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This is not particularly unusual. A similar thing happened to me in the 1980s: I developed a set of bizarre symptoms that doctors couldn’t explain. Luckily, I have a microbiological background and guessed I had some sort of bacterial infection. Following my hunch, I treated myself with antibiotics. Like Sammy, I needed three years of treatment, but made a full recovery, which has now lasted 25 years. Penryn, Cornwall, UK
Scientific curiosity From Eric Spain I would like to congratulate you on your suggestion that “to find out if DNA can be teleported, others must replicate this work” (15 January, p 5). Investigating heretical ideas reflects the true nature of science: a curiosity and passion to explore and discover. Do those who suggest that such speculative work should never be published really deserve to be called scientists? While repeating everyday experiments and judiciously following protocols are essential to science, researchers should not allow their opinions, based on the current paradigm, to censor further exploration. I urge you to continue to publish articles about “extraordinary” claims. The church closed its mind and would not look through Galileo’s telescope; modern science must not fall prey to the same attitude. Lantau Island, Hong Kong
Dracula’s disease From Rob Roy I was surprised that in your otherwise excellent article about the basis for belief in vampires (29 January, p 40), Paul Collins made no mention of porphyria – the disease many people believe started the vampire legend. Porphyria is an incurable genetic disease, the symptoms 30 | NewScientist | 26 February 2011
of which align perfectly with those ascribed to vampires. Sufferers shun bright light because it irritates their skin and hurts their eyes. Their skin tightens and shrinks, and when this occurs around the mouth, the canine teeth appear to be more prominent, suggestive of fangs. Discoloration of the skin also gives sufferers a very pale appearance and, fittingly, garlic exacerbates these symptoms, so it should be avoided at all costs. Finally, their urine takes on a reddish colour, which led some to believe those with porphyria drank blood. Some people with the disease did, in fact, drink blood to replace missing chemicals in their own bodies, though it was probably from an animal, rather than a human. However, they certainly do not vanish in a mirror, and one suspects they can be killed with more than a silver bullet or a wooden stake. Binbrook, Ontario, Canada
Pharaoh point From Stuart Leslie In Jo Marchant’s article designed to debunk theories about Tutankhamun (15 January, p 42), it is a shame that a couple of myths surrounding his probable father, Akhenaten, seem to have been perpetuated. Probably the most mythologised character in history after Jesus, Akhenaten was, I believe, neither a heretic nor a monotheist. The idea of heresy, meaning a departure of belief from a strict
orthodoxy, was invented by a particular sect of Christians approximately between the years 110 and 150, and there was no concept like it before then. There was, anyway, no fixed theology or belief system in Ancient Egypt, and deities continually changed and evolved. What’s more, a number of minor gods and spirits appear in Akhenaten’s official paintings and relief carvings, and images of other gods were found in the houses of his major officials. There is also no direct evidence that he suppressed worship or closed the temples of any gods other than Amun. Dorrigo, New South Wales, Australia Jo Marchant writes: n With very little information available about Akhenaten and Tutankhamun, there will always be differing opinions on this subject. The feature went with the mainstream view, using as one of its sources the respected Egyptian historian Nicholas Reeves. In his book The Complete Tutankhamun, Reeves writes about how Akhenaten imposed “a new order” on his subjects. Its basic tenet says “there is but one god, the Aten, the sole creator and gentle benefactor of mankind”. As for whether Akhenaten was a heretic, it is obviously true that he wasn’t in the formal sense of disagreeing with the Roman Catholic church. The word heretic was used to suggest to the reader that his opinions were at odds with what was generally accepted at the time.
Who’s a clever boy? From Karen Jones In your discussion about the ability of animals to develop a vocabulary, you mention Alex the grey parrot, who could make sentences out of about 100 words (25 December 2010, p 8). That Alex did more than parrot
the words he learned is best exemplified by an exchange recounted by his trainer, Irene Pepperberg, in her book Alex and Me (Harper, 2008, p 154). Fuming after a frustrating meeting, Pepperberg stormed silently into the lab where Alex was housed.
Instead of his usual whistled greeting, Alex looked at his trainer and said, “Calm down.” Alex’s response suggests a keen perception of non-verbal cues and an ability to produce, at least occasionally, a wonderfully appropriate verbalisation. Amherst, Massachusetts, US
Queue for questions From Janet Gunn When I read in Feedback (8 January) of a reader who was told that 2,147,483,646 people were ahead of him in a waiting list, it brought two questions to mind. First, how many other New Scientist readers immediately recognised this number as 231 − 2? And secondly, of all the things I learned at graduate school, why is this the only one I can remember? Nokesville, Virginia, US
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.
