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25 October 2023
From Mark Kaminsky, Sunnyvale, California, US
When it comes to a perfect site for a moon base, solar radiation can be a danger on the surface. If we could find a cave big enough, that would be a good solution. But lunar dust makes it hard to dig a hole in a conventional way. Some suggest drilling a hole, dropping an …
25 October 2023
From S W Shaw, Kendal, Cumbria, UK
In 2020, as part of the UK's push for net zero, the government set a target of 600,000 heat pump installations per year from 2028. However, there are over 20 million domestic gas boilers in the UK with an average life of about 15 years, so about 1.5 million new ones are needed annually. After …
25 October 2023
The company that created the "mammoth meatball" is simply called Vow ( 14 October, p 21 ). It was Robert Stewart of San Francisco, California, who contributed to a recent Last Word ( 16 September ).
1 November 2023
From John Kitchen, Kettering, Northamptonshire, UK
On the subject of sea-farmed salmon, why do we farm carnivorous fish when, to produce 1 kilogram of them, we require a much greater weight of wild-caught fish? There is really no excuse, either environmental or economic, for doing so ( 21 October, p 20 ).
1 November 2023
From Nick Hunn, London, UK
Further to Alex Wilkins's piece on how large language models (LLMs) are similar to codec compression algorithms like MP3: despite the knowledge that MP3 lowered audio quality, users flocked to it, resulting in the music streaming industry of today. Convenience trumped quality. It seems the same thing will happen with LLMs ( 7 October, p …
1 November 2023
From Anthony Forbes, Durban, South Africa
The comment from a local politician that most politicians are "people persons" and aren't versed in science is both condemnatory and horrifying. Science isn't some mystic process restricted to a gifted few. It ultimately comes down to rational, logical thought where decisions are based on real information, not gut feelings. If it is really the …
1 November 2023
From Joseph Majewski, Rindge, New Hampshire, US
The article "Antimatter definitely doesn't fall up, physicists confirm" brings to mind the element upsidaisium from the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons ( 7 October, p 16 ).
1 November 2023
From John Henderson, St Marys, Ontario, Canada
The only substance that falls up is upsidaisium, a metal found only in the floating Mount Flatten. The ill-intentioned Mr Big assigned his top agents to steal Mount Flatten. Happily, Rocky and Bullwinkle were able to protect the world's upsidaisium supply.
1 November 2023
From Mark Kaminsky, Sunnyvale, California, US
The story "Earliest evidence of wood buildings" ends by saying "we might need to rethink our labelling of the Stone Age", that it was maybe "more of a wood age" ( 30 September, p 14 ). My understanding is that the various ages (Stone, Bronze and Iron) were named for the most common material used …
1 November 2023
From Bryn Glover, Kirkby Malzeard, North Yorkshire, UK
As discussions about a possible Anthropocene Epoch continue, it occurs to me that these seem to ignore the fact that we may need to name a new geological "age" too. The Holocene has three: Greenlandian, Northgrippian and Meghalayan ( Letters, 30 September ). One proposal is that the Anthropocene began in around 1750, which is …
