Letters archive

I was encouraged to read that the National Health Service in England is taking the need to develop IT-based healthcare seriously ( 24 August, p 9 ). Clare Wilson's report rightly pointed out the need for companies developing IT with therapeutic or diagnostic aims to consider evidence-based development as paramount to patient safety and effectiveness. …

It is true that cancer kills far more people in the UK than dementia, as Clare Wilson reports ( 17 August, p 10 ). But the many different types of cancer can be readily identified. Dementia is much less clearly defined and it has many side effects, such as falls and pneumonia. Researchers at University …

• The eruption that caused a mini ice age in the 6th century AD was somewhere in the northern hemisphere ( 31 August, p 14 ). • Waggle room: male drone bees have only one set of chromosomes ( 17 August, p 38 ). • Ouch. Many gallstones are composed of cholesterol and crystals of …

Apparently, the search for happiness is now a well-funded industry ( 31 August, p 30 ). Surely this calls into question whether spending so much time, money and, quite possibly, anxiety in its pursuit is counter-productive. Instead, wouldn't it be better to question what exactly happiness is? To me, it is experienced in response to …

Alice Klein reports that having children makes us happier, but only when they leave home ( 24 August, p 12 ). This is consistent with a previous study ( 5 September 2015, p 40 ) showing that parents over 40 were happier than younger parents. I suggested (Letters, 26 September 2015 ) that it is …

You suggest readers download a computer program to search for Mersenne primes in the background ( 10 August, p 38 ). Yet every week you report the looming peril of climate change and the need to change our behaviour to limit it. Modern laptops and many desktop computers throttle back the processor speed and put …

Neanderthals' ears show signs of time in the water, as Ruby Prosser Scully reports ( 24 August, p 17 ). This seems to lend credence to the idea that humans led a semi-aquatic lifestyle, possibly before the split between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. Wading for fish and shellfish could have driven development of long hind …

As Chris deSilva says, exporting hydrogen produced by electrolysis is like exporting water (Letters, 20 July ). But why use fresh water? Pure water is essentially a non-conductor, while seawater conducts electricity, aiding electrolysis. It may also have useful by-products, such as industrially useful rare earth metals, cobalt and lithium. If some desalination is necessary, …

According to Anna Ijjas, Saint Augustine is said to have quipped that prior to creating the universe, God was preparing hell for those who pry into mysteries ( 17 August, p 42 ). What he in fact wrote in Confessions is: "I answer the man who says, 'What did God do before he made heaven …

• The photo illustrating our note about the kakapo population hitting 200 was of a different parrot (31 August, p 21). • We loathe vans (and other vehicles) spitting out nitrogen oxides ( 7 September, p 42 ).