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I enjoyed Rowan Hooper's revisitation of the great origins-of-life theories, in particular Freeman Dyson's idea that biochemistry preceded cell biology on the primordial Earth. A key component of Lynn Margulis's endosymbiosis model was the acquisition of photosynthetic bacteria by proto-cells, making it possible for plant cells to fix carbon into glucose ( 30 May, p …

Hooper's article suggests that life may be similar wherever it arises. Other pieces in New Scientist have concluded that there was a single origin of life, and therefore a last universal common ancestor (LUCA). If life is similar wherever and whenever it arises, then perhaps there were several indistinguishable origins of life at different times …

Your look at coral regeneration projects states that rehabilitating just 10 per cent of the 11,700 square kilometres of coral reefs degraded between 2009 and 2018 could cost up to $17 trillion. Given that, at best, this would be only a partial, short-term mitigation, it would make more sense to apply such huge resources (if …

I see that Paul Bowden has planned out a journey to the TRAPPIST-1 system. If it were a round trip, it would take 15 years on board and 80 years on Earth. Paul doesn't mention exotic sci-fi forms of propulsion, so I assume he envisages some sort of rocket motor capable of burning continuously for …

You report that births in the UK followed seasonal patterns for much of the 20th century, peaking in the spring. But I think one main factor may have been omitted: the tax rules at that time ( 23 May, p 4 ). My parents got married at the beginning of April 1948. At that time, …

New Scientist often reminds us of the potential damage from large space storms. But far less extreme solar and power grid phenomena can still wreak domestic havoc ( 6 June, p 14 ). Take one occasion where my dishwasher failed to empty, for example. I could find no blockage. Then I realised that flickering lights …

The article about fields reminded me of my undergraduate days. When Chanda Prescod-Weinstein writes that a field is a mathematical relation that "assigns a number to each point in space and time", she is, of course, correct. Novice electrical engineers were expected to accept this as a matter of faith, something I found challenging ( …

Aren't T. rex' s small arms a question of balance? A bipedal theropod would have balanced over its hip joints. If its skull was enlarging due to evolutionary pressure, as described, then this increased mass would be counterbalanced by a heavier or longer tail. The evolution of lighter arms would keep the increasing weight of …

T. rex developed these features for deception, so as to look relatively ‘armless. For the record Paul Erdős conjectured that the maximum number of connections in the planar unit distance problem would grow only slightly larger than the number of points, as you added more points to the grid (30 May, p 6).