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Soul train
SEE NEWSCIENTIST.COM FOR LETTERS ON: ● Enforced waste ● Sausage rôle ● Population pressure ● Advanced calendar ● Soul train
There is further positive bias in that losers may lie about their results. Even some of the diligent respondents will gild the lily a bit. How often do gamblers tell you of their failures? So we have no way of knowing how accurate the claim is, except to say that it almost certainly overstates the truth to a significant degree. Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Dissident disagreement From Daniel Graham I have recalculated your chart showing the total numbers of dissidents imprisoned for online activities by country (10 February, p 21). Adjusted for population, it looks different: the highest rate is for Libya, at about 0.18 per million population, followed by Syria (0.17), Tunisia (0.1), Vietnam (0.04), then China (0.03) and lastly Iran at 0.01. I am no apologist for China, but you have to consider that the total number of people using the internet and the percentage of population using it are factors. Birmingham, Alabama, US
Mammal mia! From Jonathan Wright Alongside Jeff Hecht’s interesting news about Jurassic mammals, you say “mammals evolved from a group of reptiles called Dicynodonts” (3 February, p 35). This sentence contains two inaccuracies. The dicynodonts were a side branch of the therapsids and did not give rise to mammals. The ancestors of mammals were therapsids named cynodonts. Further, dicynodonts and cynodonts were not reptiles. The therapsids and pelycosaurs belonged to a group of vertebrates called the synapsids, which also includes mammals. These diverged from the early amniote vertebrates before the reptiles diversified. While many books call the therapsids and www.newscientist.com
pelycosaurs “mammal-like reptiles”, a more accurate term is “non-mammalian synapsid”. Chadwell Heath, Essex, UK The editor writes: ● Sorry, we did get our cynodonts and dicynodonts mixed up. But we decided that the clearest way to describe mammalian origins briefly is that they evolved from reptiles. Cynodonts, though not technically reptiles, were very reptilian indeed.
conveys far more exact information than “once per hour”, “twice in two hours” conveys slightly more information than the reduced fraction. San Antonio, Texas, US
Eat, drink and forget it
From Calum Strachan Lisa Melton’s article on the effects of acetaldehyde had a stark persuasive simplicity (10 February, p 31). By the end of the first page it was obvious I would have to severely limit my alcohol consumption in future. Acetaldehyde had been forming From Raymond Carlisle adducts willy-nilly with my Perhaps it is “dear old dualism” muscle tissues, organs and DNA. that causes our free-will illusion, as Bjarne Hellemann suggests (10 No wonder I had been feeling February, p 18). But perhaps there so bad – and I thought it was is more “philosophical confusion” only a cold. By the end of the second page in the common assumption that it became obvious that only the subjective world, like the complete abstinence would do. objective world, is a single entity. Even small quantities of alcohol It is obviously multiple. There were deadly. I could no longer rely are as many subjective worlds as there are subjects. Thus society upon the good old “French paradox” that had been keeping as much as possible seeks me healthy by the moderate and both to tolerate subjective frequent sipping of red wine. incompatibilities (between “the It was starting to feel as though superior beings residing above extreme lifestyle changes were the profane material world”, in going to be not only desirable but Hellemann’s phrase, and within “belief in purely spiritual beings”) absolutely essential. On the third page I found that and simultaneously to make acetaldehyde was produced not them conform to each other. Surely we are justified in going only by alcoholic drinks and smoking, but was also in the air, further into dualism by recognising that the single science due to vehicle emissions, and in tea, coffee, yogurt, ripe fruit, of the objective has, partially at bread and cheese. Yet worse, least, taken the place of multiple bacteria in my mouth and gut religions in subjective worlds. have been spewing the stuff out Norwich, UK incessantly. So whilst riding the
Multiple worlds
The more the merrier From Tony Castaldo Paul Schaffner notes that Feedback is campaigning against reducible fractions, such as “twice every two hours” (10 February, p 19). Let me add that statistically, finding 3 in 300 is a more precise and probably more accurate result than 1 in 100. Even in a deterministic orbit of Mars, just as “1000 orbits in 1000 hours”
temperance wagon it seems I must also give my teeth a good brushing, recolonise my gut with friendly flora, avoid most foods and develop a habit for aminoacid chewing gum. Alternatively, I found that after a few drinks I completely forgot about the perils of acetaldehyde. Montrose, Angus, UK
Look behind you! From Tam Anderson A left-handed neutrino with mass will appear right-handed, Amanda Gefter writes, if you travel past it, turn around and look back at it (20 January, p 26). But turning around is forbidden by very special relativity. I know I am out of my depth here, but surely if the spacecraft had a rear-facing observation window there would be no need for it to turn around. Kirkcaldy, Fife, UK
For the record ● Jonathan Marks did not conduct research at the Hoover Institution, contrary to our report (10 February, p 13). He has seen a copy of documents archived at the institution. The documents are not classified but they will not be open for public inspection until 2010. ● The story “Air rescue comes to Everest” (17 February, p 23) was truncated in a production error. It should conclude: “The helicopter will begin trial flights in the Himalayas in January 2008.” ● In the article on “unnatural selection” (17 February, p 6) we accidentally added an “e” to Christian Roberge’s first name.
