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This article discusses the reasons why some flowers close up at night while others stay open. The timing of flower opening often relates to the pollinators they hope to attract, with bees and hoverflies being active during the day and moths being active at night. Flowers may close at night to protect nectar from thieves, prevent pollen from getting wet, and control temperature. Additionally, some flowers open at night and remain open all the time, producing perfume only at night. The article also explains the accuracy of atomic clocks, stating that the claim of a clock ticking for 40 billion years without losing a second is a metaphor to convey its accuracy. Lastly, the article mentions the possibility of creating microscopic atomic bombs and the potential use of matter-antimatter weapons in science fiction and space travel. [Extracted from the article]

This article discusses the potential need to recalculate contour lines and spot heights on maps as average sea levels rise. It explains that height above mean sea level is just one measure of height, with others being the height above a perfect ellipsoid and the height above the geoid. The article also mentions that the mean sea level figure for the UK was calculated by the Ordnance Survey in the early 20th century and that the meridian line at Greenwich Observatory is in the wrong place due to errors in the original calculation. Additionally, the article briefly touches on the topic of vertigo in animals and humans, as well as the phenomenon of duvet covers collecting other items in the washing machine. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the question of whether the evolution of intelligence is inevitable once life is established. Different perspectives are presented, with some arguing that intelligence is not necessarily inevitable and others arguing that it is. The article explores the factors that may contribute to the development of intelligence, such as the need to hunt and evade predators, energy efficiency, and competition among individuals. The article also briefly touches on the topic of human hairlessness and provides different hypotheses for why humans are not covered in hair like other primates. [Extracted from the article]

When I read a word that I don't know how to pronounce, I can't remember it. Why do I need to be able to pronounce a word for my brain [...]

Why are the front wheels of my car always much dirtier than the rear ones? Guy Cox Sydney, Australia I suppose Rob Janes [who posed this question] normally drives forwards, [...]

This document is a collection of letters from readers published in New Scientist. The letters cover a range of topics, including the idea of terraforming Mars, the impact of screen time on children, the taste of the dodo bird, the classification of human and post-primate species, fairness in sports, the benefits of domestic work for exercise, the direction of time, weight-loss medication for children, the concept of artificial intelligence, and the potential of kangaroos to reduce livestock methane emissions. The letters offer diverse perspectives on these subjects and provide insights for further exploration. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses how ancient Britons may have measured the length of days to accurately place the Heel Stone at Stonehenge to mark the solstices. It is suggested that they observed where the furthest north or south sunrise occurred on the solstices. They may have tracked and measured the minimum length of the sun's shadow and observed the sun and moon's different positions each day. The article also explores the possibility of using machine learning to communicate with whales and dolphins, highlighting the challenges and ethical considerations involved. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses why many spring flowers are yellow and why other colors, such as blues and reds, appear later. The first flowers of spring are often white or yellow because they are pollinated by insects, particularly flies, which are attracted to contrast and light colors. Yellow pigment is also cheaper to produce in energy terms. Different colors attract different pollinators, such as butterflies and bees. The article also briefly mentions the impact of a potential collision between the Milky Way and another galaxy on Earth, stating that it would likely have no significant effect on day-to-day life. [Extracted from the article]

This article discusses the weight and mass of Earth and explores what would happen if more mass were added to it. The mass of Earth is approximately 6 × 10^24 kilograms, and its weight depends on the local gravitational field strength. Adding more mass to Earth would initially cause it to get bigger, but eventually, the pressure in the deep interior would compress the material, causing Earth to shrink. If Earth were to exceed the Chandrasekhar limit of 1.4 solar masses, it would collapse and form something similar to a neutron star. However, increasing its mass enough could potentially turn Earth into a star. The article also addresses the security of modern car key fobs, explaining that they use an encrypted rolling number system, making it highly unlikely for one fob to unlock another car. [Extracted from the article]

17 June, p 14 From Guy Cox, Sydney, Australia Researcher Matilda Brindle is quoted as calling masturbation a seemingly 'costly sexual behaviour that's very much a solo activity'. Female masturbation [...]

