Letters archive

The finding that privileged people, like me and probably many of your readers, would rather not deploy policies to promote resource equality, even if those policies have a neutral or positive effect on their own access to resources, such as jobs or money, is unsurprising ( 14 May, p 18 ). The point of being …

You report that groundwater beneath Antarctic ice can impact its flow to the ocean, perhaps causing faster movement and break-up of the ice sheet ( 14 May, p 23 ). That being the case, it may be worth injecting a coarse concrete mix through a drill hole in the side of a small glacier. I …

Barry Cash asks whether recycled clothing and plastic containers could be used for home insulation ( Letters, 14 May ). My simple response is: don't go there. The materials mentioned are usually highly flammable. Worse, they are likely to generate toxic fumes when burned. Due to this, I would be very surprised if building regulations …

I was very sad to read that the Comparative Cognition Lab in Cambridge, UK, which studies the intelligence of corvids, may close ( 21 May, p 14 ). Could there be a way to save the day? Maybe crowdfunding for a documentary about the work carried out there, or even the chance to visit the …

In your look at the debate on nuclear energy and its role in the shift from fossil fuels, you state that "France was 4 percentage points behind its target for renewable generation in 2020, while... Germany's nuclear phase-out induced investment in wind and solar, and the country was 1 per cent ahead of its 2020 …

There is a common problem with the debate about renewable energy. People tend to talk about electricity production, when they should talk about primary energy consumption. Transport, heating and manufacturing all need to be decarbonised as well. For example, Germany only meets about 15 per cent of its total energy consumption with renewables. Therefore, I …

The estuary of the river Severn in the UK has the second highest rise and fall of tide in the world. The last proposal to generate electricity from it failed because it would have destroyed mudflats on which many birds depend. Now, Rod Rainey, visiting professor of engineering at the University of Southampton, UK, has …

While the Ukrainian wheat aspect of the current food crisis is in the news, another New Scientist article deserves a second look, not least as a reminder that food-aid policies have contributed to some of our current global problems ( 28 May, p 18 ). Morton Satin's piece "Bread without wheat" ( 28 April 1988, …

I was interested to read Chanda Prescod-Weinstein's column on the importance of teams in science when compared with isolated achievers ( 14 May, p 28 ). I am known – albeit slightly – for two scientific and engineering projects: the Bowyer-Watson algorithm in computational geometry and the self-replicating 3D printer, RepRap. Despite its name, I …

In trying to plot a course between total censorship and information anarchy, Annalee Newitz doesn't assuage any of the dangers of censorship ( 28 May, p 28 ). While ideally one could just magic away untrue content, in reality, the only way to judge truth without the use of free speech and open debate is …