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From Dudley Miles, London, UK You report that life in Venusian clouds "could upend our ideas about what life can be and how it arises" ( 19 September, p 7 ). However, we know that Martian rocks have travelled to Earth and a lesser quantity have travelled from Earth to Mars. There will have been …

From Andrew Glassner, Seattle, Washington, US Your interview with Stuart Ritchie paints a bleak picture for reproducibility in science ( 22 August, p 36 ). But taking all of science to task like this may be too broad-brushed. In computer science, particularly in fields such as computer graphics and artificial intelligence, publications are now expected …

From Ro Scott, Cromarty, Ross-shire, UK With reference to the letter from Eric Kvaalen on the long-term preservation of harvested timber as a carbon store, my favoured domestic carbon store is paper, in the form of books ( Letters, 12 September ). Around the world, libraries must contain a massive amount of sequestered carbon dioxide, …

For the record – {03 October 2020} • Private astronauts going to the International Space Station will be in addition to NASA astronauts, they won't replace them ( 19 September, p 18 ).

I read your article on using gait to identify people with great interest ( 19 September, p 36 ). I am prosopagnosic, or face-blind, along with up to 2 per cent of the population . Some prosopagnosics have been using gait and posture to help us identify people for pretty much all of our lives. …

Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks was ahead of its time in promoting countermeasures to gait analysis. The masked man hirpling down The Strand isn't necessarily the Lord moving in mysterious ways, but a concerned citizen who wishes to remain anonymous.

After reading Graham Lawton's worrying column about QAnon conspiracy theories, I suggest we adopt a "reality slogan" to fight back ( 19 September, p 24 ). In highlighting the inescapable fact of the laws of nature, physicist Richard Feynman came up with a good one in his report on the Challenger space shuttle disaster: "Nature …

Plummeting wildlife populations, particularly of mammals and birds, must place the forests and savannahs of the world under increasing stress due to a lower rate of soil fertilisation by faeces and a lower rate of seed dispersal ( 26 September, p 16 ). Considering the importance of forests and grasslands for carbon sequestration, it may …

According to Abigail Beall's Stargazing at home article, you can see Elon Musk's SpaceX satellites with "a bit of luck" ( 19 September, p 51 ). If I looked up and found my view of the night sky polluted by the sight of a billionaire's vanity project, I would consider it a misfortune.

You brought a lump to my throat with your piece on the triumphs of evolutionary science, ( 26 September ). At long last, a small victory in these unsettling times. I have often quoted the sentence, "The voices of evolution's detractors have largely fallen silent, worn down by the patient drumbeat of reason." Thank goodness …