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Drug not banned
Letters– Reclaim the streets From Simon Norton If I understand him rightly, A. C. Grayling says that closing off areas of cities to cars might lead to urban decay because there is evidence of links between inaccessibility and decay (12 January, p 48). But most people do not travel around central London by car at all, and access on foot or by bicycle is improved when traffic is removed. Even motorists normally expect to
park some distance from their destination and reach it on foot. If we are to move to a lowcarbon economy, we need to make motoring a minority means of access in all urban areas, in which case my argument above will be equally applicable everywhere. To use Grayling’s analogy, the way to avoid a “heart attack” in London’s traffic is to reduce the “blood pressure” in terms of the number of vehicles on the streets. If congestion charging seems to be aimed at revenue-raising, that is partly a result of the inability of local authorities in the UK to raise revenue in ways that aren’t perceived as damaging. In other words, there is a lack of “fiscal accountability”, which the late Jane Jacobs in her last book Dark Age Ahead described as one of the main signs of decay in western society. Cambridge, UK From David Rennie Grayling accepts that the congestion charge has greatly reduced traffic in central London, and then complains that road 18 | NewScientist | 2 February 2008
space has been reduced, side roads closed off and the red phases of traffic signals for vehicles lengthened. To pedestrians, the lifeblood of London, these are all blessings. London, UK
Traffic pickle From Ian Napier You report research at Harvard University finding a correlation between childhood learning difficulties and road traffic fumes (5 January, p 13). To compound the matter, the tar used in blacktop roads could also be a source of health problems. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are usually present in these tars, as are numerous other toxic compounds, and as the road surface wears they will be distributed in the ensuing dust. Intuitively, one could expect that the road wear rate will be highest where the density of traffic fumes is highest. St Peters, South Australia
Hidden threat From Bob Powell Mike Huckabee might appeal directly to the evangelical right wing of the US Republican Party (12 January, p 3), but on a national scale he is way behind John McCain in the polls and it is McCain who is by far the biggest hidden threat to scientific fact and education in the US. McCain wants “intelligent design” taught in schools alongside evolution, and in February 2007 he was a keynote speaker at the Discovery Institute, which promotes ID. For all that Mike Huckabee’s religious beliefs are grounds for concern – considering that he could lead the most powerful country in the world without understanding how that world actually works – he at least is honest enough to admit them. John McCain seems to change his mind on science facts as quickly as the polls suggest he should,
and to try to hide his beliefs from the more secular or mainstream majority of voters. Tamworth, Staffordshire, UK
Misleading maths From Tom Bing and Edward Redish Although your report of our work on software which seems to encourage students to focus on the wrong aspects of scientific problems (5 January, p 22) quotes our results correctly, the website headline “Physics tool makes students miss the point” yields a spin that we are afraid may make readers draw an incorrect inference. Our title makes a more balanced, if less dramatic, claim: “Symbolic manipulators affect mathematical mindsets.” Students using calculators may not to bother to think about numbers and draw inappropriate, or even nonsensical, conclusions; but we do not advocate taking calculators away from our students. Rather, as is cited in the references of our paper, research shows that students who have appropriate instruction in the use of calculators develop an improved number sense. We expect that the use of a symbolic manipulator – with appropriate instruction – could result in students “getting the point” more effectively than working manually. We hope to discover what such “appropriate instruction” means and hope that other researchers will also begin to explore these issues. We do not mean to discourage teachers from using symbolic manipulators with their students; rather, we mean to encourage them to use these tools thoughtfully and carefully. College Park, Maryland, US
Drug not banned From Elizabeth Hunter, World Anti-Doping Agency Debora MacKenzie wrote that the anti-smoking aid bupropion is banned for use by athletes “on the
day of competition, but it can be used during training” (12 January, p 12). To clarify, bupropion is not a banned substance at any time – whether during or out of competition. It has been placed on a list of substances being monitored during competition by a number of anti-doping laboratories around the world so that more information about its use and potential abuse may be obtained. At this time, there is no restriction on the use of bupropion by athletes. Montreal, Canada
Lucid rules From Paul Davies Jeff Warren attributes “informal laws” to lucid dreams (22/29 December 2007, p 73). I have often wondered to what extent the laws of physics are respected in these highly realistic dream states. The last time I had a lucid dream I inspected my image in a mirror, and found it to be inverted in the familiar manner. My ambition is to perform Galileo’s experiment on falling dream objects. Perhaps one of your readers has already done this. Tempe, Arizona, US
One-world theory From Patrick Johnson Hugh Everett’s many-worlds view of quantum mechanics has implications for the fate of the universe (24 November 2007, p 52). Suppose there is a 90 per cent probability that within the next hour the “false vacuum” containing our universe will decay into a zero-energy ground state containing no material universe. This implies that 9 out of 10 parallel universes splitting at this point will contain a zeroenergy vacuum, and that 1 in 10 will contain a universe closely resembling ours. Unless there is a 100 per cent certainty that our universe will be annihilated at the end of some www.newscientist.com
