Letters archive

Having read your special issue on time ( 8 October, p 37 ) I'd like to share my understanding of it, which is simple. Time does not and cannot exist for the following reason. We talk about and experience time as the past, present and future. To me, the past and the future are made …

I would like to suggest a much simpler explanation for the velocity of neutrinos exceeding that of light (1 October, p 6) . All electromagnetic vibrations are slowed by matter. Even in "empty" space, there are still a few atoms and charged particles. Therefore, there can never be a precise experimental determination of the value …

So, one of the US Republican presidential hopefuls claims that intelligent design is "a legitimate scientific theory that should be taught in science class" (17 September, p 5) . Most scientists would fight this. However, this is a battle we are losing, and I want to suggest a new tactic. As an evolutionary ecologist, I …

I enjoyed Steven Newton's article on the desire of young-Earth creationists to gain credibility and influence by attending meetings at the Geological Society of America and presenting papers and talks (8 October, p 30) . However, I was dismayed to read Newton's job description: he is the programmes and policy director for a not-for-profit organisation …

Your article on the big snap theory (24 September, p 8) implied that as the universe expands it does so consistently in all dimensions: the diagram showed a two-dimensional space-time being stretched. But we regularly read in New Scientist that there could be 10 or 11 dimensions. What if, as the familiar dimensions of x, …

Following on from your article "A brief history of the brain" (24 September, p 40) , if technological societies endure then individual brain capacity beyond a certain level becomes unnecessary, because information can be retrieved through "an outside brain", also known as a computer. Now that we have access to all the knowledge in the …

The rise of the Pirate party is the beginning of a sea change: the communities of the internet entering politics (1 October, p 29) . Soon we will see political campaigns shift from billboards to forums and social sites. I can see the benefits: at some point the traditional politicos and their party structures will …

Your Instant Expert on the atomic nucleus had an introduction stating that the theory of atoms as the base units of reality served us well from the pre-Socratic Greeks onwards, but implied that it no longer holds (1 October) . On the contrary, we are still bound by the Greek concept, it is just that …

In her letter on lab-grown meat, Ingrid Newkirk makes a false comparison between eating meat and using tobacco, when she says that meat eaters, "like smokers trying to quit tobacco, find it very hard to give up the stuff" (24 September, p 39) . Humans are omnivores by nature so meat is a natural part …

I find it difficult to understand why people are insisting that electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles must be made to sound like petrol and diesel-powered ones (Feedback, 1 October) . There are millions of people whose lives have been blighted by traffic noise outside their homes. At first, we were jubilant at the thought that this …

• Vanillin and iso-vanillin are not molecular rearrangements of benzaldehyde, as stated in our quantum biology feature (1 October, p 34) .