Letters archive

In his interesting article on flying submarines, Paul Marks discussed the design history of such machines (3 July, p 32) . One early design he didn't mention, however, was the Piaggio P.7 , an Italian racing seaplane built for the Schnieder Trophy race in 1929. While not fully submersible, the Piaggio P.7 was designed to …

In discussing why genetics researchers are not finding genes for disease susceptibility, the "dark matter" of genetics, Peter Aldhous and Michael Le Page omitted the simplest explanation of all (19 June, p 30) . Maybe they can't find them because they are not there. There are some excellent reasons for thinking that genes for modern …

I am amused by the idea of creating genetically modified pigs with meat rich in omega-3 fatty acids (10 July, p 34) . A lack of omega-3 is not inherent in meat; intensive farming causes a loss of omega-3 from the meat, combined with an infiltration of other fats. My team has found that the …

Why should Neanderthals be considered members of our own species, Homo sapiens , just because interbreeding has been shown to produce fertile offspring, as your editorial suggests (15 May, p 3) ? If this is a criterion for species membership, then we shall have to accept that jaguars and leopards are the same species. The …

Readers may depend on your editorial to form their opinion of "climategate" (17 July, p 3) . Regrettably, while it contains some fair points, there is enough distortion and imprecision remaining to perpetuate the sense that there is still a case to answer on the science. This is despite clear findings supporting the honesty and …

Helen Knight reports on options for eco-friendly funerals, but those mentioned are high-tech and energy intensive (12 June, p 8) . A simpler solution is burial at sea. An ethically acceptable method would have to be found to allow for large numbers, but the principle was used successfully in the UK's Royal Navy for centuries. …

In writing about the use of second-generation biomass, such as plant waste and paper, to produce biofuels, Helen Knight did not mention that fermenting the sugars resulting from cellulose hydrolysis produces a less than 15 per cent solution of alcohol in water (29 May, p 22) . A great deal of energy is used in …

•Muons are not larger than electrons, but they are more massive (10 July, p 10) . • Preying has nothing to do with it: the poster boy of risky sex is the male praying mantis (3 July, p 36) . • In our diagram of an optical illusion, the inner circles were not identical as …