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1 January 2020
From Sam Edge, Ringwood, Hampshire, UK
Alun Anderson reviews The Feeling of Life Itself by Christof Koch and claims that computers can never be conscious ( 2 November 2019, p 28 ). I recall you reporting Danko Nikolic saying that machines "cannot exceed human intelligence, ever" ( 26 March 2016, p 23 ). Before this, many others said that a computer …
1 January 2020
From Mark Barrett, UCL Energy Institute, London, UK
Readers Karen Hinchley and Jeremy Hawkes discuss ways to make homes net-zero carbon emitters (Letters, 30 November 2019 ). Renewable electricity, or maybe nuclear energy, can power heat pumps, either in individual consumers' homes or as district heating suppliers. Heat pumps are already widely implemented technologies and provide near-zero-carbon heating and cooling, which will be …
1 January 2020
From Paul Whiteley, Bittaford, Devon, UK
You quote energy efficiency consultant Russell Smith, who says home solar panels aren't always the best way to cut carbon ( 9 November 2019, p 18 ). I presume he is talking about solar photovoltaics. I have these and a solar hot water system on my roof. The latter has been the best purchase I …
1 January 2020
From Celine Szoges Schwartz, Thornbury, Ontario, Canada
I understand Australia's need to cull its large feral cat population, which has caused tremendous environmental damage ( 23 November 2019, p 12 ). But little has been done to provide chemical neutering for unfortunate stray and feral cats. Could the Felixer trap spray a contraceptive gel on feral cats instead of a poison?
1 January 2020
From Will Kemp, Wagait Beach, Northern Territory, Australia
Quantum computers with practical uses could be decades away, says Chelsea Whyte ( 2 November 2019, p 9 ). Is it too early to predict that the first truly useful quantum computer will be powered by the first truly useful cold fusion generator?
1 January 2020
• Our histogram shows the sources of microplastics that enter the sea in that form, not including the 70 to 85 per cent that enter as litter ( 7 December 2019, p 38 ). • The motor in an electric car is an example of a moving magnet giving rise to an electric field only …
8 January 2020
From Martin Bide, Hope Valley, Rhode Island, US
Textile fibres are a significant source of microplastic pollution, as Graham Lawton points out ( 7 December 2019, p 38 ). Beyond the many unknowns and confusions outlined in the article, textiles provide one more. Humans have lived with textile fibres for millennia, and we are all familiar with the dust and lint that accumulate …
8 January 2020
From Peter Urben, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, UK
Lawton mentions plastic particles smaller than a nanometre. As atomic diameters are about a tenth of a nanometre, a sub-nanometre lump should surely be a small molecule, not a polymer.
8 January 2020
From Roger Lord, Brisbane, Australia
I read with interest the case of a man who was intoxicated due to a gastrointestinal tract (GIT) infection with brewer's yeast ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae ) ( 26 October 2019, p 14 ). The condition is thought to have arisen after prolonged antibiotic use, which would have decreased GIT bacterial flora and allowed an opportunistic …
8 January 2020
From Hazel Beneke, Bribie Island, Queensland, Australia
While at school in the middle of last century, I remember learning that for deficient soils, power lines were a source of copper, which stimulated crop growth.
