Letters to the Editor

19110

I’m glad to see that other mathematicians are working on the fair-division problem. The challenge is not so much with the optimizing-allocating procedures or algorithms but with how to explain the process and results in a way that is satisfying, understandable, and binding to the participants without seeming to benefit some distant party, like the […]

19108

This article, in which among other things you gave a description of William’s syndrome, really surprised me. I said to myself, I know a boy like that. I finished the article and called the boy’s parents to see if they had ever heard about this genetic syndrome. They hadn’t. Numerous health-care providers had failed to […]

19107

Your article seems to imply that there is something worse about spending 10 hours a week surfing the Web than other pastimes. Why isn’t 10 hours a week spent reading books, watching television, doing crossword puzzles, listening to music, or other solitary hobbies just as “socially isolating”? The sports fan who watches 10 hours of […]

19106

If large black holes are at the heart of most galaxies and they are dark by definition and we have no way to tell what their size is, couldn’t they be hiding enough mass to make up the missing mass in the universe? Georges KaufmanTampa, Fla. A central black hole would not cause the visible […]

19104

In this article Swedish scientists report finding “as much as 200 µg/kg [of acrylamide] in mashed potatoes,” while stating in a subsequent paragraph that boiling potatoes “appeared to generate none.” I am curious to know how they make mashed potatoes in Sweden. I always boil mine. Paul NelsonHouston, Texas You state that boiled potatoes have […]

19105

As a trainer of tracking dogs, I was interested in your article about attempts to duplicate electronically the scenting ability of dogs. Even if these expensive, high-tech artificial dog noses are successful, however, they are not likely to be of much benefit to the “62 countries worldwide” strewn with “more than 100 million land mines.” […]

19103

Your article on microbial-efflux-pump research immediately caused me to relate the phenomenon to immune system response. Have the researchers considered the possibility of such a response triggering the formation of efflux pumps, either specific to the triggering “foreign” body or to a group of bodies similar to the cow pox-small pox link? Robert E. HubbardWinter […]

19102

We’ve seen many expositions about the risk and danger of radiofrequency emissions from cell-phone antennae. As a bystander to the whole issue, I don’t understand why the manufacturers don’t design the phones so the antenna comes out by the mouthpiece. First, it would be a more natural location for grabbing and extending, and second, it […]

19101

Hickling and Lee, whose work was described in this article, might consider a piezoelectric crystal as a point-source speaker. One would need to figure out a proper coupling-to-substrate scheme to separate the acoustic and substrate vibrational pathways. Yves KrausMansfield Center, Conn.

19100

This article mentions that “toxicology studies suggest that crabs, birds, rodents, and cats face little risk from the baits.” Acetaminophen in fact is lethal to cats. Cats may be safe, however, because of their preference for live food. John WeissDallas, Texas

19099

Other species recognize the different meanings in dogs’ barks, as well. I lived for several years next to a wonderful habitat for ducks. I fed the ducks cracked corn, and my Doberman pinscher would call them. The ducks only came to his “The human has food” bark. They didn’t respond to the “I hate bicycles” […]

19098

Many research scientists don’t realize to what purpose much of their seemingly innocuous information may be put. Many weapons had their inception from otherwise humanitarian efforts. If I may engage in a little hyperbole, would you have condoned the free exchange of atomic information in the early 1940s? Dana PelletierLynn, Mass. The obvious conclusion to […]