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Aisling Irwin reports on trying to solve the problem of plastic waste by getting it to dissolve ( 19 May, p 25 ). However, a plastic-eating enzyme could be disastrous if it cannot tell the difference between what is meant to be degraded and material that we need to be permanent. Plastic is used in …

I have come across a practical solution to plastic disposal that is obvious when you think about it. Across Colombia, the Conceptos Plásticos enterprise is transforming plastic and rubber waste into a construction material and using it to build houses for those who need them.

Like everyone else, I consider myself a better than average driver ( 12 May, p 42 ). More accurately: when I am alert and concentrating, my performance is better than the average of other drivers' total performance, including their performance in inattentive moments. And so is yours. Stated that way, we are not delusional at …

So "good mental health" dictates that we all overestimate our abilities . I wonder about the relationship between that and the effect reported by Justin Kruger and David Dunning in "Unskilled and unaware of it: how difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments" ( doi.org/dks ). In other words, those that know …

Olive Heffernan says coating farms with basalt could cool Earth by absorbing carbon dioxide ( 3 March, p 26 ). It could have another use: making hydrogen. Basalt contains a similar amount of iron to peridotite, an igneous rock common in Earth's mantle but rare in the upper crust. In peridotite, a reaction named serpentinisation …

Danny Chambers quotes William Hutchinson, an advocate of positive training for dogs: "Be to his virtues ever kind. Be to his faults a little blind" ( 10 March, p 24 ). Is this epigram the ultimate in doggerel?

It is not surprising that our names affect how other people view our age and personality ( 26 May, p 9 ). You can guess the approximate age of many people from their name, since fashions come and go. Our personality is mainly derived from our genes and our early environment – both usually provided …

N.C. Friswell wonders whether the peak pricing on smart meters has gone away (Letters, 26 May ). He is right to be suspicious: it hasn't. The specification for the smart meters being rolled out in the UK contains the most complex pricing capabilities of any in the world. For example, it allows energy suppliers to …

Michael Le Page says "there is no reliable evidence that any existing GM food is less safe than conventional food" ( 26 May, p 28 ). If I were anti-GM, I would regard those as weasel words: in the hallowed phrase, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. More to the point is whether …

Le Page says "virtually every GM crop on the market is designed to help the farmer who grows it". If it is publicly funded this may be true. But the first legal duty of private companies is to maximise shareholder profit. So they generate patents and terminator genes that force farmers to buy new seed …