Letters archive

In Kate Douglas's article on the evolution of decision-making (12 November, p 38) the economic "irrationality" of human loss aversion is described – we are more upset at losing a certain amount than we are pleased by gaining it. I have never understood why economists regard these as equivalent. Suppose I can live on the …

The practice of Israeli children with birth defects suing for "wrongful life" is disturbing on two counts (29 October, p 6) . First, allowing such lawsuits in a country where euthanasia is unconditionally illegal shows a profound inconsistency. Either a person's existence is universally beneficial and desirable, as an anti-euthanasia law indicates, or there are …

"If violence occurs, there is an ever greater revulsion to it," writes Ernest Ager in his letter (12 November, p 35) referencing Steven Pinker's article (15 October, p 30) . While it is arguable whether westerners are less violent: we are definitely more sensitive. That is, we have found ways to kill and wound the …

In his letter (5 November, p 33) , Hans Proebsting writes: "Autism is what we have, not who we are." Personally, as hypersensitivity is a major aspect of my autism, autism affects everything, from what I like to eat to what I wear, where I live to who I want to spend my time with. …

Emanuel Derman makes some interesting points in his look at misguided mathematical modelling (22 October, p 32) . But his essay is scarred by the inclusion of a bizarre ad hominem attack on Richard Dawkins, accusing him of "stunning unimaginativeness" for thinking that something could have been learned by studying, rather than killing, Saddam Hussein. …

Please compare and contrast recent quotes from New Scientist . First, from the piece on global capitalism (22 October, p 8) , the researchers involved stated: "Concentration of power is not good or bad in itself." Then, in Laura Spinney's analysis of corruption (5 November, p 42) , Samuel Bendahan of the Swiss Federal Institute …

Tortoises may not yawn contagiously, as per Feedback's report of the Ig Nobel prize (8 October) but our old ginger cat, who has turned soft and now likes sitting on the sofa between my husband and me when we watch TV, will almost always yawn if he spots either of us doing so. I would …

If people with intentions unrelated to science would like to attend a scientific conference then they should be allowed to, as should young-Earth creationists at American Geological Society conferences (8 October, p 30) . If, however, those same people intend to speak about science and are not properly scrutinised, then it will affect the reputation …

"What is the meaning of life?" "I don't know. But I think there's an app for that." According to New Scientist (22 October, p 25) this is an actual conversation with the Apple iPhone 4S's voice-based virtual assistant Siri. I guess that's progress. In the late 1980s, I was helping pack up kit at a …

Writer George Bernard Shaw would have loved Kate Ravilious's recent look at the evolutionary status of mental illness (5 November, p 34) , as it supports his famous contention: "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the …

At several points in your special issue on time, you state that time runs more slowly where gravity is stronger ( 8 October, p 37 ). This is not correct. What counts is how deep one is in Earth's gravitational potential well. Time runs more slowly down a mine than on the surface, even though …

Concerning the Danish tax on saturated fat (22 October, p 30) , surely it is only fair that people who eat unhealthy foods should pay more tax, as they will likely run up bigger health bills than other taxpayers. In the UK, cigarettes are taxed heavily, which helps offset the National Health Service's extra costs …

You report that the chance of a greater than 70 per cent match between two irises is less than 1 in 10 billion, as if that were very good (15 October, p 21) . Given the propensity of police around the world to pool data and treat the global population as suspects, and your report …

A train travel advert urging us to "experience life as a Tudor" was mentioned in Feedback (12 November) – but I thought it was well known that Henry VIII went everywhere by rail. Recall the London Underground poster showing Henry buying a ticket: "Tower Hill, return, please", with the graffiti punchline: "and a single for …

Your impossible inventions article stated that "planes, trains and automobiles navigate using satellites" (15 October, p 39) . Trains run on fixed lines, of course.

• Enigma 1672, Heptagony (12 November, p 35) , requires a sequence of six consecutive heptagonal numbers, not five.