In Spain recently, in temperatures around 34[degrees]C, the ice cubes in my drink took far longer to melt compared with at home, where it is much colder. Why the difference? [...]

6 May, p 43 From Guy Cox, Sydney, Australia While I applaud the work of those aiming to predict earthquakes, the 'mysterious' phenomena you report can perhaps be explained by [...]

This document is a collection of letters published in New Scientist. The topics covered include the negative impact of solar energy on agricultural land, the limitations of artificial intelligence in understanding human experiences, the need for solar panels in air conditioning installations, the importance of uniting global tribes through science and religion, the potential misuse of funds for fusion experiments, concerns about the recyclability of cool fabric for clothing, the safety of alcohol consumption, a proposal for a friendship campaign, the challenge of proving the absence of consciousness, the drawbacks of Dyson spheres, and contact information for submitting letters to the magazine. [Extracted from the article]

11 February, p 36 From Guy Cox, Sydney, Australia There seem to be two glaring omissions in the assessment of energy use for the 2000-watt challenge. I live off-grid and [...]

This document is a collection of letters from readers of New Scientist magazine. The letters cover a range of topics, including the aggression of bonobos compared to chimps, the need for social change to reduce anxiety in children, the demographic problem of falling birth rates, the interpretation of quantum decisions, the impact of arthritis on aging, the benefits of spending time alone, the state of marine conservation in the UK, and the role of pheromones in human behavior. The letters provide diverse perspectives on these subjects and offer insights and suggestions for further exploration. [Extracted from the article]

This document is a collection of letters from readers published in New Scientist. The topics discussed include the possibility of artificial intelligences having empathy, the overlooked concern of sports-related concussions, the harmonic intervals in music, habituation to the dire state of the world, the removal of microplastics from tap water, the limitations of exercise as a treatment for post-viral conditions, and the use of tree staking in urban environments. The letters provide diverse perspectives on these subjects, offering insights and raising important questions for further exploration. [Extracted from the article]

This document is a collection of letters from readers published in the New Scientist. The topics discussed include the evolution of menopause, resistance to menstrual labels in the US, the long-term survival of humans, the use of artificial intelligence in the search for extraterrestrial life, the impact of free buses on motor traffic, the neglect of women's health issues, the relationship between moon gravity and consciousness, and solutions to hydrogen fuel problems. The letters provide diverse perspectives on these subjects and offer insights into various scientific and societal issues. [Extracted from the article]

Also, Venus's surface gravity is similar to that on Earth and to get back home, you would be going up the sun's "gravity gradient" (or on a long, roundabout gravitational slingshot journey). Would it be theoretically possible to build a large habitable dome on the surface of Venus, one of the most inhospitable places in the solar system? Anna Butcher, Brookton, Western Australia We know time slows down as gravity increases, so is the speed of light in high gravity different from its speed in low gravity?. [Extracted from the article]

Robert Stuart San Francisco, California, US Do dogs know that other dogs are dogs just by looking at them? " We have no way of knowing how or if a dog "recognises" another dog as being different from its owner" This week's new questions On the small side Is there a limit to how small an adult arthropod can be? The back pages Two of a kind How do dogs recognise that another animal is also a dog when there is such a vast array of canine shapes and sizes?. [Extracted from the article]

The finding was that open windows were more efficient than air conditioning when the car was travelling at or below about 40 mph (64 km/h), but air conditioning was more efficient than open windows above that velocity. More modern versions are rather more efficient, but in the UK, some entry-level car air conditioning systems still operate the compressor at maximum cooling. Blow or chill Driving in summer, I can cool my car by using air conditioning or opening the windows. [Extracted from the article]

