- Email: [email protected]
Experience counts
See newscientist.com for letters on: ● You’re so special ● Applied passion
(17 May, p 42). I have kept ostriches for 18 years and can testify otherwise. When it is hot, they raise their wings to expose their bare upper legs to any cooling breeze; when it is cold, they lower the wings to keep their legs warm. If the sun is shining on one side, they lower the wing on that side to provide some shade. When they run fast, ostriches can make a 90-degree turn to left or right by quickly spreading and lowering the wing on that side. If you get too close, they march towards you, rhythmically moving their wings up and down – it’s time to leave. In courtship, the male sits on the ground and spreads his wings, exposing the white tips. He rocks his body and wings from side to side with his neck moving in the opposite direction. When he mounts the female and lowers himself on her back he spreads his wings for stability. The male scrapes a circular nest about 60 centimetres in diameter and 10 centimetres deep, mainly using his wings: this is quite a job in hard, dry and stony soil. Both males and females on the nest use their wings to keep the eggs at the right temperature. Once hatched, the chicks shelter under the wings of both parents when it is raining and at night. When they want the chicks to hide, the parents make short, flapping wing movements. If a predator comes close they distract it using the same “broken wing” tactic that plovers use. Pretoria, South Africa
pre-literate societies almost certainly had near-eidetic memories, because they could not record and pass information down through the generations in any other way. With writing must have come certain mental “losses”. And then with TV…? Another dimension that may be missing for our younger generations is the opportunity to express themselves in ways that are vital for the comfort and survival of their community. Consider a talented shoemaker whose excellent shoes make life better for the other residents in the village. That is, a person who is honoured and needed. In our modern day, such things as fine shoes can be made in faroff lands or by machines, and individual shoemaking talents mean nothing in the general scheme of things. The world-class practitioners are the only ones we hear from. Talk about a loss of identity for the rest of us. Albany, New York, US
Experience counts
From Vernon C. Barber I don’t think any serious consideration of the possibility of contacting extraterrestrial intelligences can rule out Steven J. Dick’s scenario that they could be a type of artificial intelligence far in advance of our capabilities (31 May, p 21). But these could only have arisen from the work of intelligent biological entities similar to us. Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, UK
From Helen Ghiradella Thanks to Susan Greenfield for pointing out that brain connections form in response to experience, and that personality and identity might be largely shaped by the nature of that experience (17 May, p 48). Neil Postman makes a similar point in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death, in which he points out that www.newscientist.com
Who made ET?
Needs must From Emily Wolfe Working on solutions that can meet some people’s aspirations, as David Sandilands suggests (31 May, p 23), is surely a lower priority than meeting all people’s basic needs. When everyone has something – anything – to eat is when we can address aspirations of the affluent few for meat. When everyone has somewhere to live, that is not under threat of imminent destruction by rising sea levels, then we might address aspirations of the affluent few for travelling to work by car. Bristol, UK
An oceanic epic? From Nick Dore Sprinkling the oceans with powdered limestone (17 May, p 16) is at least a basis for possible remedial action to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide. It would surely be better to pump a saturated solution of dissolved limestone into the sea rather than dropping a solid, which would require large ships capable of carrying huge amounts of rock. If they must be used, to keep them from becoming polluters by burning heavy fuel oil such ships would have to be equipped with high-tech sails, possibly made of large flexible solar panels. The vision of fleets of vast ex-tankers-turned-environmentalsaviours cruising the oceans under acres of black sail and depositing a solution of limestone is compelling – the Carbonate Fleets of the 21st century. I feel an epic coming on. Lincoln, UK
Blood bonds From John Davies I am an anaesthetist, so cannot criticise your article “Blood doesn’t always save lives” (26 April, p 8) as thoroughly as haematologists will, but its
section on “Bloodless surgery” did not give me confidence. Following blood loss during surgery, putting the patient in a hyperbaric chamber will not “load their remaining red cells with oxygen”. Given adequate lung and heart function, haemoglobin will be at least 98 per cent saturated with oxygen while breathing air at normal atmospheric pressure. A higher partial pressure of oxygen can add little more to red cells, though it can dissolve more oxygen in the plasma. And far from demonstrating a profligate use of stored blood, your illustration to the article shows one of the three blood bags to be from a “cell saver”, which rescues blood lost in surgery and returns it to the patient. Lancaster, UK
Say what? From David Hobday I am the only reader of New Scientist among my family and friends, and so I manage to amuse them now and then by giving short lectures on the interesting things I read. However, it worries me that I am unsure of the correct pronunciation of some uncommon words. For example, is “oxytocin” oxytoe-sin or ock-sighter-s’n (17 May, p 34)? Making a faux pas like that would prove to a real scientist that I’m just a pretender. How about giving us correct phonetics for the key words of a new subject too? Bateau Bay, New South Wales, Australia The editor writes: ● It is pronounced oxy-toe-sin. 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.
