Letters to the Editor
- Humans
Letters from the April 3, 2004, issue of Science News
Lack of data? Something jumped out at me from “Telltale Charts: Is anticipating heart disease as easy as 1, 2, 3, 4?” (SN: 1/31/04, p. 72: Telltale Charts). It’s that there were no published data supporting the 50 percent rule taught for years in medical schools. I think this speaks volumes about science and medicine […]
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19398
In this article, the thesis is that wolves hunt in packs because they lose less of a carcass to ravens (37 percent loss per pair versus 17 percent loss per pack). Yet the article also states that it’s more energy efficient for wolves to hunt in pairs and that a pack is not needed to […]
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19397
Wait a minute. Your article first indicates a 15.6 percent rise in the U.S. population between 1990 and 2002 but then goes on to claim an increase at “faster rates” in coastal counties: 13.3 percent. Richard LaatschOxford, Ohio The 13.3 percent rise in population is only for the 330 counties that touch the coastline. The […]
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19396
This article doesn’t mention that 13 to 20 percent of women with heavy menstrual periods have a common but often undiagnosed bleeding disorder called von Willebrand disease. Because this disorder is often treatable by medication, many of the hysterectomies performed to stop bleeding could be prevented. The National Hemophilia Foundation and its local chapters are […]
- Humans
Letters from the March 27, 2004, issue of Science News
Nobody’s board The article “Danger on Deck?” (SN: 1/31/04, p. 74: Danger on Deck?), or at least part of it, could have been titled “Danger on Dock” or maybe “Danger under Dock.” After reading about how chromated-copper arsenate (CCA) is leached from the wood, I began wondering how it affects aquatic organisms. Many fish, especially […]
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19395
This article was an eye-opener. Our courts may be accepting many analytical techniques that haven’t been adequately validated. We should be careful, especially where the death penalty is involved, not to be guilty of hubris in the application of scientific knowledge. Bob SauerPrinceton, Mass.
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19394
This article suggests that pregnant rattlesnakes might give their offspring a better chance of survival if they congregated for birth. If that were true, one might expect that there would also be a convergence of birth times. While doing research over 25 years ago, we had five of six pregnant rattlesnakes caged together all give […]
- Humans
Letters from the March 20, 2004, issue of Science News
What’s the difference? I thought that the X and Y chromosomes determined gender in animals, but I see no mention of them in “When to Change Sex” (SN: 1/17/04, p. 40: When to Change Sex). Does this mean that on a genetic basis, males and females in these organisms are identical? Neil H. MurphyWalnut Creek, […]
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19393
The word love needs to be more carefully defined in the study described in this article. Love may also mean finding the economic resources to give a child a better future. Wolf’s description of Taiwanese mothers giving their children away when “socially acceptable alternatives” were available is reminiscent of our society’s advice to young unwed […]
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19392
Your article describes how the male bean weevil’s spiked reproductive part damages the female’s reproductive tract to reduce the chance that she will mate with other males. Could this also explain the barbs on the organ of the domesticated tom cat? I have read that the pain of copulation induces the female’s ovulation, but I […]
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19391
The article about tuberculosis states that Robert Koch in 1882 was the first person to link a particular microbe to a disease. References indicate that Armauer Hansen demonstrated in 1868 that Mycobacterium leprae was associated with the tissues of leprosy patients. He may not have had Koch’s postulates to prove this linkage, but many credit […]
- Humans
Letters from the March 13, 2004, issue of Science News
Dry hole? “Tapping sun’s light and heat to make hydrogen” (SN: 1/17/04, p. 46: Tapping sun’s light and heat to make hydrogen) seems to be delivering good news for the environment: “Clean” hydrogen can be produced from water using solar energy. This seems to me, however, to be even more horrifying than the burning of […]
