Last time the Arctic sea ice melted, about 3 million years ago, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reached about 400 parts per million, temperatures rose by 2 to 3 degrees and sea levels by about 25 metres, which is where the Earth is fast-tracking at present.

Business as usual goes on. The trillions of dollars needed to replace carbon-emitting energy utilities with clean renewables are going to be invested in production of fossil fuels.

With more than 20 per cent of the world's fossil fuel reserves, companies and governments are homing in on the fast-melting Arctic, like vultures over a dead body.

Will people realise the price of oil can not be measured in dollars but in terms of the future of their children, before it is too late?

(Dr) Andrew Glikson, Research School of Earth Science, Australian National University

A future for dragons

I refer to your excellent supplement on the University of Canberra (August 4) and David Curry's article on earless dragons (''Eureka, they're alive'', p20).

Will Osborne and Steve Sarre's research on our local earless dragon (Tympanocryptis pinguicolla) is well-recognised and supported by herpetologists in the ACT.

In the '60s we used to find, and husband, this attractive little dragon lizard, and its notable friend, the Striped Legless Lizard (Delma impar), on the little grassland knoll in Dickson that is now the home of the ABC studios (neither species is confined to the ACT).

That mini-ecosystem is long lost, but new sites are, and continue, to be discovered by scientists such as Will and Steve, and hopefully the security of these reptiles may be guaranteed.

For David, the genus (about 11 species) in which earless dragons are placed, Tympanocryptis, is a Latin translation for ''hidden ear''.

''Earless'' dragons do in fact have ears. The tympanum is hidden below the skin and covered by scales they are able to hear.

Research triumphs if it has believers.

Ric Longmore, (old) herpetologist, Hawker