Letters archive

John Ioannidis risks doing more harm than good in driving out scientific papers that are wrong (22 November, p 32) . The sort of multiple checking he recommends makes it more difficult for individuals and authors from small, poorly funded institutions to get their ideas heard. Large institutions tend to develop a momentum that makes …

Ten years ago, Ioannidis identified wide-ranging problems with scientific research, but this is not a new phenomenon. Studies of aircrew fatigue during the second world war had little success in quantifying the origins of poor performance, until cognitive psychologist Frederick Bartlett realised that piecemeal studies were inappropriate and all relevant factors are needed to produce …

Chris Baraniuk's article on robotic warfare was thought-provoking, but there is an additional aspect of warfare that was not considered (15 November, p 38) . In a democracy, governments' zeal for warfare requires a considerable measure of public support, and there is nothing like a procession of returning body bags to turn the public against …

Before embarking on the development of lethal autonomous weapons systems, we should bear in mind Walter M. Miller's 1954 science fiction short story I Made You . It is narrated from the viewpoint of a heavily armed, robot tank. Battle damage has destroyed the tank's capability to identify friend from foe. It therefore bypasses all …

I read with interest Peter Hadfield's article on the Yangtze river (22 November, p 46) , having returned in September from a cruise down the river from Chongqing to Shanghai, including a tour of the Three Gorges dam and journeying through the five ship locks. An important function of the dam that was not mentioned …

• Hadfield notes that some of the most serious flooding along the Yangtze is generated downstream of the dam, and there is a debate about whether the dam will be a blessing or a curse in terms of flooding. Sadly there was no room to include this in the article.

You discuss the problem of e-cigarettes possibly becoming a gateway to smoking (1 November, p 35) . This could surely be solved by pricing policy. Simply structure sales taxes to make e-cigarettes relatively cheap and readily available, and cigarettes and other forms of tobacco prohibitively expensive. Of course, this would involve countries not entering into …

I was rather surprised to read of a new eco-friendly egg-free mayonnaise, and the intensive research required to find a plant ingredient to take the place of egg (22 November, p 31) . Almost 20 years ago, when diagnosed with an egg allergy, I began buying a similar vegan product made using pea protein. This …

Your article reporting the acquittal of six geologists sentenced to prison for allegedly downplaying the risk of an earthquake (15 November, p 7) quotes the head of Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology saying the ruling "restores credibility to Italy's scientific community". Surely that should have read, "restores credibility to Italy's legal system"? Pulborough, …

Pamela Protheroe writes that children read slower when pictures are present (29 November, p 32) . But the reason children read more slowly when pictures are present is that they are dividing their time between reading the text and looking at the pictures, which is the whole point of picture books. One might as well …

You report on bats intentionally jamming each other's sonar when several are feeding in the same locality (15 November, p 16) . While recording bat species in the Wye valley area near south Wales I regularly picked up several common pipistrelles ( Pipistrellus pipistrellus ) feeding together. Each individual made a slight shift in frequency …

You report that seals have been recorded attacking porpoises, and the issue immediately brings one idea to mind (29 November, p 7) . Porpoises and seals share almost identical diets and we are currently wiping out their food supply. Is it any wonder they are fighting over a dwindling resource that is essential to both? …

• The seals appear to be actively hunting porpoises, particularly young calves, so it's possible the seals have broadened their diet after traditional food sources became scarce.

Further to the discussion of what civilisation would look like without fossil fuels (18 October, p 34) , we forget that for the last 200 years fossil fuels were chiefly employed to offset energy lost to friction, later recouped through efficiencies such as regenerative braking. Ocean transport ignores the implications of friction by employing heavy …

E. H. Bristol questions the reported 2200 kilometre flight in two days by a banded stilt (22 November, p 35) . The original paper reports that the bird flew "a minimum of 2263 kilometres in 55.9 hours", which works out at an average speed of just over 40 kilometres per hour ( Biology Letters , …

I was puzzled by your short article about an electronic shirt that knows when the wearer is thirsty (29 November, p 23) . We are told "as the person becomes thirsty the shirt will send alerts reminding them to drink". Isn't that what the sensation of thirst does? Talk about pointless, redundant and wasteful technology. …

• A touch of monkey business affected our article on technology for animals: orang-utans become sexually active at 8 years, and it is human visitors – not other apes – that juveniles enjoy poking with sticks (29 November, p 44) .