Letters to the Editor
- Humans
Letters from the May 28, 2005, issue of Science News
Hunger pangs I was interested to read about factors influencing the “hunger hormone’s”—ghrelin’s—effectiveness (“Still Hungry?” SN: 4/2/05, p. 216). One factor not considered but seemingly very significant is physical activity. I suggest that it is more useful to understand and encourage the positive effects of physical activity on overall well-being than to develop new drugs […]
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19556
There is information that when we imagine things, we activate some of the same brain mechanisms as when we experience them physically. It would be interesting to know whether imagining the scent of a food that one likes “lights up the brain” as actually smelling that food does. Seems like a reasonable description of what […]
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19555
Maybe there was a belch of hydrogen sulfide involved in the Permian extinctions. However, did it leave some geological trace, as did the vast Siberian outpourings of magma, both on land and in the sea, over the course of a million years during the period? Stan SkirvinScottsdale, Ariz. The ocean venting proposed by Lee Kump’s […]
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19554
This article features yet another study making summary statements on what is obviously inadequate sampling. Most of the language families from California to Alaska have not been represented in any DNA studies. Those of us who study cultures on the northwest coast of America see the enormous complexities of cultures in this area. Outdated and […]
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19553
This article should also point out that only a very thick atmosphere could have allowed the surface temperature to be high while the radiation output from the sun was only 70 percent that at the present. J. Thomas BaylorAustin, Texas Theorists agree that the atmosphere of Mars was thicker when the planet was wetter. They’re […]
- Humans
Letters from the May 21, 2005, issue of Science News
Rascal rabbits Evidence of animals sensing where people are looking and what they’re seeing is interesting yet hardly new (“Monkey See, Monkey Think: Grape thefts instigate debate on primate’s mind,” SN: 3/12/05, p. 163). For years, I have observed that wild rabbits will remain motionless as long as I stare in their direction. But as […]
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19552
This article, on the deleterious effect of dams on coastal systems, contains a major conceptual error. It states that “another important cause of the ground sinking is the waning of sediment deposition by the Mississippi River.” But over the past 100 million years, the northern Gulf Coast region has been subsiding because of excessive sediment […]
- Humans
Letters from the May 14, 2005, issue of Science News
It’s kids’ stuff Regarding the therapeutic effects of sunflower-seed oil on infants (“Anoint Them with Oil: Cheap-and-easy treatment cuts infection rates in premature infants,” SN: 3/12/05, p. 165), has any research been done as to the health benefits of the oil in any other age group? Yael LevyNew York, N.Y. Research to date has focused […]
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19551
This article makes the common claim that self-replicating robots could be a boon for clearing minefields. In truth, a complex electronic device simply does not last long in the field. When it breaks and you are 3 days from the nearest town, where do you get a spare part or battery? Tools for removing land […]
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19550
This article states that “the resulting blurred view is good enough for spotting large objects such as mangrove roots.” It seems to me that the article is missing the crucial biological question presented by these eyes. My understanding is that the nervous system of a jellyfish contains no true nerves and no centralization. How can […]
- Humans
Letters from the May 7, 2005, issue of Science News
Clearer yet “Weighing In on a Star: A stellar size limit” (SN: 3/12/05, p. 164) includes three images of the Arches cluster near the center of the Milky Way, each taken with a different telescope. I’d be interested to know what the three telescopes are. John McKeeBrunswick, Maine In the trio of progressively sharper (left […]
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19549
It boggles my mind that someone paid for a study of the benefits of petroleum-based fuel in Africa when a superior, lower-cost solution is already available. For the cost of the study, solar cookers might have been provided to several thousand families, protecting the health of those families and saving them the time and expense […]
