Letters to the Editor
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19832
Doesn’t this article on flywheels leave out a significant aspect: the gyroscope effects of a rotating large mass? Wouldn’t it be a benefit for moving installations (stabilization) and a problem for immobile installations? Lee HukillPalo Alto, Calif. In the article, the flywheels depicted appear to have vertical axles. I presume that this prevents inertial forces […]
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19831
Kudos for Science News for this article. I think this holistic view of the microbe community—rather than investigating the single organism—offers a hopeful path to numerous insights for preventive measures for optimum health. Terry MooreCorvallis, Ore.
- Humans
Letters from the May 19, 2007, issue of Science News
Merry go round When considering a spin rate of 1,122 revolutions per second, has anyone determined the diameter of the neutron star XTE J1739-285 (“Dance of the dead,” SN: 3/17/07, p. 173)? If, for example, it were the same diameter as Earth, it would be traveling far in excess of the speed of light at […]
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19830
Perhaps there need not be “degrees of quantumness”. As the beams pass increasingly closer to the surface, the plate will induce a small (but increasingly larger) spread of energies (hence wavelengths) in the electrons within the beam, possibly explaining the “smearing out” of the fringes in the interference pattern. Michael D. MeloySanta Barbara, Calif. Peter […]
- Humans
Letters from the May 12, 2007, issue of Science News
Saw right through it E. Fred Schubert and his colleagues are to be congratulated for developing an improved antireflective coating (“The New Black: A nanoscale coating reflects almost no light,” SN: 3/3/07, p. 132). But the coating would not make a lens “absorb” more light. Rather, it would help the lens “propagate” the light. Nathaniel […]
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19829
Ethanol is not an alternative to petroleum-based fuel to reduce air pollution. It is a grow-it-at-home alternative to foreign-source petroleum-based fuel. It takes only 2 years to build an ethanol-extraction plant but 10 years to build a petroleum-extraction plant. Right now, as long as ethanol doesn’t increase air pollution, I’ll take it. Lin DanielChatsworth, Calif. […]
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19828
A concern I have for a new route algorithm to replace algorithms that “may overlook shorter routes for the sake of following major highways” is exemplified by the fact that here in southern Oregon, every winter, people get lost and occasionally die taking the “shorter routes” as suggested by car-navigation systems or online trip plotters. […]
- Humans
Letters from the May 5, 2007, issue of Science News
Mere kats? “Science behind the Soap Opera” (SN: 3/3/07, p. 138) shows that meerkats bear an uncanny resemblance to human beings. We, too, have an innate sense of responsibility for our group and individually commit acts of unspeakable violence. John HagerhorstFrederick, Md. Just a dram “Natural-Born Addicts: Brain differences may herald drug addiction” (SN: 3/3/07, […]
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19827
I was surprised that the findings on the brain’s processing of information and discerning of relationships would come as a surprise. I have long been aware of, and have even come to count on, the fact that a surprising degree of insight and clarity often comes in the morning after having fallen asleep the night […]
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19826
No mention was made in this article 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 by unrelenting sunlight and the other side frozen would leave only a narrow ring between eternal day and […]
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19825
The NASA researchers baffled in this article by the hexagonal shape in Saturn’s soupy atmosphere at its northern pole 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 sine wave effect—at work in both cases. Ellery FrahmMinneapolis, […]
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19824
The lines on the cave ceilings remind me very much of what a large pot of finger paint looks like after children extract what they want to draw with. I could easily see my children (especially when younger) drawing on their own faces and bodies all kinds of designs using the colored clay. Dan WoitulewiczDetroit, […]
