Letters archive

For people with narcolepsy, the lucid dreaming for which Jessica Hamzelou strives can be an undesirable and sometimes frightening intrusion into normal daily life (12 June, p 36) . The hallucinations often experienced at the onset of narcolepsy can take the dream-within-a-dream form Hamzelou describes. For a narcoleptic, these dreams are frequently nightmares in which …

Tom Wakeford and Jackie Haq discuss the dangers of keeping private the debate into the consequences of artificial life research (26 June, p 26) . Their article is well-intended but a little naive. Over the course of my scientific career I have encountered both big-business funded activism and pressure groups who could hold their meetings …

In reference to Brian Barry's letter, I am quite surprised to discover that the spectrum of autism does not just include savants, but also X-Men and the next stage in human evolution (29 May, p 28) . I donate annually to the local autism society: one of the reasons I do so is that I …

When discussing the measures to which some people will resort in searching for a cure for autism, Jim Giles inadvertently highlights a widespread problem in wealthy, developed nations (26 June, p 42) : we believe that everything can be cured by medical intervention. Good health depends on clean water, a balanced diet, hygienic sewage disposal, …

While reading Andy Coghlan's article on how reawakened mitochondria can help fight cancer (15 May, p 6) , it occurred to me that mitochondria might be a key factor behind the link tying exercise and obesity to the disease. A number of studies have linked obesity to an increased risk of cancer. Exercise has been …

Kate McAlpine clearly explained the issues surrounding the standard model of particle physics (22 May, p 40) . However, in view of the considerable successes it has already achieved, it is more likely that the model needs to be extended rather than demolished. Also, it is likely that such an extension would unify and explain …

In your special report on collaborations between art and science, David S. Berman writes that "a successful art-science work... should impact on people in a direct way, with a sensory component that moves them" ( 8 May, p 43 ). Towards what should it move these people? To a greater understanding of a scientific concept? …

James Mitchell Crow's article on decaying plastics seemed to only stress the downside of this phenomenon (19 June, p 42) . Has no one thought of the positive side? Plastic rots! It is like finding out that living next to a nuclear power plant boosts fertility, or that whales enjoy the cut and thrust of …

By implying a truly macroscopic "superposition" of the Austrian Erwin Schrödinger with the German Werner Heisenberg, Michael Brooks's "Rise of the quantum machines" (26 June, p 34) seems to promise success far beyond his article's own foresight. This reader's "measurement" resulted in the New Scientist wave function collapsing to yield "Austrian, Heisenberg" (p 37). This …