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Debora MacKenzie's report on the recent outbreak of Nipah virus in the Indian state of Kerala and the search for vaccines and treatments is timely and informative ( 16 June, p 25 ). What is also important to highlight is the effective way Kerala seems to have contained this deadly outbreak. The virus causing the …

In searching for "neural correlates of consciousness", Christof Koch and others look for brain activity that distinguishes conscious from unconscious processing of a stimulus ( 23 June, p 28 ). This is to treat a relatively easy problem as equivalent to the hard one of understanding how physical processes in the brain give rise to …

Now to more important things: which rapper will be the first to put it on their teeth? DragonQueen wants the next episode in the story of a new form of gold that's much golder than normal gold ( 7 July, p 16 )

• Einstein's general relativity says that gravitational waves should not corkscrew. A possible theory including an extra field says that they should ( 23 June, p 32 ).

You discuss the risks and benefits of screening for breast and cervical cancer and note that false positive results lead to emotional distress, unnecessary surgery and debilitating side effects (Leader, 2 June ). Over decades, I have seen women becoming increasingly well-informed and comfortable in discussing issues openly, thanks to publicity from the National Health …

Hans van Haren says that tidal energy can supply only relatively small amounts of power ( 23 June, p 24 ). He virtually rules out future use of general tidal power. I find this depressing and self-defeating. When I have an academic problem to solve, I leave my office and go to the coast a …

Alice Klein says that all Australian satellites were launched from other countries ( 30 June, p 25 ). In fact, Australia was third to launch a satellite from its own territory, after the Soviet Union and US. WRESAT was launched from the Woomera Rocket Range on 29 November 1967 atop a US Redstone rocket. It …

Klein says Australia "has lots of empty space for launch sites". It is possible that the traditional owners may be prepared to negotiate such a use of their lands, but invoking the colonial conceit that this is "nobody's land" – a terra nullius – is not a good place to start discussions.

You report that magnets can make wine taste better by sucking out bad flavours ( 23 June, p 14 ). But I find the clever chemistry far more interesting. The researchers formed plastic in the presence of the target substance to leave it covered with holes that are "imprinted" with the shape of the molecules, …

Frédéric Marin and Camille Beluffi find that a crew of 98 might be all that is needed for humanity to reach Proxima Centauri in 6300 years at 700,000 kilometres per hour ( 23 June, p 4 ). In their paper , they say this is the speed of the Parker Solar Probe. But it will …