This is not particularly unusual. A similar thing happened to me in the 1980s: I developed a set of bizarre symptoms that doctors couldn’t explain. Luckily, I have a microbiological background and guessed I had some sort of bacterial infection. Following my hunch, I treated myself with antibiotics. Like Sammy, I needed three years of treatment, but made a full recovery, which has now lasted 25 years. Penryn, Cornwall, UK
Scientific curiosity From Eric Spain I would like to congratulate you on your suggestion that “to find out if DNA can be teleported, others must replicate this work” (15 January, p 5). Investigating heretical ideas reflects the true nature of science: a curiosity and passion to explore and discover. Do those who suggest that such speculative work should never be published really deserve to be called scientists? While repeating everyday experiments and judiciously following protocols are essential to science, researchers should not allow their opinions, based on the current paradigm, to censor further exploration. I urge you to continue to publish articles about “extraordinary” claims. The church closed its mind and would not look through Galileo’s telescope; modern science must not fall prey to the same attitude. Lantau Island, Hong Kong
Dracula’s disease From Rob Roy I was surprised that in your otherwise excellent article about the basis for belief in vampires (29 January, p 40), Paul Collins made no mention of porphyria – the disease many people believe started the vampire legend. Porphyria is an incurable genetic disease, the symptoms 30 | NewScientist | 26 February 2011
of which align perfectly with those ascribed to vampires. Sufferers shun bright light because it irritates their skin and hurts their eyes. Their skin tightens and shrinks, and when this occurs around the mouth, the canine teeth appear to be more prominent, suggestive of fangs. Discoloration of the skin also gives sufferers a very pale appearance and, fittingly, garlic exacerbates these symptoms, so it should be avoided at all costs. Finally, their urine takes on a reddish colour, which led some to believe those with porphyria drank blood. Some people with the disease did, in fact, drink blood to replace missing chemicals in their own bodies, though it was probably from an animal, rather than a human. However, they certainly do not vanish in a mirror, and one suspects they can be killed with more than a silver bullet or a wooden stake. Binbrook, Ontario, Canada
Pharaoh point From Stuart Leslie In Jo Marchant’s article designed to debunk theories about Tutankhamun (15 January, p 42), it is a shame that a couple of myths surrounding his probable father, Akhenaten, seem to have been perpetuated. Probably the most mythologised character in history after Jesus, Akhenaten was, I believe, neither a heretic nor a monotheist. The idea of heresy, meaning a departure of belief from a strict
orthodoxy, was invented by a particular sect of Christians approximately between the years 110 and 150, and there was no concept like it before then. There was, anyway, no fixed theology or belief system in Ancient Egypt, and deities continually changed and evolved. What’s more, a number of minor gods and spirits appear in Akhenaten’s official paintings and relief carvings, and images of other gods were found in the houses of his major officials. There is also no direct evidence that he suppressed worship or closed the temples of any gods other than Amun. Dorrigo, New South Wales, Australia Jo Marchant writes: n With very little information available about Akhenaten and Tutankhamun, there will always be differing opinions on this subject. The feature went with the mainstream view, using as one of its sources the respected Egyptian historian Nicholas Reeves. In his book The Complete Tutankhamun, Reeves writes about how Akhenaten imposed “a new order” on his subjects. Its basic tenet says “there is but one god, the Aten, the sole creator and gentle benefactor of mankind”. As for whether Akhenaten was a heretic, it is obviously true that he wasn’t in the formal sense of disagreeing with the Roman Catholic church. The word heretic was used to suggest to the reader that his opinions were at odds with what was generally accepted at the time.
Who’s a clever boy? From Karen Jones In your discussion about the ability of animals to develop a vocabulary, you mention Alex the grey parrot, who could make sentences out of about 100 words (25 December 2010, p 8). That Alex did more than parrot
the words he learned is best exemplified by an exchange recounted by his trainer, Irene Pepperberg, in her book Alex and Me (Harper, 2008, p 154). Fuming after a frustrating meeting, Pepperberg stormed silently into the lab where Alex was housed.
Instead of his usual whistled greeting, Alex looked at his trainer and said, “Calm down.” Alex’s response suggests a keen perception of non-verbal cues and an ability to produce, at least occasionally, a wonderfully appropriate verbalisation. Amherst, Massachusetts, US
Queue for questions From Janet Gunn When I read in Feedback (8 January) of a reader who was told that 2,147,483,646 people were ahead of him in a waiting list, it brought two questions to mind. First, how many other New Scientist readers immediately recognised this number as 231 − 2? And secondly, of all the things I learned at graduate school, why is this the only one I can remember? Nokesville, Virginia, US
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.