Will a vaccine be the cure we need for long covid?
I share Mark Spinney’s suspicion that long covid symptoms may be due to the virus remaining active in tissues, somehow hiding from the immune system (Letters, 2 January).
A wine connoisseur friend of mine lost his sense of smell to covid-19 in March 2020 and it never recovered 鈥� at least not until a few days after receiving the first dose of the vaccine, when suddenly he could smell the delicious aromas of his wines again. I wondered if the vaccine gave his immune system the boost it needed to finally expel the virus from his olfactory nerve.
If so, this could bode well for using vaccination to treat a variety of long covid symptoms.
Let's do all we can to cut the risk of viral variants (1)
If lockdowns are indeed partially effective in reducing transmission of the coronavirus, as they seem to be, might an unexpected consequence be to selectively support mutant variants with enhanced transmissibility? (9 January, p 8)
Let's do all we can to cut the risk of viral variants (2)
Let’s not repeat the mistake of potentially creating conditions for the emergence of new variants of the virus as we roll out vaccines.
In particular, let’s avoid the well-meaning idea of delivering the second dose of vaccine much later than specified, in order to provide twice as many people with a single dose. I see this as similar to halving the dose of an antibiotic so as to share it with someone else: it raises the prospect of letting vaccine-resistant organisms thrive.
We must abide by the complete immunisation process exactly as it was performed in the phase-III clinical trials of the vaccines.
There may be another way to boost immunity
In view of the uncertainty over the strength and persistence of the immunity induced by the covid-19 vaccines, and given the virus will probably be circulating for many months yet, could the protective effect of vaccines be enhanced by exposure to the “street” virus a suitable time after inoculation? (19/26 December 2020, p 10)
If so, the benefits might outweigh the downsides of an infection, which, post-vaccination, would most likely be mild.
Proof of vaccination would be open to fraud
Geoff Willmetts writes that people who have been vaccinated should have a secure badge to prove it (Letters, 19/26 December 2020). In the world of scams, fraud and fakes, nothing is secure. If this idea were implemented, it would be 24 hours at most before badges were for sale on the internet 鈥� perhaps costing 拢50 or 拢60 for next day delivery.
One reason to stay away from the keto diet
The discussion about the medical pros and cons of the low-carb “keto” diet completely ignored the social and environmental aspects of diet (9 January, p 32). In affluent societies, most people have more choice over what they eat, though this may change as the disastrous environmental consequences of large-scale meat and dairy production become more apparent.
Promoting the keto diet in more places is likely to accelerate these effects, as people are encouraged to eat more meat. Any discussion of a diet should assess its sustainability, locally and globally.
Fusion power has many problems to overcome
Your article on the UK’s proposed fusion power plant, STEP, gives the impression that once the conditions to enable fusion of deuterium and tritium are met, then a working electricity-generating reactor will quickly follow (12 December 2020, p 18). However, there are many other challenges. These include the massive problem of dealing with radiologically unpleasant and potentially explosive tritium.
Because tritium’s availability from natural sources is essentially zero, a fusion reactor must make it by bombarding lithium with neutrons, then extract it. This looks to be an extremely difficult task. The situation isn’t helped by the fact that the tritium would be made in a hot environment where leakage would be hard to prevent.
These problems have been clear for decades. Given the ambitious aims of STEP, perhaps it is time to urgently address such issues.
Places where wheeled animals can come to life
In “Why don’t wildebeest have wheels?”, Michael Marshall made some excellent points, especially that “in nature, smooth, flat surfaces are rare, so there is no reason for evolution to favour wheels” and that “it is hard to imagine how the wheel might receive nutrients from the rest of the body” (19/26 December 2020, p 50). However, two fantasy authors have already pondered these points, one coming up with answers and the other providing the ultimate put-down.
In The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman proposes a savannah covered in interconnected, solidified lava flows that make up natural roads. A quadrupedal race 鈥� the mulefa 鈥� has naturally evolved an axle in the form of an extra long, extra strong claw on each foot. To these they attach naturally occurring, wheel-shaped seed pods, no nutrients required.
At the other extreme, Terry Pratchett had his wizard characters meet the god of evolution in The Last Continent. This being is busy designing an elephant on wheels. “Diversify and fill all niches, that’s the ticket,” he enthuses. “But is lying on your side in a mud hole with your wheels spinning a very important niche?” comes the diplomatic reply from one of the wizards.
Why space naturism probably won't take off
I like the simplicity of Guy Cox’s solution to the laundry problem on the ISS 鈥� nudity 鈥� although I suspect that tethering or taping might be required for some duties (Letters, 2 January).
It would certainly boost viewing figures for ISS broadcasts, but I am not sure it would be a runner with NASA, given the belief of some that even a glimpse of a naked body on TV would destroy the very fabric of society.