Letters to the Editor

18920

I was disappointed in “Blood relatives.” It ignored the pioneering work by people at the company Somatogen, now known as Baxter Hemoglobin Therapeutics. They first published work on a recombinant hemoglobin for use as a blood substitute in Nature in 1990. Later, they demonstrated definitively that many of the problems associated with blood substitutes were […]

18919

Your recent article on oxygen deprivation interested me greatly. As a jump pilot (hauling skydivers), I visit moderately high altitudes regularly. On a typical busy day, I may go to 14,000 feet 20 times. Granted that I don’t stay there very long, but I wonder if the harmful effects are cumulative. Peter Danes San Diego, […]

18912

As I recall, the Germans tried using diesels to power aircraft, but because diesels were not as responsive as gasoline-powered engines and heavier, they did not progress. That, it seems, was very fortuitous, given this surprising discovery that diesel-exhaust pollution increases with increased altitude. Anibal José da Silva Houston, Texas

18911

This article attributes the low visibility of the book Introductory Physical Science to the publisher’s limited means of promotion. This is only part of the story. Much more serious is the fact that many states’ mandated tests demand such shallow coverage of so many topics that they force bad textbooks on the schools. Uri Haber-Schaim […]

18908

In the March 17 issue, there was an article about arsenic pollution disrupting hormone activity (“Arsenic pollution disrupts hormones”) and another article concerned with satellite verification of greenhouse-gas effects from increased levels of carbon dioxide and methane (“Satellites verify greenhouse-gas effects”). Ironically, that same week, President Bush recommended that more stringent arsenic standards be set […]

18910

In the March 17 issue, there was an article about arsenic pollution disrupting hormone activity (“Arsenic pollution disrupts hormones”) and another article concerned with satellite verification of greenhouse-gas effects from increased levels of carbon dioxide and methane (“Satellites verify greenhouse-gas effects”). Ironically, that same week, President Bush recommended that more stringent arsenic standards be set […]

18909

As a university earth science professor, I view my son’s middle and high school science texts with horror. I see similar symptoms in the behavior of some of my undergraduate students. I view the problem as being an educational system in which, through high school, teachers are trained how to teach but not what. College […]

18907

About the Hippocratic Oath, as quoted in “I do solemnly swear . . .,” “first, do not harm” is not in it, although it has been said so dozens of times. Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary‘s version of the oath states “. . . never do harm to anyone.” “First, do no harm” (Primum non nocere) […]

18906

As an old noncentenarian, I was getting along very well with “Making sense of centenarians” until I reached Thomas Perls’ remark: “My hope is that we will actually see the development [from genetic research] of medications . . . .” I will bet your great-grandmother survived very well with the least medication possible. It seems […]

18905

“Jiggling the cosmic ooze” states that Leon Lederman won the Nobel prize in 1988 for “codiscovering the muon.” It is a small error, but more correctly, Lederman won the Nobel prize for codiscovering the mu neutrino. The muon was discovered in cosmic rays in 1937–1938 by researchers using cloud-chamber techniques. Peter B. Kahn State University […]

18904

In regards to “Dinosaur fossil yields feathery structures,” the scattered feathery structures may have belonged to an antecedent of Archaeopteryx but not necessarily a Sinornithosaurus. Given the context and location of the fossils, it seems more likely they belonged to the raptor’s last meal before its untimely demise. Aaron Stough Roanoke, Va.

18903

One can question the basic assumptions of the people doing the study described in “Sedentary off-hours link to Alzheimer’s.” One would hope that going to church is not less an intellectual endeavor than others, though it may be less physical than knitting or gardening. Even TV can be intellectual if viewers are testing their ability […]