Letters archive

I read Julian Barbour's article on the possibility of time flowing backwards with great interest, as I have recently been wrestling with the same questions (from the point of view of philosophy rather than physics) 6 March, p 46 . However, it raised questions that weren't addressed. If time, like space, is expanding from the …

I have been wracking my brains to think of something requiring the amount of power provided by a Dyson sphere 30 January, p 44 . On considering recent news articles, however, the answer finally dawned on me: an alien mega civilisation that has based its entire monetary system on a bitcoin-like blockchain.

A unicycle is a mode of transport 10 April, p 36 . So, too, was the space shuttle. However, their similarities are dwarfed by their differences. The same applies to intelligence and its sibling consciousness when comparing animals with humans. That there is variation in terms of problem-solving capability within animal populations doesn't make them …

Your article "Clever creatures" reviewed research highlighting the intelligence of a range of animals. In the same edition, "Love meat tender" ( p 51 ) advises readers on how marinades enhance the taste of meat – perhaps even the flesh of those clever, video game-playing pigs referenced in the first piece. So, on the one …

In your look at biodiversity and the climate crisis, you write that if everyone shifted to a plant-based diet, we would only need a quarter of the farmland used now, while vastly reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with food production 10 April, p 41 . But, you say, with meat consumption rising rather than falling, …

As a well-off white person from the US who gets flu shots regularly and has had a lifetime of vaccinations (including BCG as a teenager), the article on the boost they may bring to innate immunity against the coronavirus made me feel very hopeful 3 April, p 40 . I wonder whether the large disparity …

From Letters, 17 April Roger Elwell argues that, in a carbon tax and dividend system, people will expect the dividend to continue even when there is no carbon to be priced. But it is only ever intended to compensate for or offset the rising cost of fossil fuels during the transition to cleaner fuels (which …

Your story comparing wind power requirements for a hydrogen-based vehicle economy with those for a battery-powered one implies that the extra UK wind power needed for hydrogen would be a problem 3 April, p 15 . However, the UK has the lion's share of north-west Europe's wind and marine energy resources, and green hydrogen technologies …

The article "How to keep your brain blooming" inspires me to suggest that on top of the seven points listed, "Read New Scientist " would be well worth adding 17 April, p 38 . I have been reading the magazine since it started and I suspect my lifespan, health and general grasp of the human …

Further to the correspondence regarding mind over age, I follow the view that "old" is my current age plus 10 Letters, 10 April . This has worked for me since the age of 12 – I am now 73 and feel great knowing that I can never be old.