Letters archive

You write that, as yet, plastic removed by Mr Trash Wheel from rivers flowing into Baltimore harbour can't be separated into reusables, so it is incinerated to generate electricity ( 14 December 2019, p 28 ). Recycling is fine, but it only postpones the day when the plastic starts to break down into smaller and …

Donna Lu reports on a search for unprecedented forms of life ( 16 November 2019, p 42 ). But how can we tell what is alive? In Canada, there are frogs that freeze in winter and thaw out in spring. During dormancy, are they alive or dead? If living, they don't conform to any current …

As Graham Lawton reports, the evidence on whether microplastics are harmful to health is uncertain, complex and full of gaps ( 7 December 2019, p 38 ). But there are also some things that we know for certain, such as that the risk of harm is increasing and will peak within a century if current …

Annalee Newitz gives plenty of reasons not to have an internet-connected smart doorbell with a camera ( 14 December 2019, p 24 ). I suggest another. Hackers will scrutinise any mass-market, low-cost, internet-connected device and will almost certainly find a security flaw. If they do, such devices offer them a gateway past the security in …

Graham Lawton suggests cats and dogs in the US consume the same amount of energy as 60 million people, and notes their other adverse environmental impacts ( 7 December 2019, p 24 ). We can also, of course, observe that humans contribute several times more than their pets. The real problem for the planet isn't …

Roger Morgan suggests that humans may get more stressed in a self-driving car than when driving themselves, as it seems rats that have been taught to drive a tiny car do (Letters, 30 November 2019 ). Living in Switzerland, with its many sinuous mountain roads, I can think of one example where this is clearly …

The account by Donna Lu of products being pasted into TV shows was fascinating ( 23 November 2019, p 9 ). But if a company can insert product placement into existing movies, then surely it can also remove or disguise such things. Apps for your phone often have the option of an ad-free version, for …

Describing the damage done to wildlife by cats roaming outside, Lawton suggests that keeping them indoors wouldn't suit them. As a cat lover and owner, it seems to me that a cat raised indoors from kittenhood is perfectly well-adjusted and healthy. We should convince new cat owners to consider only house cats. The comfort, affection …

Heaven's incisive review might have mentioned something that is common to bad art that is made by AI: the non-artist creators of the AI think art is merely about what it looks like. For many decades at least, art has also been about context. An artificial intelligence that did things that sort-of looked like science …

I read Michael Le Page's article on “golden rice” with interest ( 23 November 2019, p 23 ). Many consider it to have enormous benefits and opposition to it may be wrong, but it isn't entirely baseless. Le Page risks convincing no one except those already convinced, and provides little for those who want to …