Letters archive

While I agree with your leader about the political response to global warming, I believe that you are too pessimistic when you say that "dealing with climate change comes with a cost". ( 25 May, p 5 ) On the contrary, making the transition to renewable energy is a natural investment. As the price of …

I am not sure why Graham Lawton thinks population growth is a taboo subject ( 25 May, p 24 ). I have recently read three books that discuss it and it would seem overpopulation is a battle that is mostly won. A great deal of the world already has a fertility rate at, or below, …

You report an illusion whereby three matchboxes together appear to be lighter than the heaviest box on its own ( 25 May, p 13 ). I believe this error occurs because we are comparing the weight of the heaviest box not to the total weight of all three, but to the average weight of them. …

I have a couple of observations following your article on the matchbox illusion . First, an item of flat pack furniture seems to be far less heavy once assembled. Second, when the head of a pint of Guinness settles, it appears to have gained weight. Could an object's density fool our perception of its weight?

I commend Debora MacKenzie's article about Iran's nuclear programme, which points out the unintended consequences of US president Donald Trump's withdrawal from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear agreement ( 18 May, p 11 ). However, I was surprised at the line: "the standard inspections the IAEA does in all countries with nuclear …

I commend your article on the European Parliamentary elections for flagging up the fear of higher environmental taxes, which could only make life disproportionately harder for poorer people ( 25 May, p 23 ). It may fuel populism and encourage the idea that environmentalists are part of an elite. The carbon fee and dividend scheme …

Your leader about the new space age made me think back to all the starry-eyed dreams of space travel I had as a child, watching space missions and sci-fi programmes on TV ( 18 May, p 5 ). Where is the vacation on the moon that I was promised? Where is the HAL 9000 from …

I would like to challenge the view of mathematics presented in Peter Bennett's letter on the topic of free will ( Letters, 25 May ). He seems to think that mathematics can only deal with problems that can be described in either a simplistic deterministic way or as the result of entirely random events. He …

Continuing the debate on free will that regularly features in New Scientist these days, I am concerned that the scientific costs of this discourse are rising exponentially as more scientists pick a side. I realise that doing science also requires discussion, so that we might progress by such means as well as through experiment and …

I read your headline "Chinese rover unearths moon's deeper secrets", and I suspect we are being trolled ( 25 May, p 16 ). Surely the proper verb would be "unmoons".