Letters to the Editor

19282

That draining wetlands leads to a greater likelihood of frosts and freezes in southern Florida was noted nearly a century ago. In The Commodore’s Story (1930, R. Munroe and V. Gilpin, Washburn), Ralph Munroe commented that “the ‘frost line’ moved spasmodically down the state as drainage decreased the water area and apparently influenced the temperature.” […]

19357

In this article, the white cliffs of Dover are offered as a “notable example” of the precipitated carbonate deposits some have expected to find had Mars been wet and warm in the past. The Dover chalks are an unfortunate choice for comparison because they’re composed primarily of the calcitic remains of microscopic marine phytoplankton. As […]

19281

This article cites reports that the shape of the universe is that of a soccer ball. An image in the article shows that the soccer ball appears as a mirror image of itself when viewed through each of its faces. If the universe were a finite bubble and there were an infinite number of universe […]

19356

A simpler explanation for ancient humans’ use of red ocher might be cosmetics, much as in modern mortuary practice. A dusting of red ocher would offset the blue pallor that results when blood flow ceases. No deep, dark symbolism was necessarily involved. Virgil H. SouleFrederick, Md. Any mortuary practice involves symbolism. Simply burying a person’s […]

19355

In 1993, Israeli physicist Moti Milgrom showed an adjustment to the way gravity is calculated that would make dark matter go away in Newton’s system for calculating gravity. If Milgrom’s math were used in the survey for dark matter in your article, would it also make dark matter go away? O. Frank TurnerWestminster Colo. Most […]

19354

It is quite sad that your otherwise-excellent publication systematically fails to report error bars in your reports. Time and again I read articles and am left wondering whether the effect reported is even statistically significant. As just one example, this article said that the rate of subsequent infection from breast milk dropped from 12 percent […]

19353

The decline in delinquency, violence, disobedience, and truancy seen in the Cherokee children is quite predictable, and I doubt it has much to do with increased parental supervision. The lack of money is a powerful factor in the lives of many parents, increasing spousal and child abuse. It is this variable (frequently getting hit) that […]

19352

This article makes no mention of the type of magnetic insoles used–multipolar phased array or bipolar–nor the strength. I suffer from peripheral neuropathy, and a set of multipolar-phased-array-type magnetic insoles has been the only effective treatment. James WhiteHillsboro, Ore. The researchers used insoles containing a magnet with a bipolar multiple circular array, with a surface […]

19351

Your article discusses the disease in Inuit men in arctic Alaska, Greenland, and Canada. Given the way temperature affects sperm production in the testicles, have the investigators considered any differences in hormone production between these men and populations in warmer climates? Not to say that diet isn’t the key factor, but the geography gave me […]

19350

The proposed Policy Market Analysis (PAM) project might be useful if it sparks interest in market limitations. The stock market may have quickly determined who was to blame for the Challenger disaster, but it didn’t predict the disaster. An unexamined problem with the PAM plan is the presence of a superpower that can game the […]

19280

I feel that there is a major factor that nobody takes into account when modern people set out to replicate possible ancient voyages. It is that they’re attempting to get from point A to point B, which they know exists, but ancient seafarers weren’t. Setting off from Timor on a 600-mile voyage without knowing whether […]

19279

Your article didn’t include even a hint about the controversy about the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Many people believe that Raymond Damadian should have gotten at least a share in the prize. Damadian saw and demonstrated the potential for using MRI as a medical-scanning technique when others found the idea laughable. David L. […]