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In developing FAST's tune-searching software, Bjørn Olstad (10 February, p 22) must have overlooked Denys Parsons's Directory of Tunes, published by Spencer Brown in 1975 and fully reviewed in Â鶹´«Ã½ at the time. Long before we had computers to do everything, Parsons devised a brilliantly simple way of extracting a "word" from any tune. …

In reference to Helen Long's patented method of transforming proteins into music (10 February, p 21) , I wonder if she's considered attempting the reverse. How interesting, for example, if the protein analogue of You Are My Sunshine was found to be the cheery neurochemical serotonin.

Your cartoon on the Feedback page (17 February) shows a group of youths about to ignite methane from a reservoir, as a joke. This sort of thing has a long precedent. Many years ago the outflow of sewage into the main canal basin of Leeds was such that the entire basin was one huge fermentation …

You report the claims made by Eric Fombonne that the incidence of autism is essentially stable. In particular, he claims that the proportion of cases of regressive autism hasn't changed since the 1980s (17 February, p 17) . However, in view of the current controversy surrounding the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine as a …

Elizabeth Miller, head of vaccination at the Public Health Laboratory Service in London says it's inconceivable that a link between the vaccine and autism wouldn't have been spotted in the Finnish study. Unlike Britain, however, Finland and Sweden don't use vaccines containing the preservative Thimerosa. They banned it more than five years ago. Thimerosa is …

Your article on catalytic converters (10 February, p 18) might cause unnecessary concern among your readers and the public. The levels of platinum, palladium and rhodium that Carlo Barbante and his colleagues have measured in Greenland since 1969 are extremely low, ranging from 0.05 to 1 picogram per gram of snow. Levels in snow 7500 …

All praise to James Lind for inventing the controlled trial (24 February, p 46) . But why was he 170 years behind the times in finding a cure for scurvy? In 1577, Sir Francis Drake stopped over at what is now called Patagonia, during his circumnavigation of the globe. His sailing master, Captain William Winter, …

I am a worried 24-year-old who has seen motor neuron disease ravage half the siblings in my grandmother's generation. Five out of 10 have been affected so far, and we are watching the next generation very closely. We the affected are forced to fight an uphill battle to promote research into disorders which could be …

You report a study of the sexual signals women send men even when they are not interested in them (17 February, p 16) . Wouldn't it be necessary to study the interactions of women with other women? I know I've flicked my hair and acknowledged conversation with a nod when talking to women. Does that …