Letters archive

Your interview with Bob Brewin about surfers' mission to log marine data ( 28 November, p 31 ) struck a chord. Such measurements are already recorded by others using the marine environment. As a scuba diver, I log my dives – recording information enables repeat dives to be safely executed and gives proof of a …

Although the ancient Romans used torture as a regular means of interrogation, they were well aware of its defects ( 14 November, p 44 ). The legal writer Ulpian , who died in AD 223, declared: "It is a chancy and risky business and one which may be deceptive. For there are a number of …

Why did WHO not stop the use of antibiotics to promote growth in animals bred for food? Charlotte Walters wishes the World Health Organization had acted to save antibiotics ( 12 December, p 7 ) .

Federico Pistono argues for a universal basic income ( 3 October, p 28 ). Back in 1978, I wrote on this subject, but called it a Basic National Wage (BNW) and I intended it to counter the work problems expected from microelectronics. Industry is the creator of wealth and so ultimately pays for the unemployed. …

Bill Summers claims "science serves no practical purpose unless it leads to a design" (Letters, 28 November ). Science serves many practical purposes that have nothing whatsoever to do with design. I refrain from standing next to sources of gamma radiation precisely because a scientist discovered that it would harm me. I find that a …

We enjoyed the reference to the lowest note sung in opera, the low F in O Isis and Osiris from Mozart's The Magic Flute (Letters, 31 October ). Such deep notes convey a sensation of wonder, novelty, aesthetic beauty and menace. The 64-foot organ pipe (Gravissima) of the Hill Organ in the Sydney Town Hall …

The letters on hearing giraffe vocalisations at 92 hertz (Letters, 31 October ) treat sound as if it contains only a single frequency. Vibrating objects produce a series of harmonics that are multiples of the fundamental frequency. The brain interprets this to give the sensation of the fundamental frequency – often even when this is …

William Kirby advises against building nuclear power stations on coasts (Letters, 28 November ). But to do so is to demonstrate the courage of one's convictions. Nuclear power stations reduce carbon emissions, which should lead to safer coastal areas. This reminds me of the idea that cars should be manufactured without seatbelts, and instead should …

Al Cowie writes "In the rest of Europe, the market dictates health services... The result... is a better system than the NHS, cheaper..." (Letters, 14 November ). One can discuss whether health services elsewhere in Europe are better than the UK NHS, but to say it is "cheaper" does not stack up with the figures. …

A smile came to my face when I read your response to Peter Holness's question about fundamental units, which noted that the candela "is defined with reference to the single frequency at which a standard eye is most sensitive" (Letters, 7 November ). I envision the tableau in Sèvres, home of the International Bureau of …

The article "If I wag my tail will you do it for me?" described 10 wolves and 20 dogs being given a puzzle to solve ( 19 September, p 14 ). Eight wolves were able to do so, but only one dog managed it without human guidance. I recently found time to discuss this with …

What came before the big bang ( 5 September, p 30 )? Nothing. Of course this "nothing" is not the classical "no thing". Rather it is a form of the quantum vacuum with particles and antiparticles zipping in and out of existence according to the program of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. But neither is this "nothing" …

Your Field Notes from SNOLAB – the Sudbury Neutrino Detector – ( 25 April, p 14 ) located it in the "frozen Canadian wasteland". I was born in the city of Sudbury. Its population of 100,000 has a university and tourist attractions such as Science North... and the Big Nickel, a large replica of Canada's …

• There were, in fact, 195 countries represented at the Paris climate summit ( 5 December, p 6 ). • Spot your bane: typhoid is not generally spread by insects, typhus is ( 7 November, p 36 ).