Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication articles from April 2006

Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication archives from April 2006

Sci-Triv game.(science questions and answers)
April 7, 2006... Have fun learning about science! Life Science Earth Science Mathematics 10 Points True or False True or False True or False Dracula ants chew Jupiter's moon ...

Who knew?(ambergris discovery worth $300,000)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... STREAKY BAY, Australia--Leon and Loralee Wright were combing a remote beach in western South Australia when they came across a strange lump Of matter. Leon suggested they take it home, but Loralee protested. "It smelled bad enough that I...

Venus express: a European spacecraft arrives this month to study our sister planet's runaway greenhouse effect.(EARTH)
April 7, 2006... The most ambitious part of President George W. Bush's vision for space exploration, announced two years ago, is a manned mission to Mars in 20 years. Because the average age of astronauts is 35, students now in middle and high school--perhaps...

Din in the depths: is underwater noise harming sea creatures--and driving whales onto beaches?(LIFE/PHYSICAL)
April 7, 2006... In January 2005, more than three dozen whales of three different species stranded themselves on beaches in North Carolina. Over two days, 34 pilot whales, two dwarf sperm whales, and a newborn minke whale became stuck along the sandy shore....

Cutting edge: the world's first face transplant patient faces the world.(Isabelle Dinoire)
April 7, 2006... When Isabelle Dinoire lifted a glass of water to her lips and took a sip in February, the light from dozens of camera flashes filled the room. Drinking from a glass is no big deal for most people but for Dinoire, 38, it was. Why? Her lips were...

Being green: students across the country are discovering how easy it is to conserve energy and save their schools thousand of dollars.(PHYSICAL)
April 7, 2006... STUDENTS USUALLY GET GRADES from their teachers, but in one Rockville, Md., school, teachers also get grades from their students. The teachers are graded on how well they conserve energy and recycle paper, plastic, and metal. The teachers...

Did Andes 'pop up'?(Carmala Garzione research on paleoaltimetry)
April 7, 2006... ROCHESTER, N.Y.--Geologic time creeps by, measured in millions and even billions of years. But a US. geologist has found that one geologic process-the rise of mountains-may happen faster than previously thought. The geologist, Carmala...

Dog smell cancer.(Health)
April 7, 2006... SAN ANSELMO, Calif.-Many doctors perform PET scans on their patients. PET stands for positron-emission tomography, an imaging technology that can produce pictures that show parts of the body at work. But doctors at a small clinic here use a...

Wasp turns roach into zombie slave.(Health)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... BEERSHEBA, Israel--Behavior more fiendish than that of any evil genius on the SCI FI Channel has been uncovered by biologists at Ben-Gurion University. The adult Ampulex compressa wasp goes about its business like any other wasp. But then...

Cultured whales gull gulls.(Michael Noonan )(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario--Many scientific breakthroughs happen serendipitously. A researcher studying one phenomenon unexpectedly discovers another. Such was the case while psychologist Michael Noonan was observing orcas (killer whales) at a...

Light shed on dark matter.(Physical)
April 7, 2006... PARANAL MOUNTAIN, Chile--British astronomers have shone a small light on one of the biggest mysteries of the universe--the identity of dark matter. The ordinary matter we can see and touch and that makes up the stars, the planets, and us,...

Mystery photos.(Optricks)
April 7, 2006... Top: inside of a toaster [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Middle: a plastic ruler [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Bottom: a filament in an incandescent lightbulb [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Bend your mind.(Optricks)
April 7, 2006... Move two fountain pens to make this Roman numeral sum work. VII-II=V or VII-V=II

Whatizit?(Optricks)
April 7, 2006... Whatizit? NaCl. The mineral is salt. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Department of corrections.(Correction notice)
April 7, 2006... In the feature "Hertz So Good," in the Dec. 2, 2005, issue, amplitude was incorrectly defined in the wave diagram and in the accompanying text on page 11. Amplitude is the displacement of a wave from the midpoint to the trough or crest, not the...

Sci-Triv game: have fun learning about science!
April 21, 2006... This special career edition of the Sci-Triv Game features the names of 25 famous people, most of them scientists or physicians. Your job is to come up with the scientific or medical term that was derived from the name of each person. Double...

Who knew?(Douglas Ewing grows titan arum in his garden)
April 21, 2006... SEATTLE--Life isn't always a bed of roses for Douglas Ewing, even though he manages the greenhouse at the University of Washington. Ewing's garden is home to a titan arum, a flower that is native to Indonesia and can grow to a height of 3...

Girls on ice: geologist Erin Pettit has a cool job leading high school girls across giant laboratories of ice.(Earth)
April 21, 2006... When Erin Pettit was in ninth grade, her history teacher taught a class about the impact of the last ice age on her home state of Washington. The vast ice sheets dammed a river and created a huge lake (Glacial Lake Missoula) that eventually...

Spider woman: Maydianne Andrade discovered the strange cannibalism of an Australian spider.(LIFE)
April 21, 2006... When she was a kid, Maydianne Andrade loved to read horror novels. Now she could write one! Andrade studies the cannibalistic behavior of the Australian redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti). During mating, the female redback eats the...

Hot wheels: inventor Christian Bagg borrowed ideas from airplane and automobile design to create a high-tech wheelchair for himself.(PHYSICAL)
April 21, 2006... CHRISTIAN BAGG'S NEW RIDE is seriously tricked out. It has extra-slim wheel rims, a custom-fit seat, and a frame made from aerospace metals. Bagg's ride is not some souped-up sedan. It's a wheelchair called the Stryker Sorano. Bagg helped...

On call: when Pakistan was devastated by an earthquake, American physician Barbara Burke crossed borders to help.(South Asian Earthquake, 2005)
April 21, 2006... On Oct. 8, 2005, a major earthquake struck Kashmir, a mountainous region between Pakistan and India. The quake injured about 80,000 people and killed close to 90,000. Three weeks later, Barbara Burke, a doctor from Birmingham, Ala., was...

Teen captures wildlife--on film.(Chase Pickering research on wildlife)(students helped in restroration of waterway)(Christopher Limbach was awared for his research on stars)
April 21, 2006... ASHEVILLE, NC.--Chase Pickering was 10 when his grandmother treated him to a trip across the country to the San Diego Zoo. "When each grandkid turns 10, she takes them on a vacation anywhere in North America," says Chase, now 18. The zoo visit...

Mystery photos.(CURRENT SCIENCE OPTRICKS)
April 21, 2006... Top: garden hose Middle: car taillight Bottom: inside of a bell [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Bend your mind.(Carl Friedrich Gauss invented new method of addition)
April 21, 2006... When the famous mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855) was 6 years old, his schoolteacher asked his class to add up all the numbers from 1 to 100. Carl found the sum in just a few seconds. What pattern did he find in the sequence of...

Whatizit?(foresters using a ruler to measure the width and height of trees)
April 21, 2006... This woodsman is holding a Biltmore stick, a special ruler that dates from the mid-700s. By holding the stick either vertically or horizontally at arm's length, foresters can make helpful measurements in a forest. What might those measurements...