Sir — In his Book Review of PoliticizingScience, “Science exiled” (Nature 425,663–664; 2003), Paul M. Grant repeats the views expressed by several of the book’scontributors that science is often subvertedby politics and that the precautionaryprinciple is widely overused. Such anuncritical reading is not helpful to Nature readers.

Contrary to the alarms raised in thereview about “political interference”, noneof the book’s authors have been cowed bytheir encounters with politics. All remainoutspoken, and it is hard to see even FredSinger as marginalized when the presidentof the United States has rejected Kyoto and

forsworn any action to slow carbon dioxideemissions in the near future.

It is also strange that Grant points toquantitative risk analysis as a necessaryantidote to overuse of the precautionaryprinciple. In environmental regulatorypractice, cost–benefit analyses rarelyaccount for the cost of waiting for better data before acting. A recenteconomic study argues that a more liberalapplication of the precautionary principlein environmental regulation would pay for itself despite the greater rate of falsealarms (S. W. Pacala et al. Science 301,1187–1188; 2003). The United States Officeof Management and Budget has also

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recently reported that the benefits of thecountry’s environmental regulationsexceed their cost by a factor of six.

The frustrations of making publicpolicy in a democracy have been with ussince ancient Athens and will not disappearsoon. In my view, a warmer embrace ofboth politics and the precautionaryprinciple would do a world of good forscientists who presume to instruct thepublic and its representatives .Jonathan M. Gilligan Department of Geology,Vanderbilt University,VU Station B Box 351805, Nashville,Tennessee 37235-1805, USA

Middle East: universityfunding for Palestinians Sir — Your recent News Feature describedhow Israeli and Palestinian scientists link“Across the great divide” (Nature 425,444–449; 2003). I work at the HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem, in the departmentof physical chemistry, and I have beensurprised by the increasing number ofPalestinian graduate students (andapplicants) in our department. One suchstudent, for example, is about to concludehis postdoctoral work in experimentalphysical chemistry, and has recentlyaccepted a position at Al-Quds Universityof East Jerusalem, where he is constructinga modern nano-chemistry laboratory.

These promising individuals arestruggling not only with the impossiblepolitical situation of the Middle East,but also, and predominantly, with the hardships of everyday economicconditions. With the deep budget cutsimposed by the Israeli government, theHebrew University has had to cut 20% ofits support to all graduate students. Whileall our students were adversely affected,our Palestinian students are among thehardest hit. Owing to language barriers,they usually cannot assume teachingpositions within our university, nor dothey have affluent families to carry themthrough. One Palestinian student ofquantum chemistry had to postpone hisgraduation in order to make a livingthrough an extramural teaching position.

The Hebrew University is currentlyexploring several practical routes forenlisting potential contributors to assistthese students. It is remarkable that theacademic community which suffered mostfrom the recent wave of terror (as reported

in your News Feature) responds in thisnoble manner. One hopes that when itsPalestinian students graduate and assumeleadership positions in Palestinian academicinstitutions, they too will contributetowards bridging “the great divide”.Noam AgmonDepartment of Physical Chemistry,The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel

Middle East: nothing tofear except terrorismSir — With a colleague, I supervise a groupof five graduate students at the HebrewUniversity’s Department of Pharmacologyon the Hadassah Hospital campus. One of this group is an Israeli Arab. In fact,some 20% of Israel’s population is Arab,although this was not mentioned in yourNews Feature (Nature 425, 444–449; 2003)about the status of Israel–Palestinianscience cooperation and related issues.

If you visit our campus you will hearArabic spoken and see many Arab studentsat all stages, including many doctoralstudents, some of them Palestinians fromEast Jerusalem and elsewhere. They comeand go without any problem; no onebothers them at all. The only thing theyhave to fear is being blown up on a bus or in a cafe by a Palestinian suicideterrorist. The Hebrew University has aproud reputation of academic opennesswith regard to the Arab minority. Anyboycott of Israeli academic institutions is likely to hurt these Israeli Arabs morethan the Jews.

As someone who worked between 1994and 1996 towards Israeli–Arab cooperation in biotechnology as a US member of aTrilateral (United States–Jordan–Israel)

Science Group, I cannot even visit aPalestinian university campus because ofthe extreme danger. In my view, until thePalestinian culture of violence changes,all attempts at scientific cooperation areillusory. Instead of supporting one-sidedboycotts against Israeli academics andinstitutions, which are in any case in favourof peaceful solutions, any well-meaningacademics who would like to see peaceshould be demonstrating against theterrorist groups.Jack S. Cohen Pharmacology Department, Faculty of Medicine,The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91120, Israel

Casting light on mysteryof auroral flashesSir — There may be a simple explanationfor the puzzling auroral flashes seen byastronaut Ed Lu (Nature 425, 888; 2003).They could be due to an electrical dischargebetween regions of the atmospherecontaining different electrostatic charges.

The fact that the flashes were visibleonly in the direction of the aurora suggeststhat the charged particles in the aurora are important. It is well known thationizing radiation can trigger an avalanchebreakdown of an insulating gas; this is, infact, one of the ways of detecting ionizingradiation, as in a Geiger counter. Theresulting burst of energy will release the built-up charge, and create a flash oflight in the process. Some explanation for the initial build-up of charge is also needed, and could arise from thefrictional forces of the high-speed winds in the upper atmosphere.Len Freeman23 Hope Street, Cambridge CB1 3NA, UK

Precautionary principle cuts costs as well as risksEven allowing for false alarms, erring on the side of caution makes good financial sense.

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