooner. A real risk of such a 10-year timeout is that nothing more than the emission cuts pledged in 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark, will be seen, which puts the world on track to .
Vulnerable people also need to be given sufficient resources as soon as possible to help them adapt to rising temperatures. In Durban the Green Climate Fund to help developing nations cut emissions and adapt to climate change was defined, but no progress was made in identifying new funds.
To turn the tide, a coalition of countries must step up and leave behind those who wish to drag the world in the wrong direction.
Good reaction
Your article “Game of life” featured our research into game transfer phenomena (GTP), by which players of video games sometimes react to the world as they would to a gaming environment (24/31 December 2011, p 76). We would like to point out that the negative reaction by gamers was not to our study, but to how it was reported by the UK national press, with particularly sensationalist and misleading stories, such as that in the . The feedback we have received from gamers who read our published paper is almost all positive.
The other source of criticism in many news reports about our work concerned its small sample of gamers, drawn from just one country. Although our initial work was a qualitative interview study with Swedish gamers, we are now one year into a three-year research project and have amassed a large GTP database from thousands of gamers around the world.
Early analysis suggests GTP are commonplace, and that some GTP appear to be very similar among players of particular games.
Read my lips
An interesting feature of language diversity not identified by David Robson (10 December 2011, p 34) is that languages in hot countries tend to use sounds typical of a wide open mouth, whereas in cold countries the language is more conducive to the use of almost closed lips.
From Duncan Cameron
Robson believes languages that develop in isolation become complex, and that when languages interface with others they become simpler.
While most modern Latin languages have lost what he calls the “complex” Latin rules on noun endings, another “complex” language 鈥� spoken over a large part of the globe as a second language 鈥� has not, namely Russian. Russia is host to many indigenous ethnic minorities who use the Russian nominal case system of six noun endings and three genders without difficulty, as do millions of others in the many other countries where Russian is commonly used as a second language.
As it happens, Russians find Latin easy to learn.
Brighton, East Sussex, UK
The editor writes:
鈥� Gary Lupyan, who conducted the research, points out that Russia’s educational system may have slowed down language change by only teaching “correct” grammar 鈥� essentially weeding out any simplifications that may start to enter the language.
Bills ahoy
You reported proposals to reduce the carbon footprint of shipping (17 December 2011, p 20). The rim-driven thrusters, polymer coatings and air-cavity systems mentioned will all increase costs.
In 40 years, the only things the shipping companies have spent money on have been navigational aids, bow/stern/tunnel thrusters for docking, stabilisers and anti-pirate safe rooms. Naval architects are going to have their work cut out incorporating expensive green technology in the vessels of parsimonious owners.
Free to choose
The theories described in Robert Adler’s article on the multiverse (26 November 2011, p 43) have consequences for the usual “que ser谩 ser谩” argument that free will is an illusion. This implicitly assumes a single causal thread running from the initial conditions at the start of the universe, and so we have no real freedom to choose.
But if quantum physicist David Deutsch and others are right, and the parallel worlds of the multiverse are “as real as dinosaurs”, then it is que podr铆a ser, ser谩 鈥� whatever could be, will be, or perhaps even is. Even more so if the level 1 multiverse, with its parallel universes separated by vast distances, is equated to the level 3 multiverse, in which the other universes reflect all possible quantum outcomes. Therefore, when any of us has to make a choice, the multiverse doesn’t care 鈥� in its book that has all been taken care of.
What is different is the way we follow our own personal thread of consciousness. Is this free will (still an illusion) but not as we knew it? If a moral interpretation is needed, you could say that making a “good” choice transfers your consciousness to a nicer universe, but a “bad” choice takes you to another place.
Readers may wish to assign names to these universes, according to religious beliefs.
Green with envy
Further to Dan Lufkin’s letter about massaging fish (17 December 2011, p 31), I worked at a large aquarium where part of my job was to swim with the fish. The clown triggerfish would always come up and sit in my hand while I scratched the back of its head, to the delight of visitors. It would only move on when the green turtle became jealous.
Not nothing
Dave Howells in his letter defines “nothing” as unconsciousness, a bit like a virtual container that is empty (10 December 2011, p 33). But his container, his mind, contains the anatomy, the memories, the skills and experience that make up him.
If he is anaesthetised, or falls asleep, these become parts of a switched-off machine that can be turned on again. If that were not so, and his unconscious mind was empty and contained nothing, how could he wake up again?
Understand science
Your analysis of the hurdles to overcome anti-science was excellent (29 October 2011, p 42). There is one more challenge, though. Most people, including many politicians, do not really know how science works.
When we hear the word “science”, we think about double-blinding, statistical significance and peer review. It is easy to forget that most people have never heard of these. And if you don’t understand how information has been obtained, it is only reasonable that you don’t consider it more reliable than other sources, such as religion or received wisdom.
Science stories in the mass media are usually brief and result-centred, and science journalism with more depth is followed by a small minority. Schools could teach how grown-up science really works, and why it is the most reliable method of acquiring information. Promoting such an addition to curricula would not be politically easy, but it could be an important step towards more science-based decision-making.
In defence of鈥�
You reported US defence funding of research into reprogrammable nanoparticle antibiotics (3 December 2011, p 5), saying: “As with GPS and the internet, this might benefit the military initially, but eventually become a model for mainstream medication.” New 杏吧原创 is to be commended for recognising that what matters are the research results, not the funding source.
For the record
鈥� “The oil maze” and “Tapping into history”, which appeared in the Statoil branded articles in the UK editions of 3 and 10 December 2011, should have referred readers to and not to a similarly named website.
鈥� Anna Wilkinson, quoted in the tortoise cognition feature (24/31 December 2011, p 44), is now at the University of Lincoln, UK.