21 June 2008 | NewScientist | 27
(17 May, p 42). I have kept ostriches for 18 years and can testify otherwise. When it is hot, they raise their wings to expose their bare upper legs to any cooling breeze; when it is cold, they lower the wings to keep their legs warm. If the sun is shining on one side, they lower the wing on that side to provide some shade. When they run fast, ostriches can make a 90-degree turn to left or right by quickly spreading and lowering the wing on that side. If you get too close, they march towards you, rhythmically moving their wings up and down – it’s time to leave. In courtship, the male sits on the ground and spreads his wings, exposing the white tips. He rocks his body and wings from side to side with his neck moving in the opposite direction. When he mounts the female and lowers himself on her back he spreads his wings for stability. The male scrapes a circular nest about 60 centimetres in diameter and 10 centimetres deep, mainly using his wings: this is quite a job in hard, dry and stony soil. Both males and females on the nest use their wings to keep the eggs at the right temperature. Once hatched, the chicks shelter under the wings of both parents when it is raining and at night. When they want the chicks to hide, the parents make short, flapping wing movements. If a predator comes close they distract it using the same “broken wing” tactic that plovers use. Pretoria, South Africa
pre-literate societies almost certainly had near-eidetic memories, because they could not record and pass information down through the generations in any other way. With writing must have come certain mental “losses”. And then with TV…? Another dimension that may be missing for our younger generations is the opportunity to express themselves in ways that are vital for the comfort and survival of their community. Consider a talented shoemaker whose excellent shoes make life better for the other residents in the village. That is, a person who is honoured and needed. In our modern day, such things as fine shoes can be made in faroff lands or by machines, and individual shoemaking talents mean nothing in the general scheme of things. The world-class practitioners are the only ones we hear from. Talk about a loss of identity for the rest of us. Albany, New York, US
Experience counts
From Vernon C. Barber I don’t think any serious consideration of the possibility of contacting extraterrestrial intelligences can rule out Steven J. Dick’s scenario that they could be a type of artificial intelligence far in advance of our capabilities (31 May, p 21). But these could only have arisen from the work of intelligent biological entities similar to us. Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, UK
From Helen Ghiradella Thanks to Susan Greenfield for pointing out that brain connections form in response to experience, and that personality and identity might be largely shaped by the nature of that experience (17 May, p 48). Neil Postman makes a similar point in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death, in which he points out that www.newscientist.com
Who made ET?
Needs must From Emily Wolfe Working on solutions that can meet some people’s aspirations, as David Sandilands suggests (31 May, p 23), is surely a lower priority than meeting all people’s basic needs. When everyone has something – anything – to eat is when we can address aspirations of the affluent few for meat. When everyone has somewhere to live, that is not under threat of imminent destruction by rising sea levels, then we might address aspirations of the affluent few for travelling to work by car. Bristol, UK
An oceanic epic? From Nick Dore Sprinkling the oceans with powdered limestone (17 May, p 16) is at least a basis for possible remedial action to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide. It would surely be better to pump a saturated solution of dissolved limestone into the sea rather than dropping a solid, which would require large ships capable of carrying huge amounts of rock. If they must be used, to keep them from becoming polluters by burning heavy fuel oil such ships would have to be equipped with high-tech sails, possibly made of large flexible solar panels. The vision of fleets of vast ex-tankers-turned-environmentalsaviours cruising the oceans under acres of black sail and depositing a solution of limestone is compelling – the Carbonate Fleets of the 21st century. I feel an epic coming on. Lincoln, UK
Blood bonds From John Davies I am an anaesthetist, so cannot criticise your article “Blood doesn’t always save lives” (26 April, p 8) as thoroughly as haematologists will, but its
section on “Bloodless surgery” did not give me confidence. Following blood loss during surgery, putting the patient in a hyperbaric chamber will not “load their remaining red cells with oxygen”. Given adequate lung and heart function, haemoglobin will be at least 98 per cent saturated with oxygen while breathing air at normal atmospheric pressure. A higher partial pressure of oxygen can add little more to red cells, though it can dissolve more oxygen in the plasma. And far from demonstrating a profligate use of stored blood, your illustration to the article shows one of the three blood bags to be from a “cell saver”, which rescues blood lost in surgery and returns it to the patient. Lancaster, UK
Say what? From David Hobday I am the only reader of New Scientist among my family and friends, and so I manage to amuse them now and then by giving short lectures on the interesting things I read. However, it worries me that I am unsure of the correct pronunciation of some uncommon words. For example, is “oxytocin” oxytoe-sin or ock-sighter-s’n (17 May, p 34)? Making a faux pas like that would prove to a real scientist that I’m just a pretender. How about giving us correct phonetics for the key words of a new subject too? Bateau Bay, New South Wales, Australia The editor writes: ● It is pronounced oxy-toe-sin. 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.
21 June 2008 | NewScientist | 27