Pandemic prevention will need some extra wisdom
Your excellent leader refers to the roll-out of effective coronavirus vaccines as “a stunning tribute to human wisdom” (Leader, 16 January).
A remarkable achievement it may be, but if humanity possessed even the rudiments of wisdom, it would already be eradicating the dangerous practices in intensive livestock production and wilderness destruction that are almost certain to be responsible for the next pandemic.
The fact that neither policy shift is even a possibility in the near future starkly illustrates the need for Robert J. Sternberg’s call in the same edition for a radical redefinition of intelligence (p 36).
History may have forgotten coronaviruses
From
12 December 2020, p 22
We should be cautious about casually linking the coronavirus pandemic to the devastation of biodiversity by people.
Lifestyle changes affect which diseases find their niche in the human population, but modernisation and urbanisation don’t increase our exposure to zoonotic diseases above that of our ancestors, rather the opposite.
It is very likely that we don’t see signs of some coronavirus epidemics in the historical record because our ancestors acquired immunity as children; the older people who were at highest risk of dying were, in any case, tiny proportions of the population.
In addition, referring to this pandemic as unprecedented ignores the fact that even current mortality rates are low compared with those of some diseases in the not-so-distant past, such as smallpox.
Maximum vaccine use is possible here too
In your look at whether the UK will hit its vaccine target, you mention reports that Israel gets six doses from each vial of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, whereas in the UK we only get five (16 January, p 10).
Having started as a vaccinator, I can assure you that in the online training module all UK vaccinators must complete before giving the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, it is clear that six doses per vial may well be possible, as long as each consists of 0.3 millilitres. In my first session giving this vaccine, I and most of the other vaccinators achieved six doses per vial in most or all cases.
Clarity needed over how fast we could change tack
Regarding the new virus variants, several experts have said that it would only take a few weeks to tweak vaccines to cope with them (9 January, p 8).
What isn’t clear is whether such a modified vaccine would require another lengthy programme of retesting, which may take months.
Lockdown policy may lead to a yo-yo effect
The UK seems to be applying a lockdown approach to covid-19 that initiates an unstoppable swing between low and high levels of infection (5 December 2020, p 9).
We must dampen this “motion”. Having lowered levels of covid-19 during lockdown, we should gradually reduce restrictions over an extended period, rather than rapidly, to the point at which an acceptably low death rate is reached and can be maintained.
Money for nothing may just end in higher prices
I have enjoyed your coverage of universal basic income (UBI) and its observed benefits on health and happiness (19 December 2020, p 25). But I would like to see an analysis of whether its adoption could lead to inflation.
It is my understanding that in market-driven economies, supply and demand will govern prices, unless curbed by regulation. If everyone got extra money, won’t the market raise prices? The UBI trials so far have been too small to reveal this potential problem.
Intelligence comes in many forms (1)
Thanks to Robert J. Sternberg for his critical examination of the reliance on IQ as a guide to someone’s potential (16 January, p 36).
At the height of the Rubik’s cube craze, I taught a class of 14-year-olds 鈥� our “bottom set”. They could rationalise a cube faster than I could follow them. No one had told them that they required the intelligence that society implicitly said they didn’t have in order to solve the puzzle. Intelligence is more about motivation and confidence than some reductionist, abstract construct.
Intelligence comes in many forms (2)
I think my dad summarised your article about how we view intelligence in one sentence. He said: “You go to university to learn more and more about less and less until you know everything about nothing.”
The pollution solution is to just travel less
Regarding the idea of encouraging the use of public transport by making it free, the best option for the environment would be to reduce the need to travel at all (9 January, p 19). The pandemic has shown us that commuting is often unnecessary.
That's a yes to lowering carbs from me
Further to your article on the mixed evidence of the health benefits of low-carb diets, I have yet to see a creditable argument against cutting out processed sugar, limiting carbohydrates and consuming them only with proteins to avoid blood sugar spikes, and limiting or removing animal fats (9 January, p 32). The resulting diet is healthy, inexpensive and varied.
Stonehenge: try a fence instead of a tunnel
There is a much cheaper solution than a road tunnel to avoid traffic on the road beside Stonehenge (9 January, p 16). Just build a fence to act as a sight screen at the edge of the road, and perhaps plant a hedge alongside it to take over the job when it grows high enough 鈥� a kind of wood-henge.
The congestion on the road seems to be due to drivers slowing down to look at Stonehenge, as though it has just miraculously appeared, instead of having been there for 5000 years.