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Swine flu testing
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communication with others and the ever-changing world around them, so they keep their brains active, learn new things and stay sharp. Those seniors who drink less alcohol might spend more time alone at home, where the brain is exercised less. Büdelsdorf, Germany
techniques, which was also mentioned in Science in 2001 (vol 291, p 429). Zurich, Switzerland
Don’t panic. OK, panic
Swine flu testing From Bill Wilson, Member of the Scottish Parliament Debora MacKenzie’s article gives the impression that the UK has a uniform flu-testing strategy that was likely to miss many cases of transmission within communities (23 May, p 10). This is not the case: Scotland has its own health policy. The First Minister assured me last month that Scotland is at the forefront of efforts to stem the flow of this disease, and has the most thorough swine flu-testing procedure in the world. Paisley, UK
Project yourself From Peter Brugger, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich Your letters pages have been replete with claims of priority for the experimental induction of out-of-body experiences (11 April, p 22 and 6 June, p 26). None of these predates George Malcolm Stratton’s 1899 report of carrying a mirror device on his shoulders for several days which produced an image of his walking body, seemingly a few metres in front of himself (Mind, vol 8, p 492). He reported that constantly seeing this mirror-self moving when he moved induced “the feeling of being mentally outside my body”. Daniel Müller’s 2003 cinema movie Der Zweite Leib –“The second body” – featured my replication of Stratton’s method with modern virtual-reality
From Robert Morley New Scientist clearly does not espouse Bjørn Lomborg’s Viewfinder soundbite when he calls for “a more reasoned, more constructive, and less frightening dialogue” on global warming (27 June, p 25). The following week’s front page headline screamed: “It’s worse than we thought” (4 July). London, UK
Engineering traits From Andrew Lee, Editor, The Engineer Diego Gambetta and Steffen Hertog (13 June, p 26) suggest that in the psyche of engineers lurks something that makes them more predisposed to terrorism than doctors, linguists, historians, or even sociologists. Even if we accept their claim that engineering graduates are over-represented in the ranks of violent radicals from the Islamic world, it’s quite a leap to then assert that “engineers are more likely to have… personality traits that make radical Islamism more attractive”. According to “piecemeal evidence” these include antidemocratic tendencies and an intolerance of ambiguity.
Actually, the latter is a trait I rather admire in engineers: will this aircraft component fail midflight? There’s some ambiguity, but let’s give it a try anyway. At least it is not just Muslim engineers that we need to keep a wary eye on. US engineering professors are apparently more likely to be “right-wing and religious”. It is not clear whether this means they don white hoods and burn crosses, or merely vote Republican and go to church. Oh, for a little less ambiguity. On the evidence of this article this analysis is, as New Scientist’s own editorial column puts it, unlikely to be useful when it comes to understanding the hugely complex factors that propel people, engineer or otherwise, towards acts of violence. At worst, if adopted by the wrong people their theory could be spun and twisted to justify unfounded suspicion and mistrust, which is exactly what we need less of. London, UK
B4 da world ens From Paul Branthwaite Viewfinder reported that one-inthree kids thinks the Earth will cease to exist before they grow up (27 June, p 25). I remember the same feelings when I was a teenager, during the ever-present threat of nuclear holocaust. My greatest fear was that it would all kick off before I had the chance to race over to my girlfriend’s place. Even at the age of 55, the
4-minute warning seems inadequate to get anything meaningful done on the horizontal front: at least with global warming there is time for a little indulgence before we go. Reading, Berkshire, UK
Telepathological From James Logan Richard Wiseman claims to have proved that remote viewing does not work (13 June, p 6 and p 23). Surely all he has proved is that he personally cannot send images telepathically. It could be that you need telepaths at both ends of the attempted transfer. He should repeat the experiment using a number of different people, including those who believe in the paranormal. Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire, UK
For the record ■ Marie Curie was alive between 1867 and 1934, not 1854 and 1923 as we stated (4 July, p 23). ν Laurie Dizney and others reported their findings on the spread of infection in mice in Emerging Infectious Diseases (4 July, p 12). ■ The name of the Yale University anthropologist mentioned in “The End of War” is Carol Ember, not Carolyn (4 July, p 38). ■ There were two valid solutions to Enigma 1546 (4 July, p 24): 38.5 and 57.5 square centimetres. A second £15 prize has been awarded to R. F. Tindell of Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire, 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.
