PROPOSE CRATER THEORY — Huge bubbles of gas bursting through the moon’s surface may be the cause of lunar craters. Two British scientists proposed in a new “blowhole theory” that gases trapped under the surface when suddenly set free would form craters resembling those observed on the moon. Among other current theories are those attributing the formation of craters to meteorite impacts and volcanoes. The scientists, Drs. A. G. Gaydon and R. C. M. Learner of … Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, say recent reports of volcanic activity on the moon stimulated them to dev...

Reader letters from the Jan, 17 Science News

A better way The article “Thinning fuel before injection boosts efficiency” (SN: 10/25/08, p. 9) shows that there are many ways to find efficiency when we look. One place I see for improvement is moisture injection in the feed airstream to gasoline engines. Here in the Southwest, where humidity runs at 20 percent, rainy days are associated with an increase in gas mileage because the moisture turns to steam in the engine and improves efficiency. Moisture injection should be less complex to accomplish than adding a strong electric field. Michael Daly, Gallup, N.M. Good degradation ...

NASA’s source In “Cooling climate ‘consensus’ of 1970s never was” (SN: 10/25/08, p. 5), Science News includes a graph, attributed to NASA, that shows temperature deviations from the year 1880. The data clearly indicate a distinct warming trend throughout the period. Why is it that over the past two years I have very painstakingly researched the data from more than 200 weather stations from every continent, including more than 20 north of the Arctic Circle, and I haven’t found a single one that indicates a trend that even remotely resembles that represented by the graph in your art...

Poison ivy pills— A poison ivy pill can offer season-long immunity against America’s common summer skin rash.… The standard dosage that will develop immunity includes one tablet every other day for the first two weeks. This is then followed by one tablet daily for the next two weeks. Then two tablets taken daily for the following two weeks will establish immunity but the two-tablet dosage must be maintained for the remainder of the season to perpetuate immunity for the season.… This means that now, when the family is planning a summer camping trip in the poison ivy or poison oak infest...

December 30 Cleveland’s Great Lakes Science Center rings in 2009 with exhibits, films and a balloon drop. Visit www.greatscience.com January 12, 2009 Smithsonian Institution’s 2009 Tropical Extinction Symposium to be held in Washington, D.C. Visit www.si.edu/tec January 15, 2009 Arp’s Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies opens at The Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland, Ore. Visit www.sou.edu/sma

Reader letters from the Dec. 6 Science News