Letters to the Editor
- 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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19564
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 […]
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19561
Your article made the minimization of aflatoxins in peanuts sound beneficial until the recommendation to treat the ground beneath the peanut pallets with insecticides. This will induce harm to the soil wildlife on which African farmers and villagers are dependent and to any nearby water sources. It will also add a toxic substance to the […]
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19560
Your article refers to the Earth’s magnetic field only at very long wavelengths. In over 70 years’ exposure to science, I have never heard of our magnetic field having wavelengths. Please elaborate. Kenneth E. StoneCherryvale, Kan. Looking at Earth’s magnetic field at long wavelengths is analogous to looking at a picture in low resolution, says […]
- Humans
Letters from the June 11, 2005, issue of Science News
Dim prospects To a layman like me, it seems almost impossible that light reflected from a body that lies “much farther from the star than Pluto does from the sun” could be seen from Earth at a distance of 450 light years, when Pluto, only 6 light hours away, reflects so little light to Earth […]
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19559
It was interesting to read of processing mundane noise to produce an ultrasound image of the geology of Los Angeles. A big question in the state is the deep structure of San Francisco Bay. Clearly, the bay and the valleys extending to its northwest and southeast form a rift valley. But it’s difficult to observe […]
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19558
This article seems determined to impose (not very) modern cultural views on data that do not support them. Females would have benefited from a male “bringing home food”?! To the best of our knowledge Australopithecus afarensis was a foraging species, members of all ages and both sexes eating what they found as they found it. […]
- Humans
Letters from the June 4, 2005, issue of Science News
Stem winder “Full Stem Ahead” (SN: 4/2/05, p. 218) showed several reasons why stem cell research is a good thing: Stem cells from embryos might cure cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and many other diseases. But the article should have included the fact that stem cells may help with transplanting organs. Stem cells may […]
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19557
This article reads as if there is something to be alarmed about. By selectively catching large fish, we have reduced “the mean size [of food fish to] one-fifth of what it was.” This is not cause for alarm. It is cause for a decision: What do we want, small fish or large fish? Humans are […]
