- Email: [email protected]
Mind in the frame
See newscientist.com for letters on: ● What is science, then? ● Dependence ● Carbon tax distribution
hippocampus” (New Scientist, 18 March 2000, p 11). In 2003 they tested the hypothesis Sue Chinn proposes on people who were not taxi drivers and found no association between hippocampal volume and navigational expertise (Hippocampus, vol 13, p 250).
What carbon? From Paul Broady Recently you published a letter from Chris Adams drawing attention to the loose use of figures for carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere, when what is really meant is CO2 equivalent concentration – CO2eq (5 April, p 20). He wrote that: “it is calculations based on this composite unit which show that 450 parts per million CO2eq is the highest concentration of greenhouse gases that leaves us a reasonable chance of limiting global warming to 2 °C”. A few weeks later, Fred Pearce referred to an agreement between European governments to “keep atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide below 450 parts per million” (3 May, p 8). Does he really mean CO2eq? It makes a significant difference! Christchurch, New Zealand The editor writes: ● Point taken, and we will be precise in future. Those figures were for CO2eq.
Music theory unravels From Allan Jones The theory that the repetitiveness of Ravel’s Boléro is related to his neurodegenerative condition (3 May, p 46) is unconvincing. After Boléro, Ravel wrote two piano concertos, neither of which is especially repetitive. Boléro is, in any case, repetitive only if you concentrate on the theme. In the orchestration there is little repetition, as Anne Adams’s visual analogue of the work nicely shows. www.newscientist.com
Finally, the symptoms of Ravel’s condition do not fit those of the neurodegeneracy which afflicted Adams. Ravel’s problem was not language loss and repetitive behaviour, but loss of control of fine movement and fatigue. He could not put his ideas on paper, but in other respects his faculties remained sharp. In their books on Ravel, Roger Nichols and Arbie Orenstein give clear accounts of his symptoms. Yardley Gobion, Northamptonshire, UK
Antediluvianism From James Russell You quote Colin Renfrew’s “sapient paradox” that while the human brain has changed little genetically in 60,000 years, behaviour changed suddenly 10,000 years ago (17 May, p 5). Renfrew will no doubt be basing his view of human behaviour on an archaeological doctrine that if no evidence exists on land, then none exists. I put it to him that it is no coincidence that 10,000 years ago is also when the last ice age ended and sea level underwent its last major change. Any evidence of structures, however substantial, built in northern Europe before then would have been scraped into the sea by the ice; and any less than 60 metres above the then sea level would now be under water. Had there been an interglacial Stonehenge, there would be no evidence of it now. An archaeologist in 10,000 years’ time, examining a map of the UK above the present 60-metre contour, would conclude that we had no major towns, no nuclear or thermal power stations, no long-span bridges, no parliament, no politicians… in fact, that we were hill farmers with a sideline in electricity from windmills. The paradox disappears if human behaviour did develop gradually over 60,000 years, but all evidence of this development is now erased. Magheramorne, County Antrim, UK
Mind in the frame
past, present or future events. OK, now let’s move on to the theory of evolution.” Chester, Connecticut, US
The persuader
From Saskia Latendresse David Bainbridge’s description of consciousness (26 January, p 40), including, for example, the fact that we do not know where in the brain consciousness happens, was evocative. Scott McCloud, in his book Understanding Comics, describes a comic’s story as whatever is happening in the blank spaces between the panels. What if our minds function like a comic: they snap pictures, and our consciousness is simply the story the mind constructs around those pictures? Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Here endeth the lesson From Ken Lignar While I am not a believer in the theory of intelligent design, I see no reason why it cannot be taught in schools alongside the theory of evolution – as long as it is kept neutral to any specific religion. The entire lesson can be summed up quite easily and will not burden the students with difficult concepts or homework. Here is a sample lesson text that can be used by any teacher: “The theory of intelligent design states that an omnipotent being created the universe and everything in it for reasons we cannot, and are not meant to, comprehend. There is no quantifiable evidence to support this theory, there are no hypotheses that can be proven or disproven using this theory, and it offers no predictive ability for any
From Guy Inchbald I fear that I am not persuaded by your feature on how to get exactly what you want (10 May, p 32). Your third item carefully explains that making up to three points is persuasive, but making as many as eight causes the listener to undervalue the whole deal. I felt persuaded. But by the time I got to your eighth and last item the whole feature had lost all sense of value. Thinking of another tip from item 3, I invite you to give me one good reason why I should believe a word of it. Upton upon Severn, Worcestershire, UK
For the record ● In our illustration of the Earth circling the sun and galaxy (26 April, p 14), the arrow showing the sun’s direction orbiting the galaxy should have been pointing up; accordingly, our planet should have been shown closer to the centre of the galaxy in June, not December. In addition, the plane of Earth’s orbit around the sun is actually tilted steeply – around 70 degrees – relative to the plane of the galaxy so the Earth’s forward velocity along the plane of the galaxy in June is around 10 per cent faster, not 30 per cent as we said. ● We said that the lowering of the human larynx created “two tubes of roughly equal size, one above and one below the larynx” (24 May, p 28). It did create two tube-like parts, but both are above the larynx: the pharynx (upper throat) and the mouth cavity itself. 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.
