Chemical Suppliers

Editor,

Regarding "Common Sources for Various Chemicals" (Aaron Muderick, The Citizen Scientist, 5 May 2006), another very detailed source of readily available chemicals is the list at http://www.hyperdeath.co.uk/chemicals/index.html.

In particular, this list gives specific suppliers for many of the chemicals.

Dorn Peterson
James Madison University

LABRats Update: I love your club!!!!!!!!

Dear Dr. Shawn,

I love your club!!!!!!!!

I just wanted to say a few things:

I love science a lot and my journal is almost full!

We do science at school and I take a lot of notes. I love the system your running, I would have done this if I have thought of it!

Thank you for letting me join the crew of science!!!!!!!

This is awesome!

[Name withheld]

Editor,

Recently I reviewed my past work on flatfish in Long Island, New York, waters. I came up with surprising results.

Recently I went through some old research I did in the l980s. I was trying to correlate fishing success in Moriches Bay and adjoining bays with the overall bottom fauna. I also included bird watching observations and identified plankton in the water.

I found that the highest production of fish was in the middle of the summer, when the water was warm. More birds, more plankton, more polychaete bait worms and bottom life were present. It was during the warmest months when most of the flounder and other fish were caught.

I attribute this production to clean water, plenty of oxygen, abundant zooplankton and other food, ample sunlight and a strong carbon cycle.

Peak production in marine environments is controlled by competitive natural selection. In this case, I observed fish and other animals leading a healthy life, a good argument for the theory of punctuated equilibrium proposed by Stephen J. Gould and others.

James W. Farr

Gray Water Project

Editor,

I just now collected used water from my laundry. Tomorrow I will till soil, measure it for a fence, then remove fence and treat rows to be planted. I will treat them first with laundry water, followed by a rinse. I will transplant cabbages and other plants in pots from seed in my greenhouse.

I will also scatter seeds of corn, peas, beans and squash between larger transplants. I will report to you if they grow better, worse or the same as untreated, similar plants. I will send photos of them.

My reason for recycling laundry water is to test its possible benefits when used to water a garden. If it is beneficial, I will promote it as a means for keeping chlorine and its byproducts out of the whale habitat in Puget Sound, as required by Endangered Species Act.

Chlorine from laundries and chlorinated drinking water in municipal sewage can kill highly sensitive native plankton that support the marine food chain and produce oxygen.

Glen Hemerick

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