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Falling birth rates will bring many social and economic problems, but are absolutely necessary for the environmental health of the planet. Loss of habitat, ocean pollution, carbon emissions and many other environmental problems have accelerated in step with population growth. With population decline, we must shift from an economic model that requires continual growth to …

Surely the problem of greater numbers of older people needing to be supported in every way by diminishing numbers of younger people will be a transient one. As more-populous older generations die off in the next few decades, they will be replaced by smaller, later generations and, in a relatively short time, a new equilibrium …

Eco-anxiety is a new concept, but it is closely linked to another known as solastalgia , which The Lancet included in 2015 as a term related to the impact of climate change on human well-being. It defines the set of psychological conditions that occur in a population after destructive changes in their territory, whether as …

Could it be that parental overuse of smartphones, rather than their use by children, has something to do with the increase in anxiety in young people? There is a lot of evidence that attuned noticing by and interaction with attachment figures is crucial to child development and mental health. Parents matter more than school, peers …

In your look at anxiety in children, you mention Rebecca Anthony's finding that lower socioeconomic status is the highest risk factor. Put that together with personal satisfaction being influenced by those around us — we feel worse off as the gap widens between what we have and what we see others have — and we …

Your coverage serves as a warning on rising stress and anxiety. We are all more worried than we used to be. Work is done with machine-like efficiency. There is a growing feeling of not wanting to keep people waiting. Those behind us in queues at supermarkets and cash machines make us feel hurried. Maybe we …

In "Multiplying the multiverse", the Copenhagen interpretation of the quantum world is illustrated with an example where a decision is made — in this case whether to choose tea or coffee — and this "decision" causes the wave function to collapse. I was under the impression that it was "observations" that did this job. Are …

So every time I choose tea or coffee, a new universe is produced. The observable one I inhabit has a mass of 10 53 kilograms, so every time I make a decision, I make this many more kilos. Really?

I was fascinated by your article on the benefits of time alone, taking away some of the guilt I often feel when turning down social events in favour of a quiet night in. As an only child, I probably grew up spending more time alone than those with siblings running around. I wonder if this …

Heather Hansen's insightful article on solitude cites Robert Coplan's search for a new word for solitude-seekers, with "soloist" in the lead. As this is an existing word with a different meaning, why not use "solitudist"? Also, his neologism "aloneliness" for the feeling of being denied time alone could be bettered by "alonelessness".