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Reading the leader article regarding the need for a balance between philosophy and science in expanding our understanding, I was reminded of Richard Feynman's talk on the importance of imagination in scientific exploration ( 16 May, p 3 ). Whether or not he would have used the term philosophy, what Feynman said about the need …

The article "We may have figured out a way to send messages backwards in time" raises an interesting prospect. If given only three words, what would you text back to your younger self? I might pick: Almanac, Somme, Hiroshima ( 9 May, p 8 ). Isaac Newton's gravity made sense of the stability of the …

The article on the theoretical possibility of sending messages back in time via quantum entanglement made me wonder if it might be time to try again with Stephen Hawking's secret time traveller party, but this time at a quantum scale? The reason why we haven't seen messages from the future might be that we haven't …

Your interview with Dave Hone raises something I, an Australian, have long pondered. Our wonderful Macropodidae (kangaroos and wallabies) have graceful and efficient locomotion by bounding on two powerful hind legs, while their two forelimbs are relatively small. This structure looks quite similar to many of the dinosaur family, who also had two powerful hind …

There is a widespread misconception that human consciousness is responsible for the collapse of the wave function as exemplified in Andrew Smyth's comment: "once an observer consciously knows which slit the particle passed through, the situation changes". No, the collapse occurred when an irreversible physical interaction between the particle and the part of the apparatus …

In Graham Lawton's article on red-light therapy, many small-scale studies found red light helpful in treating various ailments, but large-scale trials are wanting. However, even if some of the forthcoming trials show its effectiveness, red-light therapy may not be the best option for many, because we already have a natural alternative in sunlight. Sunlight has …

Regarding the article "The sweet spot of stress", not only is the right kind of stress crucial for health and happiness, the idea of an optimum level of stress may be just as important. In 1980, after taking a new position in information technology, my new boss described his view on workplace pressures. He said …

In the 16 May issue, I read about damming the Bering Strait to prevent the collapse of the AMOC on page 8, and about data centres floating in the ocean on page 11 ( 16 May, p 8 ). Why not kill two birds with one stone and use data centres to dam the strait? …