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Letters archive

Join the conversation in Âé¶¹´«Ã½'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


3 November 2021

How the news of feathered dinosaurs lifted off

From Jeff Hecht, Auburndale, Massachusetts, US

As the reporter who broke the story of the discovery of feathered dinosaurs, I enjoyed Michael Benton's feature ( 16 October, p 43 ). It was in fact Âé¶¹´«Ã½ that carried my story , just before the work was unveiled at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting at the American Museum of Natural History …

3 November 2021

Children are natural scientists until school

From Sam Edge, Ringwood, Hampshire, UK

From your review of Ada Twist, Scientist , I am looking forward to seeing it ( 16 October, p 36 ). However, it occurred to me that young children don't need to be encouraged to be scientists. My granddaughter's second birthday is coming up and she has been engaging in increasingly sophisticated experimental investigations since …

3 November 2021

Recycling systems need to cover much more

From Graham Jones, Bridgham, Norfolk, UK

Regarding the debate over a bin tax to encourage recycling, we need systems that can deal with many kinds of waste ( 25 September, p 18 ). There is already one for anaerobic digestion of all organic matter: the sewage treatment system. In principle, the methane it produces could be fed into the grid and …

3 November 2021

A paradoxical problem in the black hole paradox

From Frank Scott, Sydney, Australia

In his article on the black hole information paradox, Paul Davies postulates a "residual connection reaching across the event horizon" between entangled pairs of particles of Hawking radiation ( 25 September, p 34 ). One particle travels back across the event horizon of the black hole, and the other travels away. With one of the …

3 November 2021

Not quite time for AI to show human-like skills

Eric Kvaalen, Les Essarts-le-Roi, France Robert Checchio writes that "the GPT-3 AI discussed in your article is reported to have 175 billion artificial neurons (twice that of a human brain)" and so some might expect human-like behaviour to appear soon ( Letters, 23 October ). But in your feature ( 9 October ), you said …

3 November 2021

It is time to forget about repressed memories

From Annie Campbell, Lane End, Buckinghamshire, UK

I am grateful to Jessica Hamzelou for her insightful article on repressed memory, or dissociative amnesia as it is now termed ( 9 October, p 44 ). Whatever it is called, it has led to many vulnerable people being let down by those they sought help from, causing great damage. After qualifying as a psychologist …

10 November 2021

The climate crisis is just a tragedy of the commons (1)

From Tim Stevenson,Prestwood, Buckinghamshire, UK

One phrase that doesn't seem to be used enough in the context of the COP26 summit and climate change is "the tragedy of the commons" ( 30 October, p 8 ). This describes a scenario that is a standard part of mathematical game theory. The "tragedy" considers free public use of a common resource – …

10 November 2021

The climate crisis is just a tragedy of the commons

From Hillary Shaw,Newport, Shropshire, UK

Having read several pages on COP26 and the need to cut emissions, I was struck by the irony of a story on the next page reporting advances in restoring male fertility ( p 13 ). The largest contribution an individual can make to reducing carbon emissions is to not have a child.

10 November 2021

Rooting for Finland's tree-based circular economy

From Trevor Jones, Sheringham, Norfolk, UK

Graham Lawton's article "A wooden circular economy", on Finland's research and development of a cyclical symbiosis of woodlands, forestry and wood technology, was life-affirming and full of hope for the future ( 30 October, p 21 ). Finland demonstrates one way forward that embraces the beginning of a new age of wood and the coming …

10 November 2021

Turn your food waste into a tasty 'rubbish soup'

From Silvia Dingwall,Nussbaumen, Switzerland

When it comes to reducing food waste, we often put vegetable peelings in a pressure cooker (a great energy-saving device) with some water, herbs and garlic to make a healthy vegetable broth we call "rubbish soup" ( 25 September, p 42 ). We keep the strained liquid and put any remaining solids in the compost, …

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