CONFLICTING STORIES ABOUT THE UNIVERSE

For some cosmologists to admit the need to re-examine ideas upon which they have constructed their theories in the light of new information is indeed refreshing [Science, March 6]. Fortunately, these scientists appear to lack the disturbing habit, found so often in evolution-based sciences, of ignoring or explaining away empirical evidence that contradicts fervently held beliefs.

Kathleen Michael Mount Vernon, Washington

Your otherwise fine article on new theories about the universe reinforces the popular notion that scientists are muddling buffoons who grasp at the thinnest of straws to support their pet ideas. Science at the cutting edge is always controversial, and only with time are conflicting ideas resolved into what we call truth. We often forget that civilization is held together by a framework of scientific achievement, every piece of which was once controversial.

Arthur N. Palmer Oneonta, New York

Surely it is arrogant for us to think that beings as insignificant as ourselves will ever unravel the mystery of the universe. After all, why should a dog be able to understand why it barks? For all we know, the earth may be nothing more than a virus in the belly of some incomprehensible organism.

Stephen J. Gamblin Shutlanger, England

When did the universe start? Our confusion about this might stem from the arbitrary assumption that the cosmos was created by a single Big Bang at a single point in time. What we should ask is, When did the last Big Bang take place, and what did we inherit from the previous universe? There may never have been a beginning, only an endless series of Big Bangs and Big Crunches--an endless chain of past and future universes, born, collapsed and recreated, each inheriting something from the previous one, an eternal cosmic drama taking place in an N-dimensional space that our three-dimensional brain and senses will never fully comprehend.

Norbert E. Samek Sierra Madre, California

The more information we receive, the more we realize how much we still don't know. Astronomer Christopher Impey, commenting on a new theory of the age of the cosmos that would make it 2 billion years younger than some of the stars it contains, said, ``You can't be older than your ma.'' But if the Big Bang was the child and the galaxies in the cosmos the mother, then the age difference between the stars and the Big Bang makes sense. I believe that matter existed in the cosmos, or whatever, prior to the Big Bang. However it happened, I believe God had his hand in it, and so far things have turned out O.K.

Paul Buchko Bessemer, Michigan

Science is a self-correcting process that thrives by digesting new facts. If our model of the universe is a quilt that requires some reworking, fine. However, some wrongheaded groups will inevitably interpret the unraveling as support for a Bronze Age cosmology.

Chuck Bobich West Newton, Pennsylvania

If the universe began, what was before the beginning? If the matter composing the universe occupies space, what is beyond the space? The only reality is change, ever changing unlimited matter in the now. As for the purpose?

Oliver Andresen Chicago

We may need to know the answers to the mysteries of the cosmos, but what's the point? This planet is bursting apart at the seams, and society is corroding from the inside out. We need to spend our money and energy solving the problems of overpopulation, crime, drug abuse, pollution and hate, not pondering the riddles of the universe.

Steve Paskay Los Angeles

When did the universe begin? According to much of Hindu and Buddhist thought, we will never be able to really figure it out, because it never did, although we will always have theories about how it all came about.

Arvind Sharma Birks Professor of Comparative Religion McGill University Montreal

The universe might well ``cycle,'' with a Big Bang followed by a Big Crunch followed by another Big Bang. Some stars could miss the crunch and continue to exist in the subsequent cycle. Thus some stars could very well be older than this universe.

Larry B. Moore Toronto

All the controversy over the origins of the universe reminds me of one of my physics professors, who would frequently note that much of what he was teaching us then would eventually be proved false. How disconcerting yet exhilarating life becomes when everyone scrambles to make sense of sudden changes in circumstances. To wonder how future advances in science will change our perspective of ourselves, and how these new truths will affect those who may never grasp the importance of their meaning, is the true raison d'etre.

