There is more to our pets than a bowl of food (1)
“Meat-free mutts and moggies” is an interesting piece that covers a detailed study by Andrew Knight and his team 24 September, p 44. I think the simple answer to the question of whether dogs and cats can be healthy vegans is that we don’t know.
However, what a dog or cat eats is only one of many factors that influence its quality of life. I have known many happy, healthy and long-lived vegan dogs, and a few cats. I have also known numerous omnivorous dogs and cats who lived unhealthy, short lives.
What we really need are comprehensive, multifactor studies focusing on individual dogs and cats, because their meal plans are usually dictated by human owners and are only one of many variables that factor into their quality of life.
Do I think dogs and cats can be healthy and happy vegans? I do, but other aspects of their lives have to be such that they are able to live happily when they aren’t feeding, which constitutes the vast majority of their daily routines.
There is more to our pets than a bowl of food (2)
While your article made a passing reference to insect-based food as an alternative to regular meat, but with a lower environmental impact, this deserved more focus. Insect-based foods, for example food made from black soldier fly larvae, seem far more suitable for pets than plant-based products, with a more palatable and more nutritionally complete profile.
Sad to see politics turning its back on environment
“Rather than ramp up action to support our environment, this government appears, however, to be heading in the opposite direction,” said Hilary McGrady, head of the UK’s National Trust, as reported in your story on the UK government’s plan to foster economic growth 1 October, p 7. These fears are echoed by many others.
Prominent figures in the government appear indifferent to environmental protection and dismissive of concerns raised. Until voters elect members of parliament who are committed to the environment, little will change.
Some tips if you have trouble getting to sleep
You covered recent advances in treatment for insomnia 1 October, p 38. I have two secrets for nodding off to share.
When I was 8 years old, my older brother told me that complete relaxation in a darkened room for 5 hours is equivalent to 4 hours asleep. The important thing is to believe this, regardless of its truth. It eliminates the feeling of guilt, frustration and helplessness associated with lying awake.
The second tip is to learn to enjoy lying awake. I love reviewing the day and making plans 鈥� thinking about the boat I am going to build, for example 鈥� so I can’t avoid falling comfortably asleep in a happy frame of mind.
Welcome clarity on what really shapes us (1)
Thank you to Clare Wilson for a very clear account of the latest research in the nature versus nurture debate 24 September, p 36. By the time my three kids hit their late teens, I concluded that their physical and psychological make-up was roughly one-third inherited, one-third due to the influence of family, friends and school, and one-third from outer space. Now, my nine grandkids are in their late teens or early 20s, I haven’t really changed that view, although I’m happy to swap outer space for the effect of randomness.
Welcome clarity on what really shapes us (2)
I recall that all chemical processes in human brains 鈥� developing or developed, past, present and future 鈥� are subject to the laws of thermodynamics. That list would include gene expression, nutrition, neuronal and white matter growth and so on. Thermodynamics is a statistical description. In other words, it involves luck. That would indicate that “identical” twins may not be identical at the cellular level.
Welcome clarity on what really shapes us (3)
Wilson’s article on the role of randomness in shaping our children should be essential reading for parents and those who counsel them. It is a hard lesson to learn as we like to be in control.
Fusion power is far from near to being conquered
I agree with Lee Margetts that fusion is an engineering problem, but to claim it is becoming well understood seems like hubris.
Rather than the 30-second reactor run you reported on, the most important recent advances are occurring in applying deep-learning systems to analyse plasmas, as previously covered in your magazine (26 February, p 19).
To go green, we need to ban lifestyle advertising
I agree with Solitaire Townsend’s call for green status signals, which are necessary to trigger behavioural changes that can address climate change 24 September, p 25. I can see several hurdles that will need to be overcome.
We must switch to a society where conspicuous giving and philanthropy are the main sources of status, but there are barriers to it in mainstream Western culture.
First up, lifestyle advertising. I can’t see a way to avoid planetary collapse while we are immersed throughout our waking hours in a tide of advertising that links status to material purchases. It must go.
And public giving has to confer more status in our communities. We need a way to display the giving status of a person.
How to improve the equation for BMI
Reader Larry Stoter suggested the formula for body mass index needs a shake-up, perhaps being more like density, so based on the cube, rather than square, of height Letters, 1 October.
I have researched this: BMI was invented by Adolphe Quetelet. He stated that the proper power for height to determine BMI was 3 for babies (more spherical), 2 for teenagers (more like beanpoles) and 2.5 for adults.
In 2013, Nick Trefethen proposed the formula should be 1.3 times weight divided by height to the power of 2.5, which would keep BMI roughly where it is for people of average height, but raise it for shorter people and reduce it for taller people.