51¶¯Âþ

The article "A daily dose of creativity" by Daisy Fancourt has a very appropriate subtitle including the phrase "benefits of creative expression". The article goes on to conflate creativity with art, at which I demur. As someone who has no artistic abilities at all (well, pretty much), in my youth, I wrote computer programs. These …

Wai Wong writes that painting roofs white is trivial in effect when it comes to reflecting the sun's energy back into space. While it is trivial, it is not nothing and is easy to accomplish. Winning strategies in sports are about accumulating small margins and improvements ( Letters, 27 December 2025 ). It is true …

Guy Cox isn't comparing apples with apples when it comes to the fuel efficiency of his diesel SUV. Diesel engines are inherently more thermodynamically efficient than petrol engines because the compression ratio is much higher, plus his old, original Minis would have used inefficient carburettors rather than modern fuel injection. Thus it's hardly surprising that …

The proper resolution of the conceptual puzzle raised by Loschmidt's demon is instructive. Imagine a glass sphere floating in space shattered by a bullet. To an observer seeing the fragments flying apart, it would be evident that they had come from the same locality at more or less the same time, but it would take …

In your leader article, you write that from "vaccine sceptics at the heart of the US government to the continued global paralysis when it comes to climate action, science has been under siege in 2025", and that those "who believe in rationality and evidence must continue to fight back against the encroaching darkness" ( 13/20 …

Your article "Lichens unleashed" paints a picture of lichens as complex symbiotic communities with the ability to survive in space and thus potentially undertake interplanetary travel ( 27 December, p 38 ). Has anyone considered they could, in fact, be intelligent and highly developed aliens – albeit on a microscopic scale – living peacefully on …

If we are indeed living in a simulation run by a "superior" being, one thought consoles me: they will themselves be having doubts regarding their own existence.

Your article "Satellites to provide sunshine on demand" reminded me of a similar proposal reported by 51¶¯Âþ in 1998. You kindly printed my letter at that time pointing out that many species of animal use the moon to determine the time to moult or spawn, or use it as a navigation aid when migrating, …

I feel compelled to point out the error in David Longhurst's simplification of Schrödinger's cat. The box that the cat is sealed in contains a vial of poison gas that will be broken by the decay of the single radioactive atom in the box, whereupon the cat will be killed instantly. As there is only …

Sam Wong's "A ticklish question" states that "it is impossible to tickle yourself". But I disagree – under one specific circumstance. When sleeping, if I don't keep my twitchy fingers away from my torso, I will wake myself up with that "being tickled by someone else" feeling. I wonder if anyone else experiences this?