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Faith and reason
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exactly the sort of thing that conscientious people, well attuned to the niceties of protocol and the finer points of obligation, might be expected to observe. West Brigford, Nottingham, UK
like it. If you had to choose between sausage and corn meal and sausage and beans, you’d hate both of em.’ ” Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
From Nick Beale There are ways to foil Facebook algorithms that profile you without your knowledge: ensure you have an eclectic group of friends who live further than 40 kilometres away; talk to people who went to different universities; enjoy being with those of different sexual orientation; make friends that none of your other friends know; try to be extrovert and agreeable, or conscientious and open. Facebook can profile predictable personalities, it cannot fathom those who are interesting. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Earlier and earlier
Limited diet From Emil Kucera Helen Knight writes that “various studies have shown that people with restricted choice – or none at all – often feel happier with a given outcome than those with more freedom” (14 April, p 36). It seems that authors knew it long ago. In Kenneth Roberts’s book Northwest Passage, published in 1937, we find this discussion of choice: “ ‘Jesse,’ I said, ‘don’t you get sick of sausage and corn meal?’ ‘No,’ Jesse said. ‘No. If there ain’t nothing to eat but sausage and corn meal, you
From Bob Gray Further to Stuart Goldman’s letter on driverless cars (28 April, p 31). I don’t suppose German author Erich Kästner was the first, but he described them in his 1931 story The 35th of May. Also mentioned were mobile phones and moving walkways, along with portals to alternative realities at the back of a wardrobe – well before C. S. Lewis. London, UK
belief (5 May, p 14) fitted perfectly with members of the church I used to belong to. When pressed to really think about what they professed to believe in, most people preferred not to do so. The few who opted to analyse their beliefs, like me, underwent major changes in their faith. Pasadena, California, US
Growing resistance
Sleeper cells From Lee Seldon I read with interest your article on so-called sleeper cells – bacteria that become dormant to survive antibiotics, reactivating when the threat has passed (31 March, p 40). From experience, I am sure Burkholderia pseudomallei (previously called Pseudomonas pseudomallei), which causes melioidosis, should be on the list of such organisms. I got this infection in 2008 in Borneo. It manifested as pneumonia and was treated with two weeks of intravenous antibiotics. One week after finishing the treatment, and while on a preventative course of ampicillin, I had a recurrence. This was frightening, given the sledgehammers that were used against the original infection, and I could not understand it until I read your article. Malacca, Malaysia
Faith and reason From Bill Straub Your story on how thinking analytically can dim religious
number of things famously well”. This begs the question of whether something we can’t detect even when it should be detectable is an explanation at all. It seems more like proponents of the standard model of particle physics have chosen to give a big problem a trendy name in order to brush it aside. That there is 83 per cent less detectable matter in the universe than the standard model demands cannot be explained away as a minor irritant called “dark matter” any more than losing both arms and legs to an opposing swordsman could be considered to be “only a flesh wound”. London, UK
Quick slime From Marshall E. Deutsch When I read about the experiment in which slime mould spread patterns were shown to mimic road networks in the US (24 March, p 23), I thought it must have been carried out on maps. Then I realised that many US roads have yellow lines down the middle and that I had been incorrect in believing them to be lane markers… they must be trails of Physarum polycephalum. Sudbury, Massachusetts, US
Dark difficulty From Steve Wilson It was intriguing to read that experiments suggest dark matter may not be present in our part of the galaxy (28 April, p 6), whereas the majority opinion is that it should be. More intriguing for those of us with a sceptical nature was the statement by Rory Smith of the University of Concepción in Chile that dark matter is still needed because “it explains an enormous
From David Payne Alasdair Cook’s letter (28 April, p 30), quoting a 1948 report from the Veterinary Record on a diminution in the efficacy of penicillin, rang a very loud bell. In 1823, doctor John Elliotson wrote in The London Medical Gazette: “When we first had sulphate of quinine [the first synthetic antimalarial drug] I was generally able to cure the disease with two or three grains, two or three times a day but that does not generally happen to me now.” Just last week, there were reports that the current most effective antimalarial – artemisinin – is losing its potency in some parts of the world, largely due to inappropriate use of the drug. Will we ever learn? Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, UK 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.
