A solution to the social media problem? (1)
Matthew Sparkes writes about the tension between adults’ privacy and children’s safety online created by digital ID or age verification. There is a simple solution: require physical devices to be age-rated. Any smartphone or computer sold would have to incorporate a tamper-proof digital age identifier. It is the device that is age-identified, not the owner. Websites and online services would then be required to age-code their material, so that they cannot be accessed on age-restricted devices, in line with whatever rules are applicable within a given jurisdiction (7 March, p 10).
Parents who buy devices for their children could choose whether to buy, say, a 12-year-rated, 16-year颅-rated or unrestricted device.
No doubt there would be kids who manage to acquire unrestricted smartphones, just as kids manage to get hold of all sorts of illegal or age-inappropriate material. But these would be in a minority, rather than normalised and ubiquitous at any age.
A solution to the social media problem? (2)
I agree with Matthew Sparkes, but he is, like many, viewing this as solvable using a “blacklisting” approach. What do we want to ban or restrict access to online? This is like trying to make London safe for a toddler to walk across on their own late at night. It is never going to work; there will always be corners we cannot find and police. We need an online approach to growing up that matches the one in the “real world”, where experiences are kept safe and age-appropriate, e.g., children’s TV, schools and playgrounds 鈥� a “whitelisting” approach. We need to define what websites children can see, and at which age, and enforce this by allowing children to possess only locked-down devices that block access to everything else. Giving a child an “adult” phone is then criminalised in the way selling or giving them a bottle of vodka is.
Pigment omission came out of the blue
As a retired paint chemist, I enjoyed the article “A study in scarlet”. However, I cannot understand why the review of blue pigments excluded phthalocyanine blue, which was first marketed as Monastral Blue in 1935. Phthalocyanine blue became a major source for blue colourations in the house paint, automotive ink and plastic industries. I personally sighed with relief that we finally had a stable, non-fading blue tinter (28 February, p 41).
To live a meaningful life, take a look at cows
Regarding Chris Simms’s article “The secret to living a meaningful life”, there is a meaning to life, and that is: to enjoy every moment to the best of our ability. Animals, in my experience, are happiest when their basic needs are met. For a cow, this may mean a full belly and a shady tree to rest under. In our lives, we often have a whole list of things we want that are impossible to satisfy. When we stop thinking that we are superior to other creatures, we are able to learn from them. So keep life simple and spend more time helping others, or reading 快猫短视频, or whatever else gives meaning to your life (14 February, p 15).
Data storage takes us through the looking glass
The widely reported news of a method of storing large amounts of data in glass is welcome when ever-larger quantities of data are being generated every day. And a medium that will remain intact after many thousands of years is a vast improvement on the ephemeral magnetic media we still use. But it is naive to imagine our descendants will be able to read the stored data. Already, being able to read data from floppy discs is restricted to the few specialists who maintain old disc drives. Our descendants are going to puzzle over the pretty rainbow patterns in the pieces of glass we leave (28 February, p 13).
Addressing an overlooked but important issues
Your article on paternal postpartum depression highlights an important but often overlooked issue: men’s well-being is frequently under-recognised despite legal frameworks promoting equality (21 February, p 38).
Cultural expectations still tend to frame men as emotionally resilient and self-reliant, which can discourage open discussion of vulnerability or distress. Recognising paternal postpartum depression is therefore an important step towards addressing a wider imbalance in how society approaches men’s health and well-being.
More chin stroking on the human chin (1)
I found the article concerning the evolution of human chins very interesting. The suggestion that sexual selection could be partially or wholly responsible implies that this evolutionary trend could take place quite rapidly. I would be interested to know whether the researchers, or anybody else, have noticed another human oddity: increasing neck length (21 February, p 7).
More chin stroking on the human chin (2)
I have often wondered whether the shape of the human jaw is influenced by speech as well as diet. For example, people who use the precise consonants required by certain languages seem to have distinct lips. The use of the jaw to pronounce the “r” of American speech seems to give the jaw more projection. I wonder how much of this is my imagination, or whether it has been researched.
A cosmos made of string and sealing wax
The more we learn about the universe, the more we realise how much more there is to discover. This seemed to me to be amply demonstrated by your item “A cosmos made of string”. All we need is for the string theorists to come up with a new force they can dub “sealing wax” and we can have a cosmos made of string and sealing wax, which might be as close as we will ever get to a grand unified theory of everything (7 March, p 36).
For the record
The term “moral Machiavellis” is used by some to describe people who use “dark tetrad” traits for good (7 March, p 24)