Letters to the Editor

19368

In this article, the statement is made that personal environmental exposures to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are easily solved. The implication is that if you have a long commute and are thereby exposed to high concentrations of VOCs, you should just quit your job to avoid exposure. I find that completely absurd. Mark PalmerRichland, Wash. […]

19366

I find the language in this article to be judgmental and unscientific. For example, “desert pavement and their biota are wounded by human activity” is neither artistic nor scientific. Such narrow, biased views of ecology have no place in a scientific journal. Boone MoraGarden Valley, Calif.

19367

This article skipped one of the most significant methods for analyzing text for authorship. On March 11, 1887, Thomas Corwin Mendenhall reported in Science a straightforward method of plotting word length versus frequency. The beauty of this method is that it doesn’t depend upon the exercise of judgment on the part of the investigator. Donald […]

19301

This article skipped one of the most significant methods for analyzing text for authorship. On March 11, 1887, Thomas Corwin Mendenhall reported in Science a straightforward method of plotting word length versus frequency. The beauty of this method is that it doesn’t depend upon the exercise of judgment on the part of the investigator. Donald […]

19364

The conclusion does not follow from the data in this article. The possibility was not ruled out that the same inborn trait that causes fear of novelty also hastens aging. A cohort of novelty-averse rats should have been left stressfree to answer this important question. Tom PaskalMontreal, Quebec

19363

This article speculated on the evolutionary origins of thermogenesis and observed how it predominates in ancient lineages of flowering plants like magnolias and water lilies. But thermogenesis goes back much farther than this, for it also occurs in cycads, nonflowering plants that arose in the Paleozoic. The male cones of some cycads, when mature, may […]

19291

This article describes attempts to use ketones as a substitute for glucose when it’s unavailable to the brain because converted fats can’t penetrate the brain. Wouldn’t it be simpler to feed or inject glucose directly? Oliver H. WinnCorona del Mar, Calif. The researchers who conducted the study say that giving glucose might help in some […]

19362

Your article uses the words “placebo therapies such as supportive counseling.” I think that people in the profession and people who have been paying for such therapy would disagree with the characterization. Also, the various permutations of treatment covered in the article didn’t include a very common one: drugs without any serious counseling. In such […]

19361

This article describes the use of the mosquito-borne Sindbis virus to kill cancer cells in lab dishes and mice. It would be interesting to determine whether the human population of the Egyptian town of Sindbis exhibits a reduced incidence of certain cancers. Perhaps large-scale efforts directed toward elimination of the mosquito in populated areas are […]

19290

Unfortunately your article got something wrong in describing the reshaping of aircraft surfaces. It states, “The recently retired supersonic commercial transport, the Concorde, tilted its nose downward for subsonic flight.” This is not the (whole) truth because the reason for this reshaping was not to reduce air drag, but to achieve a far-better view of […]

19289

Nice to know that someone is scanning kids’ skulls for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The essential problem with this sort of thing is that psychology and psychiatry are descriptive endeavors and particularly flexible when it comes to describing ADHD. It’s unlikely that all the behaviors associated with the syndrome have a common physiologic structure. This […]

19288

Your article states, “There are about 4.14 kilograms of carbon in a gallon of gasoline, says Dukes.” If he actually said that, this would seem to qualify this gasoline as an “alternative fuel,” since a gallon of ordinary gasoline is only about 2.5 kilograms in mass. Perhaps Dukes meant 4.14 pounds of carbon per gallon. […]