What Fred said
I would like to reinforce your view that DNA sequencing pioneer Fred Sanger should be remembered as an inspiration to many 鈥� for his brilliant work, quiet determination and modesty (newscientist.com/article/dn24618). Sanger was an outstanding investigator, with a dogged determination to solve questions that have transformed how we perceive our world.
He combined this with a drive to interest young people in science. He refused most invitations for interviews, but often agreed to help schools and students.
The work that led to him receiving a second Nobel prize, a method to decode DNA, has transformed our understanding of life and is the foundation of developments in healthcare, from understanding inherited disease to developing cancer treatments.
It was an honour for us when Sanger acceded to our founding director John Sulston’s request that our institute be named after him. His only stipulation was that “it had better be good”. That response was typical of him. It is our inspiration and will continue to be so.
Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, UK
Next stop, the core
Amanda Mascarelli’s article describes Fergus Gibb’s idea to package the hottest nuclear waste into tungsten capsules and let them melt their way down through the Earth’s crust (2 November, p 42). This could possibly be used for low-level waste, too, if it was sandwiched between these hot capsules. Maybe we could send a low-speed train to the centre of the Earth.
Nerja, Spain
Wax weirdness
Researcher Giovanni Caputo is right that the ghouls and ghosts described in your look at the “Bloody Mary” mirror illusion don’t just appear when staring at your own face, but also when looking at other faces in dim light (2 November, p 39).
As a young teenager, I slipped away from friends on a school trip and went to a wax museum. At first all was well, but the more I stared at those figures in the low light (which disguised their poor quality), the creepier they became.
The eyes started to move, then the expressions changed, and finally hideous gargoyles emerged from past prime ministers, martyrs and other historical figures. I sprinted past the last exhibit convinced the place was haunted.
Belleville, Ontario, Canada
Gaia's unwell
It seems to me that Toby Tyrell’s view that the Gaia hypothesis is outdated (26 October, p 30) arises from a misunderstanding of the nature of life.
The defining feature of life is the ability of a complex organism based on DNA to use an external source of energy, not just for the energy itself but also to create and maintain its orderly inner processes in the face of the relentless operation of the second law of thermodynamics. It seems likely that the DNA molecule and the living planet evolved together, and that neither can exist apart from the other.
In its long gestation, Gaia must have survived countless catastrophes, such as asteroids, ice ages and volcanoes, which then became part of the evolutionary process itself. But it has never had “humanity cancer” before. It remains to be seen how it will deal with that.
Lennox Head, New South Wales, Australia
Rock the boat
BP environmental specialist Michelle Horsfield was surprised that the underwater detonation of an old naval mine could knock people off their feet on a boat 2 kilometres away (9 November, p 50, UK edition, and newscientist.com/article/mg22029421.200).
However, water, unlike air or rock, is an incompressible medium. Hence, the shock waves, even at 2 kilometres, would have been 2 to 3 times as great as the equivalent for ground-borne vibration. Underwater detonation is usually the safest and most practical disposal method, although, as Horsfield witnessed, not risk-free.
Horsley Woodhouse, Derbyshire, UK
Sacrificial spending
Mark van Vugt embraces the application of the evolutionary theory of multilevel selection in economics (23 November, p 30). Just as the theory was spurned in biology for most of the past century, so has the multilevel influence of a “keeping up with the Joneses” mindset in economics. It might be individually motivated, but it has benefits at the group level.
Only recently have a few economists realised that, in rich countries, individuals spend most of their discretionary income on gaining status in this way. This is a significant component of GDP and, thus, an important driver of economic growth for at least the past 200 years.
Saltford, Somerset, UK
Fluid thinking
Though not attempting to “weigh thoughts” as did Angelo Mosso (16 November, p 39), I too demonstrated mass redistribution of fluids around the body with a group of students. We used an arrangement like his balance table, but with the subject face up and with moveable counterweights to measure changes ().
