Letters archive

Munich I was not surprised to read about the scheme in the US to "save the environment" by giving hotel guests the option of not having their sheets and towels washed every day (Feedback, 6 September) . What is now sailing under the environmental protection/water and energy-saving flag seems to be an old practice, formerly …

Sydney I was amused by the summary of the history of medicine reported by Tom McCarthy (Feedback, 6 September) , so much so that I e-mailed it to several friends and colleagues. But when I told my wife, I was surprised to learn that her amusement was founded on a completely different interpretation. My interpretation …

Neil Harris quotes Paul Hirst, administrator at the Royal Microscopical Society (RMS), as saying that he thinks there might be room for an amateur microscopist division in his society (Appointments, 23 August, p 50) . I am amazed that the RMS appears to be unaware that there already exists a club for the amateur microscopist—the …

I am researching a TV documentary about dreams and problem solving. There are a few famous stories of scientists in the past who made discoveries in their sleep—such as August Kekulé, the biochemist who discovered the structure of the benzene molecule while nodding off in front of his fire—but I am not aware of any …

Pakistan While some ancient medical practices have value, quite often they can be very harmful, notwithstanding the romantic view taken by those who look at them uncritically. "The Fabricators" gives a very interesting example of what seems disgusting to most people: drinking one's urine. This was something that Morarji Desai, the late Indian Prime Minister …

Pentadact@btinternet.com I came across an interesting link on the Internet just now to a "hate page", a page where you are encouraged to say what you really hate in life and why. I followed the link, and while I waited for it to load I was thinking of what I really hate. Eventually, my browser …

Kettering, Northamptonshire I have been following with amusement the correspondence on the subject of the orientation of the polar wind (Letters, 30 August, p 50; 2 August, p 50) . It is important to define what is meant by the North Pole. The Pole is not a region, but a discrete zero-dimensional point on the …

Melbourne Ian Hore-Lacy of the mining companies' Uranium Information Centre (Letters, 23 August, p 48) quotes the usual figures for energy investment in enrichment of fuel for nuclear power production. Enrichment, however, is only one factor in the energy equation. Others include reactor construction, the mining and ore treatment process, research, health monitoring, and down-time …

As head of the unit of "bureaucrats at the UN Environment Programme" which deals with efforts to save the ozone layer, I can assure Fred Pearce that we did not change the report of the Methyl Bromide Technical Options Committee (MBTOC) or that of the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) [the panel to which …

Upton upon Severn, Worcestershire Stephen Young's perceptive article on electroculture ("Growing in electric fields", 23 August, p 28) failed to mention two of the most important exponents of a technique that holds real promise as a nonpolluting, yield-promoting technique. Following Karl Selim Lemström's original experiments in Finland, the British physicist Oliver Lodge set up trials …

I am delighted to see the generally positive response from the National Farmers' Union to the results of the survey of badgers in Britain (This Week, 23 August, p 10) . This is a major development from their 1995 report, which called for farmers to be allowed to kill badgers. There are just two points …

One Tree Hill, South Australia You have recently published several reports of research which used animals as experimental controls. Most notable was the use of monkeys in transplant trials (This Week, 16 August, p 9) . Here the unfortunate animals were subjected to kidney transplants simply to prove that they would die if not given …

Canterbury, Kent The article by Sharon Levy ("Ultimate sacrifice", 6 September, p 39) concerning the role of salmon in the ecology of the American Northwest was both informative and enlightening, but I feel that it was perhaps a mistake to highlight the statement "Salmon are the only animals that return nutrients to the land from …

The American authorities may well have started to authorise trials of thalidomide for, among other conditions, mouth ulcers (This Week, 13 September, p 5) . However, thalidomide has already been in use on this side of the Atlantic for a number of years, treating intractable mouth ulcers in immunosuppressed patients (mostly AIDS cases).

Max.Hammerton@newcastle. ac.uk In your editorial (13 September, p 3) , you suggest that, "Deep down they believe the public is ignorant and irrational". And how right they are! But if, as you further suggest, they believe that, given a little more media exposure "the public would soon warm to our cause", they are deluded indeed. …

hewitt@grindleybrook.force9.net Perhaps we are obsessed with the symbolism of flags but there has always been a right and a wrong way to fly the Union Jack, unlike the flag used as a graphic in your editorial (13 September, p 3) .

Leeds Reading your piece on the millennium bug (This Week, 23 August, p 19) finally prompted me to try the rollover to 2000 on my now rather ancient 486/33. I was impressed to see that when I left the PC switched on, it rolled over to 1 January 2000. I then tested it when it …

New York Urine drinking has the trappings of New Ageism and pseudoscience ("The Fabricators", 23 August, p 36) . I have not come across any reputable reference to the benefits of drinking urine, but I have heard that certain Hollywood luminaries do it and some claim that it has miraculous curative powers. I hope that …