Vegetables and fruits were used, of course, and honey appears as complementary food during the weaning process for many societies, possibly for both its caloric richness and its medicinal properties. Globalisation has vastly increased the range of specific foods we eat, but the broad food groups remain much the same as in preindustrial, even prehistoric, times. Solid ground If 21st-century babies are weaned on a globalised diet that has only recently been available, what was used to wean babies in prehistoric times?. [Extracted from the article]

Of course, it isn't that the shadow actually has negative weight, rather, the sunlight's downward pressure has apparent weight and you have blocked that. Given that force is the rate of change of momentum, the transfer of momentum will press the object down, increasing its apparent weight. Light consists of photons, which have no rest mass but do have energy, so they can exert a force on whatever they hit. [Extracted from the article]

This document is a collection of letters from readers published in the New Scientist. The letters cover a range of topics, including the use of AI to address climate change and biodiversity loss, the validity of scientific theories regarding sperm propulsion, concerns about the impact of chatbots on critical thinking, the influence of language on mindset, the care of plants without the use of sprays, the historical prevalence of zoonotic pathogens and their potential for transmission to humans, the impact of the closure of a car factory on South Australia's electricity grid, the role of open debate in exposing falsehoods, and the consumption of ultra-processed foods. [Extracted from the article]

Garry Trethewey Arkaroola, South Australia Assuming the sun had ignited, the first sunrise on Earth was the first day that the planet existed. The back pages Early riser When was the first sunrise on Earth? But actually, from Earth, we can see Mercury and Venus line up in four possible combinations (each planet on either side of the sun), so we can adopt about 10 years as the average line-up time. [Extracted from the article]

The other three squares neighbouring the white dot must have white diagonals, and then the pairs of tiles remaining next to the black dots must have black diagonals. Note that a cyclist going at a moderate cycling speed (MET 7.5) will burn around twice as many calories as someone walking at a moderate walking speed (MET 3.5), but, of course, the cyclist is going much faster and further. The formula for these values is MET × weight (kg) × time (hours) = calories burned (kilocalories). [Extracted from the article]

Mars colonists may be more radical and use a Martian decimal time system, in other words, divide the Martian day into 10 hours and the hours into 100 minutes. Since the Viking craft reached the planet in 1976, Mars landers have used clocks that divide a Mars day, or sol, into 24 "Martian hours". Too much time If humans colonised Mars, how would they calculate time, as a Martian day is longer than one on Earth?. [Extracted from the article]

Mercury stays within 23 degrees of the sun, so the probability of that alignment of Jupiter and Saturn being less than 1 degree from Mercury is about 1 in 80 (1.25 per cent). When Jupiter and Saturn align, it can be anywhere from 0 to 360 degrees away from Mercury, but in every great conjunction one alignment occurs within about 80 degrees of the sun. This is the frequency for Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn being within 1 degree of Mercury when Jupiter and Saturn line up exactly. [Extracted from the article]

Doubling up Why do some of our organs come in pairs, such as kidneys, whereas we only have one heart, one liver etc? Paired lung buds emerge, projecting into each side of the ribcage, while several liver buds emerge, fusing together into a single organ. Organs that are formed from the somites, such as the kidneys, ovaries, testes and eyes, appear as pairs. [Extracted from the article]

David Marlin Equine exercise physiologist, Cambridge, UK Horses are herd animals. When a horse finds itself surrounded by other horses all intent on running in one direction, its simple instinct is to respond to the "danger" pursuing them and to strive not to be that final doomed straggler. "Wild horses are herd animals whose main defence against attack by predators is to run. [Extracted from the article]

If you should go down to the woods today 23 September, p 20 From Hillary Shaw, Newport, Shropshire, UK Biophobia may stem from many sources. Editor's pick The new climate message: procrastination is OK 30 September, p 13 From Rod Newbery, Cambridge, UK UK prime minister Rishi Sunak says it is OK to carry on installing gas boilers until 2035 because the lifetime of these devices means most of them will be replaced by 2050, when the country has pledged to reach net zero. In addition, the caption with the Daphne Prairie Preserve image should have referred to a planned solar facility near prairie land outside Mount Vernon, Texas. [Extracted from the article]

