Letters to the Editor
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19439
In the close-up from the Cassini spacecraft, some of Saturn’s rings look rather like grooves in a phonograph record. I wonder if anyone has tried mapping those grooves to see if they can be played using the method described in “Groovy Pictures: Extracting sound from images of old audio recordings” (SN: 5/29/04, p. 339: Groovy […]
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19438
The counterintuitive finding that atrazine is more likely to kill tadpoles when it is highly diluted reminds me of a similar phenomenon in the alternative health care practice of homeopathy. Tracy SellersRowlett, Texas
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19437
The teardrop shape of Venus away from the centermost part of the sun simply is caused by the photographic surface being planar, rather than spherical. The image can never be represented without distortion for the same reason that the globe can’t be represented without distortion on a flat map. Robert P. Kelso San Marcos, Texas […]
- Humans
Letters from the July 10, 2004, issue of Science News
Language of music The study by Hyde and Peretz about people inept at all things musical (“Brain roots of music depreciation,” SN: 5/8/04, p. 302: Brain roots of music depreciation) made me think of my spouse of 20 years. In addition to a lifetime of utter tone deafness, he also nearly didn’t receive his graduate […]
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19436
I don’t think anyone should be surprised that squirrels have figured out how to say “nyah, nyah” to rattlesnakes. After all, it’s what they’ve been saying to cats, dogs, and bird-feeder owning humans for years. R. Kelly WagnerAustin, Texas
- Humans
Letters from the July 3, 2004, issue of Science News
Whale, of an annoyance In “Din among the Orcas: Are whale watchers making too much noise?” (SN: 5/1/04, p. 275: Din among the Orcas: Are whale watchers making too much noise?), Rus Hoelzel states, “One thing I want to make clear is that I think whale watching is a good thing.” He then states that […]
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19435
It is very disappointing that this article has not a word about any disagreement surrounding the health and related consequences of global warming, let alone of any disputes about its very likelihood. Tibor R. MachanOrange, Calif. The article asserts that malaria and other tropical diseases will migrate northward with global warming. This ignores the fact […]
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19434
I was surprised to find no mention of Linus Pauling’s theory of anesthesia in this article. In 1961, Pauling provided detailed arguments that interactions between anesthetic agents and water, rather than lipids, form hydrate microcrystals in the brain that entrap side chains of proteins and interfere with electrical oscillations. Stephen Lawson Linus Pauling Institute Corvallis, […]
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19433
I don’t think anyone should be surprised that squirrels have figured out how to say “nyah, nyah” to rattlesnakes. After all, it’s what they’ve been saying to cats, dogs, and bird-feeder owning humans for years. R. Kelly WagnerAustin, Texas
- Humans
Letters from the June 26, 2004, issue of Science News
Theory and practice Like physicists, mathematicians have always been divided into theorists and experimentalists (“Math Lab: Computer experiments are transforming mathematics,” SN: 4/24/04, p. 266: Math Lab). And, as with the physicists, the two groups of mathematicians have not gotten along very well. Still, in physics, there has always been an understanding that both groups […]
- Humans
Letters from the June 19, 2004, issue of Science News
Scan or scam? Using laser technology that has an apparent resolution of only about half a centimeter is somewhat laughable (“Laser scanners map rock art,” SN: 4/3/04, p. 222: Laser scanners map rock art). I also wondered whether the “fresh coat of desert varnish” was an April fool joke. Actually, I really look forward to […]
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19432
Does it really take a team of scientists running computer simulations to come up with the common sense that the greater the common surface area of two objects that touch, the more efficient the stacking? The closer objects are to being flat, the more efficiently they will stack. Hence ellipses will, of course, stack more […]
