Scientific American - USA (2019-10)

October 2019, ScientificAmerican.com 9

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ACTING EDITOR IN CHIEF

Curtis Brainard

CORPORATE

HEAD, COMMUNICATIONS, USA Rachel Scheer

COMMUNICATIONS AND PRESS OFFICER Sarah Hausman

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HEAD, MARKETING AND PRODUCT MANAGEMENT Richard Zinken

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SENIOR COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS COORDINATOR Christine Kaelin

PRESIDENT

Dean Sanderson

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Michael Florek

CLIENT MARKETING SOLUTIONS

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PUBLISHER AND VICE PRESIDENT Jeremy A. Abbate

MARKETING DIRECTOR, INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERSHIPS AND CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT Jessica Cole

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DIRECTOR, INTEGRATED MEDIA Jay Berfas

DIRECTOR, INTEGRATED MEDIA Matt Bondlow

MANAGER, GLOBAL MEDIA ALLIANCES Brendan Grier

SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR, EXECUTIVE SERVICES May Jung

ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Diane McGarvey

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PRINT PRODUCTION

A R T

ART DIRECTOR Jason Mischka SENIOR GRAPHICS EDITOR Jen Christiansen

PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Monica Bradley ART DIRECTOR, ONLINE Ryan Reid

ASSOCIATE GRAPHICS EDITOR Amanda Montañez ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Liz Tormes

COPY AND PRODUCTION

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DIGITAL

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EDITORIAL David Biello, Lydia Denworth, W. Wayt Gibbs,

Ferris Jabr, Anna Kuchment, Robin Lloyd, Melinda Wenner Moyer,

George Musser, Christie Nicholson, Ricki L. Rusting

ART Edward Bell, Bryan Christie, Lawrence R. Gendron, Nick Higgins, Katie Peek

CONTRIBUTORS

COPY DIRECTOR Maria-Christina Keller CREATIVE DIRECTOR Michael Mrak

E D I T O R I A L

CHIEF FEATURES EDITOR Seth Fletcher CHIEF NEWS EDITOR Dean Visser CHIEF OPINION EDITOR Michael D. Lemonick

FEATURES

SENIOR EDITOR, SUSTAINABILITY Mark Fischetti

SENIOR EDITOR, CHEMISTRY / POLICY / BIOLOGY Josh Fischman

SENIOR EDITOR, SPACE / PHYSICS Clara Moskowitz

SENIOR EDITOR, SCIENCE AND SOCIETY Madhusree Mukerjee

SENIOR EDITOR, TECHNOLOGY / MIND Jen Schwartz

SENIOR EDITOR, EVOLUTION / ECOLOGY Kate Wong

NEWS

SENIOR EDITOR, MIND / BRAIN Gary Stix

SENIOR EDITOR, SPACE / PHYSICS Lee Billings

ASSOCIATE EDITOR, TECHNOLOGY Sophie Bushwick

ASSOCIATE EDITOR, SUSTAINABILITY Andrea Thompson

ASSOCIATE EDITOR, HEALTH AND MEDICINE Tanya Lewis

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR Sarah Lewin Frasier

MULTIMEDIA

SENIOR EDITOR, MULTIMEDIA Jeffery DelViscio

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EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATOR Ericka Skirpan EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT SUPERVISOR Maya Harty

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MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Kris Fatsy MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Ben Gershman

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PRODUCTION CONTROLLER Madelyn Keyes-Milch ADVERTISING PRODUCTION CONTROLLER Dan Chen

EDITORS EMERITI Mariette DiChristina, John Rennie

tures], he says, “AI assistants should exist
to give us more agency over our lives.” But
by being too lazy to look up a weather
report or turn on lights, he apparently
allows an ever present listening device—
Amazon’s Alexa—to hear everything. That
seems to be a clear transference of agency.
Further, Roush says he wants such as-
sistants that won’t compromise privacy,
transparency, security and trustworthi-
ness. Has that ever happened with any on-
line platform? It is naive to think things
will ever be different.
Harlan Levinson Los Angeles

PLASTICS AT HOME

I could not ignore the irony of tearing the

plastic outer packaging from the June is-

sue and throwing it in the trash so that I

could read the editorial entitled “What to

Do about Plastic Pollution” [Science Agen-

da]. As a longtime subscriber, I ask you

to please stop wrapping your magazine

in unnecessary plastic packaging. I don’t

mind reading an issue that arrives slight-

ly wrinkled.

Scott Pierce Western Carolina University

THE EDITORS REPLY: Scientific Ameri-
can wraps issues in plastic for U.S. sub-
scribers only when there is an unbound
ad vertising supplement included in the
mailing. The current issue (October), which
includes such a supplement, is the seventh
mailing of that kind since the beginning of
2017 (newsstand issues are never wrapped).
A small number of domestic subscribers
and advertisers request wrap ped issues,
and we wrap issues for all international
subscribers (except in Canada). This adds
up to only 10 percent of the total print run,
but we realize that even that portion con-
tributes to the burden of plastic pollution
worldwide, and we are committed to do-
ing better. We are actively investigating
options to cease wrapping entirely or to
replace our current material with a more
sustainable alternative.

ERRATUM

“The Deepest Recesses of the Atom,” by

Abhay Deshpande and Rikutaro Yoshida,

should have said that quarks, rather than

nucleons, are at least 10,000 times small-

er than a proton. Protons are one type

of nucleon.