Readers react to mysterious protists, bird brains, more

A storm brewing

Warming ocean waters due to human-caused climate change are spurring more hurricanes to rapidly intensify, Carolyn Gramling reported in “Why hurricanes intensify so swiftly” (SN: 10/7/23 & 10/21/23, p. 10).

The story made reader Barry Maletzky wonder why hurricanes take a spiral shape.

A hurricane’s spiral form is due to a phenomenon called the Coriolis effect. Earth constantly spins on its axis from west to east. Objects not firmly rooted to the ground, including air currents, airplanes and hurricanes, curve as they travel through the air because they conserve the momentum of the planet’s rotation.