6 Scientific American, September 2019LETTERS
[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-mailTHE 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, OntarioFields 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 dealwith 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