Stephen Hawking’s Hitchhiker’s legacy | Brief letters

Genetic determinism | Stephen Hawking | Mnemonics | Empty nesters

Brian and Deborah Charlesworth, and Anthony Gordon (Letters, 12 March), correctly clarify that geneticists have for many years avoided the stronger claims of genetic determinism. But they are missing the point regarding the origins of "race science". The issue is not whether DNA interacts with the environment in individuals, it is whether DNA is the sole transmitter of inheritance. There is abundant evidence that it is not. It is the relevant sense of determinism or non-determinism that is in question. The word "determinism" in isolation doesn't mean very much.
Denis Noble
Oxford

" It is an entirely fitting tribute that Professor Stephen Hawking will continue to star posthumously in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Hexagonal Phase. Who else knew more about life, the universe and everything?
Austen Lynch
Garstang, Lancashire