April 1996

In the "Notebook" section of the March 18, 1996, issue of The Scientist [page 30], there is a short piece about someone who has constructed a mnemonic device to remember 167 digits of the number p. The first sentence of the piece wrongly states that 22 over 7 "is represented by p." p is an irrational number, which means that it cannot be written as the ratio of two whole numbers. 22/7 is rational because it is the ratio of two whole numbers. Any rational number can be written either as a decima

I was surprised by the lack of comment on your article on foreign-born scientists (R. Finn, The Scientist, Nov. 27, 1995, page 1). In particular, I was disappointed by the lack of support from scientists whose research has benefited from the work of foreign-born students and postdocs. It was interesting to note that the report from the Center for Immigration Studies cited in the article focused on scientists who were "visibly" foreign-that is, those from Asia or Latino countries-and largely ov

While it is true that at present relatively few associate editors of biomedical journals are women (L. Katterman, The Scientist, March 4, 1996, page 1), the situation is not as bleak as stated. Four of the eight associate editors of Fundamental and Applied Toxicology, an official journal of the Society of Toxicology, are women, all of whom were members of the journal's editorial board prior to their appointment as associate editors. The discipline of toxicology as an outgrowth of pharmacology

The recent Opinion essay by S. Fred Singer on the awarding of the Nobel Prize in chemistry for research on chlorofluorocarbon-ozone chemistry [The Scientist, March 4, 1996, page 9] is a continuation of a well-orchestrated political campaign, using a small group of self-appointed "skeptics," that is aimed at undermining research into environmental problems. The implication that it is the Nobel Prize committee that is politicizing the basic science issues of CFC-ozone chemistry is disingenuous at

D. Waters, L. Higginson, P. Gladstone, B. Kimball, M. Le May, S.J. Boccuzzi, J. Lesp}rance, Canadian Coronary Atherosclerosis Intervention Trial Study Group, "Effects of monotherapy with an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor on the progression of coronary atherosclerosis as assessed by seral quantitative arteriography: The Canadian Coronary Atherosclerosis Intervention Trial," Circulation, 89:959-68, 1994. (Cited in nearly 60 publications as of February 1996) Comments by David Waters, Hartford Hospit

T.A. Wynn, I. Eltoum, I.P. Oswald, A.W. Cheever, A. Sher, "Endogenous interleukin 12 (IL-12) regulates granuloma formation induced by eggs of Schistosoma mansoni and exogenous IL-12 both inhibits and prophylactically immunizes against egg pathology," Journal of Experimental Medicine, 179:1551-61, 1994. (Cited in nearly 50 publications as of February 1996) Comments by Thomas A. Wynn and Alan Sher, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases After malaria, schistosomiasis is the second