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You looked at superdeterminism, a take on quantum theory that does away with randomness ( 15 May, p 36 ). Objections were raised to it on the grounds that it would deny humans free will. As far as we are aware, nothing in the universe is independent of the cosmos, and what we refer to …

Michael Le Page reports that the world is "on track to pass the Paris aspirational limit of 1.5°C between 2026 and 2042... to exceed 2°C above its pre-industrial level between the 2040s and 2070s" ( 24 April, p 34 ). He adds: "We aren't heading for the worst-case scenario... could have led to around 5°C …

So AI can read emotional states in the facial expressions of cattle and pigs ( 1 May, p 14 ). It is suggested that this technology will enable farmers to improve animal well-being by reducing stressful husbandry. Despite coming from a farming family and having been a hunter for many years, the best possible way …

Far from being strictly nocturnal, I have seen many platypuses active during the day in Tasmania, including a memorable encounter with one splashing in the melting snow near Cradle Mountain ( 8 May, p 41 ).

Amid talk of tree sentience, Steve Tunnicliff suggests apologising to an elder tree before cutting it down to avoid its vengeance ( Letters, 15 May ). I have heard of doing the same for a rowan tree. However, it seems to me that it is palm trees we should really worry about, as they are …

In her article on the importance of green spaces in urban areas, Kate Douglas paints a picture of accelerated urbanisation 27 March, p 36 . Much has been made of the advantages of urbanisation, but I would argue that this view is becoming outdated. Yes, connectivity and accessibility remain important, but in the 21st century …

To say that mystery glyphs look like "early alphabetic letters" is to say that they look like crude versions of hieroglyphs 24 April, p 15 . Finding such hieroglyphs in Syria 850 years before reliably dated samples of Levantine alphabetic writing might show not that the alphabet is older than previously thought, but that Egypt …

From 3 April, p 34 You report suggestions that a primordial black hole roughly the size of a grapefruit and several times the mass of Earth is the hypothetical Planet Nine in our solar system, responsible for the orbital alignment of a group of small objects in the Kuiper belt. This leaves me wondering how …

I enjoyed Michael Brooks's article on superdeterminism 15 May, p 36 . Sabine Hossenfelder and Tim Palmer's idea of a determinate quantum universe warrants comparison with thinking in the 1950s. Back then, David Bohm argued for a deterministic model of quantum theory that allows for probabilities to arise from certain "hidden" details, given a universe …

Regarding the work to eradicate malaria 1 May, p 44 . My husband was in Uganda a few years ago, and while talking to village elders in a lakeside area, they told him of their frustration with the bed net roll-out. They said that although families had been issued nets, many used them for fishing. …