Editor's pick: Was inland surfer's ear due to weather, or diving for gold? (1)
Colin Barras describes the mysterious prevalence of “surfer's ear” in skeletons found at the Stone Age village at Körtik Tepe in Turkey (9 June, p 8). Some were as young as 6.
I find it hard to accept the idea that many people in the village engaged in prolonged leisure activities in the chilly waters of the local rivers. I spent my childhood on the north-east coast of England next to the North Sea and can attest to the limited attraction of its painfully cold water, especially without a modern-day wetsuit.
Surfer's ear, or ear exostosis, can also be caused by exposure to cold, wet, windy weather without adequate protection. The village was first occupied between 12,400 and 11,250 years ago, which closely matches the dates of the Younger Dryas event, a period of massive and abrupt temperature variations in the northern hemisphere (14 November 2009, p 10).
I wonder whether the villagers were hit by unexpected severe weather and prolonged winters, which they may have been technically and culturally unprepared for. This could have led to unprotected exposure to freezing temperatures, resulting in cases of ear exostosis.
Editor's pick: Was inland surfer's ear due to weather, or diving for gold? (2)
I suggest that the archaeologists who found “surfer's ear” at the Körtik Tepe site look for evidence of metal-working in and around the village. A possible reason for frequent diving into a cold river may have been to hunt placer gold nuggets, rather than fish.
from Körtik Tepe, there are , in an area that was also suitable for summer pastures. Spring floods could have brought gold into the streams and rivers in summer grazing areas, providing an attractive additional source of income.
More drawbacks and benefits of smart meters (1)
Nick Hunn describes the myriad pricing plans specified for smart meters in the UK (Letters, 16 June). I was one of many experts the UK government collected to advise it on the introduction of smart meters. I was also a member of a body advising the European Commission, the only “demand side” representative alongside over 50 supply-side experts.
We understood that a UK minister described the smart metering programme in the country as the biggest mess he had ever come across, but the expenditure to date meant there was no option but to continue it.
Suppliers' chief concern at all times was credit control, through the ability to remotely switch consumers who are in debt to prepaid supply. The variable prices that Hunn describes were on the table from the start, officially for demand-side control.
More drawbacks and benefits of smart meters (2)
The condemnation of “smart” electricity meters continues. As with all technology, there is nothing wrong with smart meters in their own right; what is important is how they are used.
The use of electricity has changed from being a luxury available to a few rich people just 100 years ago to much of the world being totally dependent on it. If the supply fails, everything stops. The environmental impact of producing it is enormous and most of the harm is felt by those in poorer parts of the world, many of whom have no electricity supply.
One of the major issues in electricity supply is that peak demand is so much higher than “base load”. If it is possible to reduce this gap all will benefit.
First class post – 7 July 2018
Physiology lectures in the 1960s referenced ‘Standard Man’… race not specified
Sue Perrin on when it comes to including black men, say, in medical trials (30 June, p 15)
Capture that carbon where it's easy to get at
Let us hope that the process to produce hydrocarbons by feeding carbon dioxide to artificial enzymes can be scaled up economically (2 June, p 17). Presumably it will be “powered” by low-grade heat.
It would be perfect to site such a facility next to a brewery, winery, distillery or pharmaceutical plant. All these fermentation processes generate as a by-product near-pure carbon dioxide.
Filthy coal smoke, in contrast, is the last feedstock any sane engineer would contemplate using. So why are carbon capture pilot schemes bolted on to coal-fired power plants? Offsetting their emissions by capturing CO2 from the exhaust of a gas-fired combined cycle power station makes more sense. Go for the low-hanging fruit.
Positive side effects of renewable energy (1)
Peter Fairley mentions storing energy by converting surplus electricity into hydrogen by using it to split water (9 June, p 26). This also produces oxygen. If this were used to replace air in engines, their thermodynamic efficiency could be improved, as the burning temperature of the fuel increases and it no longer has to heat the nitrogen in the air. I estimate that a diesel engine's efficiency can be nearly doubled, though I'm not sure what engine modifications would be required.
Positive side effects of renewable energy (2)
You speak of “renewable energy”. I prefer to call it “owned power”. If you buy a diesel generator, then you have to keep buying fuel: fuel-based energy is “rented power”. When you buy a solar panel, you own a flow of electrical power. It is better to own than to rent, for independence and security.
Disposal is the central issue with plastic bags
I was surprised to read you suggesting that plastic bags might do more environmental damage than cotton ones (Leader, 16 June). For me, the primary and most urgent objection to plastic is not so much in its production but in the enormous and harmful effects of its waste, which (unlike cotton) survives and accumulates for centuries. There is plenty of evidence for this, which must be included in a balanced evaluation.
Being pitch perfect isn't much help to a musician
You quote musician Rick Beato saying that perfect pitch is “a tremendous advantage” (9 June, p 14). But what all musicians need is relative pitch – that is, accurate perception of the intervals between notes. If a musician's absolute pitch does not conform to the actual pitch of the instruments they are playing with, they may play out of tune. Relative pitch is a very complex and evolved ability, which takes time and experience to develop.
The ability to sit down and compose a whole work without using an instrument has nothing to do with absolute pitch: what it needs is a highly developed musical memory.
The Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich could sit down at the piano and play a symphonic work from memory after hearing it only once. After Johann Sebastian Bach improvised his Musical Offering for the King of Prussia, he woke up the next morning and wrote down the entire work.
I see only imperfection in football errors
You call for us to see sweetness in football's disorder (Leader, 16 June). As a lifelong sports participant and enthusiast, recognised for services to motorsport, and with a great interest in physics, I take exception.
Objecting to the VAR (video assistant referee) system is tacitly approving cheating in sport. And cheats only cheat themselves, because they know they did not win fairly!
Tennis tournaments, such as Wimbledon, and test cricket both use Hawk-Eye instant replays, and rugby league has a video referee. Australian cricketers' ball-tampering was spotted by cameras. Any method by which competitors are forced to play within the rules has to be good.
So why didn't GM tomato paste catch on? (1)
Michael Le Page mentions the genetically modified Flavr Savr tomato (26 May, p 28). This was a commercial failure because it was , making pointless its quality of keeping for three weeks after ripening.
So why didn't GM tomato paste catch on? (2)
Your excellent article on a new wave of healthier genetically modified foods missed one connection. Paste made from Flavr Savr GM tomatoes launched in 1994 was clearly labelled as GM and was outselling the traditional product. It seems to me that what brought things to a grinding halt was the cattle disease BSE and its link with the human brain disease CJD. From 1996 onwards, environmental organisations were able to use the harrowing footage of staggering cattle and bedridden human patients in their ideological campaigns against the GM process, although there was no connection between the two.
If the purpose of REM sleep is to warm brains…
Sam Wong reports research into fur seals' sleep and mentions the hypothesis that REM sleep serves to warm up the brain (16 June, p 16). This should be easy to test.
If warming is important, a given animal should have more REM sleep in a colder environment than in a hot one. It will have more REM in winter than in summer, and Arctic creatures will have more than those in the tropics.
Less is better when it comes to fashion choice
Alice Klein highlights the wide range of issues associated with the production of clothing, from plastics to pesticides, chemicals energy and water (16 June, p 22). One unequivocal fact, however, is that less is better. The fewer clothes people buy, the fewer resources are consumed in their production. The fashion industry will struggle to acknowledge this fact given that it depends on creating ever-changing trends to drive demand.