Letters to the Editor

19171

After reading this article, I couldn’t believe that the manuscript didn’t identify the chemical substance involved. Eck Prud’hommeFort Worth, Texas The amino acid mentioned in the story is p -aminophenylalanine .–J. Gorman

19208

I wonder whether researchers offer any recommendations based on a difference in effect between ingesting vitamin A and beta-carotene. Do people who consume large amounts of yellow vegetables, for example, put themselves at risk? Mary A. TurzilloBerea, Ohio Yellow fruits and vegetables contain large amounts of the vitamin A precursor beta-carotene. However, says Margo Denke […]

19170

Researchers’ conclusions in this article that there is a “need to revisit controversial claims about the health benefits and risks of bed sharing for babies” seem to me to miss the point. The health benefits and risks of any sleeping environment should be of concern. Focusing solely on bed sharing implies that crib use is […]

19161

You are usually pretty good at explaining things to those of us outside the hard sciences, but the speed of gravity? Speed of light OK, but what is the speed of gravity? Robert L. SchragNorth Carolina State UniversityRaleigh, N.C. An object with mass creates a gravitational field around itself. Imagine that the object moves; then, […]

19160

I found the “stats” about blood donors and patients in this article misleading, with the implication that 8 million volunteer donors are more than enough for 4.5 million patients. A comparison of how many people donate blood during their lives and how many people need blood donations during theirs might have been more informative. We […]

19207

The negotiators of the global persistent organic pollutants (POPs) treaty will include country-specific exemptions for continued use of DDT for malaria control in the approximately two dozen countries still using it. Nevertheless, your article also notes that DDT may soon be unavailable in many malaria-stricken regions. To address this concern, countries should consider some form […]

19206

Your article has a picture of a “deer stone.” On it are engraved designs of reindeer that bear an astonishing resemblance to a tattoo borne by the 2,400-year old mummy discovered in 1993 in central Asia. Was this noticed by the researchers? Michelle BlanchardOlympia, Wash. Absolutely. William Fitzhugh, an expedition leader, says he was struck […]

19159

I read your article with great interest. There was a minor emergence of periodical cicadas this year in the area. However, despite what the article says, I don’t believe it was a brood emerging 4 years early. In 1983, 4 years before the last major emergence, there was a similar minor emergence. The 2000 emergence […]

19219

We’re not surprised they found sugar in the middle of a Milky Way! Gayle Hunt and David Dawson Seattle, Wash.

19176

Your article tells us there are 65 times fewer deaths per mile traveled in flying commercial aircraft than in driving. Fear of being killed in traveling is, I submit, based not on safety per mile traveled but on safety per trip taken. Further, fear of flying is based on the manner of death. If cars, […]

19218

Thank you for the article about the wild Bactrian camel. However, one false impression needs correction. The Wild Camel Protection Foundation (WCPF) is not planning a program of captive wild camel embryo transfer in order to release the offspring into the wild. The program’s immediate aim is to increase the number of captive wild stock […]

19217

Sorry to be paranoid, but if the technology exists to make scratches on bullets that are exact duplicates for use in testing, does not the ability also exist to produce a bullet supposedly from a shooting victim that’s an exact match to one fired from your gun? Harold ReedMilledgeville, Ga. Fingerprints and DNA are useful […]