Letters to the Editor
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19791
The author of this article seems to feel, like most other writers do, that “the western United States” properly covers all geographical bases. Believe me, the Pacific Northwest is anything but dry. One other point about geography: Weather phenomena, and other stuff, occurring in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, or Kansas are not happening in […]
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19790
I am disappointed in this article on the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) summary. It was a political summary, not the 1,500 page report that’s due in May 2007. How often have you seen a scientific summary published 3 months before the final report? I am concerned that you do not appear to […]
- Humans
Letters from the February 10, 2007, issue of Science News
Grape gripe “A Toast to Healthy Hearts: Wine compounds benefit blood vessels” (SN: 12/2/06, p. 356) leaves us up in the air with this statement: “. . . since the traditional wine-making techniques still in use in southwestern France and Sardinia increase concentrations of polymeric procyanidins, he says, other vintners may soon adopt such methods.” […]
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19789
This article states that as a result of an internal representation of their bodies and parts, macaques “gradually come to mentally regard their hands and arms, and then their entire bodies, from a third-person perspective.” Isn’t that a good definition of self-awareness, one of the supposed differences between humans and other animals and between humans […]
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19788
No mention is made in this article of the huge amount of petrochemical inputs required both for large-scale farming of corn and for the distilling process required to produce ethanol. When these and other environmental costs are factored in, the promotion of corn-based ethanol as fuel will ultimately be exposed as an environmentally disastrous policy. […]
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19787
The theory of “nuclear winter” was originally put forward by an Eastern European mathematician in the 1980s. 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 winter” obviously lives on in the public’s mind […]
- Humans
Letters from the February 3, 2007, issue of Science News
All together now It is not only the scientific literature that documents the unexpected “doughnut” pattern in swarms (“The Mind of the Swarm,” SN: 11/25/06, p. 347). Italo Calvino’s fictional Mr. Palomar observed (rather more lyrically) about the flocking of Roman starlings, “Finally a form emerges from the confused flutter of wings, advances, condenses: it […]
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19786
I went most of my adult life multiple sclerosis-free, with only an occasional symptom. Then in 1981, I quit cold turkey after 35 years of smoking and never went back to it. Shortly after I quit, my MS started full blown. Is it possible that smoking kept the MS in remission all those years? I […]
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19785
Not only is the finding that nanotubes “remained in particular in the liver and spleen” of concern, but there is no indication made or concern expressed over what happens after excretion. What biological activity do these structures have in the open environment, and for how long? Can they become airborne? Do they get removed in […]
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19784
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? Because a common chemical found worldwide is merely suspected of being linked to worldwide rates of exposure? Why are our U.S. companies being forced to abandon a proven, helpful chemical? Robert CookKennesaw, Ga.
- Humans
Letters from the January 27, 2007, issue of Science News
Circumcision circumspection Concerning “More Evidence of Protection: Circumcision reduces STD risk in men” (SN: 11/18/06, p. 325), I have yet to read a single study regarding the alleged benefits of circumcision that acknowledges that the foreskin is erogenous tissue. Removal of erogenous tissue from a female would be considered barbaric, even if it did offer […]
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19783
Although “almost half” of the individuals came to agree that coerced eating-disorders treatment was justified, I find it irresponsible that the study seemingly ignored the identification of potentially long-lasting negative effects on more than half of coerced clients. Those people may come away with less hope that such treatment can ever be of help to […]
