Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication articles from April 2001

Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication archives from April 2001

WHO KNEW.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... * Tigers have striped skin as well striped fur. * A woman in Waterloo, Iowa, typed out all the numbers from 1 to 1 million. The feat took her five years and 2,473 sheets of typing paper. * The unicorn was not originally a mythical...

Crash Course.(migrating birds dying in collisions with communications towers)(includes instructions for making a bird feeder)
April 6, 2001... Millions of migrating birds die in collision with communications towers on their way to and from the tropics every year. One cold, rainy autumn night in 1999, Bill Evans stood in a dark parking lot and watched dead birds falling from above....

Heavy-Metal Menace.(control of mercury pollution)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... The U.S. government is trying to protect Americans from a toxic liquid metal. One day in 1996, Dartmouth College cancer researcher Karen Wetterhahn spilled a drop of dimethylmercury on her hand. The compound quickly soaked through her...

ALASKA'S Oil War.(controversy over oil drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge)
April 6, 2001... President Bush and environments have faced off over the issue of drilling for oil in Alaska. Which side do you support? The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska is one of the largest untouched slices of wilderness in the United...

What a Gas!(hydrogen as energy source)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... The fuel of the future could be the universes number one element, hydrogen. Way back in 1874, French writer Jules Verne published a science fiction novel, The Mysterious Island. in which a character predicts that a certain fuel will one...

Killer Virus Accidentally Made in Lab.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... CANBERRA -- A virus with extreme killing power was created inadvertently by a team of Australian scientists. Though the victims of the superbug were mice, not humans, the accident has raised fears about the potential of biotechnology to create...

Black Hole Seen Lunching On Matter.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... GREENBELT, Md.--The Hubble SpaceTelescope has given astronomers what might be the first glimpse of a black hole swallowing a chunk of space matter. A black hole is a star that has burned out and collapsed under its own weight. A black...

Meter Measures Crunchiness.(food crunchiness)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... REHOVOT, Israel--One of modern life's most pressing problems can now be solved. Food scientists at Hebrew University have invented a device that measures the crunchiness of potato chips and breakfast cereals. Called the "crunchmeter," the...

Too Weird.(Bigfoot research)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... Have investigators finally gotten to the bottom of the mystery of Bigfoot, the legendary apelike creature said to be roaming the western United States and Canada? Last fall, 13 members of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO)...

ASK PROFESSOR OSSOLOTCH.(weight of air)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... Does air weigh anything? --Marcus Wicker South Bend, Ind. Marcus, have you ever worked out in a gym with a 15-pound dumbbell? Believe it or not, air presses down on every inch of Earth's surface, including every square inch of your...

MYSTERY PHOTOS.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] BEND YOUR MIND Which of the arcs shown below is the most curved? Mystery Photos Top: bundles of white athletic socks Middle: the hubcap of a car Bottom: sombreros Whatizit? immune system...

Is This Idea a Lemon?(experiment on using a lemon to generate electricity)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... Murat Dogru, a scientist at the University of Newcastle in England, has suggested using hazelnuts to produce the large quantities of hydrogen that will be necessary for fuel cells. How about using lemons instead? Lemons are like car...

The Vincent J. Marteka Jr. Award for Creative Science Teaching.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... The Vincent J. Marteka Jr. Award for Creative Science Teaching, sponsored by Weekly Reader Corporation, publisher of Current Science, is presented annually at the National Science Teachers Association National Convention during the Middle Level...

WEIRD WIDE WORLD.(elephant wedding; aerosol accident)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... THAILAND--Several hundred well-wishers attended a wedding spectacle in the city of Ayuthaya that united two pairs of Asian elephants on Valentine's Day. Wearing a flowing gown decorated with red hearts. Sweetheart married Blossoming Lotus and...

Breathing Lessons.(effects of tire pollution on asthma )(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Two teachers have made their research on the effects of tire pollution on asthma a learning experience for their students. Janis Dow will never forget the day she recruited a seventh-grade boy at the middle school where she teaches for a...

Does DIRT Do a Body Good?(research indicates exposure to dirt and germs helps children develop their immune systems)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Remember how much fun you had mucking around in the dirt when you were a little kid? And remember your mom having a cow when you came home all smelly and filthy? Little kids might know what's best for them after all. A growing number of...

BUST THE DUST.(air quality experiment)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... The students at Central Middle School monitor air quality every day. If you're curious about the types of particles found in the air in your area, try this study: What You Need * glass slides * petroleum jelly * a microscope...

MAKING SCENTS.(perfumers)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Perfumes and colognes are the concoctions of creative chemists. "Eeewww, that one's too fruity," said Ashley Bortot, 15, as she sniffed a bottle of women's perfume at a department store in Stamford, Conn. "I like this one better," she said,...

TAMING TWISTERS.(physicist Bernard Eastlund proposes using microwave beams to prevent tornadoes)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Bernard Eastlund has a score to settle. Back in 1982, Eastlund had just moved to Houston, Texas, when a tornado hit his property. The tornado didn't hurt him or his house, but it mowed down all his pine trees. "That was scary enough" he said....

Fish Switch Sex In Midstream.(research on chinook salmon)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... LEWISTON, Wash.--Something fishy is going on in the Columbia River in Washington state. Four out of every five female chinook salmon taken from a stretch of river called the Hanford Reach began life as males! Scientists from the University...

Teens Win $100,000 For Cosmic Discovery.(Siemens-Westinghouse Science and Technology Competition)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... DURHAM, N.C.--Three high school students probing the ruins of a stellar explosion won top prize in the Siemens-Westinghouse Science and Technology Competition last December. The students, shown in the photo with Albert Hoser, chairman of the...

Rats Seem To Dream of Rat Race.(research on brain activity of laboratory rats)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... BOSTON--Do animals dream, and if so, what do they dream about? No scientist has ever been able to answer those questions, because animals can't describe what goes on in their heads. Now, however, two scientists studying the brain activity...

Facelift Eases Headaches.(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... CLEVELAND--A facelift may do more than erase the years. A certain type of facelift also appears to relieve migraines, according to a professor of plastic surgery at Case Western Reserve University. A migraine is a severe headache with symptoms...

The sci-triv game.(science trivia quiz)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... HAVE FUN LEARNING ABOUT SCIENCE Want to play a game of science trivia? See how many points you can win by correctly answering the following questions. To find your score, give yourself 10 points each time you get the first question right,...

Optricks.
April 20, 2001... BEND YOUR MIND MYSTERY PHOTO [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] * Look across each row and down each column in the grid, and say what should replace the question mark. II III V V V X VII VII ? The answers are in the...