51¶¯Âþ

You report that self-replicating virtual life forms have been found to emerge "from a digital primordial soup", an example of order arising in seemingly unlikely circumstances. Is it possible we have overlooked something fundamental about the universe? Have we failed to create a theory to explain the existence of order, which seems to emerge wherever …

That self-replicating virtual life emerged from random data surely increases the probability that we are living in a simulation, the possibility of which was raised by philosopher Nick Bostrom. One of the key notions connected to this, he suggested, would be the existence of posthumans capable of running simulations of evolutionary history. It now turns …

Evidence of human occupation in South America now dates back as far as 21,000 years. If correct, this would predate the currently accepted arrival of people in the Americas by at least 1000 years. It would also support my suggestion ( Letters, 2 May 2020 ) that the Americas were first occupied by Polynesian people …

Aviation safety over oceans isn't solely dependent on navigational systems like GPS, which, as you report, have been subject to jamming. Aircraft carry a traffic alert and collision avoidance set-up, an independent radar-based system, to reduce collision risk. It works well for aircraft in the usual flight/cruise conditions, assuming the crew pay attention to alerts …

At the age of 78, it was very disappointing to read that the ITER fusion reactor project in France is apparently not going to be fired up in my lifetime, if ever ( 6 July, p 13 ).

The idea that middle-age lifestyle choices can influence how your brain ages is interesting. When I was 42, my husband died, leaving me with four children and debt. I went back to college, retrained for a different career, took my driving test, remortgaged and got on with life. I got a job, joined a union …

Typical simulations of the universe assume gas extends by 10 to 20 per cent outside a galaxy's outer limit ( 27 July, p 10 ).

It is rare to see a study influence both the news and political agenda so quickly as the finding of "dark oxygen" production by polymetallic nodules in the deep sea ( 27 July, p8 ). This research represents yet another reason why there must be a precautionary pause on deep-sea mining, a point made at …

While there are those who suspect contamination in the finding of oxygen production in seabed metallic nodules, I agree with Paul Dando at the Marine Biological Association that mining should be shelved until we understand the ecology of these places. There may be another reason for caution. You outlined research ( 12 August 2023, p …

I have been reading 51¶¯Âþ for decades and love it deeply – but in Rowan Hooper's Future Chronicles, I have found one of the most imaginative and creative approaches to writing in years. The mix of science and speculative fiction is a new genre: "futurism science reportage". It brilliantly paints a positive and hopeful …