What You Said About …

THE DANGERS OF MEAT

Jeffrey Kluger’s Nov. 9 cover story on the growing consensus that processed meat can cause cancer prompted Randy Stevens, a doctor from West Terre Haute, Ind., to suggest that medical schools make teaching the dangers a “top priority.” Deborah Elliott of Palisades, Calif., said she believed we should “ditch” meat altogether: It’s high time to “ignore the genetic cravings and reformulate our cultural cues and habits,” she wrote. (Some, however, objected to the idea that such cravings exist. “I have never craved or missed eating meat,” wrote Sherrill Durbin of Mounds, Okla. “On the contrary, veganism opened up a world of foods for me that are so delicious, so satisfying, that I wished I had entered that world decades ago.”) That idea didn’t go down so easily with everyone. “What is breakfast without bacon?” wondered J. Thomas Steele of Hialeah, Fla. “Take my dog … take my guns … but you’ll have to take my crispy bacon from my cold, dead hands!”

IRAN 2025

“They are a great civilization, and they were sleeping for a while. It’s time they wake up,” wrote Aysun Vosvos on Facebook in response to Karl Vick’s Nov. 16 cover story on the future of Iran. Others said that change wasn’t coming fast enough: “Why not before that date?” asked Sila Noureddine, referring to the headline about 2025. Meanwhile, Ralph Russell of Berkeley, Ill., wrote to say that the article skipped an important factor that may shape what the country’s future looks like: a new transport system between China and Pakistan that will soon reach Iran. “China, not the West,” he wrote, “will buy Iran’s oil and may be its biggest outside influence.”

NOW PLAYING

Tech Time, a weekly video series from TIME’s experts, tackles some of the trickiest issues in the fast-moving world of technology–everything from how to play with a recreational drone to how laptop-tablet hybrids like the iPad Pro evolved over the years to how wi-fi works on airplanes. (More on those below.) “Our goal in these videos is to make complicated devices make sense,” says deputy tech editor Alex Fitzpatrick, who hosts the series. Next up: Tech Time will explain how 5G wireless works and why everyone is excited about a new Star Wars game. Find the whole series at time.com/tech-time.

HOW TO PLAY WITH DRONES

Though they have practical uses (like monitoring crops), they’re also surprisingly sophisticated and fun to fly. Retailers expect to sell 1 million this holiday season. But don’t launch near airports or populated areas–and watch your hand near the propeller.

HOW AIRPLANE WI-FI WORKS

Nearly two-thirds of flights over the U.S. now offer an Internet connection. How do they stay online? It involves a sort of cell tower in reverse: signals are sent upward to the belly of the airplane, which houses a receiver and transmitter.

HOW TABLETS HAVE EVOLVED

One of the first tablet-like devices ever imagined appeared in the short story that inspired 2001: A Space Odyssey. Since then, companies have continued to invest (most recently: Apple’s iPad Pro and Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4) despite lagging sales.

Please recycle this magazine and remove inserts or samples before recycling