On the hunt for the elusive Dyson sphere (1)
The search for alien intelligence by looking for Dyson spheres 鈥� vast theorised power plants built to encase and draw energy from a star 鈥� is inevitably doomed to fail (30 January, p 44).
Any civilisation with such a high demand for resources and low respect for the environment is bound to collapse long before it is capable of building a sphere.
The true sign of a highly advanced civilisation would be the mastery of light hydrogen fusion, which would provide virtually limitless energy from the most abundant element in the universe. In principle, we could detect this on a planet by seeing the spectral signature of its product: helium. Unfortunately, since a planet’s sun is carrying out the same reaction, this wouldn’t be that easy.
On the hunt for the elusive Dyson sphere (2)
It seems to me that any civilisation needing to build 鈥� and capable of building 鈥� a Dyson sphere is unlikely to stop at one.
The same drive to ever-greater exploitation of energy and other resources that a Dyson sphere assumes (rightly or wrongly), would also drive such a civilisation to colonise neighbouring star systems and build further spheres.
So perhaps any search for these spheres should look not for individual stars with the infrared signature we would expect of a Dyson sphere, but for clusters of such stars in close proximity.
Can we engineer a solution to the pandemic?
You report that a far less deadly version of the coronavirus will probably emerge naturally, because a relatively benign version in a living human can fulfil its objective to reproduce, whereas a deadly virus in a dying person is more likely to perish with its host (23 January, p 12).
Would it be possible or practical to engineer a version of the virus that was highly transmissible and highly stable, yet benign? Then it would outperform its more dangerous cousins, and everybody could become infected with it and develop antibodies, thus creating global herd immunity. Or would that be playing with fire?
Burnout is a huge issue for single parents
I was surprised that the research into parental burnout didn’t seem to note whether the families involved were single parents (23 January, p 40).
My experience is that sole parenting in Western cultures is likely to involve far more personal depletion, responsibility, work and often financial stress. It is possible that sole parents experience less of this kind of stress in traditional cultures in which care and provision for children is shared more widely among extended family and the community.
This means prevention and treatment of burnout for sole parents needs to involve practical intervention and support, not just psychological therapies.
Debate contrarian views, don't just suppress them
From
30 January, p 12
So someone whose views are moderated or downvoted on social media is more likely to become a conspiracy theorist?
It seems clear to me that having your views suppressed could be construed as evidence of a conspiracy and that this conclusion isn’t necessarily an irrational one. I stand by the fundamental scientific principle that you should deal with incorrect views, not by suppressing them, but by winning the argument.
Someone, somewhere, always has to foot the bill
Richard Webb’s comment article made the case for free public transport in cities, but this isn’t “free” because it needs to be paid for somehow and by someone (9 January, p 19).
While the environmental considerations may well be fairly clear, apart from the Vienna experiment, Webb doesn’t really address how such provision is to be funded. I’m not a city dweller, and I know that I wouldn’t be happy to see my taxes pay for free travel in the likes of London. I suspect I am not alone in that.
Rise of gas guzzlers may be a demographic issue
You report that the gains for the climate from greater use of electric cars are being cancelled out by the increase in SUVs (30 January, p 17). Maybe the reasons why more of the latter are being bought could be explored, especially given the ageing of the population. As an 80-year-old, what I look for in a car is ease of entry and, especially, exit. Can I urge car manufacturers to publish the height of the H point (the point of a vehicle occupier’s hip joint) above the road.
When it came to smarts, we were streets ahead
Your article on the Denisovans ends by saying that they and the Neanderthals were cognitively not very different from us (30 January, p 34).
But Neanderthal technology seems to have got no further than string and bone flutes. As far as we know, they never made paintings like those we made in the Chauvet cave, or figurines like the Venus of Brassempouy. They made no permanent buildings, they didn’t invent pottery or figure out how to make metals. We may not have been smarter than Neanderthals 50,000 years ago, but I think we’re smarter now. They had 300,000 years to try, but they never advanced as far as we have.
Tips for beating those pesky flies (1)
It was interesting to learn that houseflies have specialised wings known as halteres that make them harder to swat (23 January, p 20). I find that a very successful way to catch flies in the house is by lowering a cup over them extremely slowly. The flies don’t seem to be able to compute low speed.
Tips for beating those pesky flies (2)
Halteres or not on your least favourite fly, swatting them leaves a mess and frustration at the misses. I vacuum them up using the basic hose or narrow nozzle. The flies just don’t see it coming and you can also easily catch them flying 鈥� highly recommended. Success rate 100 per cent.
For the record
The Dutch study of body language imitation when lying only looked at the behaviour of men (23 January, p 20).