32 | New Scientist | 14 May 2022
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Editor’s pick
Age is a number, not
a moveable feast
30 April, p 38
From Mark Nelson,
University of Tasmania, Australia
The idea, in your look at ageing,
that a person’s biological age can
differ from their chronological age
may not be so useful.
A chronological-aged 37-year-
old male marathon runner has the
biological age of 25 years for his
heart. His skin, due to long training
hours of sun exposure, is 42, except
in his groin and inner arms, where
the sun hasn’t been so unkind, and
is therefore 37. His left Achilles
tendonitis means the tendon is
53 on that side, but 48 on the right.
So, what is his biological age?
I think we should just stick to
classifying age based on how many
times we have orbited the sun and
abandon the flawed but attractive
idea that we can reverse, stop or
slow ageing. We can, however,
improve health and fitness.How ghosting may
come to haunt us less
23 April, p 47
From Phil Leask, Bristol, UK
It shouldn’t be a surprise that
“ghosting” – ending a relationship
by cutting all communication
without explanation – is painful.
It is often a form of humiliation,
which is an exercise of power
that is arbitrary or unexpected,
involves rejection or exclusion,
conflicts with what was thought
to be a set of shared assumptions
about values and expectations,
and leaves the recipient feeling
diminished and with a sense of
injustice with no possible remedy.
The consequences are
predictable and consistent, and
include bewilderment, rage, a
desire for revenge, frustration at
one’s powerlessness and, often,
depression. It won’t be surprising
if ghosting loses its impact
eventually, since people
increasingly know it is a likelyresponse in a digital dating world
and will choose not to be bothered
by it. This would involve a change
of expectation: you are likely to
behave badly, and since I no longer
expect that you will behave, it isn’t
a surprise, doesn’t hurt and I don’t
feel it as rejection or injustice.
In other words, a form of
resistance is built in at the start of
a relationship, so that ghosting is
no longer an effective exercise of
power. Whether this is a healthy
way to embark on relationships is
another matter, but at least it will
reduce the pain of being ghosted.We need a new name for
‘meat’ grown in the lab
30 April, p 12
From Helen Senior,
Creech St Michael, Somerset, UK
The term “lab-grown meat” is
unscientific. Meat is animal flesh.
Some of us like to eat it, some
don’t. Those who don’t can have
a healthy and delicious diet of
vegetables. What you refer to
isn’t meat and would be better
described as “synthetic foodstuffs”.
At the very least, these products
of the laboratory shouldn’t be
called “meat”. Such descriptions
mislead the public.Mountainous Switzerland
is full of generous people
Letters, 16 April
From David Myers,
Commugny, Switzerland
After reading your report that
exposure to mountain landscapes
boosts generosity, Bryn Glover
asks if the Swiss are inherently
so. I believe the answer is yes. For
example, on one day in March, an
organisation called Swiss Solidarity
raised 45 million Swiss francs
($46 million) for Ukraine and this
sum has since risen substantially.Moreover, so far, some 40,000
Ukrainian refugees are being
accommodated in Switzerland,
and this in a country with one-
eighth the population of the UK.
The Swiss raised large sums to
aid people affected by the 2004
Asian tsunami and on many
similar occasions. Whether this
generosity is due to Swiss scenery
would require more research.Dogs are far from a
plague on the planet
30 April, p 42
From Rachael Padman,
Dalham, Suffolk, UK
Aisling Irwin reports that dogs,
based on their global impact on
wildlife and the environment, can
be regarded as an invasive species.
We may make things marginally
worse by owning pets, but let us
get it into perspective. There are
far fewer dogs than people and,
for the most part, they are a lot
smaller. They haven’t discovered
fire and learned to extract and
burn fossil fuels, they don’t fly
long haul for holidays and they
don’t buy consumer electronics
that they discard after a few years.Nuclear waste is far
from a deal-breaker
Letters, 30 April
From Roger Clifton, Darwin,
Northern Territory, Australia
Paul Whiteley asserts that nuclear
power doesn’t add up for five
reasons. However, these aren’t
intractable engineering problems
at all, they are bogeys created and
maintained by scaremongering,
a very human problem.
Generating a kilowatt of
electricity per person for a year
results in only 1 gram of fission
products, easily buried, whereas
the absence of nuclear powerdumps tonnes of carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere. That is a very
good reason for the fearmongers
to change sides.We could just recycle waste
into solid wall insulation
Letters, 30 April
From Barry Cash, Bristol, UK
My house has solid walls and I
have found insulating them to
be prohibitively expensive – a
point highlighted by Robert East.
I was quoted £15,000 for my
three-bedroom end-of-terrace
property. So I started thinking,
could I do it myself?
We have a lot of unwanted
clothes. Charity shops dispose
of 80 per cent of the clothes
they are given as unsaleable.
Clothes insulate. Could I insulate
my house by attaching some
to the outside walls in airtight
plastic containers?
I made a cup of tea to think
it over and realised I was rinsing
and recycling an airtight plastic
milk container. It is square at
the bottom, but not all the way
up. Now, I am trying to work out
how to fit them to the walls and
what to cover them with to make
the house look presentable.
Suggestions welcome.How safe will it be to store
so much carbon dioxide?
23 April, p 19
From Norman Wilson,
Halton, Lancashire, UK
The story on the carbon removal
plant in Iceland is one of almost
weekly articles referring to carbon
dioxide storage as a means of
fighting climate change. To have
a significant effect, tens if not
hundreds of millions of tonnes
will have to be stored each year.
Could there be hazardous leaks?
Recall the release of CO2 in 1986
from Lake Nyos, a volcanic crater
lake in Cameroon. An estimated
100,000 to 300,000 tonnes of CO2
were released. The best estimate
is that more than 1700 people and
many livestock died. ❚Want to get in touch?
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