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Pee it out
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similarity is due to coexistence rather than cohabitation. Cambridge, UK From Bryn Glover A good candidate for the cause of the disappearance of the Neanderthals – especially as their mixing and breeding with our ancestors has now been established as a fact – has to be the capacity for genocide that persists in Homo sapiens. Apparent today, particularly between rival tribal and religious groupings, this tendency would certainly have been exacerbated by clashes involving sexual jealousy. How likely is it that we’ve actually discovered our first example of a Nazi-like “final solution”? Cracoe, North Yorkshire, UK
Pee it out From Michael Carrette In my experience, it is not only frogs that can pass foreign objects in their urine (11 December 2010, p 16). As a gynaecologist, I have applied hundreds of pairs of Filshie clips – small self-locking clips made of titanium and silicone rubber – to Fallopian tubes for female sterilisation. Several years ago one of my patients, upon whom I had performed this procedure, came
and showed me something she had just passed through her urethra in the shower. It was a Filshie clip. An X-ray confirmed only one remained. Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Philosophical denial From Peter Hayes Scepticism towards Einstein’s theory of relativity is not confined to irrational conservatives (13 November 2010, p 48). In his later years, the philosopher Karl Popper became increasingly troubled by relativity. I argue that, for Popper, inconsistencies in Einstein’s presentation of his theory gave a rational explanation for persistent opposition to it (Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, vol 41, p 354). Popper himself ended up preferring Hendrik Lorentz’s version of relativity, which retained absolute space and time. Durham, UK
head, they curl up and relax, and can be transported to the abattoir with little stress. The domestication project was working well when a ban was introduced. All the specially bred stock were subsequently sent to slaughter. We have the perfect animal to provide healthy meat with less damage to the environment, but we aren’t allowed to farm them. Instead, they are expensively fenced out of farmland, and shot or poisoned so we can run sheep and cattle. Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
Farming Skippy From Jan Horton The reason that marsupials such as kangaroos are not farmed in Australia (9 October 2010, p 42) is not because it is too difficult, but rather that in various states it is either illegal to do so or discouraged. In the past, considerable work has been done on farming marsupials. I was familiar with a project to domesticate the eastern wallaroo, or euro (Macropus robustus), which used sheep netting fences with an electric fence on the top and bottom. The initial stock, having been obtained from sources including zoos and those hand reared as pets, were quiet to start with. Joeys born to this stock tended to be quiet too, but any that jumped the fence were shot for being too bouncy. The marsupials were handled like deer, in a darkened shed under red lights. Although euros are not as large as “big red” kangaroos, breeding males had to be treated with respect in the breeding season. Excess males were castrated to prevent fights. Conveniently, the animals’ pouch reflex means that when they have a bag put over their
population of kangaroos to increase, albeit with fluctuations due to seasonal climate variability. Kangaroos used to be rarer, making them a sought-after source of food for Indigenous Australian people. One woman I spoke to recalled seeing her first kangaroo in the Tuart Forest National Park, Western Australia, on her 21st birthday in 1965. Now, between 500 and 1000 kangaroos are shot in this park each year following a population explosion. Kangaroo grazing is listed as a threat to local biodiversity under federal government laws in some parts of Australia because it has such a detrimental effect on native bushland. Capel, Western Australia
Dreams come true
From Lionel Delaney I disagree with the arguments put forward by Dror Ben Ami against shooting and eating kangaroos (20 November 2010, p 30). Animals that lower a farmer’s profitability are treated as pests and farmers try to reduce their numbers to make a living from their land. Make the animal valuable to the people who have to pay for its existence and they will protect it or, in the kangaroo’s case, conserve it. Kangaroos make good, tasty meat. To shoot them and let them rot is crazy, but that is the present system for grey kangaroos. Rylstone, New South Wales, Australia From Bernie Masters Kangaroo numbers are much higher now than at the time of European settlement in 1788. Provision of pasture and watering points by farmers for their livestock has allowed the total
From John Wilson Apparently red dwarfs are “more bountiful than expected” (4 December 2010, p 7). Should these be the stars I wish upon, then? Buxton, Derbyshire, UK
For the record n An unfortunate last-minute editing error made plant biologist Joan Edwards a “he” (25 December 2010, p 45). Apologies. n A sentence in our article on networked bacteria was meant to read “Electrosynthesis could also produce industrial inorganic compounds like caustic soda…”. Caustic soda is not, of course, organic (18 December 2010, p 38). 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.
