Letters
By Science News
A little gravity “Britain’s biggest meteorite strike” (SN: 4/12/08, p. 238) states that “gravitational anomalies” make an offshore area a prime candidate as the possible impact site of a meteorite. Wouldn’t that be magnetic anomalies instead? If it is a gravitational anomaly, I would sure like an article on that alone! Thanks for the great magazine. PETER LINDSAY, SEATTLE, WASH. The craters from extraterrestrial impacts can create measurable gravitational as well as magnetic anomalies (SN: 6/15/02, p. 378), albeit exceedingly small ones. For the area off the Scottish coast, the local gravitational field is only 0.0013 percent lower than it is over nearby, presumably undisturbed, rocks, the researchers tell Science News. —SID PERKINS Good food for thought I really enjoyed the article “What’s Cookin’” on molecular gastronomy (SN: 3/29/08, p. 202). I am a chowhound and cook, so there was honestly little in the article that I didn’t already know, but it was a very well written, concise and comprehensive feature article—just what I look to Science News for. I can refer my friends to it—many have had trouble understanding the molecular gastronomy movement and think of it as some sort of popular fad. This article should help them out. DAVID APPLEMAN, TEWKSBURY, MASS. Worst of both Regarding “Shifting priorities at the wheel” (SN: 5/10/08, p. 7): For a number of years I have listened to (tried to listen to) lectures on CDs while driving. I quickly discovered that I would have to backtrack a CD when I was in a situation where I had to truly focus on my driving. I realized it was wisest to try to listen to spoken messages only when driving on major highways when traffic was not congested. The evidence keeps building that we are fooling ourselves if we think we can multitask without sacrificing attention, information acquisition or understanding. CLINTON BROOKS, GLEN MILL, PA.