Letters archive

I look forward to receiving each issue of New Scientist , but I was especially impressed by the articles, the tables and the tremendous amount of research that went into Andy Ridgway's report on the state of the world's supply of critical elements (14 February, p 35) . You ran an earlier article on this …

In writing about the rise of right-to-die legislation in the US, Clare Wilson uses the term "assisted suicide" (28 February, p 13) . Philosophically, it might at first blush be tempting to think of a person who self-ingests a prescription of life-ending medication as committing suicide, but it is no more a suicide than if …

Let me thank Clare Wilson for the professional and unbiased report of the assisted suicide situation in America. However, I felt some of the comments from Diane Coleman, who opposes the practice, were potentially misleading. Coleman voices concern that because some people waited longer than six months before taking the life-ending drugs they had procured, …

The possibility of transplanting a head and joining the spinal cord by simply flushing the joint area with polyethylene glycol (PEG) appears simply astounding (28 February, p 10) . Repairing nerve damage after traumatic injury is extremely important for full recovery but often not successful. Presumably, the polymer provides a suitable scaffold and environment to …

The researchers are looking at PEG with two other chemicals, but it's only one of many hurdles to overcome in this procedure.

There is indeed a cure for migraine that works for some, especially those warned of onset by the aura (7 March, p 38) . After a few years of migraine agony in my teens, I found a Reader's Digest article which advised that as soon as you experience the aura, you should lie down and …

As a long-standing migraine sufferer, I was very interested in Helen Phillips's article, but she did not mention a cure that works for me and others. I had been suffering from what she labels a silent migraine. Once a week or so I would experience a blind spot followed by wiggly flashing lines in my …

We advise readers to discuss any migraine treatments with their registered physician.

I was saddened to hear about the plight of migrating songbirds decimated by poaching (14 February, p 48) . Are the activists who tackle the poachers also picketing restaurant owners who serve these birds as delicacies? Are they shaming the patrons who eat the little birds? Such actions might prove more fruitful than going after …

I read with interest Hal Hodson's article on the use of aluminium as a steel replacement (28 February, p 22) . I have been producing control software for metal finishing production lines for over 20 years, and foresee a bottleneck that will hamper the increased use of aluminium. Steel parts are commonly electropainted to increase …

In her article on touch, Linda Geddes reported research showing that people who have had a stroke can "recover a lost sense of limb ownership if the arm or leg is stroked on a regular basis" (28 February, p 34) . This led me to think of body integrity identity disorder, a condition in which …

This question came up, but didn't make it into the feature. If we include anorexia as a kind of body dysmorphia, then at least one researcher definitely thinks touch plays an early role in these disorders.

Both as a psychologist and a mother, I have witnessed the importance of touch for babies. Often touch is life-giving for sick children. But at the same time, parents are taught to make babies sleep and play alone; babies are deemed "good" once they have learned this and cease to cry when left on their …

Fred Pearce writes that the world's largest conservation fence is being constructed around Mount Kenya (28 February, p 16) . In 1955, I was a 17-year-old Kenya Police Reserve tracker team leader in the Mount Kenya Crown Forest. My patrols entered the forest by crossing "the dead zone", a mile-wide cleared area stretching around Mount …

The points raised by earlier correspondents about driverless vehicles are salient (28 February, p 54) . I can add another: when there are choices to be made, for example if traffic lights fail, sensible drivers usually rely on eye contact. How will that work with a driverless car? Surely the interactions of the cars with …

Given your Feedback discussion of nominative determinism (28 February, p 56) it was nice to see, on the preceding Letters pages, Mary Voice speaking out, Paul Coyne discussing financial efficiency, and Jon Wise asking intelligent questions. Coolamon, New South Wales, Australia

• The Dutch city of Nijmegen may one day be a coastal city – as it was described in our article on climate-proofing Europe (7 March, p 10) – but it is currently about 100 km from the sea.