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Letters archive

Join the conversation in Âé¶¹´«Ã½'s Letters section, where readers can share their thoughts and opinions on articles and see responses from experts and enthusiasts across a range of science topics. To submit a letter, please see our terms and email letters@newscientist.com


1 January 2025

Calories on menus may actually be of little help

From Dyane Silvester, Arnside, Cumbria, UK

Your article on calorie counts on menus says the UK guidelines require them to sit within a 20 per cent margin of error, yet the gap between your opening example of a chicken burger and fries (1597 kcal) and their plant-based alternative (1746 kcal) is within this margin. Presumably even those who want to make …

1 January 2025

Earlier lessons for the myopia epidemic?

From Sam Edge, Ringwood, Hampshire, UK

Further to the discussion of early-onset myopia, it occurs to me that some of the themes were explored in Aldous Huxley's 1942 book The Art of Seeing and W. H. Bates's 1920 book Perfect Sight Without Glasses , from which the former draws ( Letters, 7 December 2024 ). These were both condemned by eye …

1 January 2025

For the real story on what a dog wants, read on

From Peter Slessenger, Reading, Berkshire, UK

It seems novelist Patrick Ness may have been correct when it comes to communing with dogs. His Chaos Walking trilogy starts with: "The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is dogs don't got nothing much to say... 'Need a poo, Todd ( 14/21 December 2024, p 66 ).'"

1 January 2025

For the record

When we ran our story on bird flu ( 14/21 December 2024, p 20 ), not everyone affected was known to have recovered. A temperature difference of 770°C is equivalent to 1386°F ( 7 December 2024, p 38 ). Cameron Browne led the Digital Ludeme Project ( 14/21 December 2024, p 48 ).

8 January 2025

Time travel may be fit for machines only (1)

From Beverley Rowe, London, UK

None of the methods of time travel discussed holds any hope for objects like human bodies to be able to do it. And why travel in time anyway( 14/21 December 2024, p 54 )? Even assuming it were possible, the dangers would be enough to make it unthinkable: diseases to which one had no immunity, …

8 January 2025

Time travel may be fit for machines only (2)

From Peter Waller, Alveston, Gloucestershire, UK

We don't have to go to the past, we just need to send data to the past. Perhaps 2025 will be the year that I get the message I am hoping to send to myself with the names of the Grand National horse race winners for the next 10 years.

8 January 2025

Not-so-invisible gorillas: another explanation

From Derek Bolton, Sydney, Australia

Ian Phillips considers distrust of one's senses to be the most likely explanation for subjects denying having seen anything unusual in a video despite an unexpected object popping up, even if they could nevertheless convey some details of it. Alternatively, could it be to do with the phenomenon of blindsight? Visual processing involves many layers …

8 January 2025

I fear there may be more to the upsides of a scare

From Robert Masta, Ann Arbor, Michigan, US

A study of haunted house visitors showed that of 22 people with elevated inflammation, 18 had reduced levels three days after getting a good scare at the fairground attraction. But there was no control group of people with inflammation who didn't visit a haunted house. Would they have improved in three days, regardless? It is …

8 January 2025

To tame urban heat, cut vehicle numbers

From Peter Jacobsen, Port Townsend, Washington, US

The first step in reducing urban heat should be to reduce the burning of fuels. All of the energy used in vehicles eventually ends up as heat. Some of the fuel's energy is used for propulsion, which becomes heat through mechanical, air and tyre friction. Most is wasted directly as heat. A study of Beijing …

8 January 2025

Kids will get round any ban on online activity

From Matthew Stevens, Sydney, Australia

A decade and a half ago, when my son was in year 7, the government in New South Wales, Australia, issued laptops to students with safeguards to prevent them freely roaming the internet. Within a week, he and all of his friends had bypassed these and spent their time watching videos in class ( Letters, …

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