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When it comes to calorie counts on menus as a nudge to eat more healthily, it is clear to me that a large proportion of calories in some meals are in the sauce. Restaurants don't mind showing the inflated calorie count because it doesn't deter the average customer. Having studied energy balance in obesity, for …

The idea of using vegetation on buildings to cool them in hot climates is interesting. However, an architect friend fears certain problems. The last thing you want around buildings and walls is something that can catch and propagate fire easily. Dried plants (in very hot climates) potentially could. Installing vegetation on balconies or roofs presupposes …

Frankenstein is one of my favourite novels. However, I, like many others, contest the notion that it is the first science fiction ( Leader, 30 November ). There are many prior examples of what we would today consider sci-fi, if we define that as proposing a novel technology for the time and exploring the consequences. …

I have digested the explanations for why trying to live on Mars is a bad idea. Very good points are made, but one important thing is missed. One day, a disaster will befall Earth that will most likely wipe out the human race. It might be an extinction type asteroid impact, a nuclear war, a …

If chimpanzee communities are becoming more technologically advanced over time, why is it that after millions of years of existence all they can manage is to use sticks to fish for termites? Their tools may be biodegradable, but they don't make baskets, ropes or other things our ancestors probably did ( 30 November, p 13 …

Throwing more technology at football's video assistant referee system is the wrong approach to its perceived problems ( 23 November, p 40 ). Alongside football's fundamental character, which places human deceit above brute force (as Maradona described it), one of the arguably beneficial features of the game is the reliance on the judgement of its …

"Recipe for disaster" certainly got my attention. It made it clear just how serious a matter climate change is likely to be for farming and food production. It then talks about solutions, stating: one big answer is eating less meat ( 16 November, p 44 ). The article later advised against buying organic food because …

My only surprise was that the researchers looking down their microscope at asteroid rock samples only saw terrestrial bacterial contamination and not golden retriever dog hair, which permeates the entire universe ( 30 November, p 15 ).

In quick crossword #172 ( 30 November, p 45 ), the clue for 7 Down should have been Rb.

Pertaining to the problem of urban heat, many suburban roads in the UK have effectively more than doubled in width, as front gardens have been largely or completely paved over. As well as a loss of wildlife habitat, this has significantly increased the heat island effect. In my street, less than 5 per cent of …