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If we exclude the panspermia hypothesis, then life on Earth, with key biomolecules utilising only one of two possible mirror-image – or chiral – forms, arose from random "experiments" in which prebiotic molecules became self-replicating and able to adapt ( 1 March, p 34 ). It seems unlikely that only a single instance survived to …

The idea that artificial intelligence has no "clear use case" is, in my opinion, disconnected from the facts. Many may feel that AI usage has negative consequences, but there are plenty of stories of people using it in effective ways ( Leader, 15 February ). My younger colleagues avoid Google. They use ChatGPT or its …

Talk of how to cook the perfect boiled egg reminds me of trying to cook one in compost. My compost bin was insulated to accelerate decomposition, so got unusually hot. I buried a foil-wrapped egg about 20 centimetres deep in it and left it for 1 hour. The result was a hard-boiled yolk swimming in …

Could it be that the research on proclivity for dessert focuses too much on sugar? Most restaurants once offered savoury options for this course. That is now mostly just a cheeseboard. I don't think anyone had issues with having a savoury dessert, which indicates that sugar wasn't a factor ( 22 February, p 18 ).

I wonder whether the nocebo effect could affect life expectancy. If, for example, you believe your allotted span to be three score years and 10, will you tend to succumb by age 70( 22 February, p 38 )?

The cosmic dark ages weren't truly dark, as neutral hydrogen atoms absorb light only at some frequencies ( 22 February, p 32 ).

Much as I would like to see Anthony Carmona's idea of a global environmental court come to fruition, I fear the precedents suggest it would fail. We already have an International Criminal Court to prosecute war crimes and related offences, but nations that commit these often simply refuse to accept its jurisdiction. Sadly, any global …

It struck me when reading your article "Hunting for the oldest code" that we may have found an excellent use for artificial intelligence. Can older coders who know the old programming languages pass their knowledge to AI systems before they depart this mortal coil? With the dependency on legacy systems you discussed, we would be …

Matthew Sparkes's evaluation of our reliance on old code is spot on. I imagine organisations ought to think about software support agreements they are paying for, as it is likely that some companies collecting annual fees no longer have the available expertise to solve any problems arising. All code is broken. When we are lucky, …

The idea that "we're still using decades-old code" comes as no surprise to those who have worked for long-established computer firms. One example is IBM's CICS software, first released in 1969. It still supports a majority of online banking, insurance, stock trading and credit card applications, as well as applications in other industries and government, …