Many shades of grey
I’d like to join the conversation on the testing of genetically modified (GM) wheat at Rothamsted Research in Harpenden, UK, and threats by activists to destroy the crop (12 May, p 5). In my experience of addressing large audiences where the subject of genetic modification is brought up, I find that the vast majority is still labouring under the idea that all GM involves taking genes from animals of all kinds in some sort of Frankensteinian bargain.
The truth is we need a new name for GM – to make it clear that it is a broad church. When you point out that interferon, used to treat diseases including cancer and multiple sclerosis, is GM, people support its use. When you ask if it is reasonable to explore whether a salt-tolerant plant might provide a gene for rice grown in parts of the world often flooded by seawater (such as Bangladesh), they almost unanimously support the idea.
When you say to them that it is totally consistent to be in favour of the first two propositions, and still be darned angry at irresponsible field testing (as has occasionally happened), they seem to relax.
This is not black and white – there are many shades of grey – as the many great scientists at Rothamsted would agree.
Two brains
While reading your article on bilingual brains (5 May, p 31), I felt that a lot of what it describes applies to me. I speak three languages. My English is not as fluent as my mother tongue, Russian, nor my second language, Ukrainian, but still good enough to “switch personality”.
Sometimes when speaking or writing in English I notice that I’m a different person. I make jokes that I would never make while using Russian. I act differently, and most importantly, I know that I think differently.
From Steve Sieradzki
In her article, Catherine de Lange writes of bilingualism: “It is almost as if you are two people”. How about us polyglots? I have been collecting languages since age 3 (I’m 88) at an average rate of one per decade.
So maybe it is almost as if I am more than two people…
Leesburg, Florida, US
From Alan C. Larman
I seem to recall a centuries-old quote: “Teach me a man’s language and I shall know how he thinks.” In the 1970s, I was involved in a computer project spanning seven countries. Meetings were held in France with French, English, German, Spanish and Italian native speakers. All business was conducted in French, but socially we would chat in other languages.
I speak fluent French, pretty good Spanish, adequate Italian and a smattering of German. Everyone else present spoke at least one other language besides their own. It was noticeable that thought processes were affected by the choice of language, both in the negotiations and in our social interaction.
Congleton, Cheshire, UK
From Serge Demers
If bilingualism reduces the incidence of dementia, as suggested by the studies cited in your article, then in bilingual societies the number of Alzheimer’s cases should be less than in societies with only one language. Have we any statistics to compare the cases of Quebec vs Ontario or Switzerland vs Austria, for example?
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
The editor writes:
• Comparing countries is complex because of differences in education, healthcare, socioeconomic status and other factors that themselves contribute to the onset of dementia. It is a good question, but the research would be very difficult.
Starlite's flaw?
Regarding Maurice Ward and his wonder material Starlite (12 May, p 40). The television demonstration you mentioned shows an egg coated in Starlite resisting a blowtorch, but the outer surface developed a slight char. More tellingly, the presenter could then break the egg apart using the fingers of one hand.
The suspicion is that Ward may have discovered a scientifically very interesting material, but one that would only resist intense heat for limited applications. More seriously, its strength and durability was probably too low for commercial applications.
On self-esteem
I disagree that my generation gets its high self-esteem, or “vanity”, from uncritical parenting (28 April, p 44). If there is a cause, I think it lies more in the increased charitable volunteering of this group that psychologist Jeffrey Arnett highlighted.
Maybe my generation’s thought and care for others is the cause of our high self-esteem. In that case, is it really such a bad thing?
From Valerie Yule
Your article on self-esteem reminded me of when I worked as a psychologist at a “progressive” school, where children were not shown art that was better than any they could make because it might result in them feeling inferior.
The children all drew alike – if one discovered how to draw a feather in a hat, they all drew feathers in hats. “No matter what I do, they say it’s wonderful,” one child said.
But children at a nearby disadvantaged school where a teacher showed them great art – and encouraged them to copy – managed good and original drawings. It is clear reality is a key factor in education.
Mount Waverley, Victoria, Australia
From Dave Williams
It might be worth considering credit cards and the easy access to credit in a discussion of self-esteem. Now we can impulsively buy things on credit, and in doing so show a lack of willpower.
Maybe the trend of excessive self-esteem can in part be related to society’s relatively recent shift towards easy access to positive outcomes; that is, immediately obtaining things that boost our circumstances without really having to work for them first.
Sydney, Australia
Love is the drug
In “Engineering love”, Julian Savulescu and Anders Sandberg describe how manipulating the hormones oxytocin and vasopressin in voles can radically alter mating behaviour (12 May, p 28). They suggest humans could manipulate themselves in defiance of evolution as long as these “love drugs” are “in a regulated, professional environment”.
This is exactly the environment in which millions of people are already prescribed drugs for behaviour by psychiatrists. In his book Doctoring the Mind, Richard Bentall paints a grim picture of unpleasant side effects and psychiatrists who are too often swayed by biased drug-company research, marketing and perks.
I fear a repeat performance from drug companies that must already be eyeing the potential value of this new market.
From Kevin Buckley
Regarding the relationship between the global median duration of marriage (11 years) and the historical duration of mating, your article contained the line that “throughout most of our history, people survived for a maximum of 35 years”.
Whilst in antiquity the average life expectancy at birth was around this figure, this was heavily skewed due to high infant and childhood mortality. Surely a better starting point would be the historical remaining lifespan for those that reached the age of sexual maturity.
Reading, Berkshire, UK
Mini burnout
You introduced what may be a new measurement of volume: a “minivan-sized” meteor (28 April, p 4). I had an original Mini van, and it burned up eventually, just like a meteor.
Antisocial view
Jim Giles imagines he is a curmudgeon because he withholds information from Facebook (28 April, p 40). I go further and do without social media. I just see the obsession with them as wholly trivial and time-wasting, and based mostly on a need to conform and not feel left out of something. In many people, use of these media seems to be an uncontrollable addiction and obsession.
Toxic soup
Probably the only way to curb some of the growth in the popularity of shark fin soup that you discussed (28 April, p 36) is to advertise data on the likely toxicity of shark fins and the soup they go into. After all, with sharks at the top of the ocean predator chain, they may well have a much higher proportion of such as than other food sources.
This could also apply to reducing the demand for several other shark by-products. For example, shark cartilage is used as a supply of glucosamine and chondroitin sulphates in some supplements for osteoarthritis. I have also seen it advertised as an ingredient in dog chews.
Luckily, these two are probably not high-value uses and, even without the concern about possible toxicity, are increasingly likely to have beef cartilage as sharks get scarcer and costlier.
Growing divide
Your editorial points out that inequality has been growing within countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (21 April, p 5).
On the other hand, hundreds of millions of people, mostly in India and China, have been lifted out of poverty to a modest standard of living by economic growth.
Surely one part of the reason for both of these outcomes is globalisation. Some jobs have gone from OECD countries to developing countries, but it is not a zero-sum game.
The question is: can we find a way to avoid increasing the level of inequality in the OECD countries without losing the benefits of globalisation?
For the record
• In our story on energy supply in Japan (28 April, p 5) we should have said that nuclear power made up a third of the country’s electricity generating capacity.