Ebola vaccine plan
Philippa Skett writes that there are five strains of the Ebola virus, four of which are deadly to people (9 August, p 7).
We know that Edward Jenner found that vaccinating humans with some of the cowpox virus granted them immunity from the more dangerous (and closely related) smallpox virus. Would it be correct to assume that the fifth strain of Ebola, the one that is not deadly to humans, has been considered as a vaccine candidate?
Poquoson, Virginia, US
For the record
鈥� It’s not only the European Space Agency that had trouble placing its satellites (30 August, p 7). We need a geography lesson: the satellites were launched from , not French Guinea ().
鈥� The cracks were showing in our story on spiral microfractures (30 August, p 12): the work was carried out at , not .
Fast train to Jupiter
Jim Petts’s description of long haul space flight simulations involving “cramped and unpleasant surroundings in complicated and tubular habitats, limited washing and toilet facilities, poor communication and food delivered through a service lock” would suggest that my daily commute into London should have made me an ideal candidate for interplanetary exploration by now (23 August, p 28).
Wimbledon, London
Bird battalions
I can support Erik Foxcroft’s observation that individual birds in flocks of gulls and crows may engage in mid-air fights while the flocks as a whole continue flying in their original directions (23 August, p 29).
On this occasion the fighting pairs eventually disengaged and rejoined their flock-mates at the back of the squadrons. However, in my observation (and I suspect Foxcroft’s too) the black birds were in fact rooks.
It is not easy for the untrained eye to tell the difference between crows and rooks at a distance but an aide-memoire beloved of country folk is that, if you see one rook on its own it’s a crow, but if you see several crows together they’re rooks.
Whitwell, Isle of Wight, UK
Galactic warming
So Jason Wright at Pennsylvania State University is scanning the galaxies for waste heat given off by the machines of tech-savvy aliens (23 August, p 11). I can imagine our first message should we find them: “Hello. Guess what? We are wrecking our planet too!”
St Blazey, Cornwall, UK
Quantum pitch
Ron Barnes asks what to call a neutron without spin (30 August, p 31). Surely the physics equivalent of a doosra 鈥� where a cricket bowler does not put the expected curve into a delivery 鈥� should be a neuteron, since it lacks a vital component of its being?
As for spin without attached substance, well, we are approaching an election year in the UK, so we are going to see quite enough of that!
Stockport, Cheshire, UK
Paying the piper
Bryn Glover makes an interesting suggestion that shale gas deposits are best left undiscovered (30 August, p 31), but his letter contains a serious omission. He suggests that power-hungry politicians will fall over themselves to help profit-hungry petroleum companies in their search for methane.
The omission is that we power-hungry consumers will happily pay for the extracted gas; if we didn’t no one would be looking in the first place.
Taunton, Somerset, UK
Canadian oil
If those who want to move oil on the Keystone XL pipeline to supply their refineries on the US Gulf coast don’t get the supply from Alberta, the demand would have to be met by supplies from somewhere else. Would that somewhere else have no emissions impact?
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Canadian oil
Hal Hodson seems to suggest that if the US fails to build a connecting oil pipeline to Canada, the tar sands won’t be fully developed (16 August, p 10). This isn’t the case. Canada could build a pipeline to the west coast and ship the oil to China.
Canada currently sends oil from the tar sands to the US through road and rail, but it is cheaper and safer to send oil through a pipeline. It is also safer to pipe the oil than to have it shipped across the ocean, which is how the US imports most of its oil. On top of this Canada has more stringent environmental laws then many oil-producing countries, so if oil has to be used, Canada is the best place to get it.
The question is, does the US want cheaper, ethically produced, environmentally monitored oil from Canada, or does it want to keep importing more expensive oil, by ship, from elsewhere?
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Dead ringer
I noticed the image of an old friend accompanying your story on the decline of Neanderthals (23 August, p 10): the skull of an early Homo erectus that I helped excavate in 1984.
The caption read “40,000 years dead”, but that individual died about 1.5 million years ago. Might I suggest that you use a different stock image in future?
Moncure, North Carolina, US
New greenhouse
Steven Ashley describes schemes to generate electricity from Earth’s infrared emissions (23 August, p 38). Surely if these emissions take heat from Earth into space, then capturing and converting them into electricity (and ultimately, to heat) will be a very effective greenhouse effect, perhaps even more effective than that of carbon dioxide?