25 July 2009 | NewScientist | 27
communication with others and the ever-changing world around them, so they keep their brains active, learn new things and stay sharp. Those seniors who drink less alcohol might spend more time alone at home, where the brain is exercised less. Büdelsdorf, Germany
techniques, which was also mentioned in Science in 2001 (vol 291, p 429). Zurich, Switzerland
Don’t panic. OK, panic
Swine flu testing From Bill Wilson, Member of the Scottish Parliament Debora MacKenzie’s article gives the impression that the UK has a uniform flu-testing strategy that was likely to miss many cases of transmission within communities (23 May, p 10). This is not the case: Scotland has its own health policy. The First Minister assured me last month that Scotland is at the forefront of efforts to stem the flow of this disease, and has the most thorough swine flu-testing procedure in the world. Paisley, UK
Project yourself From Peter Brugger, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich Your letters pages have been replete with claims of priority for the experimental induction of out-of-body experiences (11 April, p 22 and 6 June, p 26). None of these predates George Malcolm Stratton’s 1899 report of carrying a mirror device on his shoulders for several days which produced an image of his walking body, seemingly a few metres in front of himself (Mind, vol 8, p 492). He reported that constantly seeing this mirror-self moving when he moved induced “the feeling of being mentally outside my body”. Daniel Müller’s 2003 cinema movie Der Zweite Leib –“The second body” – featured my replication of Stratton’s method with modern virtual-reality
From Robert Morley New Scientist clearly does not espouse Bjørn Lomborg’s Viewfinder soundbite when he calls for “a more reasoned, more constructive, and less frightening dialogue” on global warming (27 June, p 25). The following week’s front page headline screamed: “It’s worse than we thought” (4 July). London, UK
Engineering traits From Andrew Lee, Editor, The Engineer Diego Gambetta and Steffen Hertog (13 June, p 26) suggest that in the psyche of engineers lurks something that makes them more predisposed to terrorism than doctors, linguists, historians, or even sociologists. Even if we accept their claim that engineering graduates are over-represented in the ranks of violent radicals from the Islamic world, it’s quite a leap to then assert that “engineers are more likely to have… personality traits that make radical Islamism more attractive”. According to “piecemeal evidence” these include antidemocratic tendencies and an intolerance of ambiguity.
Actually, the latter is a trait I rather admire in engineers: will this aircraft component fail midflight? There’s some ambiguity, but let’s give it a try anyway. At least it is not just Muslim engineers that we need to keep a wary eye on. US engineering professors are apparently more likely to be “right-wing and religious”. It is not clear whether this means they don white hoods and burn crosses, or merely vote Republican and go to church. Oh, for a little less ambiguity. On the evidence of this article this analysis is, as New Scientist’s own editorial column puts it, unlikely to be useful when it comes to understanding the hugely complex factors that propel people, engineer or otherwise, towards acts of violence. At worst, if adopted by the wrong people their theory could be spun and twisted to justify unfounded suspicion and mistrust, which is exactly what we need less of. London, UK
B4 da world ens From Paul Branthwaite Viewfinder reported that one-inthree kids thinks the Earth will cease to exist before they grow up (27 June, p 25). I remember the same feelings when I was a teenager, during the ever-present threat of nuclear holocaust. My greatest fear was that it would all kick off before I had the chance to race over to my girlfriend’s place. Even at the age of 55, the
4-minute warning seems inadequate to get anything meaningful done on the horizontal front: at least with global warming there is time for a little indulgence before we go. Reading, Berkshire, UK
Telepathological From James Logan Richard Wiseman claims to have proved that remote viewing does not work (13 June, p 6 and p 23). Surely all he has proved is that he personally cannot send images telepathically. It could be that you need telepaths at both ends of the attempted transfer. He should repeat the experiment using a number of different people, including those who believe in the paranormal. Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire, UK
For the record ■ Marie Curie was alive between 1867 and 1934, not 1854 and 1923 as we stated (4 July, p 23). ν Laurie Dizney and others reported their findings on the spread of infection in mice in Emerging Infectious Diseases (4 July, p 12). ■ The name of the Yale University anthropologist mentioned in “The End of War” is Carol Ember, not Carolyn (4 July, p 38). ■ There were two valid solutions to Enigma 1546 (4 July, p 24): 38.5 and 57.5 square centimetres. A second £15 prize has been awarded to R. F. Tindell of Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire, 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.
25 July 2009 | NewScientist | 27