Well done, it is disappointing to realise how little understanding many commentators have when it comes to science (and pseudoscience), it is nice to see something that bucks the trend.

Plonkers, frauds and charlatans SHOULD be slapped down.

Well done Dr Ben Goldacre, there is nothing like a little irony, you could have pointed it up a little more though, still, I did giggle.

It was nice to see a comment from someone who evidently has a little understanding of "spooky action at a distance", as they state, it is an area of quantum mechanics that has been investigated and is coherent within it's frame, just because Einstein was brilliant in his field doesn't mean that he was the be-all and end-all, his invocation of a universal constant prevented him from predicting the expanding universe and thus inferring the big bang. Shame, that would have been quite a coup. Better than coming out with silly pseudo-metaphysical phrases to belittle something he doesn't want to consider.

Kidd Garrett, Bristol, UK

It is a great mistake to think science = reality. Science is a subset of reality - otherwise we already know everything there is to know, and who but a madman would believe that? Science has achieved much, but it is still like an animal wearing blinkers and seeing the world in black & white - it misses much of what is really there.

Yes, there are quacks and charlatans outside "science" but, there are plenty of closed minded self-protective egotists within it. Science has to be brave enough to face up and admit it can't explain things for which there is provable evidence and/or vast solid witness testimony - zero point energy, ghosts, ETs, anti-gravity, memory-of-water, mind over matter, out of body experiences, mediumship and so on. A blanket denial or ridicule of sections of reality that science cannot explain just doesn't work, and actually undermines the credibility of science.

Alex Kerr, London, UK

I saw E.T. in Spielberg's documentary -- and he used his thought power to heal a geranium!

If it works, and it is reproducible, then I am sure it will eventually be embraced, despite resistance. But you have to demonstrate the efficacy repeatedly.

And, if it really did work, but it took 100 people and an hour of concentration, then certainly then next area of research would be how to make it far more efficient.

Imagine what the effort of the same group could be if they each worked building housing or serving in a soup kitchen for one hour each instead....

Regarding entangled particles - spooky action - that's a result that has been verified over and over. Show me a few healed plants and how it was done, under what conditions, and then you have something woth telling people.

Yitzchak Handel, Hoboken, NJ, USA

I think it's terrible that you should be so dismissive of Dr McTaggart's theories. Have you ever tried them? No. So you have no personal knowledge, and yet you feel entitled to attack a great scientist and researcher who is only trying to help people. Doubtless the pharmaceutical companies who advertise in your newspaper are behind this.

Dr Ben Goldacre, London, UK

Einstein's 'spooky action at a distance' belies a knowledge from one of historys brightest minds that all is not what it seems. Science with all it's stiff competition from within its own box, is slow and rigid, and there is much we still don't know. Personally I think it is more intelligent to be thinking outside of the box, it shows an expanding and healthily enquiring mind. We humans have amazing capabilities. the power of mind over matter while being a cliche, is nonetheless acknowledged.

Michelle Teers, Essex, UK

Dear Ms Ahuja, I feel partly vindicated by your article on gullibility in the face of science. When scientists claim they 'believe', 'think' and that 'evidence suggests' we should immediately reject their claims as guess work and not factual knowledge. Gullibility is a symptom of absence of intelligence, discernment and foresight but it has been good for business, therefore I suppose we will not see education against gullibility to science. It seems we have evolved from being blind followers of religion, to being blind followers of science.

maurice pernet, London,

Would tend to argue that a mind is not like software in that when you changed/upgraded from windows 95 to windows xp I doubt that you saved a whole lot of info and passed it from one to the other.

I imagine that you can recall details of your life from years ago. Something which, I feel, gets lost in computers.

I also think that it is more to do with the 'power to do' things, as opposed to the 'power of thought'. The ability to fail and to move on with life, instead of brooding over failures and looking for answers that are not really there.

