Join the conversation in New Scientist's Letters section, where readers can share their thoughts and opinions on articles and see responses from experts and enthusiasts across a range of science topics. To submit a letter, please see our terms and email letters@newscientist.com
8 August 2012
From Bryn Glover
Your editorial on inequality refers to the concept of equality of opportunity (28 July, p 3) , which I would greatly welcome, so long as it is universally applied. Those who say there is no such thing as equality often dismiss it as a myth, citing as proof the fact that we cannot all run …
8 August 2012
From John Baker
Testosterone testing, the subject of your opinion article on what looks like sex-testing of elite women athletes (21 July, p 26) , is a poor basis for predicting an unfair advantage, yet that's exactly the kind of fudge a ruling body is likely to settle on when they need a cheap and cheerful proxy for …
8 August 2012
From Bob Masta
In your look at neuroaesthetics, the correlation of a data compression "sweet spot" with appreciation of modern art (14 July, p 42) raises the issue of the link between pattern and novelty. A repetitively patterned input is highly compressible. A totally random input is incompressible. We find the repetitive pattern boring as we detect no …
8 August 2012
From Mary Lush
Further to your debate on open access publishing (23 June, p 26) , many mortals have instant access to all manner of misinformation and pseudoscience, and only paid or delayed access to peer-reviewed scientific papers. The current system thus puts good science at such a competitive disadvantage that we may as well forget about it. …
8 August 2012
From Peter C. Olsen
Your article on fossil poaching in Mongolia (16 June, p 28) portends unending futility. As long as there is a market, someone will find a way to fill it. Consider illegal drugs, stolen art, purloined antiquities and exotic animals. So let's change the market's structure and replace the poachers with palaeontologists. When fossils are found, …
8 August 2012
From Cedric Mims
Your report on babies born in autumn being more likely to live to 100 refers to possible mechanisms such as seasonal infections in early life (21 July, p 17) . It is important to remember that these babies were conceived between December and February. The very early embryo is exquisitely sensitive to harmful or teratogenic …
8 August 2012
• Our feature on the fungal disease killing amphibians stated species are estimated to be going extinct up to 40,000 times faster than at any time in the last 360 million years (7 July, p 42) . It should have said up to 40,000 times faster than the background or normal extinction rate since then.
Issue no. 2877 published 11 August 2012
