Letters to the Editor
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19736
I was surprised you didn’t mention the effect of salinity in ocean water in this article. Warming climate has melted much of the glaciers, bringing fresh water into the North Atlantic. That water isn’t dense enough to sink and carry on the conveyor belt that usually brings warm currents from the tropics. This slowing of […]
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19735
The experiments with mice infected with the 1918 influenza virus are important but not surprising. John Barry’s The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History (2004, Viking) explains that many, perhaps most, of the victims were killed by the overreaction of their immune systems. This may be why most of the […]
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19734
I was extremely disappointed to read the definition of ecotourism as being “the practice of visiting sites where exotic landscapes and rare animals are the main attractions.” Ecotourism was founded with the specific goal of countering the overuse of the kind of travel described in the article. A better definition would be one used by […]
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19733
The “mystical journey” described in this article has long been available drug free and under carefully controlled conditions via biofeedback. The results of these sessions are very similar to those described by people who received psilocybin. In the rare circumstances when clients become uncomfortable in their altered states, a session can be terminated immediately. Doreen […]
- Humans
Letters from the September 30, 2006, issue of Science News
Not a pretty picture “Deadly Disorder: Imagined-ugliness illness yields high suicide rate” (SN: 7/22/06, p. 52) raises some questions. What about people who are physically unattractive—those whom a majority of the society considers ugly? I suspect that many people treated for body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) are unattractive by that definition. The psychiatric profession tends to […]
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19732
This article states that gamma-ray bursts are “a million trillion times as bright as the sun.” The sun is so bright that humans can’t look directly at it from 93 million miles away. How can we possibly wrap our minds around something a million trillion times brighter? Astronomy is great. Donald KaufmannPhiladelphia, Pa. ?
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19731
This article says that people with bipolar disorder tend to have more lost workdays than those with major depression do. The data shows this is true. However, the authors point out that in the sample of 3,378 workers, 1 percent suffered from bipolar disorder while 6 percent experienced major depression. Clearly, the greater impact on […]
- Humans
Letters from the September 23, 2006, issue of Science News
Moo juiced? I live in Northern California, where forest-biomass power plants are common (“Radiation Redux: Forest fires remobilize fallout from bomb tests,” SN: 7/15/06, p. 38). One power plant takes the ashes that result and places them where cows forage. I’m wondering to what level of concentration this process will accumulate the cesium in organic […]
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19730
If your cell phone battery is depleted for no obvious reason, another possibility is an attack by law enforcement. Special firmware may have been surreptitiously downloaded into your phone, turning it into a bug that operates even if the phone appears to be off. Steven R. NewcombBlacksburg, Va.
- Humans
Letters from the September 16, 2006, issue of Science News
Hot topic It seems more likely that a decline of total precipitation and humidity would be the direct cause of both temperature and fire incidence (“The Long Burn: Warming drove recent upswing in wildfires,” SN: 7/8/06, p. 19). It is fashionable to blame every weather problem on greenhouse gases and global warming, but in this […]
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19729
This article 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 they’re not casting shadows on the planet. Gregory KusnickSeattle, […]
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19728
I find it interesting that when we didn’t find as much deuterium as we expected near the sun, we assumed it’s hidden by dust. But there didn’t seem to be any real proof that it is indeed hidden by the dust. I am not convinced. Eric AdamsDelray Beach, Fla.