Marjorie L. Darby Guelph, Ontario

It is possible that ``our'' universe is ageless; evidence of expansion may be from a bounce back of a prior implosion, such as an ultra-mega-supernova. It is also possible that perceived anomalies about expansion, composition and structure of the cosmos may relate to interaction with an infinite number of other universes at various stages and states of existence. The size of our universe may be simply an expression of our ability to observe and comprehend; the universe itself may be infinite.

Hamish C.R. Gavin Winnipeg, Manitoba

FOOD FIGHT

The Republican proposal to eliminate nutrition programs, including school lunches, brought to light just how the G.O.P. plans to take credit for making government leaner while avoiding responsibility for making it meaner [Welfare, March 6]. The G.O.P. answer is to make block grants to the states. This will make spending cuts much easier by deflecting blame for the impact of such reductions from the Republican-controlled Congress to the states themselves. State officials will be forced to slash many programs affecting children, the elderly and homeless. And those same officials will receive the blame for the resulting suffering or the tax increases needed to replace federal subsidies. The block grants will decimate state coffers while the Republican Congress congratulates itself on a leaner government.

Cameron P. Hum Irvine, California

It's a fact of life that politics and spending programs closest to home are the most responsive and cost-effective. Hence the push to move these nutrition programs to state and local administration with federal block-grant funding. Members of Congress do not want to starve children; they know that the same level of service can be delivered at lower cost if it is managed by the states. You focused on ``starving children'' and made no attempt to examine the effect of states' administering these services, which is the only issue meriting debate.

Rick Phillips Richardson, Texas

``What does a hot school lunch offer to a 16-year-old girl who is pregnant?'' asks senior policy analyst Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation in your article on proposed welfare cuts. Protein, calcium, iron, vitamins, minerals, calories and just maybe a slight incentive to go to school each day. Perhaps the right-wing Republicans ought to rethink this idea of taking food out of the mouth of a pregnant teen who is not having an abortion and is staying in school.

Ellen M. Cathcart Wauseon, Ohio

DIVER IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Whatever sympathy I initially felt for Olympic diver Greg Louganis after he disclosed that he has AIDS [Sport, March 6] ended when I read that he knowingly exposed his team physician James Puffer to HIV by failing to warn the doctor before he stitched up Louganis' bleeding head injury. That Dr. Puffer tested negative for the virus after being informed of his exposure does not excuse an irresponsible decision that could have been a death sentence.

Lucia Carrasco Los Angeles

Critics who say Louganis is no hero miss a huge point: Louganis was trained by society to keep quiet about his sexuality and his HIV status. Yes, he made a mistake in not telling the poolside doctor to put on gloves. But you can't expect to deprogram someone in a stunned moment after he has been brainwashed all his life.

Alan L. Light Iowa City, Iowa

Now Louganis says, ``I'm very interested in exploring ways that I can be of help to young gay and lesbian people today.'' The first way to be of help to a young generation is to set an example by telling the truth.

K. Bruno Stoecklein San Clemente, California

OPTIONS TO ABORTION

George J. Church is a pro-choice wolf in pro-life sheep's clothing [Essay, March 6]. If a late-term fetus is merely ``a potential human being,'' the killing of which we may deplore but not forbid, then so is a premature baby, because a premature baby and a late-term fetus are the same creature. Any legislation ``must express an overwhelming moral consensus of the community,'' Church tells us, ``something like 95%.'' By this standard, slavery might still be legal.

Taras Wolansky Jersey City, New Jersey

Like George Church, I am both ``pro-life and pro-choice.'' I feel that many women have few options when they face an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy. The three choices a woman has in this situation are abortion, adoption or raising the child by herself. As a woman who chose abortion 11 years ago this month, I have been racked with guilt and regret. I cannot go back and see how the other alternatives would have worked out for me, but I can say that for the set of circumstances I faced at age 24, abortion was the only alternative I could find. I just wish that when I had gone for counseling at the family-planning clinic, I had been told that the momentary pain of the procedure was nothing compared with the ache in my heart for a lifetime.

Connie Kay Folleth Mundelein, Illinois Via America Online