Letters archive

I was a little surprised by last week's 'Long-lived reactors' report, which stated that five Nuclear Electric Magnox stations were shut down last year, and then given permission to reopen (In Brief, 11 January). Four of them, of course, didn't close down at all, and are still reliably generating at high load factors. We have …

Thomas Crapper's admirable valveless water waste system (Letters, 14 December, 4 and 18 January) now needs following up in the country's Gents. Most urinals are programmed to flush approximately 9 litres of clean water every 15 minutes from a storage cistern seven days a week, thereby using 300 000 litres a year at a cost …

I am not fond of a sunny side on my fried eggs, so I always invert them gingerly in the frying pan when they are half cooked. Despite my best efforts, I sometimes rupture the yolks, an irritating occurrence which makes me assume that the yolk membrane has a very low tensile strength. I was …

The text from Genesis cited by A. Wathelet (Letters, 4 January) is one that I, too, have often thought about. Given (as I understand) that the skeletons of most snakes do have rudimentary limbs, I have often speculated that the author of Genesis was an acute observer, and possibly the first to advance a theory …

On reading your Christmas issue, I felt a twinge of sympathy for the Chelmsford choirboy who invented a gimballed candle-holder, only to find that some naval smartarse had patented the same at the time of Nelson (Technology, 21/28 December). When I turned over to the Patents page, I felt a surge of self-centred rage at …

Like your technology editor, we like a fortified cake (Feedback, 11 January). Each year we mature our Christmas cake for about a month with a liberal dressing of sherry and brandy (50/50). This season we must have been particularly liberal with the liquor since some seeped out of the kitchen foil in which the cake …

Julie Johnson's article about how microwave ovens fail to bring out the flavour of food was interesting (New Scientist, Science, 18 January). I would like to know what microwaves do to plain tap water. I have tried once or twice to make a cup of tea with a microwave when a kettle was not available. …

In our Christmas issue, molluscs were wrongly described as a 'family' (Science, 21/28 December). In fact, they constitute a phylum, not a family.

Your leader severely criticises the role of David Jones at London Zoo (Comment, 18 January). I consider that these comments and their implications are unfair and misplaced. The present and past members of the Zoo's Council (and I am one of them) must share full responsibility for the Zoo's past affairs whilst we make renewed …

Your correspondent Crispin Aubrey, paints a stark picture of the premature - and avoidable - deaths in the UK which result from cold weather (Forum, 4 January). His solution to fuel poverty, 'to invest in energy efficiency' in order to 'bring each home up to the insulation standards of the 1990 Building Regulations', may be …

I am writing on behalf of unemployed science graduates who feel they have been let down by the hierarchy of the science establishment in the UK. I graduated from the University of Dundee obtaining a 2(i) honours degree in biochemistry. Having been accepted to study for a PhD at the University of Glasgow, I learned …

With uncanny timing in view of your article on postgraduate poverty (Forum, 18 January), the Science and Engineering Research Council and the Natural Environment Research Council have both announced, within the last fortnight, 'an interim increase' in the maintenance grant for postgraduate students, from £4125 to £4300 per annum. This rise will take effect in …

In 'Over the edge: stress and schizophrenia' (4 January), Julian Leff displays a not so subtle bias when he writes, 'the relatively poor outcome of patients in the West occurs despite the fact that a high proportion are kept on antipsychotic drugs indefinitely.' A less biased view might be that the poor outcome occurs because …

I read Mr Horne's article 'Stay awake, stay alive' (4 January) with considerable interest - and disappointment. The author ignored one very important factor, namely food intake. Anyone that has spent a drowsy Christmas weighed down by the traditional vast dinner will know what I mean. I had considerable personal experience of long-distance driving during …

I read Bradley Schaefer's interesting article on the origin of the star and crescent in Islam ('Heavenly signs', 21/28 December) on my way home from viewing the annular eclipse of the Sun that was visible from San Diego, California, on 4 January. At such annular eclipses, the Moon's disc is smaller than the Sun's, so …