Editor's pick: If reality is tough to swallow, swallow harder
Alex Berezow argues that the Left aren't true heirs of the Enlightenment and are just as “deluded” as their opponents (6 May, p 25). The sociologists mentioned in his article make no distinction between opinions formed from the assessment of the scientific evidence and those of people whose beliefs are aligned solely with a conservative world view that accepts no contradictory evidence, no matter how well-founded. If you hold the view that all knowledge is purely a social construct then you are able to equate nonsense with rationality.
For the rest of us, the scientific evidence for anthropogenic climate change, for example, is overwhelming. It is ridiculous to give nonsense supported by prejudice equal status to a vast body of scientific work that has been subjected to rigorous scrutiny.
The fundamental problem for conservatives is that their views are increasingly divorced from anything remotely resembling reality. The answer for them is to deny reality, whether climate change or the effectiveness of vaccination. Ignoring the implications of scientific knowledge and denying the need to act on them is a classic tactic of conservatives trying to support vested interests.
Berezow states that “twisting science into a bludgeon for political opponents is a gross perversion”. Science can only be used against conservatives if they ignore or deny the scientific evidence.
If they didn't do this, there would be no basis for conflict with the scientific community. To argue that there is an “institution of science” that will be damaged unless science can be completely divorced from its effects on society refers to an entity that doesn't exist and policies that would be profoundly damaging to the entire future of humanity.
The fifth dimension is no more 'real' than others
Leah Crane suggests gravitational waves could show hints of extra dimensions (6 May, p 8). But dimensions aren't part of the physical world. They are a mental geometric tool created by humans to locate any spot in the physical world in relation to other spots. They don't exist otherwise.
We don't “experience” three spatial dimensions: we don't experience any dimensions at all. We see, hear and feel things all over the place, whether at the far reaches of the universe or in the clutter in our living rooms. To make sense of what is where, we impose our mental “dimensions ruler” on whatever space we are interested in. It is doing this that gives our world a 3D effect. Generally we describe these “three dimensions” as three lines: left/right, ahead/behind and up/down. Of course “up” to someone in England is “down” to someone in Australia.
The fourth dimension is also a ruler. It is the ruler of motion, generally called “time”. It, too, is a mental creation.
Gravity is something else entirely, definitely part of the physical world, and it shouldn't be made harder to understand by entangling it with something that is our own mental creation.
The fifth dimension is no more 'real' than others
Leah Crane suggests that gravity may be “leaking” from our own observable universe into tiny hidden extra dimensions. But what if these extra dimensions weren't tiny, but invisibly “other” in some way not yet understood? Such dimensions might independently combine to form parallel co-universes not essentially dissimilar to ours.
If so, couldn't gravity from these be “leaking” back into our own universe? This would tend to have a flattening/thickening effect on gravitation in our universe, perhaps accounting for effects that are currently ascribed to “dark matter”.
First class post
The irony of me seeing this on Twitter when I'm supposed to be writing a novel is not lost on me
Alison Winter out to contemplate deliberate distractions that help concentration (20 May, p 26)
Defying dementia and dealing with deafness
You quote Alzheimer's Research UK saying that £12.9 billion could be saved annually if we delay the average onset of dementia by two years (29 April, p 28). This is interesting to audiologists.
Effective fitting of hearing aids can delay diagnosis of dementia by two years. It's not clear whether undiagnosed hearing loss causes acceleration of dementia, or it exaggerates the symptoms, or they have a common cause.
Performing the verbally on someone with impaired hearing may lead to a false positive result. Needless to say, I fitted myself with hearing aids on the first indication of hearing problems.
The extraterrestrial question is: when?
You report astronomer Avi Loeb saying “extraterrestrial signals should be no harder to find than other astronomical events” (29 April, p 7). But such signals would be many orders of magnitude weaker than those of most other events, although intentionally transmitting aliens could compensate with beam formation and directionality.
One further limitation stands out. The search for extraterrestrial intelligence has been going on for less than a century, but there could be a 100-million-year difference between the evolutions of two signal-emitting species.
We corrected the state that Thos Sumner lives in.
Shouldn't Europa get protection, too?
It is good to see pains being taken to protect Saturn's moons from bacterial contamination by burning up Cassini in its atmosphere (22 April, p 8). But the suggested mission to Jupiter's moon Europa involves a craft colliding with this potential harbour of alien life at the end of its assignment (29 April, p 4). Maybe a rethink is in order?
Testing whether artificial intelligence steps up
I was fascinated by the use of plain English to instruct an artificial intelligence to “climb up the ladder” in its search for treasure in the computer game Montezuma's Revenge (29 April, p 12). As a next step, can we envisage the opposite scenario, in which an AI instructs people where to go to retrieve “treasure” in an arena with real-life obstacles?
Estimating odds against spotting a thylacine
I have been chastising friends who believe thylacines may still be running around the Australian bush, quoting the 1 in 1.6 trillion chance that Alice Klein reports (22 April, p 11).
Now environment researcher believes the chance they still exist on Cape York peninsula is a more likely “1 to 2 per cent” (6 May, p 40).
I would have thought, though, that checking the DNA in scats would be a more efficient and accurate way of verifying them as non-extinct than using 50 camera traps. It might be less convincing to the general public, however, or less lucrative than footage from a camera trap.
What will plastic-eating caterpillars pollute?
Much as I'm glad of research into stopping plastic waste blighting land and sea, I am concerned that researchers think it may be a good idea for caterpillars to eat plastic (29 April, p 8). Plastic can contain undesirable substances including hormone disruptors. Grubs eating these and being eaten by other creatures could contaminate even more of the food chain.
Drones won't work very well underground
So drones could be used to map unsafe mines (22 April, p 16). But how can they can be remotely controlled once they turn a corner, given that radio waves don't penetrate rock or earth very well?
Cavers have been working on this problem for decades. The best scheme that I have heard so far involves planting walkie-talkie-sized repeaters every 100 metres or so along passages. This achieves data transfer at text-messaging speed – too slow for navigation and control.
Maybe mitochondria were thermophiles
You report that mitochondria operate at temperatures around 6 to 10° C higher than the rest of the cell (13 May, p 18). There is a broad consensus that the mitochondria within eukaryotic cells are the result of two prokaryotic cells forming a symbiotic relationship around 1.5 billion years ago.
Could the latest finding indicate that the prokaryote that evolved into mitochondria was a thermophile – that is to say that it was already tolerant of a higher operating temperature?
This will come in handy one day, maybe
I enjoyed Elizabeth Landau's look at hoarding (29 April, p 34), and at least partly recognised myself. I have a “10 per cent rule”: I will only ever reuse 10 per cent of the junk in my garage – but I don't know which 10 per cent. I can, however, get the car in.
Gongs all round
快猫短视频 has been winning awards and accolades left, right and centre in recent weeks. Biomedical news reporter Jessica Hamzelou was named British science writer of the year by the Association of British Science Writers. 快猫短视频 Live won best consumer show at the Exhibition News Awards – plus a gold award for event of the year and a silver award for launch of the year at the British Media Awards. Our social media videos won bronze in video product of the year. Our editorial, marketing and events teams have also been shortlisted by the British Society of Magazine Editors, the Professional Publishers Association, the Association of British Science Writers and the Association of Event Organisers. We'll let you know how we get on.
For the record
• Astrobiologist Lewis Dartnell is now at the University of Westminster (13 May, p 36).