Letters archive

Your article makes mention of the effect of fitting sponsons to roro vessels in order to improve stability under damage conditions; for example, after a collision. As often happens in engineering when measures are taken to ameliorate one problem, another is made potentially worse, in this case the behaviour of the ship under undamaged or …

As a recent recruit to postgraduate research and a firm believer in 'science popularisation', I was slightly disturbed by some of the assumptions made by certain eminent contributors to your recent article, 'The perils of popular science' (18 August). In particular, I was concerned that because academic appointments are to be based solely on research …

William Wood seems to have overlooked the common knowledge that the best way to remove skunk odour from clothes and hair (including dog hair) is to wash with tomato juice (Science, 4 August). This remedy is almost universally applied in areas where frequent dog/skunk interactions are encountered. Malcolm Comyn Calgary Alberta Canada

Brian Clement is a little unfair on the 'worldwide community of quantum physicists' (Letters, 11 August). The quantisation of the electromagnetic field is treated sketchily, if at all, in university undergraduate courses, but that part of the community concerned with quantum optics has not neglected the concept of phase. We can quantise the energy states …

Marian White, writing on parrots, omits to mention the slaughter of cockatoos as pests in Australia by poisoning, shooting, gassing, and clubbing in nets, and yet none are allowed to be exported (Letters, 9 June). We have seen many cockatoos, principally Indonesian, over the last 30 years and yet very few were feather pluckers and …

In his review of John Bowlby's new biography of Chalres Darwin it was acute of Morton Schatzman to doubt whether hyperventilation could cause vomiting (Review, 11 August). Some of Darwin's other symptoms could not be caused by this syndrome either, such as rheumatics and swollen limbs. The Chagas disease theory is exploded by his doctor's …

How very apt that your article 'Too much of a good thing' on fertility treatments should be followed by 'All the world's a zoo', concerning endangered species (18 August). Is not Earth's greatest problem one of people pollution? W T R Bowley Bracknell Berkshire

David Slade suggests that of the USSR, US, China and the Middle East, only one is a good candidate 'for demonstrating a global social conscience' (Letters, 25 August). Which one? Reg Nelson Jesmond Newcastle

David Fisher from Cardiff is, I hope, the only one of your select readers who doubts Bernoulli (Letters, 11 August). An aircraft with a conventional wing profile sustains lift even when flying upside down, since the reference is not the ground but the surrounding air mass and an aircraft with a symmetrical wing profile sustains …

I was interested to read Margarate Stacey's article and would support her call for more research into the sociological implications of the new reproductive technologies ('The case of the missing science', Forum, 18 August). However, as former secretary of the Interim Licensing Authority (ILA) I would like to correct the rather mistaken impression she gives …

Mike Hamer's article on ferries ignores things which may quickly and cheaply reduce the death toll in the event of a roro capsizing ('The risks of ferry travel', 18 August). In March this year I travelled overnight from Hull to Rotterdam on the Norsun and from Zeebruge to Hull on the Norland. In both vessels …