Letters archive

I was surprised by your article stating that "analysts say that pledges put the world on a path to halt global warming at 2.7 ° C" ( 31 October, p 6 ). As we increase global temperatures, natural processes, such as melting of sun-reflecting icecaps and burning up of tropical forests, take over. Temperatures escalate …

Meat might, perhaps, be replaced by the vat-grown products you describe ( 31 October, p 10 ). But it is not the only useful "product" of livestock. In Australia, animals are reared on crop residue. Without the animals, these residues would have to be disposed of by other means before another crop can be grown …

In your article on the multiple inventions of farming, we were disappointed to see agriculture equated with civilisation ( 31 October, p 31 ). This myth has been used for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years to justify the seizing of land from non-agriculturists, as well as their forced "resettlement" and even genocide against them. People …

Bob Holmes put forward the idea of "proto-farming" – hunter-gathering peoples acquiring detailed knowledge of desirable vegetable and animal foodstuffs. It was not until the invasion by Europeans that agriculture was brought to Australia, with its varied landscape ranging from the tropical north to the temperate plains and the dry sclerophyll forests and semi-deserts of …

Thanks to Chloe Lambert for an excellent article on the effects of modern farming techniques on the nutritional content of food ( 17 October, p 32 ). Unfortunately, though, she perpetuates the urban myth that spinach was once thought to have 10 times its actual iron content. Mike Sutton debunked this in 2010 and traced …

I am sure I am not the only person to find themselves in a dilemma after reading your interview with Sharon MacDonald about what our culture should keep ( 24 October, p 28 ). I enjoyed it enormously: so much so that I now think I should save the article. But should I keep the …

I am sure that John Hastings was conscious when he prepared his lectures (Letters, 17 October ). But his contention that he had to be is not convincing. We already have computer programs that teach, and programs that learn. Some day we may have programs capable of giving lectures as he did, but without being …

I enjoyed your articles on the fantastic voyages followed by various atoms and molecules ( 14 November, p 30 ). It would have been good, though, when tracing these histories, to acknowledge a debt to Primo Levi's book The Periodic Table – in particular the short story Carbon . London, UK

As an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society I was surprised to read as part of Sumit Paul-Choudhury's discussion of the shortlist for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non- Fiction that "other threads of science ran through the books – the influence of Freud for example" ( 31 October, p 45 ). Assuming that …

• Freud's work might not have been scientific, but his influence was and is of importance to science.

• It stings: Eva Gross leads the team using chilli gas to deter elephants ( 21 November, p 22 ). • The researcher exploring the quirks of friendship was Hans Alves (Feedback, 21 November ). • Dam! The Scottish Natural Heritage report on beavers author was Martin Gaywood ( 21 November, p 10 ). • …