Letters archive

So we have yet another ball-tampering controversy in cricket. With all the disappointing events that unravelled at London's Oval cricket ground recently, the one issue that still seems to cause some confusion is that regarding the benefits of ball tampering. One school of thought is that effective reverse swing can only be obtained if the …

In response to Kae Verens's letter (2 September, p 18), I feel I must point out that the letter from me he was commenting on (12 August, p 18) seemed to be edited such that it did not entirely represent the point I was making. My original email stated: "The fact is that buffer-overflow bugs …

Tom Holmes is spot on with his idea of pre-packaging passengers (12 August, p 19). My 1973 thesis at the predecessor of what is now Cranfield University, UK, proposed "The passenger module in air transportation". I designed the cargo containers to fit the Boeing 747, and it would have been just a short step to …

In all the talk of alternative power sources, I have not seen any mention of steam power produced by burning wood. Using only fuel grown for the purpose, this would be CO 2 neutral. Surely with modern knowledge, materials, hydraulics, electric and electronic controls and insulation, a modern wood-fired steam engine would enable a farm …

How can someone be "descended from Joan of Arc" (19 August, p 35)? Not only was she a virgin, she didn't have any children either!

I think there might be serious problems with a "space elevator" linking low-Earth orbit to ground (2 September, p 36). Even if the problems of construction were solved, then assuming the cable is a conductor, wouldn't problems be created by forming an electrical conduit linking layers of the atmosphere such as the ionosphere to the …

As stated in your article on "atom smashers", the International Linear Collider will collide electrons with positrons to achieve a maximum collision energy of (only) 1 teraelectronvolt (26 August, p 36). It is also stated that using point-like leptons such as electrons and positrons offers advantages over higher-energy machines using more massive but multi-component particles …

After reading Francis S. Collins's religious apologia The Language of God , Steve Fuller is persuaded he was right to testify for the defence in the Dover debacle in Pennsylvania last year (26 August, p 48). Judge Jones's verdict shredded the defence case that intelligent design (ID) is science, not religion, and should be taught …

Michael Le Page argues that the controlled use of drugs in sport creates a level playing field and that this is the best way to resolve the doping crisis that many sports find themselves in (19 August, p 18). It is naive to suppose that athletes will be content with a level playing field. Athletes …

"If it is such a good idea, why has evolution not built us that way?" is the question Nick Bostrom and Anders Sandberg say must be asked before we try to enhance human capabilities (26 August, p 25). Evolution didn't "build" us at all. It can only play the hand mutation deals it. If no …

If food were priced according to calorie content, only rich people would be fat (19 August, p 6). More seriously, why not give all food a health value, then price it accordingly? Fresh organic apples would be 10 pence each, but doughnuts would be £10. Perhaps wines could be exempt, though... From Janet Cavanaugh So …

To say that search engines are biased is to state the obvious (19 August, p 24). Their job is to be biased, in favour of maximum usefulness to the user. The value they provide lies in increasingly sophisticated algorithms for trying to evaluate usefulness. They raise money through advertising, and their search results have to …