Letters archive
Join the conversation in New Scientist's Letters section, where readers can share their thoughts and opinions on articles and see responses from experts and enthusiasts across a range of science topics. To submit a letter, please see our terms and email letters@newscientist.com
26 June 2024
From Hugh Miller, Brighton, East Sussex, UK
Your look at the development of a strange idea from the 1980s, that time may be a quantum illusion, took me back to Karl Popper's essays on the ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophers, in particular Parmenides and his block universe, in which he said past, present and future co-exist ( 8 June, p 10 ). To …
26 June 2024
From John Bell, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, UK
Bernd-Juergen Fischer rightly points out that a simulation of the universe would only need to take account of the inner world of the subjective "I" and whomever and whatever they interact with ( Letters, 1 June ). Taking that concept further, most of the universe would need only be stored as a vague set of …
26 June 2024
From Helen Taylor, Chilton, Durham, UK
Graham Lawton writes that wooden buildings don't give off heat like brick buildings after soaking in warmth all day ( 8 June, p 24 ). But I have seen an effect. In winter, I put the heating on after the house has dropped to around 12 ° C (54 ° F). The room temperature stagnates …
26 June 2024
From Martin Gellender, Brisbane, Australia
Your recent analysis of the potential wider use of direct air capture to remove carbon dioxide from the air is right to be circumspect about its prospects. This would be the most expensive, inefficient and convoluted way to avoid climate change ( 25 May, p 12 ).
26 June 2024
From Daniel Putman, Westminster, Colorado, US
When it comes to the idea of retrocausality in the quantum realm, how does time dilation affect entanglement? If you sent one of a particle pair much faster than the other and then measured one of them, would this affect the other particle immediately, whose time goes at a relatively different pace? If so, it …
26 June 2024
From Geoff Fletcher, Melbourne, Australia
I started using low-sodium "heart" salt about four months ago, having read about its effect on reducing blood pressure. I am in my 70s and I have regular blood tests. After a test five weeks ago, my doctor was concerned about high potassium levels in my blood, so I told him what I had been …
26 June 2024
From Faith Anstey, Dalguise, Perth and Kinross, UK
David Werdegar says language is necessary for thought. Long ago in this magazine, a reader posed the question: "Do you think in language?" The consensus was: "No, I think in thoughts." Never mind hominids, chimps have thoughts such as those we would word as "If I crush these leaves into a sponge, I will be …
26 June 2024
From Anthony Castaldo, San Antonio, Texas, US
Your review of Christof Koch's new book on consciousness says he believes that AI has little or no causal power – only the imitation of it. I would say it is incumbent upon somebody claiming that what appears to be causal power is actually only an imitation of it to have to prove or cite …
26 June 2024
From Sam Edge, Ringwood, Hampshire, UK
Jim McHardy suggests that advanced civilisations won't need Dyson-style, whole-star, solar energy-collection structures because they will have minimised their energy consumption ( Letters, 8 June ). But as far as we know, creating or accelerating matter requires a non-negotiable amount of energy (given by E = mc 2 and E = ½ mv 2 , …