Will Holden, Dublin, Ireland

"Nothing can be done for the ones ythat are done for"

Ralphie G, Brick, NJ

Dear Sir

I have been out of UK for last 10 years working in Asia. I am justs shocked at the garbbage strewned along the sides of all motorways, country lanes and at every junction one stops. People in the country should be proud of what we have in the UK. They should live in Asia and see that the population crying for clean environment.

Why don't newspapers, media and government drive major awareness drive to improve this. Put signs that throwing garbbage is jail sentence, fine people just like in speeding, name and shame in nespapaer.

Nilesh. Patel, Mumbai, India

TO BEL MOONEY: I have written to you before about hypnosis and a brain scan and you printed my letter. No sex for six years! I loved your poem from Japan. Here is what I have said to hundreds of couples:
Express what you feel when you feel it! A short sentance and very hard to do, especially when the feelings are not readilly acceptabable but if it is not carried out the unexpressed feeling become resentments and stay in "your boots"
For six years the girl has been unable to express what she feels either in words or behaviour. Is she motivated to try? Go to a GOOD marital and sexual counsellor. Sensate focus would help. I don't expect this to be printed. Bye! I love your articles. Thanks

ALBERT CAHN, london, london

Alas, Anjana, even Baby Bio can do harm. I remember with sorrow the day that our 3-year-old son thought he would copy Mummy's kindness to a favourite plant on the kitchen windowsill. Sadly, a near full bottle, undiluted, had it dead and deceased within 20 minutes.
I doubt whether even Lynne McTaggart and a billion disciples could have resurrected it!

J Bustard, Craigavon, UK

I beleve that in Venezuelam, also practice this sport, wi thh yourresult of abuse politic.

jose Alvarado, Los Teques Venezuela, Edo. Miranda venezuela

Sandy, NLP is no different from any type of psycho-therapy in that it works for some and not for others. At the base of it all, the person must *want* to change. The creation of false memories is not all that different from NLP - a person can come to believe anything s/he wants to. Nothing new, nothing special, just part of the wonder that is the human brain.

Jeremy Wickins, Sheffield, UK

the power of thought, the power of prayer
witness the result of the most fervent agonal prayers of all time, the parade of the jews and others into the gas chambers in ww2.. no change in the world there until the war ran its full course; mind you, some would say that even more would have been murdered without faith/prayer/ power of thought, which to me is like being asked to thank your psychotic assailant for only cutting off you face and not your fingers

markb, manchester, uk

True. But, if you really want to see gullibility in action, look at what happens when a perfectly respectable scientific "hunch" gets seized on for political reasons and rapidly transforms itself into an indisputable "fact". For an example you need look no further than "man-made" climate-change. It taps into every neurosis in the book - and boy, are we going to pay. There was a woman on the radio last week who went to Australia (largely) by train to minimise her "carbon footprint". The frightening thing was she sounded perfectly sane.

Ken Leyland, Liverpool, U.K

Dear me - are ther still people who disbellieve that the HIV infection can lead to AIDS? I'd have thought opinions of this sort would be restricted to snake-handling zealots in the Deep South who - my friend confidently assures me - often believe that AIDS is caused by immoral behaviour, and not a virus at all...

Greg, London,

A very informative and thought provoking write-up, from the science book collections of Anjana Ahuja. It's worth reading and ruminating , giving a mind and thought to its quality content. Can a power of thought change the world ??? I'm a firm believer of this fact that every thing lies in our mind set and mental attitude.I'm reminded of a new age technique,which revolutionised the process of human thinking and it is based on analytical scientific experiments. It is NLP- Neuro Linguistic Programming.
NLP works on the basic principle that our mental maps which are etched upon due to feelings, experiences and interpretations, can be updated, changed and restructured.
Mind works like a software, and as we can update Windows 95, to Windows XP, and upgrade it to the latest version of Windows vista, so can we update and upgrade our mental software. Through NLP we can be relieved of our traumas and phobias, can change our negative thoughts into positive ones and also resolve inner conflicts

Sandy, New Delhi, India