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In researching infant consciousness, has anyone sought input from people who were themselves recently babies? I no longer have direct memories of being a baby, but do recall as a 4- or 5-year-old, reviewing my infancy, including my cot and pram. I would have been a willing interviewee. Moreover, until about age 10, I had …

The same sentiment that "you will probably never own a personal quantum computer" was felt about conventional computers in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Current quantum computers are still nothing but proofs of concept. But once commercially viable and useful ones become available to buy, the pressure will be on to make them more powerful …

As an engineering student decades ago, I was taught that a simple empirical formula that gave a "good enough" result was more useful than a perfect, correct analysis with too many variables ( 15 February, p 19 ). A case in point is the "best boiled egg" method you reported. It was fascinating and illuminating …

You report the idea that the use of crushed rock on agricultural land to capture carbon may also alter Earth's reflectivity. However, this geoengineering proposal isn't practical. A millimetre-thick layer of rock per hectare weighs around 20 tonnes. Extended to 1.5 billion hectares of cropped land in the world, and that is a lot of …

I wonder if any change in reflectivity due to spreading crushed rock on farmland would only occur where there was no crop cover. And would the rock deplete carbon dioxide where crop seedlings grow, reducing viability? I suspect this method would be only for areas with no plant cover.

While Filippo Tommaso Marinetti is said to have founded futurism in 1909, the word was actually created in 1904 by Catalan writer Gabriel Alomar at a Barcelona conference ( 8 February, p 22 ). His was an aesthetic movement, but also a political one, in a sense opposite to Marinetti's. Alomar was unequivocally democrat, Catalanist …

You reported a study providing evidence of the origins of the Yamna culture that spread across Europe. One contention for which there is no evidence, however, is that the expansion of this cultural group involved carts pulled by horses. There is no evidence for the use of horses as draught animals in the areas concerned …

Isn't it more likely that the possible pauses in the evolution of the universe discussed in your look at a new cosmological model are for installing software updates( 15 February, p 30 )?

Ed Regis's piece on outlandish proposals for space travel reminded me of an idea that rarely seems to get a mention. Instead of sending 100,000 people, send 100 million sperm and eggs. Not only do they require few resources on the voyage, which allows for a smaller ship, they would also provide far more genetic …

As well as bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses, any microbiome list should include protists, such as Blastocystis species. Although normally classed as parasites, a 2024 study linked the presence of these in the human gut with improved health outcomes, including fewer metabolic abnormalities ( 8 February, p 30 ).