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Which satirist chose to run Graham Lawton's column on the non-condition of "eco-anxiety" opposite a BP "advertorial" claiming that it is "making a rapid transition to a lower carbon future" ( 12 October, p 23) ? Could this be the same BP that Global Witness forecasts will spend $71 billion over the next decade developing …

Alice Klein reports on a baseball cap intended to boost hair growth by using a wireless patch that administers an electric current ( 28 September, p 15 ). This reminded me of Natalie Salmanowitz describing the Thync device ( 16 April 2016, p 24 ). Its small electric current is supposed to boost brain function, …

I was interested by Alice Klein's article on domestic violence and ways to tackle it ( 19 October, p 20 ). During the 1980s, I worked in a women's refuge, then one of two in my London borough. This essential service for vulnerable women and their children has since been cut as a result of …

Graham Lawton makes some good points about the alleged condition of eco-anxiety ( 12 October, p 22 ). But in getting from these to his conclusions, he takes a strange route. At first, he seems to be generalising from his own experience: because his anxiety is rational, so is that of everyone else. This may …

We need a clear ethical framework for animal research, says Chelsea Whyte ( 12 October, p 18 ). Protections for human research provide a template. In 1979, the Belmont Report , issued following the US National Research Act (1974), revolutionised research on human subjects by articulating key ethical principles: specifically, respect for autonomy and obligations …

As midsummer approaches here, I return to Jessica Hamzelou's report that, of the 16 active ingredients for sunscreen listed as "safe" in the US, only zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are certainly safe and effective ( 27 July, p 20 ). After nearly 40 years of research into sunscreens, I note that the medium for …

You report findings on the melting Greenland ice cap ( 21 September, p 10 ). Many amateur scientists and school pupils have witnessed this. In the mid-1970s, I worked on remote sensing in science education. But the closure of Dundee Satellite Receiving Station due to the withdrawal of funding has left us without data from …

Clive Semmens discusses ways to get around obstacles to electrolysing seawater to make hydrogen (Letters, 12 October ). But electrolysing a salt solution is the standard way of making bleach. Sodium hydroxide and hydrogen are produced at the cathode and chlorine at the anode. Reacting sodium hydroxide and chlorine produces sodium hypochlorite. Using seawater to …

The gyroscopic action of the wheels is negligible in balancing a bicycle. Think of a child's scooter with its tiny wheels, or an ice skate with no wheels at all. Balance is achieved by the rider constantly moving their centre of gravity slightly to one side or the other. To stay stationary, a rider moves …

• There is at least one other rearrangement of a dartboard in which each neighbouring pair adds up to a square number: 20, 18, 15, 10, 6, 19, 17, 8, 1, 3, 13, 12, 4, 5, 11, 14, 2, 7, 9, 16 (Puzzle, 28 September ; solution, 5 October ). • Tardigrades, or "water bears", …