Join the conversation in New Scientist's Letters section, where readers can share their thoughts and opinions on articles and see responses from experts and enthusiasts across a range of science topics. To submit a letter, please see our terms and email letters@newscientist.com
26 June 2019
From Eric Dabbs, Johannesburg, South Africa
Leah Crane and Richard Webb allude to the possibility of life in the subsurface seas of the Jovian moon Europa ( 25 May, p 34 ). I enjoyed the article but ask: what about Jupiter itself? It has an internal energy source and plenty of the right ingredients for life. Perhaps its rich variety of …
3 July 2019
From Andy Howe, Sheffield, UK
Michael Brooks's fascinating article on the concept of mirror matter presents it as a candidate for dark matter ( 8 June, p 34 ). That offers a natural explanation for the 80 per cent of the universe that we can't see, other than through its gravitational effects. It would, for example, account for galaxies rotating …
3 July 2019
From Tony Dale, Oxford, UK
Contrary to what Graham Lawton seems to suggest, population isn't a fringe or a taboo issue, at least not in schools in England ( 25 May, p 24 ). Geography deals with it in depth. It is discussed as "population change" rather than "population growth". Students examine various models for predicting future population change and …
3 July 2019
From Luce Gilmore, Cambridge, UK
Leah Crane says that a probe that missed Mercury would be "trapped by the sun's powerful gravity and dragged to its doom" ( 22 June, p 42 ). This suggests the misconception that it would meet a fiery end. A Mercury probe would try to meet the planet at the perihelion of its trajectory, when …
3 July 2019
From Allen Reynolds, Auckland, New Zealand
You report a system to avoid collisions between drones and aircraft, in which a drone that detects a potential crash drops by 50 metres, cuts its speed and starts circling ( 1 June, p 10 ). That avoidance action is inadequate in the real world. Last year, a New Zealand court convicted a tourist of …
3 July 2019
From Dave Smith, Alnwick, Northumberland, UK
Julius Wroblewski offers a vision of robots going down mineshafts to extract minerals until the day they are swallowed by our sun, then grown into a red giant (Letters, 22 June ). I find this a little optimistic. Personally, I am looking forward to the day when robots do our recycling for us and there …
3 July 2019
From Ben Haller, Ithaca, New York, US
You report a survey that seems to show belief in the supernatural is still alive, even among people who don't believe in a god 8 June, p 14 . Only at the end do you note that the survey questions could be interpreted in a secular way. Take the statement "significant life events are meant …
3 July 2019
From Scott McNeil, Banstead, Surrey, UK
David Adam reports a proposal to repurpose gas or oil production platforms to harvest cobalt from seawater ( 11 May, p 15 ). Why not extract it from the outlet streams of reverse osmosis desalination plants or of power stations that use seawater for cooling? Disused production platforms would better be used in carbon capture …
3 July 2019
From Derek Charlton, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, UK
Chris Packham is now on a mission to prevent the culling of "pest" birds to protect crops ( 4 May, p 13 ). This will probably result in lower yields, more expensive food or expansion of farms to make up for the loss.
3 July 2019
From Gerald Legg, Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex, UK
Rereading Leah Crane's account of bees in the US suddenly stopping buzzing during the 2017 solar eclipse reminded me of the last UK total eclipse , on 11 August 1999 ( 20 October 2018, p 18 ). Researcher Candace Galen says it wasn't clear whether the bees flew back to their hives or stayed put. …
