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I was interested in your article on fat acceptance and the argument over the effects of being overweight ( 29 September, p 20 ). I am 79, female and overweight, and my weight rose from 7.5 stone (48 kilograms) in my 20s to 76 kg today. I have weighed as much as 90 kg but …

You provide an excellent overview of the current scientific evidence on gluten and the complex world of the gut microbiome ( 15 September, p 32 ). I was, however, puzzled by Peter Whorwell's amazement at "how many vegetables people are eating these days". Dietary guidelines in the UK recommend a daily intake of at least …

I'd like to have my mind read; maybe they can make sense of the jumbled mess in there Constance M is less alarmed than many about the prospect of technology that could read minds ( 29 September, p 28 )

You say again that a particle can be "in two places at once" ( 15 September, p 8 ). This is a statement made by an organism that has a theory of the microscopic, which it tries to interpret with the cognitive systems that it has evolved to allow it to survive at a macroscopic …

. You say the interference pattern may be interpreted as evidence that particles have been in two places at once. But the pattern is also evidence that they have not been "seen" – in quantum jargon, observed – in either place. That would certainly have extinguished the pattern.

Alastair Brotchie laments the loss of his theatrical job to digital technology (Letters, 8 September ). I sympathise with him and others whose livelihoods are replaced by automation and who are excluded from the benefits it brings; but I am optimistic for the future. Humankind has continually found ways of making tasks easier to save …

• Thirsty work: the power consumption of Neal Tai-Shung Chung's desalination plant is 1 kilowatt-hour per cubic metre of water ( 8 September, p 32 ). • Heavy. The quasar called OJ 287 has the mass of 18 billion suns ( 22 September, p 35 ). • The female physicist we pictured at Â鶹´«Ã½ …

Claire Wilson explains that as many as a third of people who are overweight have good scores for blood glucose, cholesterol and blood pressure (29 September, p 20). But why is this? Many factors apart from body fat affect these scores. Another, underappreciated factor is that not all fat is equal. The main component of …

Pascal Boyer makes assertions that he is entitled to make in the field of psychology, but he makes claims in the field of economics that he is certainly not. If you had asked a psychologist to write an article in which he discussed astronomy, and in that article he asserted that no planet has a …

You say that you surveyed a "representative sample of 2026 UK adults" to report on the public understanding of science and technology ( 22 September, p 6 ). But then you say "all interviews were conducted online". So, did you just guess the views of those who are not? The editor writes: • Our survey …