Letters archive

Your article on the opening of the UK Biobank and how it may help pinpoint the causes of disease was excellent (7 April, p 8) . Every nation should ask its citizens to donate their DNA, physiological measurements and information like cellphone use to such a project. Ethical concerns must be addressed: governments need to …

The information in the article on the possible use of fire 1 million years ago (7 April, p 12) does not necessarily indicate that hominins took fire itself into the cave. It seems to me that the evidence indicates only that burnt remains were carried 30 metres into the Wonderwerk cave in South Africa – …

The behavioural differences between rich and poor that Michael Bond notes are not some corrupting desensitisation that overcomes the rich at the expense of the poor (21 April, p 52) . It is simply a question of perception: a millionaire perceives £10,000 as being worth no more than someone with £10,000 to their name perceives …

Darwinian paediatrician Paul Turke (14 April, p 23) considers the pain of a sprained ankle an adaptive response that we should be wary of suppressing. No doubt in our deep evolutionary past this was necessary to stop us placing further stress on the joint unless absolutely essential, for example to escape a predator. In our …

When I lived in Harrow, north London, the Buncefield blast woke me with the sharp bang typical of a high-explosive detonation, and I commented: "That was a bomb." I was surprised to learn that the site in Hertfordshire was a fuel store, since the blast did not sound like an unconfined vapour explosion, which one …

The "pink slime" pictured in your report on recovered meat (24 March, p 4) looks remarkably like what we in South Australia call "fritz", produced in a sausage shape about 6 centimetres in diameter. Butchers used to (and may still) offer children a slice, almost always accepted with pleasure. I once asked our butcher what …

In your article "Catch me if you can" (7 April, p 21) you discuss research to identify people based on facial recognition of their avatars, stating that studies have shown that virtual avatars often resemble their owners. As a regular participant in virtual worlds, this strikes me as odd. Men regularly play as female avatars …

I agree with Byron Rigby's letter calling for the scientific method to be taught in schools (31 March, p 30) , but would go further. We should teach the principles of deductive and inductive logic underpinning all rational thought. Our children might then mature into adults who can think for themselves and assess any argument, …

I read with interest your report on the recent surge in autism rates (7 April, p 5) . This and other presentations dismiss any connection between autism and the mercury-containing compound thiomersal, used in older forms of vaccines, on the grounds that an increasing number of autistic youngsters have never been exposed to it. But, …

The study in which mice given heart transplants survived for longer when forced to listen to Verdi's La Traviata or a selection of Mozart than when listening to Enya or a monotone could just be down to variety (31 March, p 16) . Most of Enya's songs are somewhat repetitive and even different songs have …

A new generation of anti-obesity pills (14 April, p 32) re-ignites the debate over medication versus willpower. Willpower alone will work for some people, but with about 50 per cent of people overweight or obese in the US and Australia, we need to look at other measures. From a public-health perspective, we need interventions that …

There is always something in New Scientist to make me smile, and as I read Helen Knight's article on how smartphones influence our decisions (14 April, p 36) , I chuckled. The description of them as the butlers of the early 21st century made me hoot. The piece makes it clear that so-called smartphones are …

I have a Mac computer. It has a "turn wireless off" option, in common I assume, with other computers. If you believe humans have self control, then surely using this makes more sense for the 300,000 people who downloaded Fred Stutzman's internet blocking app (31 March, p 27) . As for hacking a computer back …

You reported on research into possible relationships between journeys on London's public transport and measures of social deprivation using data from underground and overground train trips in London recorded through the Oyster ticket system (14 April, p 16) . This omits bus journeys, for which Oyster cannot record origin or destination. These make up about …