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13 August 1994
From STEPHEN VAL BAKER
In none of your articles on the Moon was there any mention of the true reason why the human race, expressing itself through the people of the US, went to the Moon, what it had to get and indeed successfully brought back. I am referring of course to That Photograph - the picture of our …
13 August 1994
From JOHN WORLEY
Extraordinary to read in 'Return to the Moon' that the Moon might be a good place for an observatory. Inferior to all other places en route one would think. A lunar observatory, like one on Earth, would always be blind to half the sky, solar power would be cut off at least 14 days a …
13 August 1994
From DAVID BAKER
In 'Tales the spacemen tell', Andrew Chaikin claims 23 of the 24 lunar-bound astronauts survive and that only one (Jack Swigert) has died. In fact, Ronald E. Evans died on 6 April 1990 and James B. Irwin died on 8 August 1991, leaving only 21. Evans was the command module pilot on Apollo 17, and …
13 August 1994
From STEPHEN BRIGGS
Two important points arise from your article on wind farms ('Can we learn to love the wind?', 16 July). First, for many, the most disturbing emissions are not audible noises from mechanical gearboxes, but low-frequency sound waves, mostly resulting from the blade friction against air. Although it has long been appreciated that this infrasound is …
13 August 1994
From ROGER HACKNEY
Your article 'Hipbone connected to the titanium implant' (16 July) gives an imbalanced report. Contrary to statements in the article, titanium certainly does provoke an immune response. This occurs both locally as metallosis and systemically as raised serum levels with activated T-lymphocytes. This is of concern given the current controversy regarding the potential carcinogenicity of …
13 August 1994
From S. BINGHAM, K SETCHELL, AEDIN CASSIDY
The information on pancreatic cancer and raw soya flour in rodents cited by K. G. Wormsley (Letters, 6 August) was published 10 years ago, and further data since then has been obtained and extensively reviewed. There is little epidemiological evidence to support a relationship between soya consumption and incidence of pancreatic cancer in humans. For …
13 August 1994
From ANDREW McNEILL
In 'The debate over the limits' (2 July), Helen Saul gave considerable space to the Danish study but made no reference to the critique of it by A. G. Shaper. Saul asserts that as the Danish study found no significant signs of alcoholic liver disease in those classed as 'abstainers', this deals with the possible …
13 August 1994
From CLIVE DURDLE
'Sunny days for solar power', (2 July) gave me a strong feeling of deja vu. I happen to be reading A Golden Thread, 2500 years of Solar Architecture by Ken Butti and John Perlin. They quote Frank Shuman, who wrote in about 1908 that throughout most of the tropical regions sun power will prove very …
13 August 1994
From DANIEL WRIGHT
I too think that publishing an article on 'warp drives' is a courageous move (New Scientist, Science, 11 June), but I find Peter Grove's letter 'Warped' (Letters, 9 July) fascinating in its consideration of 'space-time pollution' caused by the contraction and expansion of space-time. I cannot say what future environmentalists would make of the 'Alcubierre …
13 August 1994
From HARRY HARRISON
Frank Everest has a fine memory (Letters, 9 July). In my novel Bill, the Galactic Hero I did invent a faster-than-light drive some years before Star Trek existed. I wanted to parody all the nonsensical science-fictional FTL drives, so created one - I thought - that would be even more fantastic. When the drive was …
Issue no. 1938 published 13 August 1994
