Letters to the Editor
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19814
This study on canker sores compared an “untreated” group with a group using licorice patches. A more valid comparison would be for the control group to be treated with patches that contained no licorice. Janet McClureCardiff, Calif.
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19813
“Migraines in men linked to heart attack risks” (SN: 5/26/07, p. 333) states that although men who suffer from migraines are more likely to experience heart attacks, scientists have failed to find a biological mechanism linking them. Such a link seems to be suggested in this earlier Science News article, which states that a patent […]
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19812
Reading this article, I was struck by the similarity between the image that used a cone-shaped mirror and the images you get from gravitational lensing. As the same data are available in both types of images, it ought to be possible to process gravitationally imaged objects in a way to reconstruct their 3-D shapes under […]
- Humans
Letters from the April 7, 2007, issue of Science News
Winter wonders The theory of “nuclear winter” was originally put forward by an Eastern European mathematician in the 1980s (“Sudden Chill,” SN: 2/3/07, p. 72). Some months later, it was shown that an error in his original calculations so vastly exaggerated “nuclear winter” as to make it meaningless. Still, the dramatic concept of a “nuclear […]
- Humans
Letters from the March 31, 2007, issue of Science News
On the hoof Do cows and other domestic-herd animals really emit more methane than bison and other wild-herd animals emitted before people came along? Do grass, alfalfa, and other pasture plants remove less carbon dioxide than do forests? There were open grasslands before pastures replaced some forests. I hope the people who are researching these […]
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19811
Was the increased death rate due to firefighters having a higher rate of heart disease than people do in other jobs? An analysis of eating habits may reveal more insight. Jim SchmitzSt. Louis, Mo. The study looked only at what the firefighters were doing at the time of death. It didn’t compare their heart-disease rates […]
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19810
I couldn’t help noticing the last sentence in this article: “One of the system’s 30 possible climate subtypes—a temperate climate with a cold, dry summer—wasn’t found anywhere on Earth.” The comment reveals that the writer has never read Mark Twain’s comment that the coldest winter he ever spent was a summer in San Francisco. Jay […]
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19809
Has anyone ever considered the possibility that interbreeding between Neandertals and humans would have produced sterile individuals? They would have had the traits of both parents, but with no further reproduction, Neandertal DNA wouldn’t be found in humans today. Ernie CasbeerOglesby, Texas Researchers who argue for human-Neandertal hybrids say that fossil evidence argues against sterile, […]
- Humans
Letters from the March 24, 2007, issue of Science News
Story panned So we shouldn’t cook food in easily cleanable pots because we might release a little bit of maybe-not-even-toxic chemicals into the food (“Heating releases cookware chemicals,” SN: 1/27/07, p. 61)? Because a common chemical found worldwide is merely suspected of being linked to worldwide rates of exposure? Why are our U.S. companies being […]
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19808
When considering a spin rate of 1,122 revolutions per second, has anyone determined the diameter of the neutron star XTE J1739-285? If, for example, it were the same diameter as Earth, it would be traveling far in excess of the speed of light at its equator. In order to remain within the limitations of the […]
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19807
It is ironic that this article describes a captcha [completely automated Turing test to tell computers and humans apart] and then goes on to demonstrate how to defeat it. An automated program that is supposed to pass this difficult computation test just has to forward the captcha image to a real person, at a different […]
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19806
I find it absolutely incredible that anyone is seriously contemplating an escalation of “natural” herbicides as mentioned in this article. As there is no “additive” sprayed on the crop, no testing is likely in animal or human clinical trials. We in the first world must bear the brunt of this wholesale testing on populations, as […]
