Letters to the Editor
- Humans
Letters from the December 3, 2005, issue of Science News
Eye on energy “Cosmic Ray Font: Supernova remnants rev up ions” (SN: 10/1/05, p. 213) is unfortunately murky. It’s confusing to state that accelerating charged particles to high speeds “therefore” produces cosmic rays. And what “charged particles”? Is the “energized” gas in fact “ionized”? “Energized” is too general a word. Finally, why are high-speed particles […]
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19618
The evidence at best is fuzzy for bee recognition of faces. Both sugar water and quinine have unique odors that are probably readily recognizable by bees. And what do the feeders look like in the bee spectral range? Jacques M. DulinSequim, Wash. For the test of bees’ face recognition, the researchers used empty, identical feeders […]
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19617
Regarding the findings in this article, would it be possible for an antibiotic to be included with the RU-486 package to prevent a Clostridium sordellii infection? Like millions of other people, I have to take an antibiotic prior to dental procedures to prevent the very rare possibility of an infection in my heart, and it […]
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19616
First, thanks for a great article. I did note a few overgeneralizations. The most important, from a beer drinker’s perspective, would be this quote from Raymond J. Klimovitz of the Master Brewers Association of the Americas: “The fresher the beer, the better it’s going to be.” While this is generally true for lighter, mainstream beers, […]
- Humans
Letters from the November 26, 2005, issue of Science News
Roads to ruin? Chloride concentration in streams should be a concern to everyone. However, projecting problems at century’s end based on the present rate of chloride increase is bad science (“Steep Degrade Ahead: Road salt threatens waters in Northeast,” SN: 9/24/05, p. 195). Salt use in some New England areas has roughly doubled in the […]
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19615
This article says that “twice as many … with sleep apnea had a stroke or died of that or another cause. …” This sounds serious, but your readers can’t correctly assign importance to “twice as many” because you omit numbers of deaths. David KollasTolland, Conn. Among the 697 people with sleep apnea, 22 suffered strokes […]
- Humans
Willis Harlow Shapley (1917-2005)
Willis Harlow Shapley, a longtime member of the Science Service Board of Trustees, died Oct. 24.
- Humans
Letters from the November 19, 2005, issue of Science News
It’s not there “Organic Choice: Pesticides vanish from body after change in diet” (SN: 9/24/05, p. 197), as presented, doesn’t address the statement made in the headline. The article shows only that on days when no pesticides are ingested in food, no pesticides are excreted in urine. Charles WyttenbachLawrence, Kan. Sex differences I am dismayed […]
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19614
The picture caption in this article states, “This phytolith, which was extracted from fossilized dinosaur dung unearthed in India, indicates that the reptiles dined on grasses.” I do believe that dinosaurs aren’t classified as reptiles. Patricia GriffithAmerican Canyon, Calif. Confusion in this area stems from the fact that not all ancient reptiles were dinosaurs. But […]
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19613
Several decades ago, I heard of the anecdotal correlation between the rise of hydrogenated oils in our foods and the rise of colon cancer. The Swedish study mentioned in this article that correlated high dairy-fat intake with lower risk of colon cancer might be reexamined to see if it reveals a correlation between intake of […]
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19612
I’m surprised that NASA envisions an absurdly massive, nuclear-powered “gravitational tug” to avoid “the biggest problem” of a contact-tug’s need to “fir[e] its rocket engine only at specific times” to compensate for an asteroid’s rotation as mentioned in this article. Cassini, in orbit around Saturn, fires its rocket engine “only at specific times” routinely. Voyager-1 […]
- Humans
Letters from the November 12, 2005, issue of Science News
Big leap The pendular running gait described in “Stepping Lightly: New view of how human gaits conserve energy” (SN: 9/17/05, p. 182) as one of the most efficient bipedal gaits looks remarkably like the way eyewitnesses claim Bigfoot creatures move. In a Bigfoot hoax, one might use a gait that is unhuman but energy efficient, […]
