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30 October 2019
From Steve Dalton, Sevenoaks, Kent, UK
You review Trevor Paglen's exhibition that seeks to highlight how prejudice is tainting AI ( 12 October, p 30 ), and Ramon Lopez de Mantaras predicts that bad algorithms will lead to injustice (Letters, 12 October, p 30 ). We want AIs to be superhumanly smart: to do things that we might never be able …
30 October 2019
From Andrea Needham, Hastings, East Sussex, UK
Which satirist chose to run Graham Lawton's column on the non-condition of "eco-anxiety" opposite a BP "advertorial" claiming that it is "making a rapid transition to a lower carbon future" ( 12 October, p 23) ? Could this be the same BP that Global Witness forecasts will spend $71 billion over the next decade developing …
30 October 2019
From Marcus Swann, Lymm, Cheshire, UK
BP makes a clear call for decisive and immediate action. Its group chief executive says: "The world needs to take urgent action... it is critical that everyone plays their part." Apart from the assertion that our growing world really needs ever more energy, the rest of the statement would, taken at face value, be worthy …
30 October 2019
From John Dobson, Allendale, Northumberland, UK
Camille Ferdenzi has discovered that each person's scent is unique ( 12 October, p 42 ). My dog tells me that her dog could have told her that, if she had asked.
30 October 2019
From David Aldred, Brough, East Yorkshire, UK
Alice Klein reports on a baseball cap intended to boost hair growth by using a wireless patch that administers an electric current ( 28 September, p 15 ). This reminded me of Natalie Salmanowitz describing the Thync device ( 16 April 2016, p 24 ). Its small electric current is supposed to boost brain function, …
30 October 2019
From Martin Pitt, Leeds, UK
For Elon Musk to give the name Starship to a rocket intended to go to Mars might be considered something of an exaggeration ( 5 October, p 5 ). It is, though, nothing compared with the hype of suborbital hops promised by Virgin Galactic.
30 October 2019
• Couldn't see the trillions for the billions: the estimated number of trees in boreal conifer forests is 0.74 trillion ( 5 October, p 34 ). • Check, mate: a game of chess is won when one player's king is in check and they have no way to remove the threat (Feedback, 7 September ). …
6 November 2019
From Hope Ferdowsian, Albuquerque, New Mexico, US
We need a clear ethical framework for animal research, says Chelsea Whyte ( 12 October, p 18 ). Protections for human research provide a template. In 1979, the Belmont Report , issued following the US National Research Act (1974), revolutionised research on human subjects by articulating key ethical principles: specifically, respect for autonomy and obligations …
6 November 2019
From Brian J. Wilkins, Wellington, New Zealand
As midsummer approaches here, I return to Jessica Hamzelou's report that, of the 16 active ingredients for sunscreen listed as "safe" in the US, only zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are certainly safe and effective ( 27 July, p 20 ). After nearly 40 years of research into sunscreens, I note that the medium for …
6 November 2019
From Tim Stevenson, Prestwood, Buckinghamshire, UK
Clive Semmens discusses ways to get around obstacles to electrolysing seawater to make hydrogen (Letters, 12 October ). But electrolysing a salt solution is the standard way of making bleach. Sodium hydroxide and hydrogen are produced at the cathode and chlorine at the anode. Reacting sodium hydroxide and chlorine produces sodium hypochlorite. Using seawater to …
