Letters to the Editor
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19523
Your article didn’t specify how strong the ultrasonic waves were or if any special conditions were required for these bubbles to form. I am curious to know if there’s a difference between the ultrasonic waves mentioned in your article and those in ultrasound exams of pregnant women. Andrea BikfalvyDowagiac, Mich. The article made me wonder […]
- Humans
Letters from the March 5, 2005, issue of Science News
Way-up wander? It seems interesting that undersea flows have at least one characteristic different from rivers: “While river floods on land can create natural levees a few meters tall, the levees formed by [undersea] turbidity currents can grow up to 100 m[eters] high” (“Hidden Canyons,” SN: 1/1/05, p. 9). There are several sites on Mars […]
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19522
I’m sure you published this article in good faith, but I believe that claims for shark cartilage are not made seriously by anyone who studies the role of natural substances in cancer prevention. It was proved ineffective long ago. I think your article does a disservice to honest people who are trying to fight the […]
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19521
Your article appears to suggest that healing of old people could be promoted by young people’s blood. Perhaps there is something to the Dracula story after all. Young people give blood for money. Anything known about the effect of transfusions on old people? Bill HawkinsMinneapolis, Minn. The mice in this experiment exchanged far more blood […]
- Humans
Letters from the February 26, 2005, issue of Science News
Let’s move it, people When I read of the Hubble Space Telescope–repair controversy (“People, Not Robots: Panel favors shuttle mission to Hubble,” SN: 12/18&25/04, p. 388; “Lean Times: Proposed budget keeps science spending slim,” SN: 2/12/05, p. 102), this question comes to mind: Why can’t an unmanned, powered vehicle latch on to Hubble and fly […]
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19520
Early in our history, U.S. citizens ate bushmeat. We hunted deer, bear, squirrel, rabbit, possum, turkey, pheasant, armadillo, and other wild game. We hunted because it was easier to hunt than to earn the money necessary to buy meat. We diminished our supply of wild game. Africans are simply doing what we used to do. […]
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19519
Another hypothesis for the polish on the Stone Age corundum ax head is that the Stone Age people never had absolutely pure corundum, which indeed would have required diamond to polish. It is possible that these people used one grade of corundum to make the ax head and a slightly harder grade to polish it. […]
- Humans
Letters from the February 19, 2005, issue of Science News
Negative thinking The article “Sweet Glow: Nanotube sensor brightens path to glucose detection” (SN: 1/1/05, p. 3) mentions “ferricyanide, an electron-hungry molecule.” This puzzled me no end. Aren’t ferricyanide molecules, unlike their ions, electrically neutral? I’m trying to visualize ravenous molecules gobbling up innocent electrons. Ernest NussbaumBethesda, Md. Ferricyanide is indeed an ion, with a […]
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19518
This article mentions several possible triggers for migraines, with a patent foramen ovale being one. There is also the change-in-weather trigger, from which I suffer. All the symptoms mentioned in the article could cause a fairly sudden change in blood pressure. A weather-related change in barometric pressure might have the same effect. I wonder if […]
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19517
This article overlooks an immeasurable long-term cost of whole-body computed tomography scans: the potential cancers induced by high-dose radiation. Aggressive marketing of CT scans without full disclosure of the risk is unethical and should be illegal. Nancy EvansSan Francisco, Calif.
- Humans
Letters from the February 12, 2005, issue of Science News
Short end of the chromosome Since “women with chronically ill children generally reported more stress” and since “there was a very striking connection between stress and telomere length” (“Stressed to Death: Mental tension ages cells,” SN: 12/4/04, p. 355), isn’t it probable that there is a strong connection between telomere length and becoming the parent […]
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19516
When I read of the Hubble Space Telescope–repair controversy (“People, Not Robots: Panel favors shuttle mission to Hubble,” SN: 12/18&25/04, p. 388; and this article), this question comes to mind: Why can’t an unmanned, powered vehicle latch on to Hubble and fly it to the International Space Station, where it could be repaired by the […]
