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Sinking feeling
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It has been questioned before. Take bacterial integrons, which are genetic elements that can integrate small DNA modules called gene cassettes into the bacterium’s genome, including antibiotic-resistant sequences, or excise them. It has recently been discovered that integrons can reshuffle these modules when faced with antibiotic-induced stress (Science, DOI: 10.1126/ science.1172914). Much like the albums of baseball card collectors, integrons and their reshuffling allow bacteria to hide their vintage cards until they are needed. This suggests a powerful mechanism for storage of resistance determinants at no cost, which means there is no evolutionary pressure for loss of resistance. Baltimore, Maryland, US
Aged parents From Brian Horton The idea that we stop ageing at 90 is quite convincing (6 August, p 42). Michael R. Rose also suggests that we are progressively better adapted to a hunter-gatherer diet as we get older, since selection pressures decline after we cease reproduction and our older bodies have not adapted to agriculture in the last 10,000 years. However, humans have a strong influence on the reproductive success of their offspring and grandchildren, an influence that continues to an advanced age. So we do not really “cease reproduction” from an
evolutionary viewpoint until we reach 90. West Launceston, Tasmania, Australia From Marshall E. Deutsch On my 90th birthday, I received in the mail your issue with this top line on the cover: “Life begins at 90: why aging eventually stops”. Sudbury, Massachusetts, US
Occam’s safety razor From Michael Rosefield In his letter on existential issues, Larry Constantine recommends the application of Occam’s razor to modern cosmology (13 August, p 30). While this is a useful tool in cutting away the unnecessary stubble of overloaded explanations, one shouldn’t flay away flesh just because it seems hairy in bad lighting. A single universe is very highly specified and requires a lot of information to represent it. A universe-generating multiverse is much, much simpler, just as it is simpler to describe a set of numbers rather than a number selected randomly from the group. In fact, numbers only make sense in the context of number theory, and once you have one the rest are variations on a theme. The true application of Occam’s razor is to the complexity of the framework, not the number of things you get for free from it. Manchester, UK
Mollycoddled by AIs From John Hawcock In her letter, Helena Telkänranta mentions “rigid rules” being used to prevent AIs harming humans, such as Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics (20 August, p 30). These risk invoking the Law of Unintended Consequences, as Jack Williamson pointed out in his “Humanoids” novels. In these, the humanoids did protect humans from harm – including preventing
such high-risk activities as smoking, drinking, eating fatty food and contact sports. In other words, adherence taken literally could result in all humans being treated as small children. Not an outcome I would want, any more than the extinction option discussed in your existential issue (23 July, p 40). London, UK
No truck with cars From Ian Davies Fred Pearce, arguing that the west may be falling out of love with the car, says that US car sales have fallen from 11 million in 1985 to 5.5 million in 2009 (13 August, p 26). But he neglects to mention pick-up trucks, which when included send the total to 11 to 12 million a year, as reported in The Wall Street Journal. And these totals are projected to increase slowly with any improvement in the national economy. Port Talbot, West Glamorgan, UK The editor writes: n The article used figures from the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics, which show a steep decline in car sales – and an even steeper decline in light truck sales from a peak in 2004. Vehicle leases show a similar pattern.
Sinking feeling From Robert Knight Helen Knight’s account of alternative burials (13 August,
p 44) missed one of the least damaging options, and the way I would like to go. As someone who has eaten fish, studied foraminifera and harnessed the glow of a marine mollusc, I would like to give something back to the oceans. Burial at sea should be easy: a little work to stop a body floating and a pleasant sea trip for family and friends. Why it should give me pleasure to think that my bits will be rapidly reused I don’t know – but it does. Plymouth, Devon, UK From Luce Gilmore When discussing the process of liquefying corpses by alkaline hydrolysis, you failed to mention a major consequence: a lot of soap will be produced from the body fat. This is biodegradable if poured down the drain; I doubt whether it would be beneficial in fertiliser. By the way, reusing graves was common practice in church graveyards. Any remaining bones went to the charnel house, and the stones were reused as paving in the church itself, or lined up along walls. Cambridge, UK
Outfoxed again From Patrick Kavanagh It is such a shame that ethics regulations bar Arhat Abzhanov from hatching his croc-faced chickens (20 August, p 6). Foxes everywhere are doubtless relieved by this. Llanrhystud, Ceredigion, 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.
