Letters to the Editor

19185

In response to this article, I’d like to ask why is it that on our campus, native swamp maples growing within 30 feet of one another display totally different leaf color? While I appreciate them aesthetically, I’d also like to understand why their anthocyanin production is different. Marcia WalshNorth Andover, Mass. According to David Lee […]

19145

Your recent article on the exact nature of bubbles in beer and other beverages keyed an old memory. In Cleveland, during Christmas, one brewery used to bring out its holiday oddity for sale. They billed it as “the pale stale ale with the foam on the bottom . . . and the top!” There really […]

19184

In this article, I was surprised to read that chimeras harboring a mutation are not medically useful. Consider the value of cytokine-receptor mutations in humans, with respect to HIV. It’s likely that introducing some genetic mutations can inhibit viruses or bacteria in a host. Freda Wasserstein Robbins New Jersey City University Jersey City, N.J.

19029

Your readers need not wait to do less crying in the kitchen. All you have to do is put the onions in the refrigerator for a half hour or in the freezer for 10 minutes. Daniel F. BarightLebanon, Mo. Another solution is to do the chopping outside. I have found that more turbulent, outside air […]

19028

The picture of the mummified dinosaur was amazing and a bit spooky. It is a great find. Patrick LeaheyGeneva, N.Y.

19135

You report that “the sea squirt has the beginnings of a spinal cord, making it a so-called chordate.” That’s the same mistake I fight against each time I teach my zoology class. What makes a sea squirt a chordate is the notochord in the animal’s larval stage. A notochord is a skeletal component, not a […]

19024

The most profound consequence of the research in this article is that there is no such thing as “now.” Since consciousness is spread out across the brain, and since those centers of brain activity cannot communicate faster than the speed of light, “now” is not the hard point in time we usually imagine. Rick NorwoodJohnson […]

19183

This article seems to contain a few errors. Codons are found on the messenger RNA. Therefore, they can’t contain thymine. They must have uracil, instead. The RNA codon AUG (your ATG) is the only codon for methionine. If it is the “start” codon, how is methionine coded? Nicholas L. Reuter University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio […]

19182

I’ve never been a baboon, but I have been a mom, and consequently a mother baboon’s failure to call out to a separated youngster emitting distress sounds is not a bit puzzling to me. If I heard my toddler wailing on the other side of the road, would I call and say, “Don’t worry, mummy’s […]

19181

Reading your article, I was struck with a question: Do the oxen form a psychological attachment to their oxpeckers (and vice versa)? One way of finding this out would be to observe whether the oxpeckers remain attached to one ox or are fickle partners. Jeff Leer Fairbanks, Alaska

19180

I cannot believe that a clinical trial of a new drug in a field in which there are accepted beneficial therapies would be either proposed as ethical by physicians or accepted by the Food and Drug Administration when containing a control group deprived of that beneficial treatment. For prior approval of the existing beneficial treatment, […]

19179

I’m curious. What’s the significance of the planets sharing the same plane? Isn’t that a coincidence? Robert T. DruryLos Angeles, Calif. It could be coincidence, but the plane that roughly defines the planets’ orbits may indicate the orientation of the protoplanetary disk of gas, dust, and ice that originally surrounded the young sun .–R. Cowen