This medical revolution must keep public onside
Michael Le Page makes very good points on the promises of mRNA therapies (16 October, p 38). But as with so many new technologies, what is crucial at this point is public perception. Look how fearful so many people are of nuclear power despite its excellent safety record, simply due to other technologies that were developed from nuclear physics breakthroughs in the same decade. We must be very careful not to jeopardise the reputation of mRNA.
No time to waste in tackling climate change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s conclusion that “we will reach 1.5掳C of warming within the next 20 years” seems both optimistic and fanciful (9 October, p 34).
The predictions of a climate model I was involved with, which successfully forecast the rise in warming in the 1990s and the hiatus since 2015, foresees a sharp spike in warming beyond 2030. This makes the IPCC’s timescale for modest action appear at best misguided and, more realistically, woefully inadequate.
Anonymity will only give fraudsters free rein
Sam Edge, while taking aim at the adoption of cryptocurrencies by some countries, writes: “Yes, there is a need to maintain the ability to perform anonymous transactions in a free society (Letters, 16 October).”
I disagree wholeheartedly. Privacy maybe, but anonymity, never. The fight against financial crime is relentless and weak. Aid money doesn’t get to where it is intended and people trafficking, exploitation, bribery and corruption continue to flourish. The sooner we move to a global cashless society the better. This needn’t disempower the least fortunate. Quite the opposite effect is possible.
Removing privacy, which is rarely morally defensible, will help create meaningful redistribution of wealth from rich to poor.
Lunar trenches may be best sign of black holes
Surely the best indicator of any impacts of primordial black holes on the moon would be those resulting from grazing collisions (2 October, p 46). Grazing meteorites explode or bounce off, leaving teardrop or repeated impact craters. Small black holes impacting in this way could create continuous linear furrows, possibly leading to tunnels that may collapse at a later date. These would be unique to black holes and long-lasting on the moon or other airless bodies.
Big not always better when it comes to Olympic glory
Sonia Novo writes that the results of the Tokyo Olympics demonstrate a “stark representation of the inequalities of the world” (Letters, 2 October).
Looked at a different way, however, the real champions are the Bahamas, Jamaica and New Zealand, which each gained one medal per 300,000 people or less. On those terms, this is a much better performance than China, which only managed one medal per 16.9 million people. The US gained only one medal per 2.9 million people.
Ending pandemic top-up payments will have impact (1)
The article regarding the likely consequences of UK government benefit cuts to poorer families could equally well have been written about Australia, where the imminent termination of government top-up payments is expected to drive significantly more children into poverty (16 October, p 17).
Governments should understand that there are many bright children who could do much for their country, but will have both their long-term health and educational prospects severely prejudiced by a childhood in poverty. Continuation post-pandemic of the extra payments to families should be an essential investment for the future.
Ending pandemic top-up payments will have impact (2)
You tell us how many more children will suffer from a list of ill effects when the UK government stops giving out 拢20 a week in top-up payments. The UK should start giving 拢40 a week, and you’ll have exactly the opposite result.
Non-genetic engineering ways to make bread better
I suppose it is good that wheat has been engineered using CRISPR gene editing to contain less carcinogenic acrylamide, but there are far simpler, less exotic ways of making this foodstuff better for our health and, at the same time, more nutritious (2 October, p 9).
We should stop treating wheat with pesticides just before harvest and with insecticide during storage. In addition, grind your own flour to ensure full nutrient content and make sourdough or sprouted-grain bread. of , which inhibits uptake of minerals from the meal you eat with bread. Surely a nutritious diet is the first, most important step in avoiding cancer.
The great heat pump debate rumbles on
Rachael Padman writes that the advantages of heat pumps over direct electrical heating will decrease as we decarbonise the electricity supply and green power becomes plentiful (Letters, 9 October).
While renewables may produce no carbon dioxide, they have side effects. To heat a home with electric resistance heating when we could use half as much power by using a heat pump isn’t the way forward. We need to be as frugal with renewables as we should have been with fossil fuels.
AI wars will be too fast for humans to comprehend
The idea that robotic weapons must be subject to human control presupposes we have that luxury (2 October, p 14). The reality is that having a human in the loop will be too slow if up against a fully automated foe. The latter will perform according to its preloaded algorithms in a similar manner to automated trading on the stock exchange. The role of “human control” will be in the creation of those algorithms. Under these conditions, should war break out, it will occur at a pace no human can comprehend.