19 May 2012 | NewScientist | 33
exactly the sort of thing that conscientious people, well attuned to the niceties of protocol and the finer points of obligation, might be expected to observe. West Brigford, Nottingham, UK
like it. If you had to choose between sausage and corn meal and sausage and beans, you’d hate both of em.’ ” Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
From Nick Beale There are ways to foil Facebook algorithms that profile you without your knowledge: ensure you have an eclectic group of friends who live further than 40 kilometres away; talk to people who went to different universities; enjoy being with those of different sexual orientation; make friends that none of your other friends know; try to be extrovert and agreeable, or conscientious and open. Facebook can profile predictable personalities, it cannot fathom those who are interesting. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Earlier and earlier
Limited diet From Emil Kucera Helen Knight writes that “various studies have shown that people with restricted choice – or none at all – often feel happier with a given outcome than those with more freedom” (14 April, p 36). It seems that authors knew it long ago. In Kenneth Roberts’s book Northwest Passage, published in 1937, we find this discussion of choice: “ ‘Jesse,’ I said, ‘don’t you get sick of sausage and corn meal?’ ‘No,’ Jesse said. ‘No. If there ain’t nothing to eat but sausage and corn meal, you
From Bob Gray Further to Stuart Goldman’s letter on driverless cars (28 April, p 31). I don’t suppose German author Erich Kästner was the first, but he described them in his 1931 story The 35th of May. Also mentioned were mobile phones and moving walkways, along with portals to alternative realities at the back of a wardrobe – well before C. S. Lewis. London, UK
belief (5 May, p 14) fitted perfectly with members of the church I used to belong to. When pressed to really think about what they professed to believe in, most people preferred not to do so. The few who opted to analyse their beliefs, like me, underwent major changes in their faith. Pasadena, California, US
Growing resistance
Sleeper cells From Lee Seldon I read with interest your article on so-called sleeper cells – bacteria that become dormant to survive antibiotics, reactivating when the threat has passed (31 March, p 40). From experience, I am sure Burkholderia pseudomallei (previously called Pseudomonas pseudomallei), which causes melioidosis, should be on the list of such organisms. I got this infection in 2008 in Borneo. It manifested as pneumonia and was treated with two weeks of intravenous antibiotics. One week after finishing the treatment, and while on a preventative course of ampicillin, I had a recurrence. This was frightening, given the sledgehammers that were used against the original infection, and I could not understand it until I read your article. Malacca, Malaysia
Faith and reason From Bill Straub Your story on how thinking analytically can dim religious
number of things famously well”. This begs the question of whether something we can’t detect even when it should be detectable is an explanation at all. It seems more like proponents of the standard model of particle physics have chosen to give a big problem a trendy name in order to brush it aside. That there is 83 per cent less detectable matter in the universe than the standard model demands cannot be explained away as a minor irritant called “dark matter” any more than losing both arms and legs to an opposing swordsman could be considered to be “only a flesh wound”. London, UK
Quick slime From Marshall E. Deutsch When I read about the experiment in which slime mould spread patterns were shown to mimic road networks in the US (24 March, p 23), I thought it must have been carried out on maps. Then I realised that many US roads have yellow lines down the middle and that I had been incorrect in believing them to be lane markers… they must be trails of Physarum polycephalum. Sudbury, Massachusetts, US
Dark difficulty From Steve Wilson It was intriguing to read that experiments suggest dark matter may not be present in our part of the galaxy (28 April, p 6), whereas the majority opinion is that it should be. More intriguing for those of us with a sceptical nature was the statement by Rory Smith of the University of Concepción in Chile that dark matter is still needed because “it explains an enormous
From David Payne Alasdair Cook’s letter (28 April, p 30), quoting a 1948 report from the Veterinary Record on a diminution in the efficacy of penicillin, rang a very loud bell. In 1823, doctor John Elliotson wrote in The London Medical Gazette: “When we first had sulphate of quinine [the first synthetic antimalarial drug] I was generally able to cure the disease with two or three grains, two or three times a day but that does not generally happen to me now.” Just last week, there were reports that the current most effective antimalarial – artemisinin – is losing its potency in some parts of the world, largely due to inappropriate use of the drug. Will we ever learn? Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, UK 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.
19 May 2012 | NewScientist | 33