Venutian 'life' and human 'life'
The planet Venus, seen from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Akatsuki probe. A report released on Monday said astronomers have found a potential signal of life high in the atmosphere of our nearest neighboring planet. Credit: AP
Well, astronomers found what may be signs of life on another planet ["Astronomers have found possible sign of life inside Venus’ clouds," News, Sept. 15]. The importance of this announcement was evident by the near half-page devoted to it, but the actual finding was that the "life" was bizarre microbes living in the sulfuric acid-laden clouds. Apparently, microbes (microscopic cells) found on a distant world qualifies as "life" while each year thousands of embryos, comprising complex cells, are denied "life." Babies begin as mere cell clusters yet have potential to become full humans. To me, the embryos are more substantial than "bizarre microbes" on Venus, yet we don’t see articles concerned about how many of them are aborted. Many millions of abortions were done worldwide in 2019. Fewer than 1 million died worldwide from COVID-19. In my opinion, that also merits at least a half-page article. By the way, the study’s co-author is quoted as saying that "it’s probably a 10% chance that it’s life." Every baby who lives has a 100% chance of being called a life.
Dolly Kalhorn,
North Babylon
We must do what we know is right
I believe that the letter "Doing what you think is right" [Sept. 18] unfortunately is wrong when it comes to COVID-19. I completely agree that we are all personally responsible for ourselves. However, when it comes to this pandemic and prevention, it isn’t about doing what we think is right — it’s about doing what we know is right. And that is following the science and the recommendations from the physicians and researchers studying this disease. This isn’t about politics, and we shouldn’t let the election and/or any other factor obscure hard data.
Lynn Marrone,
Huntington
A time to mourn for our country
Will all officials please hide their desires for this political opportunity for a moment? Be decent and pause to mourn the loss of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life, as well as the hundreds of thousands of Americans lost to our nation’s collective failure with COVID-19, crime, etc.
Noel Gravina,
Farmingdale
Editor's note: Noel Gravina is a retired Navy Chief.
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