Editor's pick: Stress about the end of the world as we know it (1)
Penny Sarchet describes eight coping methods for climate stress (26 October, p 12). I’m surprised she omitted the one adopted by our political leaders, namely to insert your fingers firmly into your ears and loudly recite “la, la, la”. The concept of icebergs hasn’t escaped our leadership, but the main UK political parties are preoccupied with either the economic viability of the Titanic or social justice for those forced to travel steerage. Given the speed and course of the ship, stress and anxiety are rational responses.
Editor's pick: Stress about the end of the world as we know it (2)
It is definitely no bad thing that we are becoming stressed about climate change. Perhaps it is better for children to be terrified now, and active, than for them to live to experience a dystopia when it is too late to alter it.
My generation faced a present in which 30,000 thermonuclear warheads awaited their wake-up call 鈥� our future always potentially ended in 30 minutes’ time. No wonder some of us are a bit odd, having watched the live in 1962, when it seemed very likely we would all fry together. Now there are only about 15,000 thermonuclear warheads ready to go. I am not entirely sure this means we can all rest easy in our beds…
I am even more worried than you are about climate
Amid all the discussion of planetary risks, such as the safety limits that Johan Rockström describes to Fred Pearce, I fear a major point is being missed: that we are committed to an increase in average global temperature of about 3°C(14 September, p 39). If we ignore computer models and look at historical data we find that atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and average global temperature have marched in lockstep for the past 500 million years.
The present level of CO2 in the atmosphere is over 400 parts per million and increasing. The last time that concentration of CO2 was seen on Earth was during the Pliocene epoch, 5 million years ago (6 July, p 38).
Temperatures then were about 3°C warmer than today and sea level was 10 to 20 metres higher. The ecosystem worked fine, except that we weren't there.
Is anyone prepared to gamble that we could survive a return to such conditions? If not, we need a crash programme not only to eliminate emissions, but to get the CO2 out of the atmosphere now.
Empowerment to resist domestic violence now
Alice Klein reported on domestic violence and some ways to tackle it (19 October, p 20). Another important approach to dealing with domestic and similar violence is empowerment self-defence training for women.
In addition to giving women the skills to handle abusers, this has been shown to help people heal from trauma caused by abuse. Showing women how to set boundaries, use their voice and fight if they have to is a powerful tool for ending violence.
Research is being done on the effects of empowerment training in places including , , and the .
The victim of an attack is never at fault, and we must make societal changes. But it will take a long time to root out violence – and those who are targeted need solutions now. Empowerment self-defence is one of many important tools for changing the violent environment.
Pluto was promoted when it was reclassified
In her interesting piece on the definition of a moon, Leah Crane says that in 2006 the International Astronomical Union voted to “downgrade” Pluto (26 October, p 23).
I was at that IAU meeting. Pluto was promoted from being the runt of the litter of planets. It turned out to have a mass less than 0.2 per cent of Earth’s.
Pluto’s status was enhanced when it became the premier object 鈥� the largest and nearly the most massive 鈥� in the main category of solar-system objects, the so-called dwarf planets.
The sun is, after all, a dwarf star 鈥� a term coined in 1906 by the Danish astronomer to distinguish it from giant stars that are brighter than normal stars of the same colour and surface temperature.
Dwarf stars are the ordinary objects in our galaxy, just as dwarf planets are the ordinary objects in our solar system.
Several ways that power lines may make big berries (1)
Claire and Greg Sullivan recount finding bigger and juicier blueberries under power lines (Letters, 26 October). I recall a report that cereals grown under electricity pylons were bigger and better than in the rest of the fields (23 August 1997, p 28).
Several explanations were offered. I recall a suggestion that rain on the wires would be warmed, and plants beneath would benefit from warmer water.
Several ways that power lines may make big berries (2)
Whether or not electric fields directly influence plant growth isn’t clear to me. But I am interested by a study that suggests that birds and mammals that are able to see ultraviolet light are scared off by it emanating from power lines (Conservation Biology, ). Perhaps more berries were able to grow larger by the time Claire and Greg found them because there were fewer animals around to eat them.
Do we know that the brain generates consciousness?
