Letters archive

Rachel Nowak's challenging article on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (14 March, p 8) raised a number of concerns, but left out one arguably obvious one – the consequences of climate change. What climate change means for the application of the Red List is not clear. To be fair, …

Andy Coghlan is to be commended for bringing to our attention the dangers of "passive drinking" and its impact on our environment, economy and society (28 March, p 22) . However, the problem has reached such proportions that it cannot be solved simply by increasing the price of alcohol. A multi-pronged approach is urgently needed, …

We read your two-part series on out-of-body experiments with interest ( 14 March, p 33 , and 21 March, p 36 ). We were surprised that you did not mention our method, which uses two mirrors to create within seconds the experience of standing outside oneself ( Perception , vol 36, p 632 ). This …

I was pleased to read that the gene-centred view of evolution is increasingly being challenged (7 March, p 36) , because for me it has never made sense. If one wants a reductionist theory of evolution, surely the DNA nucleotide is the basic unit. By focusing on the gene – a set of imprecisely defined …

I was delighted to see that the aquatic ape theory got a small mention in the profile box of Elaine Morgan's article on the similarities between orang-utans and humans (7 March, p 26) . The theory is considered by some to be a non-starter, but if we wait for palaeontologists to procure the fossil evidence …

Debora MacKenzie advises that "it is not a good idea to be sick in a poor country", and this is undoubtedly true (28 February, p 22) . However, the majority of illness in developing countries has nothing to do with a lack of pharmaceutical availability; medicines don't make a population healthy. The countries that support …

Robert Pool reports a "grand theory" of suicide (28 February, p 37) , but his article rather misses the mark. A theory without any reference to what is known about the biology and the epidemiology of suicide is more grandiloquent than grand. Ilkka Henrik Mäkinen's 1997 statement still stands: "Neither the individual-level causes nor the …

Though I much enjoyed the review of Jack Horner's new book, How To Build A Dinosaur (28 February, p 44) , I have to say I was a little disappointed that the reviewer, Jeff Hecht, continually made the common mistake of referring to a "reversal" or "rewind" of evolution. Has he forgotten the number of …

Regarding your calculations on the salt content of Walkers crisps, how can the one significant figure in 0.4 grams per pack lead to four significant figures in 4.444 grams per day (Feedback, 14 March) ? We spend a lot of time explaining the significance of significant figures to students, and professionals need to set an …

Mark Buchanan's reference to Parkinson's law (10 January, p 38) prompted me to read the entirety of C. Northcote Parkinson's treatise where it originated. Of particular significance is his ground-breaking discovery of "injelititis" – the chemical reaction within organisations when the concentration of incompetence and jealousy among senior management reaches such a level that the …

• Kairbaan Hodivala-Dilke works at the Institute of Cancer, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of London (28 March, p 12) . • Phil Rasch works at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state (21 March, p 6) . • The DOI in our story about "baby butter" should have been 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2009.01.013 …