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Beginner's luck?
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lower the cost of electricity to people living near them. This could be seen by some as “buying off” the opposition, but it would signal recognition of the fact that such locations, often remote, have something of great value to offer. Aberdeen, UK
No cheers From Edward Hitchcock Minimum alcohol pricing may not reduce consumption among those who see heavy drinking as an essential part of social activity, and who have disposable income (12 January, p 3). But the pricing may reward retailers, and punish poorer people who drink a little. Perhaps restrictions should focus on the types of drinks most often abused. And what about plain labelling requirements and advertising restrictions? Maybe there is a need to set national targets for reducing consumption of some drinks, but probably the most important and elusive control method is to make heavy drinking socially unacceptable, as smoking is. Christchurch, New Zealand
Making the grade From Ged Green A negative correlation between economic performance and test scores in mathematics and science subjects, which was highlighted in your look at the gap between the West and Asia, does not surprise
me (5 January, p 22). In a school with a broad international intake it is often the case that the student from a culture that prizes exam success above all else does not really see the benefits of looking beyond the curriculum. However, we should be wary of celebrating creativity and initiative alone, as they have diluted value if they lack substance. Testing by exam remains a useful tool for encouraging students to persevere with building a sound foundation of knowledge. Bedford, UK
Bug wrapper From Caroline Herzenberg Carrie Arnold discusses the idea that symbiotic microbes help drive the evolution of their hosts (12 January, p 30). Could a collection of microbes in the very distant past, a precursor of our present-day microbiome, have started the whole co-evolutionary process? Perhaps by wrapping itself in a protective outer layer of cohesive cells, it eventually evolved into a multicellular organism in its own right, and housed the microbiome – that is, the precursor of “us”. We might think of the microbiome not just as a creator of species, as described, but even as the originator of multicellular organisms. Is the microbiome in charge, with we humans mere packaging? Chicago, Illinois, US
Stepping stone From Andrew Climo New Scientist reported possible NASA plans to capture a 7-metrewide asteroid and place it in the moon’s orbit (2 January, newscientist.com). A great idea, but why not go for a larger rock to have a permanent platform in lunar orbit from which to launch missions?
It makes sense to put one in high Earth orbit too, for the same reason. Then conventional transports – heavy-lift rockets such as Atlas and Delta – could reach it, dock and transfer supplies. With provisioned and fuelled supply depots also offering emergency shelter, not only is risk reduced, but also potentially, mission complexity and long-term cost. Newlyn, Cornwall, UK
Turn on, tune out From Alan Hayward Video game tournaments as a spectator “sport” provide fodder for the mindless, and attract more to couch-potato land (12 January, p 20). It is sad that, for these folk,
constructive hobbies are being drowned in a sea of sterile entertainment. Ngaparou, Senegal
Get beavering From William Hughes-Games The news article on climate change suggests that streams and rivers powering European hydroelectric projects will flow more strongly in winter and less so in the summer, causing problems (1 December 2012, p 9). The answer is beavers. They not only store water in their dams, but also in the raised water table on either side of their streams, evening out the seasonal flow. In terms of water conservation,
they play a role similar to that of glaciers. Plant deciduous trees along the streams and introduce pairs of these furry engineers. Within a decade a watershed can be re-beavered. Waipara, New Zealand
Beginner’s luck? From John Chubb Peter Bauer in his letter notes the need for curiosity to overcome established information and experience (19 January, p 31). In my experience it is when entering a new field, where you don’t know the accepted ideas, that useful new approaches often arise. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK
For the record n In our story on new bird-scaring methods for flight paths (19 January, p 22), we should have said that Technology International is in Laplace, Louisiana. n An ironical misuse of the word had us describing Terry Erwin of the Smithsonian Institution as an etymologist. Since we report his work with insects, we should have realised that he is in fact an entomologist. (12 January, p 18). n Reporting on a treatment for agerelated macular degeneration, what we labelled as the ciliary body in a diagram of the eye is, of course, the choroid (19 January, p 8). n We got our Jeffrey Kahns muddled in our Insight on genome privacy (26 January, p 8). We incorrectly attributed quotes by Jeffrey Kahn at Johns Hopkins University to his namesake at Florida State University. Letters should be sent to: Letters to the Editor, New Scientist, 84 Theobald’s Road, London WC1X 8NS Fax: +44 (0) 20 7611 1280 Email: [email protected] Include your full postal address and telephone number, and a reference (issue, page number, title) to articles. We reserve the right to edit letters. Reed Business Information reserves the right to use any submissions sent to the letters column of New Scientist magazine, in any other format.
