Letters archive

Kathy Archibald writes to set the record straight on the benefits of testing drugs on animals (24 September, p 24). However, she seems to misunderstand the current methodology of drug development. She says: "We would all be safer without animal tests, which correctly predict drug side effects only between 5 and 25 per cent of …

I am writing to dispute the assumption made by Michael Jacobson of the US Center for Science in the Public Interest, who says: "For women who are pregnant, not a great sacrifice." As a woman well into my second pregnancy, I couldn't disagree more. Not only did my daily cup of coffee help me get …

Robert Hinde's critique of Michael White's book Fruits of War rightly pointed out that civilian spin-offs from military technology should not be seen as a justification for war (10 September, p 52). However, such spin-offs are even more pervasive than he suggests. Modern military developments have produced everything from nuclear power to digital computers and …

Bennett Daviss argues that coal is here to stay and it doesn't have to be a disaster for the climate (3 September, p 38). But we think "an energy future that is heavily reliant on coal" is definitely a bad thing for Australia and the environment. The article discusses improving coal technologies to increase the …

We recycle and we collect the separate categories of waste in different cardboard boxes, one of which is for cardboard. So our cardboard box is a cardboard box. From Peter Shaw Here in South Australia there is an independent parliamentarian in the state legislature named Nick Xenophon, a name which in an English-speaking country like …

• We erroneously credited the graph on p 34, 24 September, to Ray Kurzweil. It should have been Theodore Modis.

I was interested in the possibility that the Icelandic Viking Egil Skallagrimsson may have suffered from either Paget's disease or fluorosis (17 September, p 48). But based on the symptoms reported in the article, I think another condition may be possible – acromegaly, the overproduction of growth hormone. Excess hormone secretion in youth – before …

I am staggered that Simon Blackburn believes that "many children must leave school never having performed an experiment or even having seen one described, let alone having been introduced to the logic of experimental inquiry" (17 September, p 41). It appears that this was the experience of his own children. If so, he clearly did …

With all the water they may contain, comets could be a way of terraforming Mars. We could direct them into the atmosphere of Mars, creating heat, water vapour and untold amounts of other nutrients necessary for life. We may be able to speed up the colonisation of Mars by several dozen years.

Your article states: "As police and dope smokers know, there are two types of cannabis researchers have discovered a third type, called rasta," (17 September, p 12). Actually, there's another strain of cannabis previously discovered called ruderalis. Rasta would be the fourth strain.

I was saddened to read about the US plans for further human exploration of the moon and Mars (1 October, p 6). What actual benefit or enhanced understanding has been gained from the 1970s visits to the moon? What is likely to be gained by further manned visits that could not be gained by robotic …

Ray Kurzweil's vision of the future strikes me as very sad (24 September, p 32). We will live forever, we will adopt new gadgets mere moments after they are invented, and we will have nanotech solar panels that are, well, really awesome. You know what? I don't care. TV, cellphones, email, nanotech, artificial intelligence, genetic …