park some distance from their destination and reach it on foot. If we are to move to a lowcarbon economy, we need to make motoring a minority means of access in all urban areas, in which case my argument above will be equally applicable everywhere. To use Grayling’s analogy, the way to avoid a “heart attack” in London’s traffic is to reduce the “blood pressure” in terms of the number of vehicles on the streets. If congestion charging seems to be aimed at revenue-raising, that is partly a result of the inability of local authorities in the UK to raise revenue in ways that aren’t perceived as damaging. In other words, there is a lack of “fiscal accountability”, which the late Jane Jacobs in her last book Dark Age Ahead described as one of the main signs of decay in western society. Cambridge, UK From David Rennie Grayling accepts that the congestion charge has greatly reduced traffic in central London, and then complains that road 18 | NewScientist | 2 February 2008
space has been reduced, side roads closed off and the red phases of traffic signals for vehicles lengthened. To pedestrians, the lifeblood of London, these are all blessings. London, UK
Traffic pickle From Ian Napier You report research at Harvard University finding a correlation between childhood learning difficulties and road traffic fumes (5 January, p 13). To compound the matter, the tar used in blacktop roads could also be a source of health problems. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are usually present in these tars, as are numerous other toxic compounds, and as the road surface wears they will be distributed in the ensuing dust. Intuitively, one could expect that the road wear rate will be highest where the density of traffic fumes is highest. St Peters, South Australia
Hidden threat From Bob Powell Mike Huckabee might appeal directly to the evangelical right wing of the US Republican Party (12 January, p 3), but on a national scale he is way behind John McCain in the polls and it is McCain who is by far the biggest hidden threat to scientific fact and education in the US. McCain wants “intelligent design” taught in schools alongside evolution, and in February 2007 he was a keynote speaker at the Discovery Institute, which promotes ID. For all that Mike Huckabee’s religious beliefs are grounds for concern – considering that he could lead the most powerful country in the world without understanding how that world actually works – he at least is honest enough to admit them. John McCain seems to change his mind on science facts as quickly as the polls suggest he should,
and to try to hide his beliefs from the more secular or mainstream majority of voters. Tamworth, Staffordshire, UK
Misleading maths From Tom Bing and Edward Redish Although your report of our work on software which seems to encourage students to focus on the wrong aspects of scientific problems (5 January, p 22) quotes our results correctly, the website headline “Physics tool makes students miss the point” yields a spin that we are afraid may make readers draw an incorrect inference. Our title makes a more balanced, if less dramatic, claim: “Symbolic manipulators affect mathematical mindsets.” Students using calculators may not to bother to think about numbers and draw inappropriate, or even nonsensical, conclusions; but we do not advocate taking calculators away from our students. Rather, as is cited in the references of our paper, research shows that students who have appropriate instruction in the use of calculators develop an improved number sense. We expect that the use of a symbolic manipulator – with appropriate instruction – could result in students “getting the point” more effectively than working manually. We hope to discover what such “appropriate instruction” means and hope that other researchers will also begin to explore these issues. We do not mean to discourage teachers from using symbolic manipulators with their students; rather, we mean to encourage them to use these tools thoughtfully and carefully. College Park, Maryland, US
Drug not banned From Elizabeth Hunter, World Anti-Doping Agency Debora MacKenzie wrote that the anti-smoking aid bupropion is banned for use by athletes “on the
day of competition, but it can be used during training” (12 January, p 12). To clarify, bupropion is not a banned substance at any time – whether during or out of competition. It has been placed on a list of substances being monitored during competition by a number of anti-doping laboratories around the world so that more information about its use and potential abuse may be obtained. At this time, there is no restriction on the use of bupropion by athletes. Montreal, Canada
Lucid rules From Paul Davies Jeff Warren attributes “informal laws” to lucid dreams (22/29 December 2007, p 73). I have often wondered to what extent the laws of physics are respected in these highly realistic dream states. The last time I had a lucid dream I inspected my image in a mirror, and found it to be inverted in the familiar manner. My ambition is to perform Galileo’s experiment on falling dream objects. Perhaps one of your readers has already done this. Tempe, Arizona, US
One-world theory From Patrick Johnson Hugh Everett’s many-worlds view of quantum mechanics has implications for the fate of the universe (24 November 2007, p 52). Suppose there is a 90 per cent probability that within the next hour the “false vacuum” containing our universe will decay into a zero-energy ground state containing no material universe. This implies that 9 out of 10 parallel universes splitting at this point will contain a zeroenergy vacuum, and that 1 in 10 will contain a universe closely resembling ours. Unless there is a 100 per cent certainty that our universe will be annihilated at the end of some www.newscientist.com