JANUARY 2018
RE PLY
Your opinions on science, technology and BBC Focus
g reply@sciencefocus.com BBC Focus, Tower House, , Fairfax Street, Bristol, BS1 3BN @sciencefocus www.facebook.com/sciencefocus
M ES SAG E O F T H E MO N T H
Power to the people While I think we all agree that electric vehicles are the way forward, as long as low pollution energy generation and vehicle production can be achieved, there are practical problems that appear hard to overcome. Since many houses in this country do not have drives or front gardens, how will it be possible to charge a vehicle as the cables would run across a public footpath? Terraced houses have small frontage and residents often have difficulty parking near their property as it is a free-for-all. I cannot think of a solution to these problems and would be interested to know whether it has been considered by electric vehicle manufacturers. Les Maud, Northampton
Earth, 66 million years ago. North America is at the top, South America is bottom right, and Africa is far right
Armageddon outta here I have followed the stories of the Chicxulub asteroid impact for many years. Back then, would the landmass of the world have been almost one giant continent? If yes, then where would the asteroid have struck and is the Chicxulub site the preserved impact point once the landmasses separated? Could the giant landmass have contributed toward the extinction due to all the life existing on one large terrain?
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WORTH £75
Henry Parr, Frome
When the asteroid struck 66 million years ago, the Earth’s land masses were already drifting apart. That said, the location of the strike was pivotal as the rock there was hydrocarbon- and sulphur-rich. The impact created soot and sulphate aerosols that led to the extreme global cooling and drought that killed off the dinosaurs and led to the rise of the mammals. – Ed
The vinyl word… I am writing in response to Russell Deeks’ point that a CD’s 24-bit/96kHz sampling rate
PHOTOS: GETTY, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, SHUTTERSTOCK
This year the UK government set up a £2.5m fund to solve just this problem. Electric car owners need to ask their local authorities to apply for charging points on their streets. There are also companies that solve this problem by installing wires under the pavement that emerge at the kerb. As the government tries to incentivise an electric switchover we assume more schemes like this will pop up. – Ed