Letters archive

Richard Webb says that free will is "often seen as the opposite of determinism" ( 15 February, p 34 ). Surely, though, it is randomness that is the true opposite of determinism. It seems to me that free will is balanced on the knife-edge boundary between these states, in a way that is analogous to …

Layal Liverpool mentions modern digital voice assistants being "ready to respond rapidly to any command" in contrast to the opinion expressed by one IT expert in 1990 that speech control would be slower ( 14 March, p 27 ). It seems to me that, for most people, screen-based user interfaces are always going to be …

From From Peter Reid, Plymouth, Devon, UK Let people decide which way to cross new grassed areas, says Frank Bover (Letters, 21 March ). It has been said that, during the Peninsular war against Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 19th century, a British general called John Moore, stopped his men laying out paths in a …

I have seen Bover's idea in action at the UK secondary school that I attended from the mid 1970s to the early 1980s. It had an older teaching building and a recently built modern one that consisted of interlocking square sections. The pathways around the modern buildings were laid out in wide curves connecting the …

• The alcohol in wine evaporates faster than the water, and this creates a difference in surface tension and "legs" in the glass ( 4 April, p 16 ). • Germán Martinez works at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Texas ( 4 April, p 15 ). • Investigations continue into whether the initial level of virus that …

David Adam is right to point out the difference between "the science" of the coronavirus outbreak and the response of the UK government to it ( 28 March, p 23 ). Politicians are stressing that their policies are built on the advice of experts, even when so much about the coronavirus is still uncertain or …

Alice Klein reports on the tough medical choices regarding who will get put on ventilators in health systems overwhelmed by the coronavirus ( 4 April, p 12 ). Yet coverage of this failed to mention one special category: 3the rich and famous. Would the UK's monarch be denied a ventilator because of her age?

Your articles on the possible prevention or treatment of infection in the covid-19 pandemic have been interesting, but none have mentioned whether it is worth investigating the protective effects of applying any of the numerous veterinary vaccines against other coronavirus diseases to people. We now require very substantial quantities of vaccine as soon as possible …

The article comparing the benefits of running vs walking raised a question for me – what about cycling? I ask because, for some people, this is a combination of exercise and commuting – that is to say, exercise with a purpose ( 14 March, p 34 ). Are there any statistics out there that show …

In his science of cooking column, Sam Wong wrote about four ways to make perfect pork crackling ( 4 April, p 51 ). I suggest a fifth. I usually buy pork from the supermarket, where it is sold on a tray and wrapped in thin plastic. A few hours before I want to put the …