Letters archive

The story on the possible link between emotions and gastric pH was interesting and thought-provoking. Could this be an evolutionary protective mechanism for early humans, who, being predominantly hunter-gatherers, may have been compelled to eat things that might not have been fresh in times of scarcity? Fear, disgust or even caution may have led to …

You recently ran a piece on the possible link between calorie restriction and longevity, commenting how difficult it is to run proper trials( 18 February, p 17 ). Has anyone looked at the UK population around the time of the second world war and soon after? Rationing provided a decent, though boring, diet for everyone. …

As an admirer of both pet cats and dogs, Michael Marshall's claim that our meowing companions are "aloof and indifferent" in supplying "cupboard love" for food reeks of anthropomorphised slander, of manipulative felines yet again losing to "man's best friend". Please allow both furred companions to be themselves – that is to say, sentient beings …

In contrast to Bryn Glover, I believe in the existence of a supreme being, despite there being no evidence from the scientific method for one. And if scientific evidence for such a being arises, I will stop believing. After all, there is a replication crisis in much of science( Letters, 18 March ).

The science-religion debate is akin to some post-human era where intelligent rats ponder the fossil ruins of our civilisation. They attribute such objects to unknown natural processes and develop elaborate theories as to their origin. Then they discover we once existed and created such marvels as skyscrapers, cathedrals and the Hoover dam. Would the discovery …

God would surely be clever enough to create a universe in which they can't be observed. We are well accustomed to authors of sci-fi and fantasy fiction creating worlds out of their imagination. If you asked Albus Dumbledore who J. K. Rowling was, or Gandalf who J. R. R. Tolkien was, they would not only …

Your review of the Frozen Head podcast describes a rabbit brain thawed in an "almost-perfect state", but there are caveats to that( 4 March, p 35 ). The brain in question was "fixed", or preserved before freezing in glutaraldehyde. This is similar to, but more potent than, the formaldehyde used in embalming fluid. Fixing means …

For argument's sake, let's accept that the long covid case numbers suggested by researcher Hannah Davis and her team are reasonably correct. Their work, we are told, implies 75 million cases worldwide. If it were feasible to do so, breaking this figure down to a local level might show us a different side to long …

Alan Walker criticises the assumptions used to estimate the additional very-long-term emissions produced by having an extra child that imply a rather large carbon footprint. That is fair enough, but we do need to drive home the necessity of urgent cuts( Letters, 18 March ). The new synthesis report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate …