ScAm - 09.2019

6 Scientific American, September 2019

LETTERS

[email protected]

MENOPAUSE AND HEALTH

I appreciate that Scientific American is

working to bring attention to the issue of

female reproductive health in its “Future

of Medicine” report. But I am disap-

pointed by the absence of any informa-

tion about menopause, which means you

do not address the full cycle of the female

reproductive experience in this series of

articles. Further, not mentioning meno-

pause reinforces the cultural message to

women that their value, even in the realm

of scientific research, lies in their repro-

ductive capabilities.

If the reason for excluding it is a lack

of research or meaningful data, that fact

alone would be worth sharing.

SASHA DAVIES via e-mail

THE EDITORS REPLY: Davies is right
that menopause is an important aspect
of women’s reproductive health that de-
serves both more research and more me-
dia coverage. According to the AARP, near-
ly three quarters of women seeking help
for menopause symptoms are left untreat-
ed. This is an area we will be paying at-
tention to for future coverage.

TREATING AGGRESSION

In “The Roots of Human Aggression,”

R.  Douglas Fields explores the question of

whether structural brain abnormalities

may be involved in violent behavior. He

cites a study by psychiatrist Bernhard Bo-

gerts in Germany that found that more vi-

olent prisoners had such abnormalities

than nonviolent subjects, yet 58  percent of

the violent prisoners Bogerts studied had

no organic pathology. And Fields himself

allows that “genes and experience [my ital-

ics] guide the development of neural cir-

cuits differently in every individual.”

Over the course of human history, anti-

social actions were variously tolerated or

punished, depending on a community’s

ability to cope with the aggression. Today,

as Fields notes, seven out of 10 violent acts

among the mentally ill are reportedly as-

sociated with substance abuse, and incar-

ceration has recently become the favored

remedy. But association is not the same as

causation. Evidence-based re search offers

some better alternatives, such as improve-

ments in income sup ports, social infra-

struc ture and peer-to-peer counseling.

It appears that phrenology may be

making a comeback in a society crippled

by fear.

KARL DICK Waterloo, Ontario

Fields has a great article going until he

opines, “The prefrontal cortex does not ful-

ly develop until the early 20s in humans,

pointing to why juveniles should not be

held criminally responsible as adults in the

U.S.” I’m not sure what that even means!

Why only in the U.S.? What solution is of-

fered? Should adolescents operate self-

guided missiles (aka automobiles)? How

about consuming liquor or voting?

And while Fields is certainly entitled to

his opinions regarding our legal system,

the editors of Scientific American should

recognize the obvious jump from science

writing to op-ed. I would be interested in

his thoughts on how society should deal

with not fully developed prefrontal cortices

but not in the context of science reporting.

GRANT MERRILL Evergreen, Colo.

Fields cites the amygdala, brain stem, hy-

pothalamus, limbic system, pituitary gland

and prefrontal cortex as pathways in-

volved in human aggression and pro vides

some reasons as to why we resort to it. I

would have enjoyed his fine article even

more than I did had he mentioned ways

we can limit this capability for violent be-

havior, which he describes as “engraved in

our brain.”

Researchers such as I-Ju Hsieh, Yung Y.

Chen and Stéphane Paquin have pointed to

cognitive reappraisal to regulate negative

emo tions, conditioning to affect the brain

regions that generate emotions, and pro-

grams to reduce victimization experi ences

and em phasize social values. Cul ture also

plays an important role in ag gression, and

we should be mining envi ron mental areas

for more infor mation on controlling it.

VASILIOS VASILOUNIS Brooklyn, N.Y.

NUCLEAR ALTERNATIVE

“Reactor Redo,” by Rod McCullum, de-

scribes new fuels for nuclear power plants

that could improve efficiency and safety.

Missing from the article is a men tion of

thorium, which has drawn atten tion lately

because of various purported advantages

(safety, nonproliferation, mini mal waste,

and so on). It also offers a way to escape

the political onus of the uranium cycle

(whether exaggerated or not, it is a bogey-

man to many people).

China, India and others are currently

developing thorium reactors. If McCullum

deliberately omitted thorium, I wish he

would have said why. Otherwise, his arti-

cle could be construed as special pleading

for the current uranium-based industry.

DAVID ECKLEIN Rumney, N.H.

NETWORKING COSTS

In “Turning Off the Emotion Pump” [Ven-

tures], Wade Roush discussed the nega-

tive effects of Face book and ques tions

whether a better social-networking tech-

nol ogy can be found. I think there is a

simple solution: The problem with Face-

book, as well as other Internet platforms,

is not the technology itself; it is the com-

pany’s business model. All the nega tive ef-

May 2019

“Not mentioning

menopause reinforces

the cultural message

to women that

their value lies

in their reproductive

capabilities.”

SASHA DAVIES VIA E-MAI