Mild vibration encourages precursor cells to turn into muscle and bone. This seems like something NASA could use to keep astronauts fit.

Rich Desilets
Santa Rosa, Calif.

It would be interesting to some way check fat versus muscle cells in airline pilots and crew; ship crews; anyone who rides the subways to work or the passengers and crew of any commuter train; taxicab drivers; or any construction worker who drives a vehicle or handles a vibrating piece of equipment, and then compare the findings with an equal sampling of sedentary subjects. Even if that could not be done and we relied only on visual evidence, I think the results would show that living a life with more than 15 minutes of vibration a day has no effect on the problem of obesity.

Ted Blinder
Havertown, Pa.