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It is proposed that the exact process of the domestication of wolves by our species isn't clear, so here's my take on how it might have gone( 9 August, p 34 ). Any tribe consists not only of adults, but children too, and they have a propensity to like small, fluffy things. A young wolf …

Why are many scientists sceptical that an animal (in this case, the hominin Homo naledi ) could respond to the death of a fellow animal by special treatment of the body – burial – as proposed by Lee Berger? Like most pet owners, I have seen one animal mourn another by inspecting and even prodding …

I look at de-extinction this way: people interested in wildlife regret extinctions, especially human-caused ones. They would like to atone. Attempts have already been made to produce, for example, aurochs-like cattle just by selective breeding. If de-extinction results in creatures that resemble extinct species and can live and thrive in the present, there is no …

What are people going to do with animals that are de-extincted? They obviously aren't going to dump such valuable specimens in wild, unbounded habitats. No, they will be confined, possibly in a zoo, where they will be gawped at – sorry, marvelled at – by endless streams of humans. They will be poked, prodded, measured …

Visualising 1 × 10 90 as the number of particles in the universe was seen as a sort of upper limit for all practical purposes for numbers( 9 August, p 28 ). Why bother with infinity? I think we are capable of visualising much bigger numbers, but do they have a place in reality? Imagine …

1 × 10 90 seems very small compared with the useful numbers used to generate cryptography keys. Given that such numbers are routinely involved in calculations with practical real-world applications, physical reality is no constraint to going full steam ahead further towards infinity.

Maybe orcas were indeed being altruistic and bringing us gifts. Some cats leave mice, birds or gophers on their owners' doorsteps, which sounds like a gift of food. But a dog (or cat) dropping something at your feet may be asking you to play fetch. What's more, the story explains that the orcas played with …

Now we have realised that we messed up Earth by changing the climate and overpopulating the planet, we cling to the thought that we have left some traces that will tell future alien visitors or intelligent cockroaches about us: we created the Anthropocene, even if it is just radioactive waste, microplastics and rocks formed from …

While I am aware that breastfeeding has many benefits, as highlighted in your story, I am a living testament to the alternative. I was entirely bottle-fed as a baby, my mother having had quite enough after feeding my three siblings, especially in the climate in Singapore where I was weaned. Sixty years on, I am …

Keeping the latest Â鶹´«Ã½ in my toilet/loo/john helps my constipation. There is no better way to relax while waiting for my bowels to spring into action( 9 August, p 38 ).