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I am by inclination a supporter of civil and courteous debate, as your Leader describes ( 24 February, p 3 ). But some supporters of the state of Israel and its policies and actions try to get any criticism of it labelled "hate speech" under the umbrella of "anti-Semitism", and shut down debate. So with …

Clare Wilson reports that some people with epilepsy can be trained to boost their mental alertness to avoid having a seizure ( 10 February, p 9 ). This reminds me of reports of people using the t'ai chi "pushing hands" work, which involves training to sense your partner's centre of gravity and muscle movements, through …

Face recognition software that can "guess your gender with amazing accuracy" seems to be light years away from what's available on products such as the iPad ( 17 February, p 5 ). Mine identifies "people" in my photo album, including an individual I would not have thought of putting on my friends list, although other …

The fascinating question of whether we are alone in the universe graces your pages again, courtesy of John Harvey (Letters, 17 February ). As with black swans, the only way we will ever know for certain is if we find an example. There is, however, another way to look at this, which makes the question …

Edd Gent suggests that an "e-skin" could provide a visible reminder to elderly people when medication needs to be taken ( 24 February, p 7 ). Something similar could be useful for those with visual impairments if it had a tactile rather than a visible reminder. Perhaps combining both may also allow a carer to …

Has it struck anyone else that the LIGO experiment to detect gravitational waves ( 17 February, p 8 ) is just Michelson-Morley's 1887 experiment writ large and more accurate? They tried to detect Earth's movement through ether, the substance once thought to fill space. We do not stream through the luminiferous ether, but it does …

In your story on using predictive models to guide how to combat an incoming asteroid, we are told that if one "was set to hit Earth, humanity would have to scramble to conduct the world's riskiest experiment" ( 17 February, p 6 ). That is why it is important to carry out low-risk trials soon, …

Danny Chambers wants all meat labelled as stunned or unstunned at slaughter ( 17 February, p 22 ). Shechita UK fully supports, and always has done, the notion that consumers have every right to know what they are eating. However, if true consumer information is to be ensured, they need to be informed of the …

Now there is an app that guesses our emotions to better suggest films or target ads at us ( 17 February, p 17 ). So, if those emotions are hateful, what is it going to do? Suggest A Clockwork Orange or Natural Born Killers ? Bring up ads for assault rifles?

Cheddar Man may or may not have had a dark skin ( 3 March, p 12 ). But I am very impressed by the razor he had 10,000 years ago to give him the perfect shave shown in your picture.