Letters to the Editor
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Letters
To their credit In Tom Siegfried’s article, “The Top 10 science news stories since time began” (SN: 1/2/10, p. 2), No. 5 is “Watson and Crick elucidate DNA’s double helix structure, 1953.” I am annoyed that, as usual in articles about the early understanding of DNA, Rosalind Franklin’s name has been left off. Even Watson […]
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Letters
Snack addicts The experiment outlined in “Junk food turns rats into addicts” (SN: 11/21/09, p. 8) seems to have overlooked an ingredient list. The junk foods fed to the rats were junky, to be sure, but which foods were the most addictive? Many junk foods are filled with alarming amounts of things like monosodium glutamate. […]
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Letters
Thinking animals An interesting article, but the question of human consciousness seems no closer to solution in “Humans wonder, anybody home?” by Susan Gaidos (SN: 12/19/09, p. 22) than it did in Julian Jaynes’ The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind of 1976. It seems to me that all the mental […]
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Letters
Well-tooled apes The fascinating article “Aping the Stone Age” (SN: 11/21/09, p. 24) led me to wonder whether researchers who work with chimps or other higher apes have ever introduced them to the modern tools used by humans, such as saws, axes, hammers or pliers. If so, it would be interesting to know whether the […]
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Letters
Outsized beaver Accompanying your recent article about giant extinct beavers (“Ancient beavers did not eat trees,” SN: 11/21/09, p. 10), there is an illustration that seems to show that the extinct beaver was about twice the length of a present-day beaver. I measured each from nose to the base of the tail rather than to […]
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Letters
Plan for a long stay Lawrence Krauss’ idea of staying permanently on Mars (SN: 10/10/09, p.4) is fascinating, but criticism by John F. Fay and Jeffry Mueller (Feedback, SN: 11/21/09 p.29) missed important information. Krauss too missed the best of all scientific comparisons. Regarding the travel to the American continent by the Pilgrims: the “capital […]
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Letters
Jovian scars Page 8 of the August 29, 2009, Science News shows a dark impact scar on Jupiter’s surface. Similar dark areas appeared when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hit. Why are they dark? Clearly, we are not seeing any “subsurface dirt.” Also, the color cannot be due to some dark underlying gas. Could it be an […]
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Letters
Slumber science Your October 24 issue featuring sleep research was very interesting and helpful. However, it did not cover any research being done — there may be none — relating to the human brain and modern changes to the nighttime environment. For most of human history, not much activity could take place at night. The […]
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Letters
Sore words I don’t usually write to magazines, and I’ve never written to yours before, though I’ve enjoyed and learned much from it for many years thanks to it being produced in Braille. But I couldn’t let your article on swearing relieving pain [“%$!” makes you feel better,” (SN: 8/1/09, p. 9)] go by. Without […]
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Letters
Biofuel feedback “The biofuel future” (SN: 8/1/09, p. 24) proved very enjoyable reading. However, the future and direction of biofuels will be determined by politicians, not scientists. Scientists seem to use crazy things like facts, research and logic to determine the most efficient way to convert plants to fuel. I find it incredible that we […]
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Letters
From the September 26, 2009 issue of Science News.
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Letters
Philosophers strike back As someone who has taught philosophy of science and history of science for 30 years, I must take exception with Tom Siegfried’s editorial, “Philosophers don’t know what scientists can’t do” (SN: 7/18/09, p. 2). Of course, they don’t! But neither do scientists! Immanuel Kant and Auguste Comte were just as wrong about […]
