Letters archive

Graham Lawton's welcome piece on sports-related concussion recalled for me my earliest days in the UK's National Health Service. In the early 1960s, I began working for a consultant physician who had a much-articulated hobbyhorse concerning brain injury, with particular reference to boxing and to football heading. He advocated as widely as he was able …

Anyone who has looked at the paths of seismic waves from an earthquake will have seen the waves refracted by the increasing densities of the crust, mantle and core. Multiple reflections back and forth are seen to occur, during which the waves repeatedly hit Earth's surface. In various places inside Earth, these waves come to …

I liked your interview with Tali Sharot on habituation and found a lot of sense in it. In particular, it reminded me of how the endless stream of charity adverts on TV, many of which are repeated in graphic detail ad nauseam during the daytime to get repeat payments from senior citizens, can only have …

I feel a significant flaw in research on the use of exercise for post-viral conditions such as long covid is that many people aren't well enough to participate. I have moderate ME and yet wouldn't be able to take part in an exercise programme like the one in the article. Unfortunately, this can lead to …

Just following up on James Wong's look at the science of staking trees, one of the ever-present hazards for plants in urban environments is being knocked into, bashed and generally destroyed by passers-by, council mowers and the like ( 20 January, p 44 ). Might it be that tree staking succeeds in these environments purely …

I read about the plan to bring back the woolly mammoth with dismay. How can anyone theorise about any environmental benefits of such an endeavour without looking at both animal welfare and ecological impact? What would these introduced animals eat? If there isn't enough food, they will starve and lead a miserable life. If there …

I'd say the scale of direct air capture (DAC) of carbon dioxide to deal with climate change must exceed the 80 megatonnes a year in your article. Leaving aside contributions via offsetting, restoring climate stability this century would, at a minimum, involve reducing CO 2 levels in the atmosphere to around 320 ppm. That would …

A solar power station in space would make a potent one that is essentially impossible to defend against . With solar and wind generators spread widely enough on the ground, plus cheap long-term power storage, we don't need space solar.

The idea that wolves could be reintroduced successfully into modern Britain, given today's lack of wild spaces, is laughable. However, should everyone choose to cut their meat and dairy consumption by 90 per cent so that the UK could rewild half its farmland, then wolves probably could be given a new home. I have cut …

There is no evidence that an apparent reduction in great white sharks off the south coast of South Africa has resulted in a rise in seal numbers and greater predation of or competition with penguins ( 9 March, p 10 ). The African penguin is in a well-documented catastrophic decline following decades of guano harvesting …