Letters archive

Living in a simulation wouldn't get rid of the need to solve climate change – in fact, it may amplify it. If reality is a simulation, then it must have been created for some purpose. Since the most common use of simulations is research, it is possible we have been created to answer some question …

Sending humans into space is a total waste of time and money. What should we do with the funds instead? Give some to columnist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein to keep the Chandra X-ray Observatory running. The rest can be spent on many more scientific instruments that need funding ( 24 August, p 20 ).

Research shows we shouldn't slam on the brakes at a red light, but rather start slowing down before, in order to cut emissions. But it depends. When I come around a corner and see a red light ahead of me and no cars between me and it, I don't brake – I push the clutch …

The more I learn in New Scientist about the physical, mental and emotional abilities of animals, the more it strikes me that the only thing that makes us distinctly human is our almost limitless capacity for self-delusion ( 3 August, p 32 )

You report that a blob of jelly can play the game Pong thanks to a basic memory. To me, this implies some form of synthetic cognition, especially since the polymer used utilises ion transport, the same "technology" employed throughout the human body, including the brain ( 31 August, p 13 ). This and similar experiments …

A reader's suggestion of encouraging healthy mobility in an office by designing a necessity for longer walks seems innovative, but surely stores such as IKEA have been doing this for decades. However, the health gain of being shunted past acres of bedding and lighting to get to a dinner plate might be negated by the …

I applaud Michael Crowe for calling out "so-called AI". Maybe I am not alone after all in finding the current crop of AI assistants like a pack of over-eager office boys getting under my feet and clamouring to tie my shoelaces ( Letters, 31 August ). Ironically, I find myself torn between the temptation to …

Many possible factors are outlined that might lie behind a seemingly unstoppable rise in poor mental health among young people. Issues around climate change, lockdowns, smartphones and social media are all suggested as possible causes. Greater awareness and openness around mental health could also contribute ( 24 August, p 14 ). Worryingly, there is no …

Evidence seems to contradict the proposed realistic interpretation of quantum mechanics ( 7 September, p 32 ). That evidence is Nobel laureate Anton Zeilinger's "entanglement transfer" experiment. It involves two entangled pairs of photons. The polarisation of one of each pair is separately measured. Only much later, after either passing through a device that entangles …