Letters archive

From 9 December, p 8

We are deeply concerned about climate change and the need to do our bit here in the Falkland Islands. We live on a small island and produce our own power from solar and wind, store water and deal with our waste and rubbish ourselves. We have been planting native tussac grass into eroded ground over …

Reader Ian Elliott pessimistically suggests naming the first age of the Anthropocene Epoch "The End". Whatever happens to our species, the planet will still be here. It has been through worse climate fluctuations in the past ( Letters, 25 November ). In any event, human minds are generating ideas to ameliorate climate change if given …

I welcome Graham Lawton's look at true cost accounting, the idea that goods factor in the environmental and social damage they cause. It is a step towards a true free market where consumers can exercise real choice. I would encourage a look at other ideas. For example, B-Corp certification could be a de facto standard …

The article about AI and the crystalline structures it can "predict" is responsibly tempered with information about the accuracy of the results and concerns about the practicality and stability of these materials ( 2 December, p 8 ). This raises a question of language: at what point do we anthropomorphise AI? When do we say, …

As a long-time subscriber and reader, I continue to disagree with the cliche that the human brain is "the most complicated structure in the known universe". What actually is the evidence for this? Some 50,000 years ago, when early modern humans were cowering in caves with the same essential anatomical brain and genome we have …

In a recent article on Huntington's disease, expectations for a successful disease-modifying therapy were set low. However, the presence of mutated huntingtin protein is clearly associated with the development of symptoms. It is therefore reasonable to think that lowering huntingtin can change the disease course ( 25 November, p 10 ). Three unsuccessful huntingtin-lowering trials …

When it comes to how to detect signs of life on other worlds, I think the assembly theory idea from Lee Cronin and Sara Walker needs expanding on. It relies, currently, on readings from mass spectroscopy, MRI and infrared interrogation of molecules to derive a complexity scale. In this system, molecules that score below 15 …

The idea that older people should be encouraged to fatten up a little is a pernicious one. Extra weight means extra effort in moving around and may discourage exercise; in addition, a poor diet is unhealthy in many ways, not just because it may cause weight gain ( 2 December, p 12 ).