Letters archive

Mary-Jane Rubenstein offers a fascinating discussion of the historical relationship between theology and cosmology ( 19/26 December 2015, p 64 ). But her opening premise is that the universe being suited to life presents us with some kind of dilemma: almost any other set of cosmic properties would be inimical to life, so how did …

Your article on beard fashions ( 19/26 December 2015, p 67 ) was particularly interesting. I teach a colour science course, including a brief summary of the science of light, with slides showing portraits of famous figures who have contributed. I invite students who might otherwise lose interest to consider the change in facial hairstyles …

If they escape to the wild, will they form dyes in surface waters, disrupting the food chain? Sandra Knuteson ponders possible downsides of growing dyestuffs in microbes ( 9 January, p 18 ) .

While I fully agree with your leader article on the need for better science education ( 12 December 2015, p 5 ), I am concerned that an uncritical approach will increase scientism. For example, my field is agriculture. In mainstream farming, the value system demands maximising yield and profit. Organic agriculture has values of sustainability, …

Your afflated correspondent appears to think that the sulphur in foods, possibly reappearing anally as hydrogen sulphide and other malodours, is present as sulphate compounds ( 19/26 December 2015, p 58 ). Were this the case, it would cause even more embarrassing problems. There are restrictions on sulphate in drinking water and its laxative effect …

Was Kate Douglas too embarrassed to tell us the quantity of digestive greenhouse gas emissions per anus per annus ( 19/26 December 2015, p 58 )? Stirling, Western Australia

Robert Macfarlane's call for an Anthropocene glossary is timely ( 19/26 December 2015, p 82 ). The desecration of the planet is a real concern, among the younger generation in particular. This is reflected in The New Geography Dictionary published by the Geography Teachers' Association of New South Wales in Australia, which defines a "quoquake" …

Arranging the dishes in a dishwasher in a circle is more effective than in a square (19/26 December 2015, p 62). But most dishwashers have a rectangular shape. The manufacturers have obviously not tried dipping sheep to eradicate lice. It is well known to those who have that round dips are far more effective than …

You quote Gerd Gigerenzer saying that children need to be taught uncertainty as well as the certainty of mathematics ( 12 December 2015, p 30 ). While developing my book The Doubtful Realities , I proposed a teacher able to answer arithmetic questions only with a question mark or a cross. To the question "what …

Your Feedback column was recently seeking "Truly Horrible Ideas for Saving the Planet" ( 29 August ). Oliver Morton's book The Planet Remade is surely one. He proposes veiling the atmosphere with sulphur to stabilise global temperatures ( 12 December 2015, p 47 ). All forms of sulphur end up as sulphates, which reflect sunlight. …

• Oliver Morton clarifies that the amount of stratospheric sulphur envisaged is on the order of 1 per cent of current anthropogenic sulphur emissions. So the effect on acid rain would be marginal.

You quote naturalist Scott Weidensaul saying "like sunflowers, always turn to face the sun so their backs are always in the shade" ( 19/26 December 2015, p 53 ). Once the buds have opened, sunflowers all face east and do not move . Broad Hinton, Wiltshire, UK

I've been waiting for someone to celebrate your breakthrough in quantum lexical representation ( 14 November 2015, p 14 ): "...a trick in which the photon seem to be in two different states at once." Perfect. Personally, I think all the different things is one. Berlin, Germany

I am surprised and disappointed to see a journal as respected as New Scientist still referring to people in the UK "committing" suicide ( newscientist.com/article/dn28634 ). To prefix "suicide" with "commit" is to imply a criminal offence. It has not been an offence in England and Wales since 1961 and never was in Scotland. Banbury, …

• The name of the performer who entertained cabaret audiences as Le Pétomane was Joseph Pujol ( 19/26 December 2015, p 58 ). • Don't get lost in cyberspace: to trace the path of your data on a Macintosh or Unix-flavoured computer, type the command traceroute into the terminal window ( 12 December 2015, p …