Letters to the Editor
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19452
Having just read “To Err Is Human,” I want to add some comments. I led men in combat in World War II when we overran several concentration camps. My men held their anger, and not one went below the line to become an animal just because the other guy had. I’d like to point out […]
- Humans
Letters from the August 7, 2004, issue of Science News
Pot shots Regarding “Pot on the Spot: Marijuana’s risks become blurrier” (SN: 5/22/04, p. 323: Pot on the Spot: Marijuana’s risks become blurrier), it seems to me that the stronger the social pressure against using marijuana in a culture, the more likely it will be that those who use it will be troubled, antisocial, or […]
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19451
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 this article made no apparent effort to find points of view other than the researchers’. Allan AdlerNew York, N.Y. People […]
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19450
This is the most amazing paleontological article I think I have ever read. You state calmly that these “Canadian fossils are the oldest known examples of large, multicellular creatures” and that this type of creature “doesn’t appear to be related to any organisms that have lived since.” Would you please follow up on this discovery […]
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19449
Your article says that sunspots are 3,500°C. Yet further in the article, it says that the solar flare of Nov. 4, 2003, was 41 million°C. Is that a typographical error? Bruce BarnbaumGranite Falls, Wash. That’s no typo. The release of magnetic energy in the sun’s atmosphere during a flare heats the material that’s been ejected […]
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19448
I just read “Deception Detection” and I must say that I am surprised that no one used high-limit poker players to analyze if a person is bluffing. The art of poker is calling people on their bluffs. Martin J. WagnerIndiana University A successful poker player must be able to bluff successfully, at least on occasion, […]
- Humans
Letters from the July 31, 2004, issue of Science News
More than child’s play? While reading about the amazing properties of Archimedes’ Stomachion (“Glimpses of Genius,” SN: 5/15/04, p. 314: Glimpses of Genius), I wondered whether a mere child’s toy would exhibit such mathematical precision, with each vertex falling on a lattice point of a 12-by-12 grid. Perhaps Archimedes took the basic plan of the […]
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19447
I have been puzzled at the consternation over the findings in this article. It’s common knowledge among people who treat patients with major depression that the time of greatest risk for suicide is when depression begins to lift. The person finally has more energy and mental focus but may still feel awful. Resolved never to […]
- Humans
Letters from the July 24, 2004, issue of Science News
Whee! I can pretty easily tell what was going through the kiddo’s mind while trying “in vain to scoot down a miniature slide” (“Toddlers’ Supersize Mistakes: At times, children play with the impossible,” SN: 5/15/04, p. 308: Toddlers’ Supersize Mistakes: At times, children play with the impossible). 1. “Slides are fun. Why not pretend to […]
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19446
This article 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 or play set may wind up inside via hand-to-mouth transfers. John Peterson MyersWhite Hall, Va.
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19445
The cover type “Farewell to 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 too dangerous.” Almost anything worth accomplishing has some degree of danger associated with it. The administrator is just […]
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19444
Might donating blood reduce blood concentrations of organochlorines, once the body has time to regenerate blood? Bill WallerDallas, Texas Researchers Catherine Pelletier and Angelo Tremblay of Laval University in Quebec City, Quebec, say this question is interesting but that the small quantity of donated blood wouldn’t significantly affect the overall concentration of organochlorines .—C. Lock
