Letters archive

It would be difficult to deny that the whole of recorded human history has been one of extreme and excessive brutality between ourselves ( 27 November, p 38 ). The Romans were appalling and every so-called civilisation since has been guilty of similar obscenities; it is only in the past few decades that some sort …

The article "Swabbing the decks" highlighted the difficulty of even a 50 per cent decarbonisation of global shipping ( 27 November, p 45 ). Perhaps a few extra options could help. One is to move global shipping onto railways and canals. Almost everyone lives on one of Earth's two biggest land masses, so there is …

I have to take issue with Michael Brooks's view that a general fear of mathematics felt by many people is rooted in the ancient Greeks putting the subject on a pedestal, making it somehow mystical ( 27 November, p 25 ). As Brooks points out, maths is elite in that, by its nature, it excludes …

Brooks claims that "maths is endowed with an almost sacred status for the power of numbers", and that this ultimately leads to a great deal of maths anxiety. I have always been really terrible with numbers. Early on, it looked as though this would harm any sort of academic career. This changed when I got …

You report that it is possible to use around 7 per cent less energy on regular computing tasks in the UK by careful scheduling ( 6 November, p 13 ). Next to this story is an article on the imminent arrival of energy-intensive space tourism. Is this juxtaposition an expression of the editor's despair? It …

I share Michael Brooks's concerns about low levels of numeracy and high levels of "maths anxiety" ( 27 November 2021, p 25 ). But I don't think the solution simply lies in a "more utilitarian approach" to the subject. This would risk taking the wonder and imagination out of maths, which is what inspires people …

Owen Mooney,Hamilton, New Zealand In her look at decarbonising shipping, Nicola Jones reviews multiple propulsion options for commercial vessels, but doesn't include nuclear power ( 27 November 2021, p 45 ). This is both the most green and most economical option for shipping propulsion. There are currently over 160 ships powered by more than 200 …

Trevor Randall advocates for carbon capture and storage ( Letters, 27 November 2021 ). I agree with the first part (capture), but not the second. Storing vast quantities of carbon dioxide underground is a recipe for a future environmental disaster. What's more, this is a valuable resource that should be used. We should be bubbling …

Kate Ravilious makes a powerful case that it was the benevolence and social skills of Homo sapiens that ensured its survival when other hominins were wiped out by environmental changes 40,000 to 50,000 years ago ( 27 November 2021, p 38 ). This may well be part of the story, but it rather ignores the …

Have any readers dared to buy How to Blow Up a Pipeline by Andreas Malm, whom you interviewed a couple of weeks ago? My finger was hovering over the checkout button when I realised that I live near GCHQ, the communications monitoring service for the UK's intelligence agencies ( 30 October 2021, p 47 ). …