Letters to the Editors, August 2006  APRIL'S ISSUE TANGLED WITH
quantum braids in “Computing with Quantum Knots,” by Graham P.
Collins. Readers also learned about new vaccines coming to
market that promise to conquer childhood diarrhea caused by
rotavirus, a frequent killer of young children in the developing
world, in “New Hope for Defeating Rotavirus,” by Roger I. Glass.
Most interesting were reader responses to another health
problem, depicted by Madhusree Mukerjee, about public health
scientist Smarajit Jana's work in organizing sex workers to
fight HIV in India [“The Prostitutes' Union,” Insights]. Some
letters demonstrated that there are those who prefer to draw a
sharply defined line between science and medicine, culture and
politics—an impossible luxury when scientific knowledge is
applied to ameliorating human ills. Robert L. Teeter e-mailed:
“Do you really think that articles on prostitution are
appropriate for what used to be a dignified and respected
scientific magazine?” More opinions were close