You say that we have been unable to explain how our brains create conscious experience (Leader, 21 September). Do we know that our brains create conscious experience? What if the brain is merely the organ through which conscious experience manifests?
The other side of that whale of a tale, Moby-Dick
Chris Simms reviews (19 October, p 28). The sinking of the Nantucket whaler Essex by a large whale in the Pacific in 1820 is generally regarded as inspiration for . Its author, Herman Melville, was friendly with the first mate, Owen Chace, and knew the skipper, George Pollard.
Those interested in the survivors’ stories can read by Nathanial Philbrick, which won the US National Book Award for Non-fiction in 2000.
Surely giraffes' necks must confer some advantage
Derek Bolton mentions Daniel Milo’s assertion that giraffes’ long necks have no significant advantages (Letters, 14 September, p 27). On the contrary, the length of their necks allows them to drink water on the ground, but only just. Giraffes have to splay their front legs to get their mouth low enough to drink, which could hinder their escape should a predator be nearby.
In this context, giraffes’ necks are very short. Their defining adaptation as a prey animal is their long legs, allowing them to run away from predators.
Use and prefiguration of a steered aerial bathyscaphe (1)
I have been following for some time the progress of Alan Handley’s Varialift project, reported by Donna Lu (12 October, p 15). The Varialift is an aerial bathyscaphe, able to perform highly accurate and maintainable altitudes. I believe the most important use for it will be in disaster relief.
Delivering basic supplies in meaningful quantities across areas whose infrastructure has been destroyed is currently very difficult.
Imagine a Varialift fleet paying its way when parked on the ground by generating as much solar power as a field full of solar panels. When a disaster strikes, it could pick up containers from strategic locations and deliver the relief required. Its first drops might be mini field hospitals, powered from the Varialift itself. All this could be delivered in a single flight.
Use and prefiguration of a steered aerial bathyscaphe (2)
Lu mentions exploiting the buoyancy of an airship to propel it by storing compressed air and using it for thrust. Your columnist Daedalus (David E. H. Jones, 1938-2017) had a more elegant solution with his thermal “glidoon” (). He proposed effecting buoyancy change through the condensation of ammonia. Some drones at sea now use this technology.
Some of your other recent reports also touch on things he discussed. For example, Jones prefigured your story on a generator that runs on heat escaping to the sky (21 September, p 17), describing it as an “anti-greenhouse” (3 March 1966, p 562); and also discussed the effect of electric fields on crops (24 August, p 42, prefigured on ). It would be nice if you gave him a bit more recognition.
For the record 鈥� 23 November 2019
鈥� Among heat pumps, only the air-source variety uses a fan in collecting energy (9 November, p 18).
鈥� Gluten may be present in many parts of wheat grains, as well as in some other grains (Feedback, 12 October).
鈥� Alexei Poludnenko and his team ignited a mixture of hydrogen and air to track the evolution of its explosion (9 November, p 17).
We would all be the poorer without <em>快猫短视频</em>
Like your letter writers Andrea Needham and Marcus Swann, my first reaction to the series of adverts by BP in 快猫短视频 was “they shouldn’t be publishing these” (Letters, 2 November). On reflection, if 快猫短视频 doesn’t get funded from advertising, we will all be the poorer as it will cease to exist.
I cannot recall a single editorial item that gave even a hint that the team isn’t fully behind a greener future. Carry on, 快猫短视频, you’re doing a great job.
An apology
In the 16 December 2017 issue we ran a diagram accompanying a story on stereotyping that, without appropriate context about the research it was drawn from, actually perpetuated the harmful stereotypes it was meant to debunk. Unacceptably, it listed “Jews” among groups that could be considered “high status competitors”. When this appeared in print, our readers swiftly let us know this was wrong and offensive, and we amended the diagram online, apologised to readers and reviewed our editorial procedures.
Unfortunately, due to an error in our archiving process, we recently republished the original version of the diagram in an issue of The Collection, a digest publication of 快猫短视频 content. We want to take this opportunity to make clear that we reject antisemitism in all its forms and apologise for republishing this material.
The notion that Jewish people, as an ethnic group, are generally high status or affluent belies the long history of poverty, exclusion and persecution that many members of this community have faced, and continue to face. We are keenly aware of the harm that insidious stereotypes can cause. We offer our sincere apologies.