15 January 2011 | NewScientist | 27
similarity is due to coexistence rather than cohabitation. Cambridge, UK From Bryn Glover A good candidate for the cause of the disappearance of the Neanderthals – especially as their mixing and breeding with our ancestors has now been established as a fact – has to be the capacity for genocide that persists in Homo sapiens. Apparent today, particularly between rival tribal and religious groupings, this tendency would certainly have been exacerbated by clashes involving sexual jealousy. How likely is it that we’ve actually discovered our first example of a Nazi-like “final solution”? Cracoe, North Yorkshire, UK
Pee it out From Michael Carrette In my experience, it is not only frogs that can pass foreign objects in their urine (11 December 2010, p 16). As a gynaecologist, I have applied hundreds of pairs of Filshie clips – small self-locking clips made of titanium and silicone rubber – to Fallopian tubes for female sterilisation. Several years ago one of my patients, upon whom I had performed this procedure, came
and showed me something she had just passed through her urethra in the shower. It was a Filshie clip. An X-ray confirmed only one remained. Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Philosophical denial From Peter Hayes Scepticism towards Einstein’s theory of relativity is not confined to irrational conservatives (13 November 2010, p 48). In his later years, the philosopher Karl Popper became increasingly troubled by relativity. I argue that, for Popper, inconsistencies in Einstein’s presentation of his theory gave a rational explanation for persistent opposition to it (Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, vol 41, p 354). Popper himself ended up preferring Hendrik Lorentz’s version of relativity, which retained absolute space and time. Durham, UK
head, they curl up and relax, and can be transported to the abattoir with little stress. The domestication project was working well when a ban was introduced. All the specially bred stock were subsequently sent to slaughter. We have the perfect animal to provide healthy meat with less damage to the environment, but we aren’t allowed to farm them. Instead, they are expensively fenced out of farmland, and shot or poisoned so we can run sheep and cattle. Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
Farming Skippy From Jan Horton The reason that marsupials such as kangaroos are not farmed in Australia (9 October 2010, p 42) is not because it is too difficult, but rather that in various states it is either illegal to do so or discouraged. In the past, considerable work has been done on farming marsupials. I was familiar with a project to domesticate the eastern wallaroo, or euro (Macropus robustus), which used sheep netting fences with an electric fence on the top and bottom. The initial stock, having been obtained from sources including zoos and those hand reared as pets, were quiet to start with. Joeys born to this stock tended to be quiet too, but any that jumped the fence were shot for being too bouncy. The marsupials were handled like deer, in a darkened shed under red lights. Although euros are not as large as “big red” kangaroos, breeding males had to be treated with respect in the breeding season. Excess males were castrated to prevent fights. Conveniently, the animals’ pouch reflex means that when they have a bag put over their
population of kangaroos to increase, albeit with fluctuations due to seasonal climate variability. Kangaroos used to be rarer, making them a sought-after source of food for Indigenous Australian people. One woman I spoke to recalled seeing her first kangaroo in the Tuart Forest National Park, Western Australia, on her 21st birthday in 1965. Now, between 500 and 1000 kangaroos are shot in this park each year following a population explosion. Kangaroo grazing is listed as a threat to local biodiversity under federal government laws in some parts of Australia because it has such a detrimental effect on native bushland. Capel, Western Australia
Dreams come true
From Lionel Delaney I disagree with the arguments put forward by Dror Ben Ami against shooting and eating kangaroos (20 November 2010, p 30). Animals that lower a farmer’s profitability are treated as pests and farmers try to reduce their numbers to make a living from their land. Make the animal valuable to the people who have to pay for its existence and they will protect it or, in the kangaroo’s case, conserve it. Kangaroos make good, tasty meat. To shoot them and let them rot is crazy, but that is the present system for grey kangaroos. Rylstone, New South Wales, Australia From Bernie Masters Kangaroo numbers are much higher now than at the time of European settlement in 1788. Provision of pasture and watering points by farmers for their livestock has allowed the total
From John Wilson Apparently red dwarfs are “more bountiful than expected” (4 December 2010, p 7). Should these be the stars I wish upon, then? Buxton, Derbyshire, UK
For the record n An unfortunate last-minute editing error made plant biologist Joan Edwards a “he” (25 December 2010, p 45). Apologies. n A sentence in our article on networked bacteria was meant to read “Electrosynthesis could also produce industrial inorganic compounds like caustic soda…”. Caustic soda is not, of course, organic (18 December 2010, p 38). 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.
15 January 2011 | NewScientist | 27