Letters archive

Population growth poses problems, but the solutions are far from simple ( 25 May, p 24 ). For example, China's one child policy has misfired because of a preference for boys, and its population is now disproportionately elderly. Even if we were to halt world population at its current level, it may not help much …

Yvaine Ye reports on doctors in China using 5G internet to do surgery from afar ( 13 April, p 8 ). A video data stream delivered by a mobile phone signal will still have travelled most of the way between the cities of Guangzhou and Gaozhou over conventional, land-based copper and optical fibre cables. No …

Richard Webb's comment that "Apollo missions were launched on little more computing power than is found inside a smartphone" somewhat underestimates progress in computing speed since 1969 ( 18 May, p 25 ). Smartphones are more than 100 million times faster than an IBM 360 mainframe, which was probably the fastest computer that NASA had. …

You report a high incidence of twins in a small village in India ( 4 May, p 15 ). If this isn't a statistical anomaly, and if the incidence of identical twins isn't increased, I suspect the involvement of an anti-oestrogenic environmental pollutant. In veterinary practice, decreasing the availability of oestrogen in the hypothalamus, for …

Your article on "living younger" greets the probable arrival of drugs to stay fitter in later life as a win for everyone ( 27 April, p 26 ). With any new technology, it is wise to consider possible outcomes that may not be a benefit to society. One passage caught my eye. "Companies are popping …

You report "a recently discovered group of ultra small bacteria" ( 13 April, p 28 ). One of my tutors at the University of Birmingham, UK, in the mid-60s was Phyllis Pease, who was researching pleuropneumonia-like organisms, spheroplasts and L-forms, which later became known as cell wall-deficient organisms. These are typically parasitic, with reduced genomes …

Graham Lawton unveils a monstrous situation surrounding the mining and sale of amber in Myanmar ( 4 May, p 38 ). If amber sales are funding bloodshed there, then a strict boycott of Burmese amber is absolutely necessary.

I read your article on the origins of language in music, mime and mimicry with interest ( 4 May, p 34 ). Those of us who make things with our hands know the origins of tool-making language and terminology. The first words would have been "Aaargh", then "F@#k"! Some things never change.

Mary Rose criticises my belief that people should panic at the threat of a climate breakdown ( Letters, 18 May ). She objects to "stopgap measures", but, in an emergency, such actions are necessary to prevent the issue worsening. Her preferred approach – prioritising economic growth and hoping for a technological fix – is what …

Keith Oldham discusses how cyclists tend not to be penalised for improper or dazzling lights (The Last Word, 27 April ). I was a lawyer involved in a prosecution for careless driving, where a van driver ran into a stationary cyclist on a busy street at dusk and knocked her into the path of an …