Feelgood factor of human interaction | Brief letters

. UK edition

Dopamine is responsible for many effects, including mood, movement, memory, motivation, attention.
‘In-person meetings and conversations show a dramatic increase in our brains in dopamine.’ Illustration: Jitendra Jadhav/Getty Images

Brief letters: Happy hormones | Fuel costs | Drive-in parking | Guys and girls | Young or old? | Singapore pollution

Re your report (‘Pull the plug’: protesters resort to direct action against AI firms, 6 October), the US neuroscientist Ben Rein has shown that there is a fundamental difference in our cognitive response according to the type of interaction we have. In-person meetings and conversations show a dramatic increase in serotonin, oxytocin and dopamine – “feelgood” hormones – compared with online interactions. I have been encouraged to speak to people at bus stops.
Judith Furner
Eastbourne, East Sussex

• Re easing winter fuel costs (Report, 6 October), it would benefit everyone if the outrageous daily standing charges were reduced or on a sliding scale based on usage. I can’t be the only person whose standing charges each month are half or more than the energy used.
Judith Pearson
Sheffield

• To your tautology anthology (Letters, 5 October) should be added this sign at a farm shop in the Vale of Evesham: “Large drive-in car park.”
Paul Gelling
Prenton, Merseyside

• Far worse than being called “young lady” (Letters, 7 October) is the ubiquitous use of “guys” in the hospitality industry. Stop it.
Megan Parry
Wallingford, Oxfordshire

• At 91, I object to being addressed as “young man”, remembering that when I was actually a young man I was often called “old man”.
Beverley Charles Rowe
London

• Irony corner: air pollution impairs F1 motor racing in Singapore (Report, 6 October).
Martin Datta
Lincoln

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