Letters to the Editor
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19666
Although I love finding out about how traits supposedly unique to humans are shared by animals, I don’t see how the experiment in this article demonstrates episodic memory in hummingbirds. How is this not the simple sensing (smelling) of the sugar drink in the syringes? Yvonne LyerlaSonoma, Calif. Researcher T. Andrew Hurly says that his […]
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19665
A great earthquake occurs on average every 130 years in the southern part of the San Andreas fault, so Los Angeles is long overdue. Make no mistake, loss of life, injuries, and damage will be on an apocalyptic scale. The government may take days or weeks to bring in help. You must take responsibility for […]
- Humans
Letters from the April 8, 2006, issue of Science News
Hot and cold “Warming climate will slow ocean circulation” (SN: 2/4/06, p. 77) makes me wonder, Does continental drift cause occasional changes to the ocean’s currents? Would major reorganizations of ocean currents tend to cause ice ages by temporarily disrupting the flow of warm water that normally keeps the ice at bay? Would simulations of […]
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19664
Could it be that the ancient teeth discovered with drill marks but no signs of fillings were drilled to relieve abscesses? On a long holiday weekend years ago, a dentist opened and drained an abscess for me until I could get back home to my regular dentist. It relieved the pain almost instantly. David WattGlasgow, […]
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19663
Changing the diet of pigs, cows, chickens, etc., to include more omega-3 fatty acids would be a healthy alternative to genetic engineering and wouldn’t require government approval. In particular, the weed purslane is higher in omega-3s than any other vegetable and is also edible by humans, although it is not generally available in markets. In […]
- Humans
Letters from the April 1, 2006, issue of Science News
The prion game I must quibble about the headline of the piece about chronic wasting disease in deer (“Hunter Beware: Infectious proteins found in deer muscle,” SN: 1/28/06, p. 52). “Hunter Beware” sounds ominous, but in order to get the mice to exhibit symptoms after getting muscle tissue from infected deer, it was necessary to […]
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19662
This article doesn’t say that penitentes appear only in the Andes, nor does it say in what part of the Andes they appear. Does the formation of penitentes require that the sun be nearly directly overhead for part of the day? Can penitentes form only near the equator? Burton LoupeeCedar Rapids, Iowa Penitentes are also […]
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19661
I did think the hairy crab was amazing, and I chuckled over the earthworm-eating and drop-down spider stories, although the “male spiders woo lifelessly” slipped right by. It wasn’t until I passed the issue on to my husband that I noticed that the heading said “No Fooling” instead of “Of Note.” So now, we have […]
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19660
I did think the hairy crab was amazing, and I chuckled over the earthworm-eating and drop-down spider stories, although the “male spiders woo lifelessly” slipped right by. It wasn’t until I passed the issue on to my husband that I noticed that the heading said “No Fooling” instead of “Of Note.” So now, we have […]
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19659
I did think the hairy crab was amazing, and I chuckled over the earthworm-eating and drop-down spider stories, although the “male spiders woo lifelessly” slipped right by. It wasn’t until I passed the issue on to my husband that I noticed that the heading said “No Fooling” instead of “Of Note.” So now, we have […]
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19658
I did think the hairy crab was amazing, and I chuckled over the earthworm-eating and drop-down spider stories, although the “male spiders woo lifelessly” slipped right by. It wasn’t until I passed the issue on to my husband that I noticed that the heading said “No Fooling” instead of “Of Note.” So now, we have […]
- Humans
Letters from the March 25, 2006, issue of Science News
Bee movie? In the article about using harmonic reflected signals to track bees (“The Trouble with Chasing a Bee,” SN: 1/14/06, p. 23), I thought it was interesting to note that the original technology was created by the Russians as a spy device. The technology is still being used for a form of spying. Dwight […]
