Letters archive

Michael Brooks reports figures from the UK's Office of National Statistics (ONS) to the effect that energy costs have risen to nearly 3 per cent of the average household budget (21 June, p 32) . However, this figure gives no hint of the chronic problem of fuel poverty. The ONS average is significantly skewed by …

You mention that we want energy to be "cheap, reliable and green", but you should have mentioned that we also don't want it made in our back gardens. Nimbyism is a barrier to a more sustainable energy industry, and one of the reasons why politicians have been so keen to support offshore wind energy despite …

Joan C. Williams's discussion of the issues faced by women in the workplace raises important questions (newscientist.com/article/dn25555) . Every year, thousands of students obtain a scientific degree, yet only a small proportion pursue a career in their field. The majority of people who leave science are women; in the UK roughly nine out of 10 …

I welcome Lyman Lyons's critique of David Deutsch and Chiara Marletto's article on reconstructing physics (14 June, p 32) . It is time to reappraise the growing obsession with the idea that information is a cornerstone of modern physics. The roots of this go back to Claude Shannon's founding of information theory in 1948 with …

You reveal that xenon and argon are to be banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency because the gases can apparently help athletes cheat (7 June, p 7) . This is back to front. It is only cheating once these substances are banned. It seems that these gases have a similar effect to altitude training, which …

Thank you for the interesting article on smells (7 June, p 28) . I find that smells are extremely evocative. For example, a certain cigar smoke takes me back 40 years to a tram stop in a large city in Germany. However, not all manufactured smells are equally welcome. Certain aftershaves can make me feel …

In reply comments from your readers on the UK Independence Party's stance on climate change, I would like to clarify our position (28 June, p 30) . UKIP believes there is evidence to indicate climate change but does not support the notion that it is due to human intervention. We are, of course open to …

Linking together all of the various hospital services to present an integrated database sounds fine, but personal experience has shown a severe downside to that approach (14 June, p 21) . Three years ago my wife was taken ill and was referred to a specialist who was part of a network of hospitals using linked …

The evidence for Adrian Williams and Robin Dunbar's hypothesis that the tuberculosis pathogen could provide essential nicotinamide to humans is persuasive, but some of the arguments implying that meat is essential for good nutrition are not (21 June, p 28) . The pellagra epidemic in Europe arose from the exclusive consumption of maize, refined or …

Tiffany O'Callaghan's article on the apparent inscrutability of irony and sarcasm in printed matter (14 June, p 46) strikes a very loud chord of recognition. Anyone who has experienced inter-office memos would no doubt hear the very same chord. Where I see this phenomenon shown in truly stark relief, however, is in social media. Many …

Thomas Webster suggests that because programmers learn computer languages with no spoken component, they may not be benefiting from the mental workout you get from choosing the correct expression in a spoken language (21 June, p 30) . But with programming you still have to choose the "correct expression", in that you write statements and …

Your report that scientists in California and Beijing have been studying what they describe as "contagious emotions" on social networks, with one user's mood affecting the mood of another (28 June, p 22) . The article concludes that "we don't need to interact in person to influence someone's feeling". What a waste of time, money …

• We feel a bit dense: in our article on supercooled water, we meant to say that water decreases in density only below 4 °C (21 June, p 17) .