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6 February 2019
From Sam Edge, Ringwood, Hampshire, UK
Kelly Oakes suggests that a space elevator needs to be tethered at the equator to avoid hurricanes. ( 12 January, p 42 ). Regardless of weather, it must be terminated at the equator since its centre of mass must be in geosynchronous orbit. All such orbits are directly over the equator as defined by the …
6 February 2019
From Andy Howe, Sheffield, UK
Have the proponents of the space elevator done a risk assessment for a manufacturing error that results in a cable of length similar to the c ircumference of Earth coming whirling down?
13 February 2019
From Michael Heeneman, Cambridge, UK
Debora MacKenzie notes the problem in the economics of new antibiotics ( 19 January, p 20 ). If they are used as sparingly as they should be, not enough of them are sold before patents on them expire for firms to make profits from developing them. I suggest tweaking the current patent system so that …
13 February 2019
From Bryn Glover, Kirkby Malzeard, North Yorkshire, UK
MacKenzie leaves to the end of her report the observation that ideology has frowned on governments messing with markets. Recent history has thrown up numerous examples of the private suppliers of essential services needing to appeal to public funds to bail them out of self-inflicted crises. An enterprise supposedly founded on the double principle of …
13 February 2019
From Larry Stoter, The Narth, Monmouthshire, UK
Before the antibiotic crisis , the Soviet Union put a lot of effort into using phage viruses that attack bacteria to treat diseases. Though under-reported in the West, this has continued, especially in Georgia, where the George Eliava Institute is a key centre. The editor writes: • This old idea is coming back. In 2015, …
13 February 2019
From Evelyn Lander, Perth, Western Australia
I picked up the piece by I. Glenn Cohen and Alex Pearlman on medicines that record when they have been taken ( 29 September 2018, p 22 ) at the doctor's surgery. I was more than mildly interested in their use to ensure antibiotics for tuberculosis are taken. In 1949, at 20, I was diagnosed …
13 February 2019
From A. Wills, London, UK
You report uncertainty over the UK's supply of medicines in the event of a no-deal Brexit ( 19 January, p 5 ). A family member has glaucoma and uses prescribed eye drops to control it. Without drops, eye pressure rises and puts pressure on the optic nerve. Permanent blindness can result. Is the UK Department …
13 February 2019
From Ted Webber, Buderim, Queensland, Australia
Sandrine Ceurstemont writes about "water tanks" in Sri Lanka ( 12 January, p 46 ). These are not what people outside the Indian subcontinent usually think of as a tank. An ancient one in Sri Lanka, the Parakrama Samudra, covers 30 square kilometres.
13 February 2019
From John Wilde Crosbie, Dublin, Ireland
Guy Cox (Letters, 19 January ) and Eric Kvaalen (Letters, 15 December 2018 ) focus on the strength of the moon and the sun in creating tides large enough to allow marine life to make it onto land. But the sun and the moon together cause the range of tides to vary from "spring" to …
13 February 2019
From John Dodson, Hurstville, New South Wales, Australia
Chris Stokel-Walker mentions Dutch eagles failing to follow orders to hunt drones ( 19 January, p 10 ). Later in the same issue, you again report the intellectual abilities of crows ( p 17 ). It seems that we should try to train crows.
