Keep digging in the hunt for Martian life
With the recent news of some possible signs of ancient life on the Martian surface, there will naturally follow the usual comments 鈥� that even if there were any life long ago, there won’t be any living now, due to the hostile surface conditions(20 September, p 12).
However, once life started on Earth, it quickly spread to an enormous range of habitats, such as deep underground. It can survive in the absence of light, without oxygen and by using chemical redox reactions as an energy source.
If we find that life did indeed start on Mars and was present for a reasonably long time, I would suggest that it is highly likely that it still exists somewhere there, possibly below the ancient seabeds. As the atmosphere was slowly lost and the planet cooled, life would gradually have migrated deeper and evolved to the new conditions.
Comparing artificial apples and pears
Sophie Attwood’s comment piece questioned why people resist fake meat but embrace synthetic bodily enhancements. Two points struck me. First, Botox has been around for decades longer than artificial meat. Comparing public attitudes without accounting for the time each technology has had to become familiar feels misleading. It would be fairer to compare reactions at similar points in time after their invention(30 August, p 19).
Second, encouraging people to adopt lab-grown meat without caution seems premature. Emerging research on the negative health effects of ultra-processed foods suggests we should fully understand their potential impacts before urging widespread consumption. Blind enthusiasm risks overlooking important safety and nutritional questions.
Climate shock or signal for geoengineering? (1)
The indications that reductions in particulate pollution may be exposing the real extent of climate change is disturbing. But for some to argue we should therefore ease pollution rules is like trying to say that two wrongs make a right(13 September, p 40).
Climate shock or signal for geoengineering? (2)
Previously, proponents of geoengineering solutions to global warming have suggested that reflective aerosol particles could be sprayed into the upper atmosphere to achieve the same sunlight-reflecting effect as aerosol pollution. Opponents argue that this idea seems risky. I would have thought that what has been observed in the Pacific and Indian oceans as a result of pollution shows, to the contrary, how effective upper-atmosphere aerosols can be in reducing incoming radiation. Surely this is an idea worth pursuing.
Fermented food is about more than gut microbes
I would like to comment on your review of the book Ferment. I am a German artisan baker, mostly making German sourdough. I also grew up with lots of fermented foods and I would say I have some good knowledge about them. A crucial factor is which of the microorganisms in these foods survive our digestive system. The stomach is very acidic. From what I have learned, most of the microorganisms are destroyed in that environment. What my research has shown is that most fermented dairy products will provide microorganisms to our guts because these survive the stomach. Sourdough, sauerkraut and so on don’t provide a lot of gut microorganisms. Their advantage lies in being more digestible(13 September, p 24).
To read about the future of fermented foods, see page 32
Plenty of space for carbon storage in everyday life
Fortunately, there are more ways to store carbon dioxide than just underground. Trees and other plants also store it and when we use them to, say, build high-rise buildings or furniture, or make car parts (flax and hemp can be used in door panels and dashboards), we store CO2 for years, and possibly for centuries in some cases. By turning CO2 into useful products, capturing it will become profitable, not just necessary(13 September, p 10).
On the space-time vs spacetime debate
When it comes to the phrase space-time, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein ponders what is in a hyphen? Space answers to the question “where?”, time to the question “when?”. Space-time answers to the question “when and where?”. “Spacetime” answers to no question at all. It is a new concept that needs a lot of explaining (“what?”) and probably even a new interrogative (“whern”, maybe?)(6 September, p 22).
Otroverts can unite and possibly love cats (1)
Robert Sugden says otroverts, people who naturally don’t conform to groups, will never form their own groups for the obvious reason. But a few decades ago, people would have said the same about autistic people. Yet since the arrival of the internet, they have formed online groups to share experiences, developing guidelines that have since helped enable real-world spaces developed “by and for autistics”(Letters, 13 September).
It has made all the difference to many autistic people to have social spaces where we can be our authentic autistic selves in autistic company, and in the company of respectful, neurotypical allies keeping to the same rules.
Otroverts can unite and possibly love cats (2)
Sugden’s witty letter about being an otrovert prompted me to reread Rami Kaminski’s original article. I happened to be stroking my cat, whom I respect and admire, at the time, and it struck me that cats are extreme otroverts, the polar opposite to dogs. Our cat exploits us mercilessly, while being totally indifferent to our continued existence. He also studiously ignores all other cats. Does this explain the widely held belief that people are either cat people or dog people?
Grim reaper, I call you and raise you 100
How to make it to 100? I’m determined to live to 200. Or die trying(20 September, p 36).