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17 March 2010
From Martin Parry, Imperial College London, and nine others
On behalf of the authors of those parts of the IPCC report on the impacts of climate change that were criticised by Fred Pearce (27 February, p 8) may I reply to his points? He describes our interpretation of Nigel Arnell's work on the impact of drought in Africa as "questionable", implying that we ignored …
17 March 2010
From Deepa Coleman
Alan Thorpe's defence of beleaguered climate scientists ( 27 February , p 24) is unconvincing and takes refuge in well-worn arguments. Publicly funded science is innately conservative. The need to develop a career, to win the next grant and to seek approval from peers all mitigate against heretical thinking. There is no such person as …
17 March 2010
From Ben Haller, McGill University
I am perplexed by your attempt to put a spin on the environmental problems we face. Johan Rockström and colleagues report that we have already exceeded the limits of sustainability in three areas and are approaching limits in most others (27 February , p 31). How on earth is this the "breath of fresh air" …
17 March 2010
From Colin Jacobson
Martin Robbins's article on homeopathy (30 January , p 22) shows that he understands almost nothing about it. If he did, he would know that UK doctors using homeopathy cost the government considerably less than those who do not, and that the 40 per cent of French doctors who use homeopathy cost the French government …
17 March 2010
From Cynthia Newby Luce
Your article "Messages from the Stone Age" (20 February , p 30) made me intensely frustrated. I've spent over 20 years trying to get academics to pay attention to such work. In the late 1980s I was working in Brazil. As a result of my own rock art research, I came to the same conclusions: …
17 March 2010
From Neil Seymour
Why the obsession with astronauts (13 February , p 8)? NASA's main achievements have been launching, repairing and upgrading satellites such as the Hubble Space Telescope and sending probes to the far reaches of the solar system. It is true that the Apollo missions told us much about the moon, but this was mainly a …
17 March 2010
• We did not mean to imply that Green Mountain Coffee of Waterbury, Vermont, uses the word "green" to suggest a wholesome image (20 February, p 6). The company takes its name from the Green mountains, which give the state its name and to which the company headquarters are close.
Issue no. 2752 published 20 March 2010