2 February 2013 | NewScientist | 29
lower the cost of electricity to people living near them. This could be seen by some as “buying off” the opposition, but it would signal recognition of the fact that such locations, often remote, have something of great value to offer. Aberdeen, UK
No cheers From Edward Hitchcock Minimum alcohol pricing may not reduce consumption among those who see heavy drinking as an essential part of social activity, and who have disposable income (12 January, p 3). But the pricing may reward retailers, and punish poorer people who drink a little. Perhaps restrictions should focus on the types of drinks most often abused. And what about plain labelling requirements and advertising restrictions? Maybe there is a need to set national targets for reducing consumption of some drinks, but probably the most important and elusive control method is to make heavy drinking socially unacceptable, as smoking is. Christchurch, New Zealand
Making the grade From Ged Green A negative correlation between economic performance and test scores in mathematics and science subjects, which was highlighted in your look at the gap between the West and Asia, does not surprise
me (5 January, p 22). In a school with a broad international intake it is often the case that the student from a culture that prizes exam success above all else does not really see the benefits of looking beyond the curriculum. However, we should be wary of celebrating creativity and initiative alone, as they have diluted value if they lack substance. Testing by exam remains a useful tool for encouraging students to persevere with building a sound foundation of knowledge. Bedford, UK
Bug wrapper From Caroline Herzenberg Carrie Arnold discusses the idea that symbiotic microbes help drive the evolution of their hosts (12 January, p 30). Could a collection of microbes in the very distant past, a precursor of our present-day microbiome, have started the whole co-evolutionary process? Perhaps by wrapping itself in a protective outer layer of cohesive cells, it eventually evolved into a multicellular organism in its own right, and housed the microbiome – that is, the precursor of “us”. We might think of the microbiome not just as a creator of species, as described, but even as the originator of multicellular organisms. Is the microbiome in charge, with we humans mere packaging? Chicago, Illinois, US
Stepping stone From Andrew Climo New Scientist reported possible NASA plans to capture a 7-metrewide asteroid and place it in the moon’s orbit (2 January, newscientist.com). A great idea, but why not go for a larger rock to have a permanent platform in lunar orbit from which to launch missions?
It makes sense to put one in high Earth orbit too, for the same reason. Then conventional transports – heavy-lift rockets such as Atlas and Delta – could reach it, dock and transfer supplies. With provisioned and fuelled supply depots also offering emergency shelter, not only is risk reduced, but also potentially, mission complexity and long-term cost. Newlyn, Cornwall, UK
Turn on, tune out From Alan Hayward Video game tournaments as a spectator “sport” provide fodder for the mindless, and attract more to couch-potato land (12 January, p 20). It is sad that, for these folk,
constructive hobbies are being drowned in a sea of sterile entertainment. Ngaparou, Senegal
Get beavering From William Hughes-Games The news article on climate change suggests that streams and rivers powering European hydroelectric projects will flow more strongly in winter and less so in the summer, causing problems (1 December 2012, p 9). The answer is beavers. They not only store water in their dams, but also in the raised water table on either side of their streams, evening out the seasonal flow. In terms of water conservation,
they play a role similar to that of glaciers. Plant deciduous trees along the streams and introduce pairs of these furry engineers. Within a decade a watershed can be re-beavered. Waipara, New Zealand
Beginner’s luck? From John Chubb Peter Bauer in his letter notes the need for curiosity to overcome established information and experience (19 January, p 31). In my experience it is when entering a new field, where you don’t know the accepted ideas, that useful new approaches often arise. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK
For the record n In our story on new bird-scaring methods for flight paths (19 January, p 22), we should have said that Technology International is in Laplace, Louisiana. n An ironical misuse of the word had us describing Terry Erwin of the Smithsonian Institution as an etymologist. Since we report his work with insects, we should have realised that he is in fact an entomologist. (12 January, p 18). n Reporting on a treatment for agerelated macular degeneration, what we labelled as the ciliary body in a diagram of the eye is, of course, the choroid (19 January, p 8). n We got our Jeffrey Kahns muddled in our Insight on genome privacy (26 January, p 8). We incorrectly attributed quotes by Jeffrey Kahn at Johns Hopkins University to his namesake at Florida State University. Letters should be sent to: Letters to the Editor, New Scientist, 84 Theobald’s Road, London WC1X 8NS Fax: +44 (0) 20 7611 1280 Email: [email protected] Include your full postal address and telephone number, and a reference (issue, page number, title) to articles. We reserve the right to edit letters. Reed Business Information reserves the right to use any submissions sent to the letters column of New Scientist magazine, in any other format.
2 February 2013 | NewScientist | 29