The white roof fan club is getting bigger Letters, 2 September From Robert Checchio, Dunellen, New Jersey, US Reader Geoff Hammond might not see white roofs where he lives in the UK, but here in the US they aren't uncommon, or at least they are a choice. Or the close pass of its planet to a star may have increased the temperature and pressure of magma so much that it fired a rod of frozen lava upwards from a volcano fast enough to escape from a small planet. I have tried to reverse-engineer this claim using rainfall data and crop yields, and this is only explicable on the basis that every drop of rain that falls on a plantation is somehow taken out of circulation. [Extracted from the article]

Editor's pick Going with the lottery herd could cost you dear 5 August, p 14 From Andrew Mounter, Alston, Cumbria, UK The idea of UK National Lottery ticket numbers that mathematically guarantee a win of some kind every time you play perked my interest. That quantum computer wormhole is far from real 12 August, p 40 From Gerard Buzolic, Coolum Beach, Queensland, Australia Philip Ball writes of physicists puzzled over when a simulation of a physical entity, such as a wormhole, in a quantum computer is actually real. Bias in science is dwarfed by that in wider society 5 August, p 21 From Geoff Harding, Sydney, Australia Dan Levitt writes about the issue of cognitive bias in science. [Extracted from the article]

All hail the new drugs for treatment of obesity 15 July, p 32 From Jon Arch, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, UK I spent much of my career trying to discover drugs to treat obesity. Editor's pick AI's advances really aren't quite as great as we think 29 July, p 32 From Eric Kvaalen, Les Essarts-le-Roi, France The article on using artificial intelligence to tackle scientific challenges paints too rosy a picture of its accomplishments up to now. The matrix multiplication methods found by AI only achieve a 10 to 20 per cent improvement for certain small matrices and only when using certain hardware. [Extracted from the article]

Snail double I found a snail (pictured below) in my garden carrying an extra shell on its back. This energy may be absorbed as heat, meaning that the photon no longer exists, or it may be momentarily contained by an excited electron, which then releases it as a new photon of transmitted, reflected or scattered light, depending on the material. Things get complicated when thinking about the photons before they were reflected by the scene around you, because it isn't clear that reflected photons are the same entities as incident ones. [Extracted from the article]

Do spiders survive if thrown from a height out of a window? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editor's pick The moment is upon us to change tack on the climate 24 June, p 8 From Michael Graham, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK As Madeleine Cuff reports, 2023 is shaping up to be the hottest year on record: global warming is being exacerbated by El Niño conditions and the temperature of the oceans is particularly alarming. 17 June, p 44 From Cos Harnasz, Budapest, Hungary James Wong describes the detrimental effects of caffeine on plants as a result of putting used coffee grounds on the soil of one's garden. Ancient Egyptians tried "new" cancer treatment 24 June, p 40 From Alex McDowell, London, UK Fighting cancer with bacteria predates even William Coley's work of the late 1800s. [Extracted from the article]

France takes a different line over ADHD drugs 6 May, p 38 From Larry Stoter, The Narth, Monmouthsire, UK France, which is more resistant to the influence of pharmaceutical companies, tells a different story on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Lab-grown meat can be environmentally sound 13 May, p 11 From Liz Specht, The Good Food Institute, Washington DC, US Scientists developing cultivated meat agree that R&D-scale methods won't work for large- scale production. To deliver on cultivated meat's potential to help satisfy growing demand for meat, reduce climate impacts and create space for more sustainable farming, governments must develop sustainable, large- scale production. [Extracted from the article]

As one of the researchers says, an AI ToM won't be like our ToM, so the actions and judgements resulting from that won't be the same either. Editor's pick Is space telescope seeing evidence for exotic theory? Even with theory of mind, AIs will still seem odd 18 February, p 46 From Steve Dalton, Chipstead, Kent, UK I enjoyed your look at AI theory of mind (ToM), related research and the promise of smarter AI assistants as a result of this work. [Extracted from the article]