Letters.Animal arrogance I beg to is an elliptical expression for I beg leave to; as, I beg to inform you s>. See also: Beg differ with the quote, attributed to Ethan Temeles in "Flowers, not flirting, make sexes differ" (SN: 7/22/00, p. 52): "This is the first really unambiguous example of ecology playing a role in the morphological differences between the sexes." The statement exhibits the annoyingly common practice among zoologists to think and generalize as if only animals (and, even worse, only vertebrates) and their literature matter. The plant literature contains numerous published studies, for multiple species, of ecologically driven sexual differentiation sexual differentiation See Hermaphroditism, hirsutism, Müllerian ducts, Precocious puberty, Pseudoprecocious puberty, Tanner staging, Testis-determining factor, Virilization, Wolffian ducts, XXX, XXY, XXXY, XYY syndromes, Y Chromosome. and displacement in vascular plants (Bot.) plants composed in part of vascular tissue, as all flowering plants and the higher cryptogamous plants, or those of the class See also: Vascular alone. Michael Grant University of Colorado University of Colorado may refer to:
Not everything's about sex Your article "Gene mutation for color blindness color blindness, visual defect resulting in the inability to distinguish colors. About 8% of men and 0.5% of women experience some difficulty in color perception. found" (SN: 7/22/00, p. 63) ends with the claim that "a color-blind person and a noncarrier have no chance of having a color-blind col·or·blind or col·or-blind adj. 1. Partially or totally unable to distinguish certain colors. 2. a. Not subject to racial prejudices. b. child." Yet as I recall from basic biology class, color blindness is considered a prime example of a sex-linked trait, which makes the above statement untrue. Carried on the X chromosome X chromosome One of the two sex chromosomes (the other is Y) that determine a person's gender. Normal males have both an X and a Y chromosome, and normal females have two X chromosomes. , the trait would manifest differently depending on whether the offspring were male or female. Please clarify. Elizabeth Bakwin Chicago, Ill. The color-blindness mutation of people on Pingelap is found on chromosome 8. The other known mutation leading to achromatopsia, this form of color blindness, is on chromosome two. While some forms of color blindness are sex linked, this one isn't. --N. Seppa Tip off the old block The July 22 cover, "Sticker shock," and the related article ("The little engines that couldn't," SN: 7/22/00, p. 56) say that the powerful forces that arise at the surface of micromachines weren't expected. Any skilled machinist who has used Johannsen gauge blocks in measuring and checking his work would not be surprised at all. These blocks are stacks of hardened steel rectangles with highly polished, flat, parallel surfaces. They are used in the gauging of measurements in precision machining. Because of the precise finish and flatness of the pieces, molecular cohesion forces hold them together in a bond not easily broken. Johannsen gauge blocks have been in use for a hundred years. Norman MacRitchie Honolulu, Hawaii Send communications to: Editor, SCIENCE NEWS 1719 N Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 or scinews@sciserv.org All letters subject to editing. |
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