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7 October 2009
From Keith Walters
In her article "Not even a theory to cover our nakedness", Elaine Morgan explores possible reasons why humans lost their thick body hair (19 September, p 28) . Surely the simple answer is because we could. Hair is biologically expensive. It requires valuable protein and energy to make, a lot of maintenance, and can harbour …
7 October 2009
From Stephen Ashworth, Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society
Your feature on population growth and sustainability missed two important issues: the possibility of space colonisation and the likelihood that a medical breakthrough in human ageing could lead to another surge of growth through extended lifespans ( 26 September, p 34 ). These are, in fact, closely linked, as the medical problems of life in …
7 October 2009
From Ivan Erill
Susan Blackmore's article (1 August, p 36) describes "temes", as the third replicator, the first being genes, the basis of biological evolution, and the second memes, the basis of cultural evolution. Following Blackmore's own logic in The Meme Machine , digital information is in fact a natural extension of meme-driven evolution. She postulates a difference …
7 October 2009
From Peter Borrell
It is sadly the case that, while Martin Rees's belief that population control can be achieved without draconian measures may be correct ("Big thinkers, big ideas", 19 September, p 33 ), it will not be possible to do so in time to produce a sustainable planet. As was shown in the early part of the …
7 October 2009
From Eric Worrall
William Laurance's article "Roads to ruin" verged on being inhumane (29 August, p 24) . In many cases, the people exploiting the rainforest work in appalling conditions – heat, humidity, tropical disease, unsafe work practices – because they want to create a better life for their children. They use their high-risk, above-average incomes to buy …
7 October 2009
From David French
Andrew Fogg's concerns about the practicalities of refuelling electric vehicles are built on flawed assumptions (12 September, p 27) . Electric vehicles use a different refuelling paradigm from hydrocarbon-fuelled vehicles. The average annual distance driven by a private car in the UK in 2007 was 14,274 kilometres, or 39 km a day. A car which …
7 October 2009
From Alexander Pettigrew
I was surprised to read that the stars do not contain enough lithium-7 to be consistent with theories of the early universe (5 September, p 34) . Surely we should not be looking for this inside stars. It will be found one day deep in asteroids, planetoids and exoplanets in the form of dilithium crystals, …
7 October 2009
• In our article on robotic insect flight, we misspelled the name of Daedalus Flight Systems (26 September, p 22) .
Issue no. 2729 published 10 October 2009
