Letters from the January 5, 2008, issue of Science News
By Science News
Missing link
“Antibiotics in infancy tied to asthma” (SN: 7/7/07, p. 14) reported a correlation but no confident explanation for the relationship between receiving antibiotics and later developing asthma. “Ulcer bug may prevent asthma” (SN: 10/27/07, p. 270), which reports that children with Helicobacter pylori in their stomachs are less likely to get asthma, seems to offer a convincing answer.
Virginia Brock
Rock Island, Ill.
Do the math
“Strategies to improve teaching” (SN: 12/8/07, p. 366) says that American students’ science and math skills have been falling relative to those of their peers in other countries. How true. Recent tests put the United States in 14th place in an international comparison. But at least we are still in the top 10!