Letters to the Editor

19242

There is another interpretation of the mitochondrial DNA data presented in this article. The data make it clear that the more advanced Cro-Magnon males only mated with Cro-Magnon females; however, there is no evidence that the Cro-Magnon females didn’t mate with the more muscular Neandertal males. Jeff Nicoll and Joan Cartier Washington, D.C. Much mixing […]

19321

Your article was very interesting. While hiking in terrains ranging from midwestern prairies to alpine environments, I’ve seen different forms of buckling due to freezing forces. Though evaporation was given a nod in the article, it too can be a significant force to form patterned ground. In March of 2002, I walked out to the […]

19320

This article could have been a little less disingenuous. It would still have been a very good article if you had used “sulfuric acid” instead of “odorless hydrogen sulfate” and admitted that the process still required a little alkali to neutralize this waste stream that is “carried away by water trickling over the foam.” Jim […]

19319

Your article says, correctly, that our research group performed ultrasound of the main blood vessel of the women’s arms as a measure of vessel-cell function throughout the body. However, we identified women at risk of preeclampsia by performing ultrasound tests to assess blood-flow restriction of arteries in the uterus during the second trimester of pregnancy. […]

19241

I’m doing an elk-calf mortality study in Yellowstone National Park. We can differentiate between scavenging and predation only by such evidence as signs of struggle at the scene, a trail of blood, evidence of a chase, and the pattern of flesh wounds. We cannot make the determination based on bone-consumption pattern alone. Therefore, I question […]

19318

In regard to natural causes of coal fires, another cause not mentioned in the article involves the oxidation of pyrite, an iron sulfide that commonly occurs in coal beds. When oxygenated groundwater percolates through fractures in the coal, the sulfide in pyrite will be oxidized to sulfate. This reaction is exothermic and may produce enough […]

19240

I was diagnosed 12 years ago with Klinefelter’s syndrome, which has as a symptom low testosterone. After starting bimonthly injections of testosterone, I experienced some mild body changes but nothing excessive. I’m nearly 65 but feel like I’m 55. Testosterone may kill me some day by causing prostate cancer, but I’ll gladly take the risk […]

19251

This article says that the S waves travel at about one-half the speed of the P waves. Then, in “Seismic waves resolve continental debate” on page 285 of the same issue (Available to subscribers at Seismic waves resolve continental debate), it would appear that the P waves travel at one-half the speed of the S […]

19250

Regarding this article, consider how many species current Homo sapiens would be divided into using the criteria of paleoanthropologists, considering Pygmies and basketball players. Rick Fisher Richland, Wash.

19249

A mild objection: This article on lichens mentioned that lichens are composed of fungi and algae, a type of protist, as if it were a given that all agree to. While it is true that the majority of taxonomists would classify an alga as a protist, there still are a large number of modern taxonomists […]

19248

This article suggests that exposure to microbes in early life helps develop a child’s immune system. Speaking of dietary habits among 18th-century “Scotch-Irish” immigrants to the back-country regions of colonial America, David Hackett Fischer notes in Albion’s Seed (1989, Oxford University Press): “The quality of butter was believed to be improved in proportion to the […]

19317

This article speaks of a very interesting phenomenon that makes the cloning of primates seemingly impossible. Perhaps the nature of our DNA will resist our attempts to clone it because it was never meant to be cloned. Mark WeilnauSt. Louis, Mo. The article notes that it is “almost impossible to clone a person by using […]