14 June 2008 | NewScientist | 21
hippocampus” (New Scientist, 18 March 2000, p 11). In 2003 they tested the hypothesis Sue Chinn proposes on people who were not taxi drivers and found no association between hippocampal volume and navigational expertise (Hippocampus, vol 13, p 250).
What carbon? From Paul Broady Recently you published a letter from Chris Adams drawing attention to the loose use of figures for carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere, when what is really meant is CO2 equivalent concentration – CO2eq (5 April, p 20). He wrote that: “it is calculations based on this composite unit which show that 450 parts per million CO2eq is the highest concentration of greenhouse gases that leaves us a reasonable chance of limiting global warming to 2 °C”. A few weeks later, Fred Pearce referred to an agreement between European governments to “keep atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide below 450 parts per million” (3 May, p 8). Does he really mean CO2eq? It makes a significant difference! Christchurch, New Zealand The editor writes: ● Point taken, and we will be precise in future. Those figures were for CO2eq.
Music theory unravels From Allan Jones The theory that the repetitiveness of Ravel’s Boléro is related to his neurodegenerative condition (3 May, p 46) is unconvincing. After Boléro, Ravel wrote two piano concertos, neither of which is especially repetitive. Boléro is, in any case, repetitive only if you concentrate on the theme. In the orchestration there is little repetition, as Anne Adams’s visual analogue of the work nicely shows. www.newscientist.com
Finally, the symptoms of Ravel’s condition do not fit those of the neurodegeneracy which afflicted Adams. Ravel’s problem was not language loss and repetitive behaviour, but loss of control of fine movement and fatigue. He could not put his ideas on paper, but in other respects his faculties remained sharp. In their books on Ravel, Roger Nichols and Arbie Orenstein give clear accounts of his symptoms. Yardley Gobion, Northamptonshire, UK
Antediluvianism From James Russell You quote Colin Renfrew’s “sapient paradox” that while the human brain has changed little genetically in 60,000 years, behaviour changed suddenly 10,000 years ago (17 May, p 5). Renfrew will no doubt be basing his view of human behaviour on an archaeological doctrine that if no evidence exists on land, then none exists. I put it to him that it is no coincidence that 10,000 years ago is also when the last ice age ended and sea level underwent its last major change. Any evidence of structures, however substantial, built in northern Europe before then would have been scraped into the sea by the ice; and any less than 60 metres above the then sea level would now be under water. Had there been an interglacial Stonehenge, there would be no evidence of it now. An archaeologist in 10,000 years’ time, examining a map of the UK above the present 60-metre contour, would conclude that we had no major towns, no nuclear or thermal power stations, no long-span bridges, no parliament, no politicians… in fact, that we were hill farmers with a sideline in electricity from windmills. The paradox disappears if human behaviour did develop gradually over 60,000 years, but all evidence of this development is now erased. Magheramorne, County Antrim, UK
Mind in the frame
past, present or future events. OK, now let’s move on to the theory of evolution.” Chester, Connecticut, US
The persuader
From Saskia Latendresse David Bainbridge’s description of consciousness (26 January, p 40), including, for example, the fact that we do not know where in the brain consciousness happens, was evocative. Scott McCloud, in his book Understanding Comics, describes a comic’s story as whatever is happening in the blank spaces between the panels. What if our minds function like a comic: they snap pictures, and our consciousness is simply the story the mind constructs around those pictures? Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Here endeth the lesson From Ken Lignar While I am not a believer in the theory of intelligent design, I see no reason why it cannot be taught in schools alongside the theory of evolution – as long as it is kept neutral to any specific religion. The entire lesson can be summed up quite easily and will not burden the students with difficult concepts or homework. Here is a sample lesson text that can be used by any teacher: “The theory of intelligent design states that an omnipotent being created the universe and everything in it for reasons we cannot, and are not meant to, comprehend. There is no quantifiable evidence to support this theory, there are no hypotheses that can be proven or disproven using this theory, and it offers no predictive ability for any
From Guy Inchbald I fear that I am not persuaded by your feature on how to get exactly what you want (10 May, p 32). Your third item carefully explains that making up to three points is persuasive, but making as many as eight causes the listener to undervalue the whole deal. I felt persuaded. But by the time I got to your eighth and last item the whole feature had lost all sense of value. Thinking of another tip from item 3, I invite you to give me one good reason why I should believe a word of it. Upton upon Severn, Worcestershire, UK
For the record ● In our illustration of the Earth circling the sun and galaxy (26 April, p 14), the arrow showing the sun’s direction orbiting the galaxy should have been pointing up; accordingly, our planet should have been shown closer to the centre of the galaxy in June, not December. In addition, the plane of Earth’s orbit around the sun is actually tilted steeply – around 70 degrees – relative to the plane of the galaxy so the Earth’s forward velocity along the plane of the galaxy in June is around 10 per cent faster, not 30 per cent as we said. ● We said that the lowering of the human larynx created “two tubes of roughly equal size, one above and one below the larynx” (24 May, p 28). It did create two tube-like parts, but both are above the larynx: the pharynx (upper throat) and the mouth cavity itself. 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.
14 June 2008 | NewScientist | 21