Letters to the Editor

18987

The discovery that silicon would explode is not news to me. I made a serendipitous discovery over 20 years ago as a computer hobbyist. I discovered that silicon would explode when I accidentally injected 15,000 volts into some integrated circuits designed for 5 volts. Fortunately, the detonations were small and no damage was done to […]

18986

If the stones in this article simply were used for grinding ocher to make powder, would not the grinder rough up the surface to make it a better grindstone? The marks may be nothing more than primitive knurls. Rather than art, this looks like a tool to me, not different in principle from flaked flint. […]

19048

I seem to be missing something when I read articles that refer to the immense pressures at Earth’s core. If the source of gravity is mass and there’s equal mass in all directions at the core, then the core should be suspended in zero gravity. It’s very frustrating for me to get this wrong. Glenn […]

18985

Reading this article, I wondered about other species. I have a golden retriever that licks her legs to the point of making them raw. I had thought it was a nervous habit learned as a puppy, then a previous golden retriever owner told me that it is a trait of the breed. I am now […]

18983

From a cattleman’s perspective, I would like to add to your timely article that besides the benefits that would come to the environment from stopping the use of pharmaceutical growth promoters in cattle, we would also have a more tender product to market. An under-reported side effect of the use of growth stimulants is about […]

18982

I enjoy Science News very much but not the occasional article singing the praises of alcoholic beverages, particularly red wine, as a benefit to the cardiovascular system (“A glass of red may keep the arteries loose,” SN: 1/5/02, p. 8). When the articles become specific concerning the substances that bring the benefit, they refer to […]

18981

Awareness of the geographical distribution of multiple sclerosis makes the Epstein-Barr virus an unlikely agent. Multiple sclerosis is most common in the white population of northern Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. The risk of developing the disease in white populations increases with latitude. In Uganda, multiple sclerosis is rarely seen, while the Epstein-Barr […]

19047

Reading this article was to me like déj vu. In the late 1950s, my late colleague Raoul Naroll concluded that more than 90 percent of the world’s cultures preferred the upright position for giving birth. In my own work with Martha Austin Garrison on Navajo birthing practices, we elicited many comments by older Navajos. Without […]

19046

This article illustrates the importance of astronomical instruments by suggesting that Copernicus was not “proved right” until the development by Tycho Brahe of sophisticated observational tools late in the 16th century. I think this is a misleading example. Tycho’s records did allow his one-time assistant Johannes Kepler to move closer to “proving” Copernicus right, early […]

19045

The methane and carbon monoxide released during charcoal production have short atmospheric lifetimes compared with that of fossil fuel carbon dioxide. In the long run, the net effect of charcoal on the climate is nil because the wood used to produce charcoal was formed from carbon dioxide by photosynthesis. Recommending that nations convert from charcoal […]

18980

Everyone seems to agree that the Tyrannosaurus rex Sue was seriously debilitated with perhaps a lifelong lameness. Peter L. Larson attributes her survival to care and feeding by group members. Is there evidence of group care for the injured among reptiles of any era? Might Sue’s survival be due not to group care but simply […]

18979

The work in this article does show nonlinearity of cell damage from alpha radiation in the dose range studied, but the lowest dose studied (5 percent of all cell nuclei hit) is probably several orders of magnitude above the mean lethal dose for any organism. The researchers need to look at linearity through the dose […]