Letters archive

Philip Ball reports scepticism over the claim by a colleague of chemist Dmitri Mendeleev that the periodic table came to him in a dream ( 2 March, p 34 ). But there is evidence of the role of the unconscious mind in problem-solving ( 28 July 2018, p 34 ). This seems to be linked …

As both Earth and life are rare and precious, it's time to appreciate our home planet Fleeting Flo draws a conclusion from the news that out of 4000 exoplanets, none may be right for life ( 30 March, p 14 )

George Chaplin (Letters, 23 March ) and Lawrence Bernstein (Letters, 30 March ) note the omission of the role of hormones in my article on male and female brains ( 2 March, p 28 ). The focus of the piece was on brain structure and function, but the role of hormones is very much part …

Graham Lawton says wood is a carbon-neutral biofuel so long as trees are replanted ( 16 March, p 33 ). But Michael Le Page reports the European Union being sued for making global warming worse by burning wood ( 9 March, p 9 ). He notes that wood burning might seem an appealing alternative to …

Is wood burning good or bad for the climate ? The answer is: it depends. Foresters are used to taking a long-term perspective. Good forestry means managing wood harvesting so the forest can continue to provide ecosystem services and maintain its carbon stock in the long term. Whether or not wood can be considered as …

Terrance Chapman says his mother-in-law had her teeth removed in her teens in the 1930s (Letters, 16 March ). The practice continued in New Zealand in the 1950s. A neighbour's daughter had her teeth out when I was a child and I was puzzled at anyone voluntarily going through this. She told me it was …

Alan Wilkinson asks whether biologists should have noticed how windscreens were crushing fewer insects by the mid-1960s (Letters, 9 March ). I have seen such a decline, but I put it down to aerodynamic improvements in the cars I drive. Has this been taken into account? I am also a motorcyclist and I haven't noticed …

You report that older people's memory may worsen if they watch lots of television ( 9 March, p 20 ). Does content matter? My husband and I watch quiz shows such as University Challenge – at which we compete fiercely – documentaries and comedy panel shows. Will we end up drooling?

• Inconstant wind: storm Idai crossed Mozambique into Malawi and went back out to sea. Then, upgraded to a cyclone, it crossed Mozambique to Zimbabwe ( 23 March, p 6 ). • They've really made the grade: it is the US space agency NASA that has a training cohort of whom half are women ( …

Your article about the potential of wood makes much of building with cross-laminated timber or CLT ( 16 March, p 33 ). Plywood has been around for many years – Samuel Bentham applied for patents in 1797 . It has been used in furniture, buildings, cars, aircraft, spoons and much else. The nominal distinction is …