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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


11 August 2021

First space colonists may have a wasted journey

From Ian Napier, Adelaide, South Australia

Chris Mason suggests that within a billion years we will have to leave Earth to escape the effects of a dying sun ( 17 July, p 44 ). We will need to colonise a new planet using a spacecraft capable of supporting successive generations for the voyage. I suggest a postscript, in which the generation …

11 August 2021

Air DNA sampling, coming to a street near you soon?

From Adrian Bowyer, Foxham, Wiltshire, UK

You report that "monitoring wildlife... might be made easier and cheaper... vacuuming bits of DNA out of the air" (31 July, p 16). Presumably, soon every CCTV camera will have an air sampler attached to detect our DNA. People walking past can expect to get everything from a text suggesting they visit a nearby shop …

18 August 2021

On the transition to a greener energy world (1)

From Robert Deuchar, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UK

In your extended look at how to transform our energy system to a climate-friendly one, nuclear power doesn't make the cut ( 7 August, p 34 ). It should. For starters, Rolls-Royce is leading a consortium to produce small modular nuclear reactors producing about 450 megawatts each. It says that they could be operating in …

18 August 2021

On the transition to a greener energy world (2)

From Peter Wallace, Guildford, Surrey, UK

The future widespread use of electric cars is an unthinking assumption. Cars are a particularly inefficient mode of transport. Most spend 90 to 95 per cent of the time parked in driveways, car parks and on the road. A traffic jam of electric cars will still happen. A mix of public transport, cycleways and footpaths …

18 August 2021

On the transition to a greener energy world

From Eric Kvaalen, Les Essarts-le-Roi, France

There has long been a negative stance on biofuels, but they don't have to be made from food crops. They can be made from any kind of plant. The main rivals to power transport – batteries for electric vehicles – are not only heavy, but entail an environmental and human cost in production. For example, …

18 August 2021

On the transition to a greener energy world (3)

From Merlin Reader, London, UK

Whatever we do with our energy systems, it is too late to prevent sea level rise. We have to accept that Jakarta, Miami, Bangkok and many other cities, including London's riverside within the next 50 years, are lost causes. While wealthy elites can afford to flee, for billions of poorer people across the globe, we …

18 August 2021

On the transition to a greener energy world (4)

From Brian Pollard, Launceston, Cornwall, UK

The best source of energy we have is the sun and the right place to put solar generators is in hot deserts, where solar strength is great and pretty constant all year. Such a scheme was proposed and costed in 2010 in order to supply energy from North Africa to Europe. It was shown to …

18 August 2021

Bitcoin computers could be turned to climate science

From Andy Prior Malvern, Worcestershire, UK

You report climate scientist Tim Palmer's call for a "CERN for climate change" supercomputer project ( 31 July, p 11 ). Why not incentivise the vast computing resources of the cryptocurrency mining community to perform the calculations? Although most mining hardware is targeted at cryptocurrency solutions, this could be addressed. Palmer cites €200 million a …

18 August 2021

Don't let economic growth trash what's left of Earth

From Manek Dubash, Lewes, East Sussex, UK

Jim Watson proposes that there are advantages for many countries to skipping fossil fuels and moving directly to renewable energy supplies ( 7 August, p 23 ). I'm sure he's right about that. He then says that this switch could underpin economic development. But is it not the case that economic development – in other …

18 August 2021

For the record

In our recent feature on cave art (31 July, p36), the depiction of a kangaroo shown on page 39 was in fact ancient aboriginal rock art at Kakadu National Park, Australia

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