By Science News
No surprise
The decline in delinquency, violence, disobedience, and truancy seen in the Cherokee children is quite predictable, and I doubt it has much to do with increased parental supervision (“Poor Relations: Casino windfall reveals poverty’s toll on Cherokee kids’ behavior” SN: 10/18/03, p. 244: Poor Relations: Casino windfall reveals poverty’s toll on Cherokee kids’ behavior). The lack of money is a powerful factor in the lives of many parents, increasing spousal and child abuse. It is this variable (frequently getting hit) that causes the aggression in children in poverty. We have data showing that beaten children from affluent families are far more aggressive than unbeaten children from poor families. It is, therefore, not poverty, but how poverty frustrates people, especially those parents who were raised in a culture that encourages spanking.
Ralph S. Welsh
Georgetown, Conn.
About two feet
“Magnets, my foot!” (SN: 10/18/03, p. 254: Magnets, my foot!) makes no mention of the type of magnetic insoles used–multipolar phased array or bipolar–nor the strength. I suffer from peripheral neuropathy, and a set of multipolar-phased-array-type magnetic insoles has been the only effective treatment.
James White
Hillsboro, Ore.
The researchers used insoles containing a magnet with a bipolar multiple circular array, with a surface magnetization of 192 gauss.–N. Seppa
Think snow
“Do Arctic diets protect prostates?” (SN: 10/18/03, p. 253: Do Arctic diets protect prostates?) discusses the disease in Inuit men in arctic Alaska, Greenland, and Canada. Given the way temperature affects sperm production in the testicles, have the investigators considered any differences in hormone production between these men and populations in warmer climates? Not to say that diet isn’t the key factor, but the geography gave me pause.
Rich Mewes
Fort Collins, Colo.
Men in northern climates who aren’t Inuit don’t have the low rates of prostate cancer seen in the Inuits in this study. This suggests that a protective effect stems from a cultural factor.–J. Raloff
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