Letters to the Editor
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Science News writers win physics and astronomy awards
Nobody ever said that writing about physics is easy. Keeping readers comfortable while piloting them through rapids of equations and torrents of abstract complexities can test the most experienced journalist. Members of the Science News staff face that challenge every week—and the success of our writers has been highlighted this year by two organizations of […]
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A New Publisher
This week, we are pleased to welcome Elizabeth Marincola as the new president of Science Service and publisher of Science News. She succeeds Donald R. Harless, who retired after 34 years at Science Service, including 7 years as president and publisher of Science News. Elizabeth Marincola Marincola comes to us from the American Society for […]
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19568
Your article suggests that the change is an evolutionary process. However, this and the other examples given are all more selective breeding than natural selection. In this case, organisms with undesirable characteristics (smaller size) are overrepresented during reproduction as the result of removing the larger organisms from the breeding population. Robert ArdreyPrescott, Ariz. The tale […]
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Why slam a copper impactor into Comet Tempel 1? Wouldn’t copper vapor contaminate the spray? Why not a high-temperature ceramic? P.M. deLaubenfelsCorvallis, Ore. According to Casey Lisse of the Deep Impact team, copper was chosen because its density put a lot of mass into a small package, its relative softness reduced bounce at impact, and […]
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19566
I have experienced sleep paralysis in almost all of its forms, from terrors to vibrations and auditory hallucinations to out-of-body experiences. Most often it is completely terrifying, but I did have one episode that was elating. Sweet dreams. Kathleen MilroyOntario, Canada The manifestations reported by sufferers of sleep paralysis are eerily similar to the visitation […]
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19565
Why should the whale study lead scientists to “change the way we view sleep”? Among whales, the priority is that babies not drown in the first weeks of life. Maturational processes thought to occur during sleep, such as brain development, might have to be put on hold while this critical lesson is learned. Our neonatal […]
- Humans
Letters from the July 2, 2005, issue of Science News
Chlorine’s fate? “Special Treatment: Tiny technology tackles mega messes” (SN: 4/23/05, p. 266), on the reaction of nanoparticles of iron with trichloroethane (TCE) contaminating an aquifer, states that the TCE is converted “into ethane.” What happens to the chlorine stripped off the TCE? Is it converted into insoluble inorganic compounds or is it available to […]
- Humans
Letters from the June 25, 2005, issue of Science News
Dark secret? “Dark Influence: Most of the universe’s matter is out of sight, but not out of mind” (SN: 4/23/05, p. 264) made me wonder about the possibility of a continuum of matter. Could part of the problem in identifying dark matter be that only part of the spectrum of matter is observable by our […]
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This article states that the gas-hydrate deposit near Prudhoe Bay “contains more than 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. That’s twice the total amount of natural gas consumed annually in the United States. . . .” Does it behoove us to invest the time and dollars it will take to tap that field for a […]
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19563
I am shocked and incensed by the study described in this article. It is unconscionable that nutritional counseling for gestational diabetes was kept from pregnant mothers. Susanna NapieralaKenwood, Calif.
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19562
It seems to me that “Earthlike” is overused in the media. One always ends up using too many qualifiers. Gliese 876’s orbit is very un-Earthlike, and its mass is too. Let’s wait until the star-to-planet distance of a future exoplanet ranges from that of Venus to Mars and the mass is no more than twice […]
- Humans
Letters from the June 18, 2005, issue of Science News
Road worriers “Navigating Celestial Currents: Math leads spacecraft on joy rides through the solar system” (SN: 4/16/05, p. 250) gives the casual reader the distorted view that one could travel the solar system at will by using these methods. These are generally small perturbations on the much larger primary propulsion requirement that is fixed by […]
