We may need new names for autism (1)
I am wondering whether “autism” is a single condition. Your article on concerns about diagnosis in girls and women reports at least two patterns: one commonly found in males and one in females. I interpret them as follows: male-pattern autism has underactivity in the social brain, whereas female-pattern autism has overactivity in it. We don’t have a single word for thyroidism, but two: hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism. Maybe we need multiple terms for the two (or more?) conditions named autism (5 April, p 32).
We may need new names for autism (2)
The problem with saying autism is underdiagnosed in girls is that, as Gina Rippon mentions, there is no known biomarker, so it is only recognised behaviourally. If it is defined by behaviour, then if girls behave in a different way, why say they are autistic? We should probably find a different term.
Smartphones can be a force for good
Researcher Jess Maddox is right: the distinction between smartphones and social media isn’t just pedantry. The social disruption happens because each person who uses algorithmic social media apps is being shown content tailored to keep that individual angry and acquisitive, and because users can be vile and threatening without negative consequences. Then the angry people “find their tribe”, and soon there are real victims (5 April, p 21).
Let’s not ban smartphones. Let’s make sure that our children see a world in which there are better ways to use this amazing technology, without the corrosive effects of the attention economy, advertising and online gambling.
Now tell us all about breastfeeding's legacy
How exciting, I thought, seeing the headline “Pregnancy’s lasting effects”, as I have never come across anything on this aspect of breastfeeding. But producing breast milk wasn’t mentioned. For those of us who did this for years, it would be good to know if it had a lasting effect (5 April, p 19).
A short history of honest placebos
The idea of “honest placebos” isn’t new. 快猫短视频 reported they were effective against irritable bowel syndrome (9 March 2016). They have appeared in fiction, too. In Stephen King’s It, Eddie finds out his asthma inhaler contains a placebo, but continues to use it (5 April, p 20).
Movie review was taking the Mickey
In my 70-plus years on this planet, no one I met or whose film review I read who “loved the book” ever liked the movie version. No director will ever display what your imagination found in “your” book because literature and cinema are very different art forms. Dashed hopes are pretty much unavoidable. Simon Ings’s letdown at not seeing “his” Mickey 17 while watching Bong Joon Ho’s film is palpable. His problems with the film’s content are misguided. The Mickey 17 in his review isn’t the movie I saw (5 April, p 30).
Mars avatar might prove to be annoyingly laggy
I enjoyed Rowan Hooper’s piece imagining the future use of mechanical avatars on Mars. However, an important factor was missed: distance. Currently, communication can go no faster than light speed, which means that any instruction from a human host on Earth to an avatar on Mars would take at least several minutes to arrive, and possibly more than 22 minutes, depending on the separation of the planets. Signals sent back by the avatar would take a similar amount of time. Would it really be like occupying a body on another planet, or something more surreally frustrating(12 April, p 22)?
US science data needs a new home in Europe
You underplayed the carnage being wrought on world-class US science by the actions of Donald Trump and Elon Musk as they pull plugs on whole institutions and their labs. I ask readers to spare a thought for hard-working US scientists with invaluable troves of data that are about to be lost to the world in a pointless historical tragedy worse than the fire that destroyed the Great Library of Alexandria. While there is still time, I suggest all European scientific institutes and universities reserve server space to capture and retain as much of that data as possible. And I appeal to US scientists to exfiltrate their data to somewhere safe (Leader, 12 April).
Good news on climate might just backfire
You report that warming soils “could” sequester more carbon than we thought, offsetting some of the carbon release expected as climate change alters peat bogs and permafrost. And an earlier article says the contribution of large animals to carbon removal “may have” been underestimated (29 March, p 39). While there might be some cause for optimism in these findings, I can’t help but wonder how long it will be before governments and companies with vested interests hold this up as mounting evidence that “business as usual” is perfectly reasonable (5 April, p 17).
Is Mars colony plan on shaky foundations?
If thousands of quakes are rocking the northern part of Mars during its summer, then, presumably, only its southern hemisphere may be a relatively safe place to establish a self-sustaining human mission. Hopefully this has been taken into account in any plan for a Mars community (22 March, p 13).
The rush for wind needs to be steered carefully
Wind farms creating regions of lower air speeds for neighbouring turbine clusters shows that decisions on building such facilities must be made by bodies acting in national and international interests, not by firms acting for private profit (12 April, p 11).