Letters archive

Thomas Hogg says your discussion on the perils of growth (18 October, p 40) is naive – but it seems to me that it is he who doesn't understand the situation (8 November, p 20) . The point at issue is whether or not an exponentially growing economy is sustainable. Instead of attempting to refute …

Why should industry have to pay a price for carbon emissions when they are free for the rest of us? Conversely, if putting a price on carbon emissions through cap-and-trade is such a well-researched idea (11 October, p 13) , why don't we get paid carbon credits when we install energy-saving light bulbs, insulate our …

Your interview with Jack Martin (25 October, p 42) used up two precious pages in which you could have interviewed someone more relevant to the current problems of overuse of oil resources. The most important way to reduce planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions from motor vehicles is to use diesel engines. A two-stroke diesel with a …

I was particularly interested in your report on Joe Farman's discovery of the ozone hole (20 September, p 46) because I was secretary to the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the parent body of the British Antarctic Survey, from 1981 to 1989. I visited the head of NASA in Washington on several occasions, and the …

I was somewhat surprised to read that "some lines of laying hens share a staggering 90 per cent of their genes" (8 November, p 7) , and that White Leghorns shared 15 per cent. Since chimpanzees and humans share approximately 94 per cent of their genes, 90 per cent similarity suggests quite a diverse group. …

Bill Johns states that "video-conferencing will improve to the extent that substantial travel will become unnecessary", reducing carbon emissions (15 November, p 24) . This is a fantasy. We know that non-verbal communication is the majority of any communication in the flesh. Video-conferencing adds a little to pure voice communication, but misses most of the …

Mark Buchanan writes that the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics is one of the deepest mysteries of them all (1 November, p 28) . Equally mysterious questions include: from where does mathematics originate; what is its basis; and are the "rules" of mathematics multiversal? Does Euler's identity e i π + 1 = 0, for example, …

I find it extraordinary that Bill Barnes recommends "controlled hunting" as a means of species preservation. Why does it appear necessary to some to reduce species populations to more viable levels by hunting, when "environmental circumstances" and disease are already achieving this reduction (1 November, p 21) ? The passenger pigeon's extinction is well documented. …

David Rose fears that New Scientist may have to change its name to Green Scientist (1 November, p 20) . Don't worry, David. While it continues to publish articles about space tourism ( 1 November, p 5 and p 24 ) without any mention of the likely consequences to the environment, I don't think you …

• An editorial clarification that misfired had us referring to "the still-unratified... Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes" (8 November, p 8) . That was signed in 1992 and entered into force on 6 October 1996 . We were actually discussing the Convention on the Law of Non-navigational Uses …

Lawrence Krauss has missed the point, in at least two ways, in his response to the question: "Why is there something rather than nothing?" (22 November, p 53) . If the universe is flat, and the total energy of a flat universe is zero, all that tells us is that no energy input was required …

In a previous letter (9 August, p 20) I remarked on the obscurity of religious apologists' search for "meaning". Now Merle Arrowsmith offers more of the same in response to Lawrence Krauss's "big ideas" (27 September, p 49) by suggesting that "Even those with a sound scientific background are more likely to ask: 'What is …

I was involved with training colleagues to use laptops in the 1990s and at that time I could safely tell them to fully charge the batteries, then disconnect the charger until the batteries were close to being discharged, as you suggest (15 November, p 42) . Late in the 1990s the situation began to change; …

In his article on energy from biomass, Colin Barras says that the problem with it is that felled trees have an energy density of only 7 gigajoules per tonne (11 October, p 39) . True, newly felled trees contain 50 per cent moisture or more. Chipping wood in this condition and then transporting it in …

Lawrence Krauss heaps scorn on Sarah Palin for her "outlandish claim" that the vice-president is in charge of the Senate (1 November, p 48) , and casually parrots the oft-repeated claim that she couldn't name a single important US Supreme Court decision other than Roe v Wade . One duty of the vice-president is to …