Letters archive

In his review of our book, The Proactionary Imperative (6 September, p 46) , Carl Elliott capitalises on outdated stereotypes of the Nuremberg Code and disabled people. We regard the Nuremberg Code, which continues to underwrite institutional review board constraints on research using human subjects, as an instance of US jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes Jnr's …

Richard Smith says he wants to see research misconduct criminalised (13 September, p 27) . But research is a civil contract between the organisation initiating the research and those carrying it out. Any failures in the process can and should be dealt with by the civil courts. The real-world harm that Smith describes begins at …

Debora MacKenzie's magisterial account of the evolution of nation states asks whether we can "manage a transition to whatever we need next" (6 September, p 30) . I believe it is already happening – but only thanks to the continuation of nation states. One of the most successful examples is the control and improvement of …

Rather than the end of nations that Debora MacKenzie refers to, a global system based on small nations would be a better way to "run a planet". My research suggests that the problem is not the state or nationality as such, but how to prevent too much power from piling up in too few hands …

I rejoice at Niall Firth's paean to the idea of teaching coding to kids (6 September, p 38) . I recall that Arthur C. Clarke wrote: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." In this age when magical thinking is still far too abundant, anything that demythologises the wonderful gadgets technology provides us with …

A push for children to learn coding early is commendable, but I resent your article's use of the word "narrow" to describe engineers' "view of how things should look or behave". What these classes represent is the need for an earlier and more widespread appreciation of what it truly is to be an engineer. As …

In re-evaluating Stanley Milgram's infamous experiments, Alexander Haslam and Stephen Reicher argue against the popular view that most people will willingly shock someone to death if an authority figure asks them to (13 September, p 28) . These psychologists might change their mind if they watch the 2010 French/Swiss television documentary Le Jeu de la …

Pythagoras's enrolment as a reader at the library of Alexandria some 200 years after his death (6 September, p 29) is entirely consistent with Pythagorean philosophy. A significant tenet was the doctrine of transmigration of the soul after death into another body. Great Shelford, Cambridge, UK

According to your feature "Roar power", an electric racing car travelling at 100 kilometres per hour will emit about 80 decibels (30 August, p 42) . Yet my electric lawnmower emits 96 dB, according to the manufacturer's warning label. Forest Lake, Queensland, Australia   The editor replies: • We should have mentioned that noise exposure …

• We should have described Richard Twitchett as a co-author of the study of scavengers on ichthyosaur remains (13 September, p 12) . He worked with colleagues from Plymouth University.