LETTERS 



(Continued from page 12) 



tant varieties of cotton that could 

 minimize losses to weevils. 



Starting Life 



Thank you, Antonio Lazcano, for 

 your summary of the most up-to-date 

 information on how life began ["The 

 Origins of Life," 2/06]. Since the sev- 

 enth grade I have been curious about 

 how life got started, and I've won- 

 dered what great advances in such 

 knowledge would occur in my life- 

 time (I'm now sixty-four). I have been 

 well satisfied with the progress so far! 

 Joanne R. Polner 

 Franklin Lakes, New Jersey 



Antonio Lazcano has drawn together 

 an excellent comprehensive summary 

 of the many plausible physical phe- 

 nomena that may have led to the be- 

 ginning of life: heterotrophic theory, 

 hydrothermal vents, Miller-Urey re- 

 actions on Earth's soupy surface, a 



pre-RNA world, an RNA world, 

 and seeding from meteorites or other 

 planets. It would be wrong, however, 

 to conclude that, because the list is 

 long, scientists are conflicted and that 

 therefore life began by means of su- 

 pernatural processes. The fact that 

 there are so many plausible ways to 

 create life from inanimate material 

 makes it even more likely that life 

 originated by natural means. 

 Fred Haag 



Burnt Hills, New York 



Expanding Space 



I am struggling with one of Neil 

 deGrasse Tyson's statements in "Fire 

 and Ice" [12/05-1/06]: If the fastest 

 known speed is that of light and other 

 electromagnetic waves — 186,000 

 miles per second — how could the 

 universe expand to "about a thousand 

 times the size of our solar system" 

 one second after the big bang? 

 John Stiles 

 Johnston, Iowa 



Neil Tyson replies: John Stiles was 

 not the only one who wrote a letter 

 asking this question. The cosmic 

 speed limits imposed by relativity 

 are specific to movement within a 

 pre-existing space, such as what 

 was described in Einstein's special 

 theory of relativity The speed of 

 light caps the rate at which informa- 

 tion can be communicated from one 

 place to another. 



In Einstein's general theory of rela- 

 tivity, the modern theory of gravity, 

 space itself can stretch — at any speed 

 whatsoever. Meanwhile, the speed 

 of ordinary light and matter remains 

 bounded by the speed of light in 



a vacuum. 



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Edward O. Wilson 



Nature 

 Revealed 



Selected Writings. 



1949-2006 



"Edward Wilson is among 

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 and authors of my lifetime. 

 In this book he gathers and 

 places in context his own 

 key writings from 1949 to 

 the present. The result is 

 both a moving book and a 

 treasure for those interested 

 in science and history." 

 — Jared Diamond, author 

 of Guns, Germs, and Steel 



"A fascinating collection 

 from one of the most 

 influential thinkers of our 

 time." 



— Steven Pinker, author 

 of How the Mind Works and 

 The Blank Slate 



$35.00 hardcover 



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