Letters to the Editor
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19794
Finding CO2 levels that are 2,500 times higher in 5,000-year-old fulgurites than in modern samples, scientists have speculated that the extra CO2 resulted from vaporization of organic material by lightning. Could some of this gas reflect elevated atmospheric CO2? And if so, could current laments regarding “unprecedented levels” of CO2 be insupportable? John M. CorboyMililani, […]
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19793
I enjoyed reading this article about the marine census that’s been taking place, but I was waiting for some mention of the organisms’ parasites. Granted, worms are not glamour-pusses, but they are fascinating creatures. If we want a complete survey, they must be included. Ann GardnerLincoln, Neb.
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19792
This article points out that vital intrinsic neural activities may in part stem from a person’s random thoughts and daydreams, or from neural efforts to balance the opposing signals of cells simultaneously trying to jack up and cool down brain activity, or could occur during an internal process of generating predictions about upcoming environmental demands […]
- Humans
Letters from the February 17, 2007, issue of Science News
Fear factor In response to “The Predator’s Gaze” (SN: 12/9/06, p. 379), I write as a psychiatrist and a mother. My ex-husband is now in prison, and my son likely carries the genes of sociopathy. The quality of fearlessness mentioned in the article seems to be one of the temperamental traits most associated with the […]
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19791
The author of this article seems to feel, like most other writers do, that “the western United States” properly covers all geographical bases. Believe me, the Pacific Northwest is anything but dry. One other point about geography: Weather phenomena, and other stuff, occurring in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, or Kansas are not happening in […]
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19790
I am disappointed in this article on the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) summary. It was a political summary, not the 1,500 page report that’s due in May 2007. How often have you seen a scientific summary published 3 months before the final report? I am concerned that you do not appear to […]
- Humans
Letters from the February 10, 2007, issue of Science News
Grape gripe “A Toast to Healthy Hearts: Wine compounds benefit blood vessels” (SN: 12/2/06, p. 356) leaves us up in the air with this statement: “. . . since the traditional wine-making techniques still in use in southwestern France and Sardinia increase concentrations of polymeric procyanidins, he says, other vintners may soon adopt such methods.” […]
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19789
This article states that as a result of an internal representation of their bodies and parts, macaques “gradually come to mentally regard their hands and arms, and then their entire bodies, from a third-person perspective.” Isn’t that a good definition of self-awareness, one of the supposed differences between humans and other animals and between humans […]
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19788
No mention is made in this article of the huge amount of petrochemical inputs required both for large-scale farming of corn and for the distilling process required to produce ethanol. When these and other environmental costs are factored in, the promotion of corn-based ethanol as fuel will ultimately be exposed as an environmentally disastrous policy. […]
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19787
The theory of “nuclear winter” was originally put forward by an Eastern European mathematician in the 1980s. Some months later, it was shown that an error in his original calculations so vastly exaggerated “nuclear winter” as to make it meaningless. Still, the dramatic concept of a “nuclear winter” obviously lives on in the public’s mind […]
- Humans
Letters from the February 3, 2007, issue of Science News
All together now It is not only the scientific literature that documents the unexpected “doughnut” pattern in swarms (“The Mind of the Swarm,” SN: 11/25/06, p. 347). Italo Calvino’s fictional Mr. Palomar observed (rather more lyrically) about the flocking of Roman starlings, “Finally a form emerges from the confused flutter of wings, advances, condenses: it […]
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19786
I went most of my adult life multiple sclerosis-free, with only an occasional symptom. Then in 1981, I quit cold turkey after 35 years of smoking and never went back to it. Shortly after I quit, my MS started full blown. Is it possible that smoking kept the MS in remission all those years? I […]
