Letters to the Editor

19326

As a regular platelet-aphaeresis donor, I was alarmed by your article. I would be very curious to know if the standard tubing and centrifuge harness used for aphaeresis contain DEHP. During an aphaeresis session, roughly half the blood of the donor passes through a centrifuge to be relieved of platelets before being returned to the […]

19254

It’s appropriate that research into the genes for caffeine in tea and coffee plants should be done at Ochanomizu University in Tokyo. The university is named for the Ochanomizu district of Tokyo, a name that literally means tea water. The name arose in the early 17th century, when the second Tokugawa shogun took such a […]

19253

I have always been fascinated by the subject of this article. I have a simple question: Is there a definitive set of standards (physical or behavioral or both) that defines modern Homo sapiens? Lew RobertsFranklin Square, N.Y. No. This is a topic that inspires much discussion and debate .–B. Bower

19252

Your article says that Robert R. Leben of the University of Colorado operates a Web site that monitors the positions of Gulf of Mexico eddies, but it doesn’t give the Web site. It would be most valuable to the millions of us who live along the gulf. Roy P. FinneyWeeki Wachee, Fla. Two sites you […]

19164

This article reports that, wearing a gecko-inspired glove, “a person could dangle from the ceiling.” How would that person let go? David D. JonesSt. Paul, Minn. The microscopic hairs on a gecko’s feet stick only when the angle at which they meet the surface is just right. To unstick its feet, a gecko peels them […]

19244

Your article noted that “. . . with food in it, a pan will never reach temperatures that produce toxic PTFE-derived gases.” However, to fry items like eggs and pancakes, the pan has to be hot before you put oil and food into it. The article was enough to send me out to replace my […]

19325

While the report of ballistic testing of bacteria is a fascinating study of bacterial survival, I’d be more concerned about the effects of severe extremes of heat, cold, and vacuum on the survival of bacterial spores. As the study stands, we’re still left wondering about these other important factors. Jon OngWoodland Hills, Calif. Bacteria can […]

19324

This short piece didn’t say how self-esteem was assessed. Overdeveloped egotism is often a compensatory phenomenon in individuals with low self-esteem and can falsely present as high self-esteem. Self-reported self-regard taken at face value can lead to wrong conclusions about the effects of different levels of self-esteem on behavior, perception, relationships, and other aspects of […]

19035

I find the ideas promulgated in this article deeply disturbing. The idea of pulling out a couple of chemicals and standardizing them is a turning away from the holism that herbal remedies represent. This is the very essence of the complaint against conventional pharmaceuticals and why people are turning to herbals. That there is a […]

19243

The discovery that humans share 99.4 percent of their genetic sequences with chimps does not make chimps like us in any meaningful sense or lower “humanity’s pedestal” in the slightest degree. In some 5 million years on Earth the sum total of chimps’ cultural achievements has been exactly 0. In only 200,000 years, modern humans […]

19323

For those of us who know how to draw and understand the varieties of linear perspective, David Hockney’s proposal that the old masters used optical aids rings true. One of his examples will suffice: The uncanny accuracy of difficult-to-depict patterns in folding cloth in works of the early 1400s is an indication that optical aids […]

19322

Your article neglects the most difficult problem associated with sending a probe to the vicinity of Earth’s core: sending the information back. Even a few feet of earth will stop conventional radio waves. Extra-low-frequency transmissions would do the job, but a transmission could take years. Augusto Soux San Diego, Calif. David J. Stevenson of the […]