All Stories by Science News
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19362
Your article uses the words “placebo therapies such as supportive counseling.” I think that people in the profession and people who have been paying for such therapy would disagree with the characterization. Also, the various permutations of treatment covered in the article didn’t include a very common one: drugs without any serious counseling. In such […]
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19361
This article describes the use of the mosquito-borne Sindbis virus to kill cancer cells in lab dishes and mice. It would be interesting to determine whether the human population of the Egyptian town of Sindbis exhibits a reduced incidence of certain cancers. Perhaps large-scale efforts directed toward elimination of the mosquito in populated areas are […]
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19290
Unfortunately your article got something wrong in describing the reshaping of aircraft surfaces. It states, “The recently retired supersonic commercial transport, the Concorde, tilted its nose downward for subsonic flight.” This is not the (whole) truth because the reason for this reshaping was not to reduce air drag, but to achieve a far-better view of […]
- Humans
From the November 25, 1933, issue
STEEL TOWERS GO UP AND DOWN TO SPEED SURVEY OF COUNTRY Work on control surveys of the United States is being rapidly pushed forward under funds recently provided by the Public Works Administration to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Although the immediate purpose is to provide employment to a great number of men, the […]
- Math
Fractal World
Created by Michael Frame, Benoit Mandelbrot, and Nial Neger of Yale University, these Web pages serve as a remarkably comprehensive source of information on fractal geometry. The site offers basic definitions, many illustrations, and lots of mathematical details. Topics include natural fractals and dimensions, iterated function systems, the complex Newton’s method, fractals in art and […]
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19289
Nice to know that someone is scanning kids’ skulls for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The essential problem with this sort of thing is that psychology and psychiatry are descriptive endeavors and particularly flexible when it comes to describing ADHD. It’s unlikely that all the behaviors associated with the syndrome have a common physiologic structure. This […]
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19288
Your article states, “There are about 4.14 kilograms of carbon in a gallon of gasoline, says Dukes.” If he actually said that, this would seem to qualify this gasoline as an “alternative fuel,” since a gallon of ordinary gasoline is only about 2.5 kilograms in mass. Perhaps Dukes meant 4.14 pounds of carbon per gallon. […]
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From the November 18, 1933, issue
“ROSETTA STONE” OF PREHISTORIC AMERICA Frank M. Setzler of the Smithsonian Institution is shown pointing to a little pottery bowl which he likens to the Rosetta Stone of the Nile because it is decorated with two kinds of art design, one known and the other unknown. Together with other discoveries made under Mr. Setzlers direction […]
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Common Cold
This Web site offers a wide range of material concerning the common cold. The available information includes an overview of how the cold virus invades the human body and how cold symptoms are caused. The site also has pages on preventing colds and about some of the complications that can occur. Check out the special […]
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19287
This article refers to “Japanese research-whaling ships” that “capture” whales. Reputable scientists and environmentalists agree that the Japanese whaling industry operates primarily for slaughter, not research, in violation of antiwhaling treaties respected by virtually all nations. Science News shouldn’t use the propaganda terms favored by those who would drive cetaceans to extinction. Ken PaffDetroit, Mich.
