Letters to the Editor
- Humans
Letters from the July 14, 2007, issue of Science News
At least a few years to prepare “Northern Exposure: The inhospitable side of the galaxy?” (SN: 4/21/07, p. 244) posits that every 64 million years a mass die-off occurs due to increased cosmic rays. When will the cosmic rays again be at their maximum? Robert RichardsMetairie, La. The article failed to mention when the next […]
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19854
The article didn’t mention that traditional IQ tests are in one sense “language” tests. The Ravens test doesn’t involve language processing in a typical manner. A person with a language disorder, as an autistic person is assumed to be, would do better on a nonverbal test. That the intelligence of autistic people can be underestimated […]
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19853
This article offers two explanations for the correlation of asthma with early infancy antibiotics: a need for the immune system to be trained by early exposure to microbial toxins and a need for normal intestinal microflora in the development of normal immune response. Another possibility is that the rashes and infections that prompted the use […]
- Humans
Letters from the July 7, 2007, issue of Science News
Hex sine? The NASA researchers baffled by the hexagonal shape in Saturn’s soupy atmosphere at its northern pole (“A hexagon on the ringed planet,” SN: 4/28/07, p. 269) should read “As waters part, polygons appear” (SN: 6/3/06, p. 348). It is worth investigating whether there is a similar phenomenon—I still suspect some sort of standing […]
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19852
This article concerning schizophrenia in Palau reported a high incidence of the disorder among first- and second-generation immigrants to the West from developing countries. Could the phenomenon of relatively successful immigrants to the West (or their children) being drawn into acts of terrorism be a manifestation of schizophrenia? Robert E. HubbardWinter Haven, Fla. Schizophrenia isn’t […]
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19851
It has been reported that vinegar, taken before a meal, can lower postmeal blood glucose. If so, the lowering of postmeal blood glucose by alcohol, as reported in your article, may be the result of the alcohol being metabolized to acetic acid by the body. William HaagBloomer, Wis. While both alcohol and vinegar lower blood […]
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19850
If Drs. Glass and Venter succeed in assembling a viable synthetic bacterial genome, will the genome or the new life form itself be patentable? Virgil H. SouleFrederick, Md. The team that performed this work stirred controversy when it applied for a patent on a synthetic bacterial genome in October 2006. The patent hasn’t yet been […]
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19849
With respect to this article on kimberlites, diamonds, and mantle fractures, may I suggest that the fractures in question emanate from hypervelocity bolide impacts on Earth. There is ample spatial correlation between impact craters formed by oblique impacts with crustal-fracture systems that propagated outward along the direction of impact. Gregory C. HermanNew Jersey Geological SurveyTrenton, […]
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19848
Your review of Alex Vilenkin’s book Many Worlds in One: The Search for Other Universes, above, contained an often-made error. In Guth’s inflation model, during the first “zillionth of a second,” the universe did not inflate “to cosmic scale.” It inflated to about the size of a large grapefruit. Then it began its slow expansion. […]
- Humans
Letters from the June 30, 2007, issue of Science News
Hot and cold on the topic No mention was made in “In the Zone: Extrasolar planet with the potential for life” (SN: 4/28/07, p. 259) of the possibility that, being so close to its star and having a 13-day orbital period, the planet would keep the same surface to the star. Having one side baked […]
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19847
In this article, the unusual head positions seem to indicate that these creatures died from a kind of nerve damage. One of the possibilities is oxygen deprivation. Doesn’t this suggest that most of these creatures probably died from suffocation after a sudden mud slide or other deluge? Ron McMurtryModesto, Calif. Suffocation from a mud slide, […]
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19846
This article describes attaching a drug molecule to a molecule from the rabies virus that enables the drug to cross the blood-brain barrier. This suggests a possible danger if the ability to produce the molecule could be transferred to the genomes of disease organisms in the wild. If the field of genetic engineering for drug […]
