Letters archive

Correction: In Feedback's story about the Australian Toilet Map, commentator Simon Upton was described as a former Australian environment minister (11 May) . He is in fact a former New Zealand Minister for the Environment. Also in Feedback (11 May) we wrongly claimed 192.com spammed users. In fact, 192.com users consent to receive monthly newsletters …

In response to your note about treating malaria in Mozambique, sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) is an old drug to which there is extensive resistance (20 April, p 15) . In the KwaZulu/Natal province of South Africa, which borders Mozambique, levels of parasitological resistance to SP exceed 62 per cent. The WHO endorses the use of combination therapy …

To the detriment of publicly funded science, your editorial on Craig Venter's genome failed to differentiate between the "universal blueprint" that is the genome data produced by the public Human Genome Sequencing Consortium and the proprietary database produced by the privately funded Celera (4 May, p 5) . The public data owes nothing to that …

Michael Goldfarb of Vanderbilt University has established that steam power is the most efficient way to power humanoid robots, with the steam being generated by the palladium-catalysed decomposition of hydrogen peroxide (27 April, p 19) . This avoids heavy batteries or the complexities of an internal combustion engine. The only noise comes from the occasional …

Highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide is extremely unstable. It has been used in torpedoes by Britain's Royal Navy and the Russian Navy with catastrophic results. The idea of a robot walking around my house loaded with the stuff is not something that I would relish.

Could France's nuclear fallout from Chernobyl and the rise of Jean-Marie Le Pen (Feedback, 11 May) both have been influenced by King Henry II of England? Compare a map of the French lands held by England's most European monarch (he spent most of his time in France) in 1154 and you have a good match …

Years ago, the British National Childbirth Trust recommended sex, hot curry and a bumpy car ride to induce overdue labour (11 May, p 57) . We tried it. It worked. She's now 18 and won't eat hot curry.

In a recent Feedback item, the managing director of Roche Australia is quoted as saying that social phobia can't be that common (27 April) , on the basis that when Roche tried to recruit people for clinical trials, he says "we just weren't able to". Surely there could have been millions, all hiding behind the …

You quote Richard Dawkins as saying in your debate on "What is 'natural'?" that "Homo sapiens is the only species that can rebel against the otherwise universally selfish Darwinian impulse" 27 April, p 56 ). Am I alone in feeling puzzled? After all, Dawkins has worked hard to convince us that life on Earth is …

What on earth is Dawkins talking about? When asked the question "Are we a part of nature or aren't we?", he says there's a "quantitative continuum" which yet manages to produce "qualitative distinctions". I thought he didn't believe in miracles.

Your excellent article on the important subject of globalisation is very welcome (27 April, p 30) . However, it is suffused with Western thinking on money, trade and economy, despite obvious efforts to bring in other opinions. This thinking is understandable, as we are all indoctrinated by money: witness the bulletins issued several times daily …

Chris Bond asks if the Universe is spinning and suggests that if it were, this would explain the way galaxies are moving apart (11 May, p 57) . This hypothesis can be easily tested. If the Universe is spinning then those galaxies furthest away from the axis of spin will be moving apart faster than …

I note with some concern that Michael Williams, a Republican in Huntsville, Alabama running for Congress, believes that "everyone on Earth should have the same basic rights that Americans are afforded by the US Constitution" (4 May, p 21) . One assumes, without much hope, that democracy would prevail and those of us who far …

The artifical voice system developed by Hideyuki Sawada appears to be a modern version of the kind of speaking machines developed about two hundred years ago by Abbé Mical, Wolfgang von Kempelen and Joseph Faber (4 May, p 24) . Von Kempelen also had problems making a "tongue", but Faber's "Euphonia" was clearly more versatile …

Some scientists certainly think that the Chicxulub impact may have intensified the activity of the Deccan Traps, which had already been active for hundreds of thousands of years. The impact would have been equivalent to an earthquake of magnitude 11 or 12 on the Richter scale, sending shock waves around the world. This could have …

Vincent Campbell seems certain that studies have refuted the suggested effects of mass media on human behaviour (4 May, p 60) . So presumably he thinks that advertisers are wasting the millions that they spend on trying to influence us.

Your article refers to the controversy over whether it was an asteroid impact in Mexico or volcanic activity in the Deccan Traps that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago (4 May, p 28) . The impact site is about 21° North and 89° West, while the Deccan is about 18° North …

It is disheartening to see New Scientist present an issue on globalisation that does not mention the possibility that unregulated economic growth may be unable to achieve its most important boast: eliminating poverty. A simple calculation suggests that there are not enough natural resources for this mad idea to work. If you need convincing, read …

Roland Matthews interprets his results, which showed that drivers using hands-free car phones fared worst in an oral word game, as evidence that they were most at risk of an accident (4 May, p 27) . Surely it is equally logical to argue that they performed badly because they were paying more attention to their …