Letters to the Editor
- Humans
Letters from the November 18, 2006, issue of Science News
Sunny side heads up “Rare Uranian eclipse” (SN: 9/9/06, p. 166) tells us, “Because the moons of Uranus orbit at the planet’s equator, the sun seldom illuminates them directly.” I think what you mean is that the moons seldom pass directly between Uranus and the sun. But surely the sun still illuminates them, even when […]
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19754
The idea of Pleistocene rewilding in North America is provocative, but it need not be treated only in the abstract. The return of beavers (Castor canadensis) to almost every region of the continent has shown us that the behavior of these creatures was, in many ways, originally responsible for the contours of the landscape and […]
- Humans
Letters from the November 11, 2006, issue of Science News
The Carolinas to New Jersey “Bad-News Beauties: Poison-spined fish from Asia have invaded U.S. waters” (SN: 9/9/06, p. 168) cites evidence of a severe genetic bottleneck, suggesting that perhaps no more than three pregnant females launched the expanding western Atlantic red lionfish population. How can there be “pregnant females” in an animal with the external […]
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19753
This article reminds me that in preantibiotic days, tuberculosis patients were put on a fresh-air-and-sunshine regimen. Could the vitamin D so acquired account for the cures this system sometimes produced? Nancy AxfordSacramento, Calif. Researcher John J. Cannell points to TB sanitariums as anecdotal evidence that sunlight fights infections. —J. Raloff Does the vitamin D in […]
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19752
One solution to global warming suggested in the article is stretching Mylar across the ground. How about designing reflective concrete to aid in this endeavor? We are already covering a large amount of Earth with pavement. Tom E. KlassenIndianapolis, Ind.
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19751
As a computer scientist, I appreciate that increased layers of hidden complexity only increase vulnerability to both innocent error and fraudulent manipulation. As a voter, I thoroughly understand how to indelibly mark a paper ballot. The ballot can be machine read and tabulated even before I leave the precinct. It is as nearly perfect a […]
- Humans
Letters from the November 4, 2006, issue of Science News
Twisted logic? I have a question concerning “The Sun’s Halo in 3-D” (SN: 8/19/06, p. 120). It says, “As the sun rotates, its polar regions make a complete circle in about 34 days, compared with the 25 days required by its equator.” I was wondering how it’s possible to have two points on a rotating […]
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19750
This article indicates both the stability of such natural products and their bioaccumulation in organisms at the top of the food chain. It is no doubt prudent that human activity—i.e., chemical manufacturing—should not increase the quantity of these chemicals in the oceans. But it should be recalled that banning of PCBs and similar substances was […]
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19749
This article made me wonder how long a gas planet is expected to survive when one of its faces is more than 1,000°C. The conventional model of our solar system assumes that gas planets can form and survive only in a cold region of space. This implies that Upsilon Andromedae b moved to its present […]
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19748
I am amazed that this article concluded that “Scientists have a long way to go to explain why” prey animals play dead. As a veterinarian, I have learned that there are separate centers in the brain dealing with predatory behavior and with hunger. The effect seems to be that predatory behavior, by itself, is satisfying, […]
- Humans
Letters from the October 28, 2006, issue of Science News
Slow down a minute “Braking news: Disks slow down stars” (SN: 8/12/06, p. 109) says that a magnetic linkage between spinning stars and the charged particles in the dusty disks that surround them slowed the spin of the stars, but says nothing about its effect on the disk. The law of conservation of angular momentum […]
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19747
This article states, “Several billion years from now, scientists predict, the galaxy and the Milky Way will collide. . . .” How can galactic collisions occur in an expanding universe, where galaxies should be moving away from each other? James HendryFlorissant, Mo. On the large scale, objects are indeed receding from each other. But locally, […]