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 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.
3 March 2007 | NewScientist | 21
There is further positive bias in that losers may lie about their results. Even some of the diligent respondents will gild the lily a bit. How often do gamblers tell you of their failures? So we have no way of knowing how accurate the claim is, except to say that it almost certainly overstates the truth to a significant degree. Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Dissident disagreement From Daniel Graham I have recalculated your chart showing the total numbers of dissidents imprisoned for online activities by country (10 February, p 21). Adjusted for population, it looks different: the highest rate is for Libya, at about 0.18 per million population, followed by Syria (0.17), Tunisia (0.1), Vietnam (0.04), then China (0.03) and lastly Iran at 0.01. I am no apologist for China, but you have to consider that the total number of people using the internet and the percentage of population using it are factors. Birmingham, Alabama, US
Mammal mia! From Jonathan Wright Alongside Jeff Hecht’s interesting news about Jurassic mammals, you say “mammals evolved from a group of reptiles called Dicynodonts” (3 February, p 35). This sentence contains two inaccuracies. The dicynodonts were a side branch of the therapsids and did not give rise to mammals. The ancestors of mammals were therapsids named cynodonts. Further, dicynodonts and cynodonts were not reptiles. The therapsids and pelycosaurs belonged to a group of vertebrates called the synapsids, which also includes mammals. These diverged from the early amniote vertebrates before the reptiles diversified. While many books call the therapsids and www.newscientist.com
pelycosaurs “mammal-like reptiles”, a more accurate term is “non-mammalian synapsid”. Chadwell Heath, Essex, UK The editor writes: ● Sorry, we did get our cynodonts and dicynodonts mixed up. But we decided that the clearest way to describe mammalian origins briefly is that they evolved from reptiles. Cynodonts, though not technically reptiles, were very reptilian indeed.
conveys far more exact information than “once per hour”, “twice in two hours” conveys slightly more information than the reduced fraction. San Antonio, Texas, US
Eat, drink and forget it
From Calum Strachan Lisa Melton’s article on the effects of acetaldehyde had a stark persuasive simplicity (10 February, p 31). By the end of the first page it was obvious I would have to severely limit my alcohol consumption in future. Acetaldehyde had been forming From Raymond Carlisle adducts willy-nilly with my Perhaps it is “dear old dualism” muscle tissues, organs and DNA. that causes our free-will illusion, as Bjarne Hellemann suggests (10 No wonder I had been feeling February, p 18). But perhaps there so bad – and I thought it was is more “philosophical confusion” only a cold. By the end of the second page in the common assumption that it became obvious that only the subjective world, like the complete abstinence would do. objective world, is a single entity. Even small quantities of alcohol It is obviously multiple. There were deadly. I could no longer rely are as many subjective worlds as there are subjects. Thus society upon the good old “French paradox” that had been keeping as much as possible seeks me healthy by the moderate and both to tolerate subjective frequent sipping of red wine. incompatibilities (between “the It was starting to feel as though superior beings residing above extreme lifestyle changes were the profane material world”, in going to be not only desirable but Hellemann’s phrase, and within “belief in purely spiritual beings”) absolutely essential. On the third page I found that and simultaneously to make acetaldehyde was produced not them conform to each other. Surely we are justified in going only by alcoholic drinks and smoking, but was also in the air, further into dualism by recognising that the single science due to vehicle emissions, and in tea, coffee, yogurt, ripe fruit, of the objective has, partially at bread and cheese. Yet worse, least, taken the place of multiple bacteria in my mouth and gut religions in subjective worlds. have been spewing the stuff out Norwich, UK incessantly. So whilst riding the
Multiple worlds
The more the merrier From Tony Castaldo Paul Schaffner notes that Feedback is campaigning against reducible fractions, such as “twice every two hours” (10 February, p 19). Let me add that statistically, finding 3 in 300 is a more precise and probably more accurate result than 1 in 100. Even in a deterministic orbit of Mars, just as “1000 orbits in 1000 hours”
temperance wagon it seems I must also give my teeth a good brushing, recolonise my gut with friendly flora, avoid most foods and develop a habit for aminoacid chewing gum. Alternatively, I found that after a few drinks I completely forgot about the perils of acetaldehyde. Montrose, Angus, UK
Look behind you! From Tam Anderson A left-handed neutrino with mass will appear right-handed, Amanda Gefter writes, if you travel past it, turn around and look back at it (20 January, p 26). But turning around is forbidden by very special relativity. I know I am out of my depth here, but surely if the spacecraft had a rear-facing observation window there would be no need for it to turn around. Kirkcaldy, Fife, UK
For the record ● Jonathan Marks did not conduct research at the Hoover Institution, contrary to our report (10 February, p 13). He has seen a copy of documents archived at the institution. The documents are not classified but they will not be open for public inspection until 2010. ● The story “Air rescue comes to Everest” (17 February, p 23) was truncated in a production error. It should conclude: “The helicopter will begin trial flights in the Himalayas in January 2008.” ● In the article on “unnatural selection” (17 February, p 6) we accidentally added an “e” to Christian Roberge’s first name.
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 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.
3 March 2007 | NewScientist | 21