Letters to the Editor
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19921
I was intrigued by this article. It states: “The interaction of gravity, matter, and radiation in the early universe set up acoustic oscillations, cosmic sound waves that left their imprints on the distribution of galaxies across the sky.” Spanish poet Antonio Machado [1875–1939] put a similar mode of thinking into a poem dealing with dreams. […]
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19920
There is already a Web site that also aims to answer “What’s in my backyard?” At ZipcodeZoo.com, David Stang has assembled close to 3 million pages of information (one species per page) based on more than 37 million field observations that include latitude and longitude. Taxonomic information is provided, and there are more than 250,000 […]
- Humans
Letters from the February 2, 2008, issue of Science News
Eye for an eagle The photo illustrating “Hatch a Thief” (SN: 12/15/07, p. 372) does not show a golden eagle. The bill of a golden eagle is black on the outer half and pale blue at the base, and the feathers on the back of its head are bright tawny. It could be a white-tailed […]
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19919
We must dissociate the attacks themselves from the intense media barrage that followed. Under the guise of providing information, the press seemed intent on inflaming our most negative feelings of fear, hatred, and grief. While the attacks were no doubt emotionally distressing, the psychological trauma was amplified a thousandfold by the nonstop and repetitive coverage. […]
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19918
This article keeps the reader on track with accurate, entertaining metaphors. It ends with a riveting observation from the White Mountains of New Hampshire: The tree line occurs where windchill temperatures reach 220 kelvins, the temperature at which supercooled water “undergoes a phase transition.” Windchill temperatures are not physical temperatures—neither the trees nor the air […]
- Humans
Letters from the January 26, 2008, issue of Science News
Bad medicine? In “Unseen Risk: Lifestyle, physical problems may underlie psoriasis link to early mortality” (SN: 12/22&29/07, p. 389), the definition of patients with severe psoriasis as those needing systemic drugs raises the question whether treatment itself may be linked to early mortality. The journal article cited in the story indicates that some systemic treatments […]
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19917
Regarding this article; while drug companies wish to market their products, my attention is drawn to the fact that 1 in 8 of the control group of psoriasis patients was cured by placebo effect. Who will investigate the process therein? Is there a market for it? Carson BarnesLoma Mar, Calif. A potent placebo effect, even […]
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19916
Distilleries have been around since the dawn of time, including barleycorn (whiskey), maize (whiskey), potatoes (vodka), sugarcane (rum), and arcane brews distilled from beets, bread crumbs, and bamboo. The ethanol molecule cares not one wit about its particular provenance, so what is so special about a soil-depleting broom like switchgrass, when economically important sources have […]
- Humans
Letters from the January 19, 2008, issue of Science News
Evening the score When Ai, mother of the chimp Amuyu, whose mental feats you reported in “Chimp Champ: Ape aces memory test, outscores people” (SN: 12/8/07, p. 355), appeared in a television documentary a few years ago, I reproduced for myself the number-sequence test she performed and found that, after practice, I could easily outperform […]
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19915
This article says that the companion star of the pulsar PSR B1516+02B must be “tiny” because it cannot be seen. Isn’t it possible that the companion is made of dark matter? Is there a “wobble” test or other way to discern between a companion that is truly tiny (low mass) and one that is perhaps […]
- Humans
Letters from the January 12, 2008, issue of Science News
Shades of meaning In “Going Coastal: Sea cave yields ancient signs of modern behavior” (SN: 10/20/07, p. 243), researcher Curtis Marean refers to Stone Age people using a reddish pigment for “body coloring or other symbolic acts.” What reason is there for jumping to this conclusion? As with cave painting and figurines, there seems to […]
- Humans
Letters from the January 5, 2008, issue of Science News
Missing link “Antibiotics in infancy tied to asthma” (SN: 7/7/07, p. 14) reported a correlation but no confident explanation for the relationship between receiving antibiotics and later developing asthma. “Ulcer bug may prevent asthma” (SN: 10/27/07, p. 270), which reports that children with Helicobacter pylori in their stomachs are less likely to get asthma, seems […]