Birchington, Kent, UK
Nutritional gap
In your special report on vitamins, you could well have included iodine as a desirable trace mineral (30 August, p 32).
I recently noticed a mildly swollen thyroid gland in the neck of an otherwise healthy 10-year-old. This swelling disappeared after four weeks of iodine supplements. Since then I have watched passers-by more closely, and noticed some mild neck swellings, mostly in adolescent girls.
Adolescent girls seem to have an increased requirement for thyroid hormone, which puts a strain on their thyroid gland if iodine reserves are low. Neck swelling in young girls , but this is not supposed to happen in 21st-century UK.
The most reasonable source of iodine for the public is tincture of iodine, which is used already by many campers to purify their water. As far as I know, there is no routine laboratory test for body iodine levels. There is supposed to be no iodine deficiency problem here to warrant it.
Markington Village, North Yorkshire, UK
Glass half full
Naomi Lubick quotes an estimate that $384 billion is needed over the next two decades to deliver drinking water across the US (16 August, p 38). This is a seriously scary number, at least until you work out the cost per citizen per week. This comes to about $1, or around $4 per month.
The cost equivalent of one cappuccino per month doesn’t sound quite as frightening as the full figure.
Canberra, ACT, Australia
Monopole monster
In his article on the search for magnetic monopoles (16 August, p 34), Richard Webb refers to unfounded fears that turning on the Large Hadron Collider might produce strange anomalies that would devour the planet. Perhaps, however, he ought to be worried about the flood of anomalies that the isolation of a magnetic monopole might unleash.
Whenever we set up an intense magnetic flux, electric monopoles such as electrons scurry in and whizz round it at dizzying speeds. Magnetic monopoles will do the same in the fields surrounding all our electrical conductors, including overhead power lines.
In a “tokamak” like ITER, which uses a magnetic field to confine plasma in an attempt to achieve nuclear fusion, the orbiting-monopole effect leads to an inconvenient energy leak. Should we worry about all our electrical machines and nervous systems having their energy sapped by magnetic monopoles?
La Tour d’Aigues, France
Smart curve
鈥� Some predict the curve will stretch to the left. As high IQ couples tend to have fewer children, more children are born to couples with mixed levels of IQ. The result is a reduction of variance at the high IQ end of the distribution, coupled with an increase at the low IQ end (Intelligence, ).
Smart curve
Bob Holmes writes that a small downward shift in the mean IQ of a population will cause a relatively large drop in the number of high IQ individuals (23 August, p 30).
But that is dependent on the distribution of different IQ scores 鈥� the shape of the curve 鈥� remaining constant. Does it?
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Smart curve
Your leader on intelligence trends was most welcome (23 August, p 5). I would venture one other factor as key to IQ performance, and that is confidence, or the expectation of success. A at the University of London found that the performance of different types of schools is largely accounted for by the socioeconomic backgrounds of the children present. The influence of high expectations of other pupils, their teachers and, most importantly, their parents overrides all other indicators of a child’s success.
The report recognises that this largely explains the success of faith schools, with their selective intake and its implications for social divisions. It seems to me to be a deeply regressive notion, as you rightly point out, to cling to the antiquated idea that the greatest pool of talent resides with those traditionally in power. The purposes of this belief are obvious, but do not serve our country well.
Ironbridge, Shropshire, UK
Jumbo problem
Instead of the losing battle against poachers (23 August, p 6), would it not be far more effective to screen David Attenborough’s Life On Earth documentary wherever products from endangered animals are sold? Increasing understanding of our place in the animal kingdom, ecology and the meaning of extinction would be a huge help in reducing demand.
Ann Arbor, Michigan, US
Nutritional gap
鈥� Statins have been associated with a drop in CoQ10 levels, but the evidence for supplements is still weak, and the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends against offering CoQ10 to patients receiving statin treatment.
Nutritional gap
In your article on vitamin and mineral supplements, you conclude that many of the claims for coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) are unfounded. However, I was surprised that no mention was made of the possible benefit for people taking statins.
Like many people on statins I take CoQ10. It will be interesting to see if any future research can confirm the efficacy of this as a supplement for those on statins.
Guildford, Surrey, UK
Nutritional gap
鈥� The UK’s NHS of iodine supplements and that more could be harmful. Tinctures vary widely in strength: best consult a doctor before self-medicating. Good food sources of iodine include sea fish.