Letters to the Editor
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19477
The researchers featured in this article suggest that a higher incidence of schizophrenia may be due to summer-related infections “or other seasonal factors.” June and July births would have been in early gestation during late fall and winter, when there is increased incidence of depression among adults. Might it be reasonable to suggest that “other […]
- Humans
Letters from the October 30, 2004, issue of Science News
It isn’t academic Speaking as someone with a Ph.D. in math who has spent most of his 30-year professional life unemployed and who can probably look forward to spending the rest of it unemployable, I was disappointed that “Where Ph.D.s pay off” in (SN: 8/7/04, p. 94: Where Ph.D.s pay off) made no apparent effort […]
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19476
I would suggest that the Italian hydrologists cited in your article consider the law of unintended consequences. Similar actions begun in 1978 at an oil field in Wyoming drove methane to the surface and resulted in a large kill zone of the dominant sagebrush Artemisia tridentata. James A. ErdmanCrestone, Colo. The researchers in Italy say […]
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19475
Along with everyone else, I’ve been fired up by the amazing discovery of Homo floresiensis. Clearly, our preconceptions about brain size and intelligence, reasonably achieved by the evidence we had, must now be discarded. Oriole Parker-RhodesAnglesey, Wales
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19474
After reading this article, I noted that nowhere in the article’s text was it stated how the hydrogen is going to be stored. Storing hydrogen safely and economically is difficult, to say the least. David E. BeesonWinona Lake, Ind.
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19473
In this article you wondered, “Should gene enhancement, or doping, be permissible for athletes attempting to improve their performance?” Sure, but in separate competitions. Athletes would register as either “doped” or “clean.” The problem with doping is not the doping, it’s the cheating. Sam CoxLoveland, Colo.
- Humans
Letters from the October 23, 2004, issue of Science News
Hand to mouth “Skin proves poor portal for arsenic in treated wood” (SN: 7/24/04, p. 62: Skin proves poor portal for arsenic in treated wood) shouldn’t make parents any less wary of allowing their children to come in contact with the chromated-copper arsenate wood structures. What children pick up on their hands from a deck […]
- Humans
Letters from the October 16, 2004, issue of Science News
Hubble grumble The cover type “Farewell to Hubble?” (“End of the Line for Hubble?” SN: 7/24/04, p. 56: End of the Line for Hubble?) makes me wonder why we haven’t seen the headline “Farewell to the Current NASA Administrator?” The only reason I have heard for the cancellation of the planned servicing mission is “it’s […]
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19472
Because the purpose of wind machines is to take energy out of the wind, it is counterintuitive to find the wind’s average velocity increases inside the wind farm. This is not what I learned in Aerodynamics I. Some clarification, please. John ToomayCarlsbad, Calif. Remember boundary layers. The wind speed at windmill level is higher than […]
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19471
My response as an educator to much of the outrageous science depicted in so many of the recent blockbuster hits is very different from that of many of the scientists quoted in your article. The films provide a wonderful source of science projects that students actually relish. The more outrageous the science, the greater they […]
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19470
I found your two articles on vitamin D very interesting. My question now is whether the rays received in a tanning bed can cause the skin to manufacture vitamin D. Wendy WadeKalamazoo, Mich. Ultraviolet–B radiation triggers the skin to produce vitamin D, whether those rays come from the sun or a lamp. However, not all […]
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19469
This article dealt with the alteration of the nuclear decay rate of beryllium-7. I believe you may have misinterpreted the researchers to be saying they had found “the largest such artificial hastening of an atom’s decay rate ever observed.” Whereas you report the authors observing a 0.83 percent change, I published a paper in Physical […]
