Letters to the Editor
- 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 […]
-
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 […]
-
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 […]
-
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 […]
-
19914
Your article suggested yet a second possibility leading to the decline or extinction of the mammoths in the region of the apparent iron micrometeorite-shower impact, which drove the metallic particles into the sides of the fossil tusks examined. That same shower of high-velocity metallic particles found in the tusks probably perforated the skin and soft […]
-
19913
There is little mystery why some female fishing spiders are so aggressive that they eat their suitors before mating can take place. It would take a very bold male to court a female knowing he is going to be lunch. To maintain such inherited aggressive behavior in the female, one only has to assume that […]
-
19912
As I read this article, I was wondering whether the findings discussed suggest that a woman who has had both a hysterectomy and an oophorectomy should be on estrogen hormone therapy. Does a woman with no uterus or ovaries produce enough estrogen in other organs to benefit from the estrogen receptor beta? Cathy GregorAlexandria, Va. […]
-
19911
In this article, 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 may be less toxic than others, but I found nothing to refute the hypothesis that mortality […]
- Humans
Letters from the December 22 & 29, 2007, issue of Science News
Amylase with your veggies Your article (“Advantage: Starch,” SN: 9/15/07, p. 173) notes how groups of people may have different numbers of copies of the amylase gene. Is it correct then that individuals have varying numbers of the gene as well? If so, would this explain why some people don’t like meat and become vegetarians […]
