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22 June 2002
From Dave Sanders, Dave Sanders Bromine Science and Environmental Forum Geneva
The article on "the new PCBs" associated polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) (25 May, p 25) . PBDEs themselves are composed of three distinctly different commercial products, penta-BDE, octa-BDE and deca-BDE. PBDEs are not "banned in much of Europe" and widespread environmental findings are limited to the constituents of penta-BDE. The restrictions …
22 June 2002
From Hadrian Jeffs
Steven Reitci raised an interesting point concerning non-lethal weapons that function as "Lubricant and Grease Additives for Immobilizing Machinery" (1 June, p 56) . Lubricants have often proved more trouble than they're worth in battle. After all, one of the major problems faced by the Germans on the Russian front was that, in the winter …
22 June 2002
An In Brief item "Wolf dogs" credited only the lead author of the study (4 May, p 27) . Ettore Randi and Vittorio Lucchini at the National Wildlife Research Institute in Bologna, Italy, did the genetic analysis mentioned.
22 June 2002
From Tom Ellis
Thank you for justifying my afternoon kip in your article on siestas (1 June, p 9) . I wonder if the performance of the Spanish workforce is deteriorating now the practice is less common.
22 June 2002
From Frank Fahy
Those who take the advice to "sleep with the boss" should be warned that New Scientist has previously published reports indicating that those who take midday siestas are more likely to suffer from cardiac problems (24 June 2000, p 13) .
22 June 2002
From Eric Kvaalen
The calculation by Charles Lineweaver and Tamara Davis of the probability of life arising on an Earth-like planet, based on how quickly life started here (18 May, p 15) , has a fatal flaw. Our planet is not just any old life-bearing planet. It is a planet that at the age of 4.6 billion years …
22 June 2002
From Geoffrey Watson
You rightly ask for scientific judgement over fishing (8 June, p 4) . This is all the more urgent as we have only recently realised that stocks of fish like cod can completely disappear at very low numbers. This used to be thought unlikely since a codfish lays thousands of eggs in the hope that …
22 June 2002
From C. K. Chou
The conclusion that cellphone radiation is "trapped" in train carriages (4 May, p 23) was based on a simplistic and unrealistic analysis with no direct relevance to the scenario it purported to explore. There are well-established international guidelines for assessing safe human exposure to radio waves. The paper that served as the basis for your …
22 June 2002
From T. X. Hitchen
If Theodore Roszak had thoroughly read Richard Dawkins's books, he might not feel quite so puzzled (25 May, p 56) . I do not believe that anywhere in his work has Dawkins advocated a Darwinian stance towards "human social and political affairs". As many readers are aware, Dawkins has said, from the beginning, we can …
22 June 2002
From Nathan and Nadia Zeldes
We've enjoyed your magazine for years, and have come to respect its balance in presenting opposing views. On reading Michael Bond's article on what life is (sadly) like for the Palestinians (11 May, p 40) , we thus assumed it would be followed by another, describing in equal detail how we live in Israel, where …
22 June 2002
From Michael Greaney
One would think, from your correspondents, that the world would not know war if it were not for religion (1 June, p 56) . Ownership of land is probably the main cause of war, as can be seen today in the dispute over Kashmir and 11 years ago over Kuwait. That is not to deny …
Issue no. 2348 published 22 June 2002
