Editor's pick: Locked-in lives, the law and ending them
I am a bit puzzled and concerned about the apparent disconnect between the work of Adrian Owen on scanning the brains of people in persistent vegetative states (16 September, p 44) and Clare Wilson's argument that a court ruling on ending life support without going to court in future is the right decision (30 September, p 25). Owen concludes that there are “thousands of people out there who are conscious but nobody knows”.
Now there is news of someone being roused from a persistent vegetative state to a “minimally conscious” state (30 September, p 8).
Granted, the techniques of detection and arousal probably won't be widely available any time soon. But does that really justify terminating someone's life before we are sure they are not aware at some level?
I find the idea of being conscious but trapped in my body and unable to communicate by any normal means horrifying enough without the added thought that I might be written off – and switched off – because nobody could fully check my brain activity.
Free poor communities from their 'fat swamps'
Anthony Warner is right to raise the hazards of trans fats in takeaway foods and the inequity of the disproportionate exposure of deprived communities to cheap fried takeaway foods in the UK (22 July, p 24). The latter is well evidenced, and a highly plausible risk factor for the poor health experience of these communities.
In response to these concerns, the then Sandwell Primary Care Trust – in one of the most deprived areas in Europe, in West Midlands – commissioned colleagues and I to purchase and analyse over 250 takeaways in 2013 to 2014 (British Journal of Nutrition, ).
The results were surprising. We found very low levels of trans fats in most samples. More than half the meals, though, exceeded acceptable total daily levels of fats and salt. Some single meals contained around twice the recommended daily intake for saturated fats or salt. Portion sizes for many meals were larger than those reported in the US literature – perhaps in response to the competitive local market.
Sandwell thus has the dubious distinction of being a “swamp” of readily accessible cheap and unhealthy takeaways, and a “desert” of healthy options. I agree with Warner that trans fats should be scrupulously avoided and the UK should follow the example of New York in banning their use in restaurants and takeaways. Wider intervention is required to address the inequity of deprived communities being condemned to “fat swamps” – including the use of local planning and regulatory powers, the promotion of healthier food procurement and preparation, and the stimulation of demand for healthier products.
First class post
Let them live, invent, and prosper at their own pace and leave them be
Cass to Curtis Abraham on ushering uncontacted tribes into the modern world to protect them (30 September, p 24)
There is evidence organic food is more nutritious
Bob Holmes notes that organic farms have better soils and more native species, but writes that “there's little evidence that organic is more nutritious” (23 September, p 35). Many studies show that organic food contains more nutrients.
Maria Raquel Miranda at the Federal University of Ceara in Brazil found that organic tomatoes contain 57 per cent more vitamin C than non-organic ones (PLoS One, ). A 2011 study at Newcastle University, UK, found that organic milk has more beneficial polyunsaturated fats than “conventional” milk (Journal of Dairy Science, ). A £12 million study led by Carlo Leifert at Newcastle University reported in 2007 that organic fruit and veg contained up to 40 per cent more antioxidants than non-organic types (Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences, ). This is a sample of many such studies.
Reconciling two takes on benefits of vegan diets
Joseph Poore highlighted vast reductions in human land use as yet another clear and positive benefit of diet change (12 August, p 26). And Anthony Warner suggested uncertainty around whether vegan diets have positive or negative impacts on health (26 August, p 24).
Combining Poore's clear positive effect with Warner's report of an uncertain, near-zero effect gives me a straightforward answer. What is far less clear is whether humanity can properly balance its concerns about personal health and pleasure, with the pressing need to stop the degradation of our planet.
Efficient public transport and perverse incentives
It is interesting that an efficient bus service can be arranged by having each driver work independently, being paid by the number of passengers they pick up (16 September, p 7). They coordinate journeys to avoid clustering, avoiding excessively long waits between buses. Unless there are also incentives to minimise total trip time, there is a risk that each driver will wait until the following bus arrives before setting off, to maximise the number of passengers picked up.
On-time travel must not, however, be the major incentive. Where it is, we get the situation seen in and , where train operators avoided penalties for lateness by not stopping at busy stations where the train might be delayed.
Electrobuses were developed elsewhere
Mick Hamer argues that bus technology missed a trick because of crooks in London (9 September, p 35). Trams were ubiquitous in those conurbations big enough to support them. A multinational electric traction industry, desperate to find new markets, encouraged feverish invention of new forms of public transport throughout Europe and the US from 1900 onwards.
Trials of battery buses then echoed today's rush to find practicality, with just the same degree of spin, if not the same drive to avoid pollution. Companies in Germany, France and the US all tried battery-swapping, as in London, or clever ways of charging from rails or overhead wires.
With roads not surfaced to take the heavy load, battery buses carved up the thoroughfares in no time. At the time, charging lead acid batteries was toxic for the workers. To suggest a couple of con artists changed the course of progress is a bit of a stretch.
What nuclear power counts as clean energy?
Eric Kvaalen asks whether nuclear power counts as “clean energy” given that we haven't solved the problem of nuclear waste (Letters, 2 September). It is, if the right technology is used.
Many are alarmed by waste from nuclear power stations. But some “breeder reactors” can produce much less waste – and generate less material that is useful for bombs. Some say this upset the US in the cold war and it convinced global powers to stop developing breeder reactors.
Thorium breeder reactors could solve many of today's power and waste problems. Just ask the Chinese – who are now reviving this technology.
The editor writes:
• We reported developments with thorium reactors online on 25 August (bit.ly/NS-Thorium).
This wind-powered dream is my nightmare
Mark Jacobson claims that a world with only wind, solar and hydroelectricity would be his dream (9 September, p 26). To me it's a nightmare. Here in Scotland, 3000 wind turbines already operate and you are now not out of sight of a turbine in 50 per cent of the countryside. Good research shows that 80 to 90 per cent of the bird species examined avoid turbines for distances of up to 500 metres to 1 kilometre. They would disappear in Jacobson's dream.
I agree with E.O. Wilson's target of returning half of usable land to wilderness to avoid driving many species to the margins of working landscapes, cities and seascapes. Wind and solar are incredibly land-hungry; nuclear is not.
What's this about making electrons, then?
The introduction to Abigail Beall's report that electrons may have subcomponents says “we go to incredible lengths: generating electrons in vast power stations” (9 September, p 38) and continues truthfully that it is “a shade embarrassing that we don't fully grasp what they are”. I always thought the electrons were already present in the metallic circuit and power stations' job was to persuade them to move. Anyway, that's what I have been trying to teach for many years.
Innate numeracy and the rhythm of counting
Anil Ananthaswamy suggests we are born with a sense of quantities – such as size and density – that correlate with the number of things (2 September, p 33). When I am counting $20 bills I say “da, da, da, da, one, da, da, da, da, two…” so count to 10 to tally $1000, or I lose track.
Obviously, this requires knowing the arithmetic, but it still seems to me that rhythm and number are intimately connected.
!Clicking your way around with the !Kung
You report how people who are blind can “see” like bats (9 September, p 12). I wonder if anyone has looked for a connection between echolocation and the language “clicks” made in !Kung and certain other languages spoken in Africa.
For the record
• The world is your small oyster. The finding that shellfish are smaller where long-tailed macaques use stone tools makes it more likely that size reductions elsewhere are due to human activity (23 September, p 12).