letters
| FROM OUR READERSLETTERSSamarpan Bhowmik, 30
media professional, MumbaiTechnology is an integral part of
our lives today. Of course, given
our reliance on it, we often don’t
realise the kind of effects it is having
or may end up having on us in
the long run. Thanks to the article
you’ve carried on the subject,
I now know. And I’ve shared this
article with many friends too.
Yes, ignorance may be bliss in
many cases, but, if something is
ruining my sleep cycle or eroding
my attention span, I’d rather know
about it, for better or worse.
Apart from your cover stories,
I also really appreciate the sections
on nature. The photography in the
Early Days story is fantastic, as is
the content in Your Dogtor Will
See You Now.
Thanks, BBC Knowledge;
this is just the first issue of the
year, and I already can’t wait
for the rest of the year to unfold.Siddhi S. Rane, 14
Sarawati Vidyalaya, Thane,
MaharashtraBBC Knowledge is a nice
educational and interesting
magazine. It contains a lot
of information on space, science,
nature, history, books, etc.
The columns and articles on the
latest discoveries, technological
advances and innovations are
very interesting. The Puzzle Pit
section and the photo story
features are visually appealing.
Sudha Murty’s interview and the
article on R K Narayan were very
interesting and I learned new things
about both these authors.
The portfolio section in the
current issue, Early Days, was
such a brilliant read! The feature
gave me a much-needed look into
the lives of baby animals.
To me, this magazine is a big
treasure of knowledge.
BBC Knowledge is a big source
of information of about every aspect
of nature. I am eagerly waiting
the next edition!10 February 2017(^) Dr Christian Jarrett (CJ)
Christian edits The British Psychological Society’s Research Digest blog. His latest book is
Great Myths Of The Brain. (^) Alastair Gunn
Alastair is a radio astronomer at Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University
of Manchester, UK. (^) Robert MatthewsRobert is a writer and researcher.
He is a Visiting Reader in Science at Aston University, the UK.
Dr Peter J BentleyPeter is a computer scientist and author who is based at University
College London, the UK.Luis Villazon
Luis has a BSc in computing and an MSc in zoology from Oxford, the UK. His works include How
Cows Reach The GroundAlexandra Cheung.
Alexandra has a degree inenvironmental science, and has worked for CERN and
Imperial College London, the UK.
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EXPERT PANEL
GETTY X2, REX
OA&
Are left-handers smarter? • Why do knots weaken a rope? • chicken soup really help a cold? • Do we all see the same colours? Does
- • If you fell into a black hole, would time really feel slow?Why do phones explode?
Fundamentally, and ignoring the complications of Einstein’s Special Relativity, it’s the same time as it is here on Earth. But this is a bit of a cheat,
of course, because we haven’t defined how we are measuring time. There are many ways to define the ‘time’
at a particular location. Here, on Earth our usual system (‘solar time’) is defined by the motion of the Sun in the sky (although we usually keep
track of time with an atomic clock). This means that the local time depends on where you are on Earth and we get around this complication by
having many different time zones. Now, we could also define a similar time system based on the motion of the Sun as seen from the Moon.
Such a system exists (Lunar Standard Time) but it is not much more than an interesting exercise in physics. What is more useful, however, is
a definition of time that doesn’t vary with location. This is called Universal Time (UT) and is a modern form of Greenwich Mean Time.
It is the same everywhere in the Universe. So, the UT time on the Moon is the same as the UT time on Earth. AGWhat time is it on the Moon?BBCK-v7i2.indb 10 16/12/16 5:25 pmDhruv R. Wesavkar, 12
Arunodaya Public School,
Thane, MaharashtraI have always been a big fan of
BBC Knowledge. In every issue,
we get riddles, puzzles,
crosswords, quizzes, games,
etc, which children love to solve.
BBC Knowledge also provides
information about space, science,
nature, Indian authors,
etc. The Q&A section answers
all the questions I’ve always
wanted answered. In this issue, my
favourite article is Is Technology
Changing Our Brains by Jo
Carlowe. It is a very interesting
question: as technology is rapidly
increasing, it is making
us lazier. It also talks about how
these days, we struggle to recall
our own phone numbers when,
a few years ago, we would recall
dozens of phone numbers.
This also shows that our memory
power is partially decreasing.
So I am requesting everyone:
limit the use of your smartphones.10 April 2017 April 2017^5