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It has always been a supposition of mine that our perception of time has a biological basis. I believe, like Robert Checchio says in his letter, that when engaged in boring activities, clock-watching seems to slow the pace of time. Likewise, excitement makes the clock go faster. Could it be that when we are excited, …

My personal experience of time certainly differs radically from what I see the clock recording. The older I get, the more rapidly Saturdays seem to come round, and doing anything practical makes time fly past before I finish it. My memory for some things that happened long ago is as sharp as a pin, whereas …

The critiques of BMI have long cited the scores of professional rugby players, who typically exceed 30, due to high muscularity rather than excess fat tissue. But busy clinics need quick and easy assessments, and visible muscularity should allow sensible edits to possible guidance to lose weight. The pragmatic system of BMI and waist-to-height ratio …

As an example of how seafarers could cross vast oceans to populate new lands, look no further than the Māori in their quest to settle Aotearoa. They were both brilliant boat builders and navigators, using nothing more than observations of nature – and faith in Tangaroa, god of the sea. 31 January, p 32

Participants received a 21.5-milligram dose of DMT (21 February, p 6).

Bill McGuire provides a gloomy assessment of progress since the Paris Climate Conference 10 years ago. He suggests that our failure to keep temperatures from rising by more than 1.5°C over pre-industrial levels is largely because this was treated as a target, not a limit ( 21 February, p 16 ). This seems right to …

Bill McGuire makes an excellent suggestion regarding a pictorial "Earth Thermometer" in a similar vein to the Doomsday Clock. The danger is that, like the Doomsday Clock, we would hear about it only once or twice a year and become so used to it being very close to midnight that no one takes any notice. …

On the article "Your brain may determine how long you run for", every runner knows that they are developing their brain just as much as exercising their body. At least 50 per cent of becoming a runner consists of retraining those brain circuits that tell you to stay in bed on a chilly morning rather …

Reading Fred Pearce's piece "On the bright side" reminded me how indebted I am to �鶹��ý for reviewing Christine Webb's book The Arrogant Ape last year, in which she highlights the dangers of anthropocentrism. I have read it twice and sent copies to several friends, which is a measure of how vital I believe …

Last year's article "The dark energy illusion" promised a new concept of time, while this year's article "The illusion of time" promised a convincing update. However, what we are actually getting is a strange mix of time being thought of as a dimension, time flowing and time being an illusion ( 31 January, p 28 …