Letters archive

You recently ran a piece on the possible link between calorie restriction and longevity, commenting how difficult it is to run proper trials( 18 February, p 17 ). Has anyone looked at the UK population around the time of the second world war and soon after? Rationing provided a decent, though boring, diet for everyone. …

As an admirer of both pet cats and dogs, Michael Marshall's claim that our meowing companions are "aloof and indifferent" in supplying "cupboard love" for food reeks of anthropomorphised slander, of manipulative felines yet again losing to "man's best friend". Please allow both furred companions to be themselves – that is to say, sentient beings …

In contrast to Bryn Glover, I believe in the existence of a supreme being, despite there being no evidence from the scientific method for one. And if scientific evidence for such a being arises, I will stop believing. After all, there is a replication crisis in much of science( Letters, 18 March ).

No right hands are shown in the illustrations or photos in your story, leading me to believe all the cave stencils are of left hands. As a left-handed person, I wonder if any of the stencil-makers were left-handed and, if so, why they didn't stencil their right hands. In addition, if these did represent a …

The hands could represent signals used while hunting animals, as suggested, but perhaps we are seeing an early classroom, and the stencilled wall is a blackboard to teach youngsters which gesture corresponds to each animal.

Recent evidence of volcanism on Venus could be due to the continuing, very slow fission of uranium and the decay of its various daughter products, the result of an earlier, natural nuclear reaction deep underground. Similar natural reactors have been found on Earth close to the surface in Oklo in Gabon. If this is the …

In Graham Lawton's excellent summary of the state of British rivers, the issue of fragmentation by dams and other obstacles is mentioned, and it is stated that the defining characteristic of natural rivers is that they flow. I wonder if this is entirely true. I estimate that the population of beavers in the UK in …

Your article made me ponder the light pollution that spoils our view of the night sky. I can see well in the dark without light to blind me and I get around fine in the woods at night without artificial light. However, if there is even a peripheral passing of white light, it will take …

Naomi Fisher describes how video games enriched her children's lives and how she bonded with them over shared gaming experiences. As a parent and avid childhood gamer, I agree that it can be a very positive experience. I am suspicious of any wholly negative coverage of gaming, which can border on snobbery( 18 March, p …

I am forced to side with Fisher in her view that we should take a more positive approach to video games among children, especially when my grandson told me recently that he earned points in a history lesson with his knowledge of Vikings and ancient Greece gained by playing such games.