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I read about the plan to bring back the woolly mammoth with dismay. How can anyone theorise about any environmental benefits of such an endeavour without looking at both animal welfare and ecological impact? What would these introduced animals eat? If there isn't enough food, they will starve and lead a miserable life. If there …

The idea that wolves could be reintroduced successfully into modern Britain, given today's lack of wild spaces, is laughable. However, should everyone choose to cut their meat and dairy consumption by 90 per cent so that the UK could rewild half its farmland, then wolves probably could be given a new home. I have cut …

New weight-loss treatments all seem to concentrate on making you feel full. For a couple of hours after I wake, despite being hungry, the thought of eating chocolate or cake is very unappealing. Come late morning and for the rest of the day, even when full, I can crave these foods ( 16 March, p …

I was interested in your piece on miso fermentation on the International Space Station. However, I'm not sure any conclusions can be drawn by comparing one jar fermented in space with two on Earth ( 9 March, p 13 ). Different results from two identical preparations fermented in the same facility aren't uncommon, the same …

Empathetic artificial intelligence would be like virtual reality for the emotions. As it learns, no doubt it would say just the words I need to hear. As lives get busier, the quick fix offered by such an AI would become more tempting ( 9 March, p 32 ). While my real friends may ring me …

Since the measured average drop in IQ for those who have had a covid-19 infection was small, according to the study you report on, one has to wonder how much was due to a possible correlation between lower IQ and incidence of infection. Lower IQ tends to lead to the kind of jobs in which …

There is no evidence that an apparent reduction in great white sharks off the south coast of South Africa has resulted in a rise in seal numbers and greater predation of or competition with penguins ( 9 March, p 10 ). The African penguin is in a well-documented catastrophic decline following decades of guano harvesting …

In "To leap or not?" ( 16 March, p 32 ), we should have said snowy albatrosses nest on Possession Island in the Southern Ocean. It was the use by King Louis XIV of France of estiquettes (small cards) to advise on rules of behaviour that led to the word etiquette ( 9 March, p …

"Positing Zorg the Destroyer, hidden at the galactic core and pulling on protons with invisible strings, would rightly be laughed away as an explanation for anything," writes Schwitzgebel. But that is exactly the explanation for everything in our daily experience. We call "Zorg the Destroyer" the "Sagittarius A* black hole", and it pulls on protons …

David Robson wonders whether the spirituality of science could provide the perks of religion. When, years ago, I read Richard Dawkins's The Ancestor's Tale: A pilgrimage to the dawn of life , I felt a deep unity with all living things. I thought it funny that the world's best-known atheist caused my spiritual experience. Later, …