Letters.Cold, hard facts "Wretched weather sealed explorer's fate" (SN: 1/1/00, p. 11) suggests that Robert E Scott died in the Antarctic simply because of bad weather. As rational reviews of the Scott legend have revealed, Scott was poorly prepared for a trip to the South Pole South Pole, southern end of the earth's axis, lat. 90° S. It is distinguished from the south magnetic pole. The South Pole was reached by Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian explorer, in 1911. See Antarctica. , even though he had the resources of the British Empire British Empire, overseas territories linked to Great Britain in a variety of constitutional relationships, established over a period of three centuries. The establishment of the empire resulted primarily from commercial and political motives and emigration movements to support him. It is likely that had Scott survived his ordeal, he would have been court-martialed for squandering squan·der tr.v. squan·dered, squan·der·ing, squan·ders 1. To spend wastefully or extravagantly; dissipate. See Synonyms at waste. 2. the lives of his men. As for the cold weather, I find it interesting that Roald Amundsen and his men were out on the Antarctic continent at the same time as Scott and yet fared much better. However, because Scott so grossly misjudged the difficulties of manhauling (along with other equally damning misjudgments), he and his men were still out on Beardmore Glacier Beard·more Glacier A valley glacier, about 418 km (260 mi) long, in the Queen Maud Mountains of Antarctica. It was discovered by the British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton in 1908. well into the onset of the Antarctic autumn and long after Amundsen and his party had successfully returned to their base at the Bay of Whales Bay of Whales: see Ross Sea; Antarctica. . Forrest L. Williams Salt Lake City, Utah For ships of the United States Navy of the same name, see . Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake, or its initials, S.L.C. How bugs shrug off drugs I am confused by "Antibiotics may become harder to resist" (SN: 1/1/00, p. 5). I have avoided taking antibiotics on the belief I was saving myself from resistance. As I read the article, it is the bacteria that are evolving, thus my avoidance will not mean current antibiotics will be effective. Richard Harem Marfa, Texas An individual's overuse overuse Health care The common use of a particular intervention even when the benefits of the intervention don't justify the potential harm or cost–eg, prescribing antibiotics for a probable viral URI. Cf Misuse, Underuse. of antibiotics can indeed increase the risk that his or her body will develop large populations of resistant bacteria--a situation that would allow them to flourish when their microbial microbial pertaining to or emanating from a microbe. microbial digestion the breakdown of organic material, especially feedstuffs, by microbial organisms. neighbors are culled by a later course of antibiotic treatment In much the same way, widespread antibiotic pollution can permit large populations of resistant microbes to develop within the environment When these microbes later cycle back through humans or wildlife, drug therapy may prove ineffective at routing them. --J. Raloff Party animals? I was disturbed by the cover art on the Jan. 1, 2000, issue. Caged laboratory animals were pictured as partying to celebrate the New Year. It was so removed from the reality of these animals' lives (and deaths) that I wondered at first if there was intended irony. This cartoon view of the lives that are sacrificed for science does not foster the compassion and humane treatment that the laboratory animals deserve. Gretchen Allison Friday Harbor, Wash. I really liked the cover on the Jan. 1, 2000, issue. I am a chemist and I'd like to mount a copy over my desk. Sharon R. Simko Wright-Patterson A.F.B., Ohio |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion