On the debate about baby formula at food banks (1)
Clare Wilson raises crucial points about the importance of formula milk supply for those who can’t breastfeed, but I don’t think food banks deserve to be a target for this (30 January, p 23).
Under normal circumstances, food banks provide three days’ supply of food for emergencies: they aren’t meant to be a solution to food poverty. Food banks are generally dependent on donations collected in shops and community centres; infant formula milk is rarely donated and the odd tin isn’t going to help solve the problem of supply to those on low incomes.
Expedition oddities are not such a mystery
Doubters of the avalanche explanation for the demise of a Russian ski expedition in the 1959 Dyatlov Pass incident point to strange aspects of the tragedy, such as victims having little clothing on in freezing conditions, to support more mysterious ideas about what happened (6 February, p 18).
However, it is in mountaineering circles that one of the symptoms of hypothermia is irrational behaviour, which sometimes causes people to remove clothes and shoes.
Perfect encryption may not be worth having (3)
The quantum internet is getting ever closer, as entangled photons are now deliverable by drone, which could eventually allow encrypted communication to be impervious to hacking (23 January, p 18). It is a valid scientific aim to pursue this, of course, but it has downsides, not least by possibly letting terrorists communicate in secret.
With cars and cigarettes, early developers couldn’t be expected to foresee the long-term consequences 鈥� pollution, climate change, cancer 鈥� but we know what some of the unpleasant consequences of encrypted communications can be, so there is surely an onus on developers to at least consider them.
It isn’t a trivial issue, since ultimately we will have to consider whether privately owned tech giants, dictators or elected governments should have the last word on this.
Alien megastructures could be very bad news (1)
Your recent article on the search for Dyson spheres 鈥� theorised structures that encircle a star to use its energy 鈥� gets one thinking (30 Janaury, p 44).
A structure that obscures the surface of a star by a few per cent, let alone by as much as 90 per cent, as stated in the article, would require more material than would be available in any given star system by many orders of magnitude. Non-solar mass makes up 0.2 per cent of our system, and much of that is gas and ice. This begs the question: where does the material to build the Dyson sphere come from? A civilisation would need to raid a vast number of star systems for materials and shred untold planets.
Alien megastructures could be very bad news (2)
If we ever do find a Dyson sphere, it should set alarm bells ringing. That is because there is a good chance that this alien structure was made by an expansionist technological civilisation prone to infesting other planetary systems and ruthlessly harvesting resources in an effort to continue its unrestrained growth.
Alien megastructures could be very bad news (3)
I find the idea that infrared radiation can be taken as an indication of a Dyson sphere a little odd. Surely if a civilisation was so advanced that it had taken steps to encircle a star to capture its energy, it would have ways of insulating this structure so that no energy was wasted, in whatever form.
Did these ancient humans inspire a legend?
I read with interest your article on the Denisovans, including the evidence that they occupied the Tibetan plateau (30 January, p 34). I wonder, given they were probably distinct from us, whether they are a possible candidate for the folk memory of the Yeti and other similarly large, mythic humanoids in the region.
On the debate about baby formula at food banks (2)
The Food of Love: Your formula for successful breastfeeding), Street, Somerset, UK
Nobody wants babies to go hungry, but Wilson’s contribution to “unscientific debate” on the issue of whether formula milk should be made available at food banks shouldn’t go unanswered.
She massively oversimplifies a complex issue when she mentions the charity Feed’s statement on the lack of formula in food banks and blames “an overzealous push for breastfeeding” for this.
Breastfeeding counsellors understand and support reasons why women don’t breastfeed; their job is to assist maternal choice. They aren’t “overzealous”.
Britain has the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. Eleven years of austerity have seen breastfeeding services slashed, leaving new mothers isolated and abandoned. We urgently need a national conversation about how best to support maternal health, and that could include removing formula milk from the commercial arena and providing it on prescription. After all, why should those who can’t breastfeed have to pay for their baby’s survival?
Disharmony over talk of an AI piano tutor
You report on the possible use of AI to improve piano playing (30 January, p 15). It appears to focus on assessing a performer’s skill in playing the correct notes with the correct rhythms. In doing so, there is a real danger that the essence of such music as a form of emotional communication will be lost.
Where will the nuances be, such as the emphasis on certain notes or the crescendos to climactic points? Both are examples of musical interpretation, which can only be brought about through a performer’s inner sensitivity.
The AI may be a useful practice supplement at elementary levels, but it is no substitute for an experienced teacher who, through establishing a sound keyboard technique, can elicit from a pupil the human bond between composer and performer. Without that, musical performance will be reduced to the equivalent of listening to an impassioned speech delivered by a Dalek.