10 September 2011 | NewScientist | 33
It has been questioned before. Take bacterial integrons, which are genetic elements that can integrate small DNA modules called gene cassettes into the bacterium’s genome, including antibiotic-resistant sequences, or excise them. It has recently been discovered that integrons can reshuffle these modules when faced with antibiotic-induced stress (Science, DOI: 10.1126/ science.1172914). Much like the albums of baseball card collectors, integrons and their reshuffling allow bacteria to hide their vintage cards until they are needed. This suggests a powerful mechanism for storage of resistance determinants at no cost, which means there is no evolutionary pressure for loss of resistance. Baltimore, Maryland, US
Aged parents From Brian Horton The idea that we stop ageing at 90 is quite convincing (6 August, p 42). Michael R. Rose also suggests that we are progressively better adapted to a hunter-gatherer diet as we get older, since selection pressures decline after we cease reproduction and our older bodies have not adapted to agriculture in the last 10,000 years. However, humans have a strong influence on the reproductive success of their offspring and grandchildren, an influence that continues to an advanced age. So we do not really “cease reproduction” from an
evolutionary viewpoint until we reach 90. West Launceston, Tasmania, Australia From Marshall E. Deutsch On my 90th birthday, I received in the mail your issue with this top line on the cover: “Life begins at 90: why aging eventually stops”. Sudbury, Massachusetts, US
Occam’s safety razor From Michael Rosefield In his letter on existential issues, Larry Constantine recommends the application of Occam’s razor to modern cosmology (13 August, p 30). While this is a useful tool in cutting away the unnecessary stubble of overloaded explanations, one shouldn’t flay away flesh just because it seems hairy in bad lighting. A single universe is very highly specified and requires a lot of information to represent it. A universe-generating multiverse is much, much simpler, just as it is simpler to describe a set of numbers rather than a number selected randomly from the group. In fact, numbers only make sense in the context of number theory, and once you have one the rest are variations on a theme. The true application of Occam’s razor is to the complexity of the framework, not the number of things you get for free from it. Manchester, UK
Mollycoddled by AIs From John Hawcock In her letter, Helena Telkänranta mentions “rigid rules” being used to prevent AIs harming humans, such as Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics (20 August, p 30). These risk invoking the Law of Unintended Consequences, as Jack Williamson pointed out in his “Humanoids” novels. In these, the humanoids did protect humans from harm – including preventing
such high-risk activities as smoking, drinking, eating fatty food and contact sports. In other words, adherence taken literally could result in all humans being treated as small children. Not an outcome I would want, any more than the extinction option discussed in your existential issue (23 July, p 40). London, UK
No truck with cars From Ian Davies Fred Pearce, arguing that the west may be falling out of love with the car, says that US car sales have fallen from 11 million in 1985 to 5.5 million in 2009 (13 August, p 26). But he neglects to mention pick-up trucks, which when included send the total to 11 to 12 million a year, as reported in The Wall Street Journal. And these totals are projected to increase slowly with any improvement in the national economy. Port Talbot, West Glamorgan, UK The editor writes: n The article used figures from the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics, which show a steep decline in car sales – and an even steeper decline in light truck sales from a peak in 2004. Vehicle leases show a similar pattern.
Sinking feeling From Robert Knight Helen Knight’s account of alternative burials (13 August,
p 44) missed one of the least damaging options, and the way I would like to go. As someone who has eaten fish, studied foraminifera and harnessed the glow of a marine mollusc, I would like to give something back to the oceans. Burial at sea should be easy: a little work to stop a body floating and a pleasant sea trip for family and friends. Why it should give me pleasure to think that my bits will be rapidly reused I don’t know – but it does. Plymouth, Devon, UK From Luce Gilmore When discussing the process of liquefying corpses by alkaline hydrolysis, you failed to mention a major consequence: a lot of soap will be produced from the body fat. This is biodegradable if poured down the drain; I doubt whether it would be beneficial in fertiliser. By the way, reusing graves was common practice in church graveyards. Any remaining bones went to the charnel house, and the stones were reused as paving in the church itself, or lined up along walls. Cambridge, UK
Outfoxed again From Patrick Kavanagh It is such a shame that ethics regulations bar Arhat Abzhanov from hatching his croc-faced chickens (20 August, p 6). Foxes everywhere are doubtless relieved by this. Llanrhystud, Ceredigion, 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.
10 September 2011 | NewScientist | 33