CONVERSATION
YOUR OPINIONS ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND BBC SCIENCE FOCUS
LETTER OF THE MONTH
Ode to the JWST
After reading lots of articles in your excellent magazine about possible explanations for the beginning and end of the Universe as we know it, I wondered if my little ode might amuse?
Where do we go from here?
When 15 billion years go by,
Will we freeze, or will we fry?
Should we worry, should we care?
One thing’s for sure: we won’t be there.
Or will we? Will the James Webb Telescope,
Reveal a multiverse of hope?
Where we will leap from world to world,
Our other lives to be unfurled.
Pi in the sky?
Recurring, again, and again, and again…
WRITE IN AND WIN!
The writer of next issue’s Letter Of The Month wins a year’s subscription to Earthwatch Book Club. For £10 a month, Earthwatch sends out a book every other month for readers, and then there is an online live Q&A with the author the following month. The carefully selected books feature a range of topics, including conservation, nature and the environment. Subscribers have access to recommended books, as well as offers on events. earthwatchbookclub.com
Rewilding for the future
Prof Adam Hart made a good point about what era do you aspire to rewild to (August issue), but I suggest that the only genuine way to rewild is to leave an area totally undisturbed and accept what you get, even if it is unattractive. After millennia it will be full of new species we can’t even imagine.
Julian Wiseman, via email
A question of biology
In your article about first contact, it was written: “…we won’t share the same biology or the same brain” (October issue). As far as I am aware, the Universe contains the same elements, and all life forms on this planet are carbon-based. From a chemistry point of view, am I right in thinking that the only other element which can chemically combine in the same way as carbon is silicon? Presumably, silicon-based life would be possible, and if so, why silicon and not carbon? Why should life on other planets not be carbon-based?
That’s a great observation. Yes, the chemical elements are the same everywhere in the Universe. So, extraterrestrial life may indeed be based on carbon, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the biology will be the same. For example, perhaps the molecule carrying those alien genes will be different from DNA. Until we understand the origin of life on Earth, or see examples of alien life, we have no real idea how similar – or different – it will be. It seems prudent to assume it will be different, because what we do know about life on Earth is that evolution has taken many twists and turns to get where it is today. It seems highly unlikely that those same twists and turns will be replicated on a distant planet. Similarly, since brains evolve to ‘cope’ with the environment in which we live, a brain evolving on another planet may well be different from ours. As for silicon, it can bond to four neighbouring atoms in the same way that carbon does, which is why some people have speculated about silicon-based life. But those bonds are not as strong as for carbon, so the molecules would not be as robust.
Helping me understand
Thank you, Hayley Bennett, for your explainer article on the vagus nerve (September issue). My husband just had a vasovagal syncope episode which was very scary, but this has helped me to understand it more. Thank you!
You are very welcome, Shelley. I’m glad to be of use! I hope your husband has recovered from his fainting episode.
Email • reply@sciencefocus.com
Post • BBC Science Focus, Eagle House, Colston Avenue, Bristol, BS1 4ST
Twitter • @sciencefocus
Facebook • www.facebook.com/sciencefocus
Instagram • @bbcsciencefocus
THE TEAM
EDITORIAL
Editor • Daniel Bennett
Managing editor • Alice Lipscombe-Southwell
Commissioning editor • Jason Goodyer
Staff writers • Alex Hughes, Holly Spanner
ART
Art editor • Joe Eden
Picture editor • James Cutmore
CONTRIBUTORS
Claire Asher, Scott Balmer, Rob Banino, Steve Benford, Hayley Bennett, Peter Bentley, Steve Boswell, Sam Brewster, Daniel Bright, Steve Brusatte, Becki Clark, Stuart Clark, Daniel Crespo, Kate Darling, Emma Davies, Russell Deeks, Pete Etchells, Stuart Farrimond, Lisa Feldman Barrett, Alastair Gunn, Matt Holland, Christian Jarrett, Stephen Kelly, Pete Lawrence, Katie Mack, Nish Manek, Holly McHugh, James Olstein, Jheni Osman, Stephanie Organ, Merav Ozair, Ceri Perkins, Helen Pilcher, James Round, Julia Shaw, Valentin Tkach, Luis Villazon.
ADVERTISING & MARKETING
Business development manager • David D’Souza
Newstrade manager • Rob Brock
Subscriptions director • Jacky Perales-Morris
Direct marketing manager • Kellie Lane
MOBILE
Head of apps and digital edition marketing • Mark Summerton
INSERTS
Laurence Robertson 00353 876 902208
LICENSING & SYNDICATION
Director of licensing and syndication • Tim Hudson
International partners manager • Anna Brown
PRODUCTION
Production director • Sarah Powell
Production coordinator • Lauren Morris
Ad services manager • Paul Thornton
Ad designer • Julia Young
PUBLISHING
Publisher • Andrew Davies
Group managing director • Andy Marshall
CEO • Tom Bureau
BBC STUDIOS, UK PUBLISHING
Chair, editorial review boards • Nicholas Brett
Managing director, consumer products and licensing • Stephen Davies
Director, magazines and consumer products • Mandy Thwaites
Compliance manager • Cameron McEwan
UK publishing coordinator • Eva Abramik
Contact UK.Publishing@bbc.com
EDITORIAL COMPLAINTS editorialcomplaints@immediate.co.uk
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES (INC P&P): UK/BFPO £77; Europe & Eire £92.54; Rest of World £102.90.
Audit Bureau of Circulations 50,142 (combined, Jan-Dec 2021)
BBC Science Focus Magazine is published by Our Media Ltd (an Immediate Group Company), under licence from BBC Studios who help fund new BBC programmes.
© Our Media Ltd 2022. All rights reserved. Printed by William Gibbons Ltd.
Our Media Ltd accepts no responsibility in respect of products or services obtained through advertisements carried in this magazine.