While the findings were intriguing, a precise interpretation of centre of gravity changes was not possible, due to the ambiguity in pinpointing the bodily compartment(s) depleted of fluid and those to which it was added. Mosso’s attempt was doomed to sink into very loud experimental noise.
However, there remain potentially useful applications in psychological experimentation, such as changes induced by expectation of food, and in identifying gross cardiovascular problems.
Cardiff, UK
Cave women
Alison George’s excellent article on prehistoric art and the origins of intelligence uses evidence from Africa, Asia and Europe analysed by female and male archaeologists, to suggest that human creativity developed earlier than once thought (23 November, p 36).
So why do the two images, one of which also appears on your cover, show only contemplative males? We can be sure that, even in the remote past, humans and their predecessors came in two sexes, both with cognitive potential for creativity, art and symbolism. These two pictures ignore that simple, human fact.
Oxford, UK
Dark revolt
Lisa Grossman reports on the search for dark matter (2 November, p 11), but there are other theories to explain the excessively fast rotation of galaxies compared with the amount of observable matter in them. One of these is known as “gauge CPT”. It considers known matter as producing an as-yet-unknown long-range force that produces a mass-independent acceleration like that of gravity 鈥� no dark matter required.
Not all scientists believe in dark matter. For example Vera Rubin 鈥� who discovered the anomaly in galaxy rotation rates 鈥� no longer favours the dark matter hypothesis (19 March 2005, p 30).
Denver, Colorado, US
Breathe easier
Jenny Jones, a Green Party politician in London, UK, raises valid points about how to tackle worsening air pollution by cutting traffic and encouraging electric vehicle use (16 November, p 4). Other initiatives could help, too.
A project run by , a UK charity that encourages walking, cycling and public transport use, has been focusing on the “pollution blight” in the city through its volunteers.
For example, one volunteer in the London borough of Hackney has been encouraging delivery drivers and minicab firms to switch off engines while waiting. Such a tiny change could have a huge effect on pollution. If every delivery driver followed suit, we could all breathe a little easier.
London, UK
Temple to art
I have always been dismayed by archaeologists’ lack of imagination 鈥� if an ancient building’s purpose isn’t obvious then it is religious, as is suggested for G枚bekli Tepe in David Robson’s article (5 October, p 32).
There was talk of “a series of gullies” possibly for carrying “sacrificial blood”. But could the gullies have been for water 鈥� rain or washing?
The argument is further based on the surreal god-like statues found at the Turkish site. This makes me wonder what future archaeologists will make of some of the contents of London’s Tate Modern art gallery.
Bedford, UK
Gold leaf
You report that gold can be detected in eucalyptus trees growing above deposits of the metal (26 October, p 19). The earliest reference I am aware of to plants as potential gold detectors is from 1824. Some of the first work in the modern era was by Harry V. Warren at the University of British Columbia between 1950 and 1970.
Some plants make cyanide compounds, which react with gold and allow for its uptake into plant tissue. There are a lot of reports on the topic in the technical press and most mining companies are aware of it.
North Vancouver, Canada
Helping the enemy?
For whom does 快猫短视频 write articles about how to hide from the spooks (23 November, p 24)? Have you concluded that our spy agencies are up to no good and that all means for thwarting them should be developed and reported to the world? What will happen if criminals start using these new methods of hiding?
Les Essarts-le-Roi, France
For the record
鈥� Our look at the divide between rich and poor amid the financial crisis in Europe (2 November, p 6) drew on a World Health Organization report that stated in Greece “about half of new HIV infections [are] being self-inflicted to enable people to receive benefits of 鈧�700 per month and faster admission on to drug substitution programmes”. On 26 November, the WHO withdrew this line from its report, . It now states that: “slightly more than half of Greece’s new HIV cases are among those who inject drugs… there is no evidence that deliberate self-infection with HIV goes beyond a few anecdotal cases”.