Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication articles from December 2005

Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication archives from December 2005

Sci-triv game: have fun learning about science!
December 2, 2005... Want to play a game of science trivia? See how many points you can win by correctly answering the questions below. To find your score, give yourself 10 points each time you get the first question right, 20 points for each second question, and...

Who knew?
December 2, 2005... Timothy Sellers may sound a little like the late Beatle John Lennon, but his songs don't--not with titles like Ingenhousz, Jan (1730-1799), Einstein, Albert (1879-1955), and Galilei, Galileo (1564-1642). Sellers and his Los Angeles-based garage...

Calls of the wild: biologist Don Kroodsma decodes the "music" of our feathered friends.(LIFE)
December 2, 2005... Critical Thinking * List some other animals that vocalize to communicate. How do they compare with one another? * What are some similarities between the music that humans make and the singing that birds and other animals do? What are...

Alt rock: rock musicians are pioneering the use of alternative fuels.(EARTH/PHYSICAL)
December 2, 2005... Critical Thinking * Should the United States promote a campaign to convert vehicles so that they run on cooking oil? Why or why not? * Name some other alternative energy sources. (solar, wind, geothermal) How abundant are they? How...

Off beat: jazz musician Milford Graves explores the rhythms of our reporter's heart.(heartbeats)
December 2, 2005... Critical Thinking * The movements of the heart muscle are involuntary. Where else in the body are involuntary muscles? (the digestive tract, the major blood vessels) * How do the muscles that move the human skeleton differ from the...

Hertz so good: new computer programs can do an extreme makeover on the sounds of today's musicians.(technology)
December 2, 2005... Critical Thinking * Should technology be used to improve the sounds of musicians? Why or why not? * How else are computers used to change appearances? (manipulation of photographs in newspapers and magazines, special effects in movies)...

This organ rocks!(Earth)
December 2, 2005... SHENANDOAH VALLEY, Va. -- If you ever want to get down to some authentic rock music--real hard rock--head to Virginia's Luray Caverns in the Blue Ridge Mountains. There, in the Cathedral cave, you can hear the Great Stalacpipe Organ, an...

Insight.(DISCOVERIES)
December 2, 2005... The nanoguitar, pictured above, looks supercool, but don't even think about playing it. It measures just 50,000 nanometers in length. One nanometer isone-billionth of a meter. Only a bacterium would be small enough to pluck out a tune on it....

Who let the earworms out?(haunting musical tunes )
December 2, 2005... CINCINNATI -- Have you ever had an earworm? It crawls through your ear to your brain and lodges there, wriggling for hours. "Earworm" is a term coined by University of Cincinnati marketing professor James Kellaris to describe tunes that...

Poison revives pianist's career.(Leon Fleisher, Botox)
December 2, 2005... BALTIMORE -- One day in 1963, Leon Fleisher, 37, felt the fourth and fifth fingers of his right hand curl up. Fleisher, a celebrated concert pianist, had been rehearsing for a much-anticipated tour of the Soviet Union with the Cleveland...

Songs in the key of Cheeepeeeee.(Technology)(Leon Gruenbaum)(Brief Article)
December 2, 2005... NEW YORK CITY -- Most keyboard instruments go from A to G. Leon Gruenbaum's keyboard goes from A to Z and beyond to $,% , Gruenbaum has classical training in piano and clarinet and a degree in math from Harvard University, and he jams...

Mystery photos.(Optricks)
December 2, 2005... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Answers: Top: earphone Middle: strings on a piano Bottom: keys on a flute

Bend your mind.(Optricks)
December 2, 2005... Line up the three divas in as many different arrangements as possible. How many did you find? Answer: six

Whatizit.(Optricks)
December 2, 2005... Feeling the grove, this diamond-tipped instrument is vibrated by a spinning disc of polyvinyl chloride. The vibrations are translated into an electrical signal that can be amplified to generate sound. What is this instrument? Answer: a...

Sci-triv game: have fun learning about science!
December 16, 2005... Want to play a game of science trivia? See how many points you can win by correctly answering the questions below. To find your score, give yourself 10 points each time you get the first question right, 20 points for each second question, and...

Who knew?(honeybees and attacker wasps )
December 16, 2005... KUNMING, China -- Asian honeybees live in fear of a visit from attacker wasps of the species Vespa velutina. A single wasp, which can have a wingspan of 5 centimeters (2 inches), can overcome a honeybee nest of 6,000 bees. The wasp stands at...

Wanted: mystery photos.
December 16, 2005... Did you know that almost all the Mystery Photos in Current Science are taken by readers? If you have good ideas for Mystery Photos, get out a camera, snap the photos, and send them to us. For each photo published in Current Science, we'll pay...

The outer limits: critics say the U.S. mission to the moon is a mistake.(Cover Story)
December 16, 2005... Critical Thinking * Should the U.S. government continue to make sending people to the moon or Mars a priority? Discuss. * What are some environmental challenges on other planets that robots would tolerate better than humans could?...

American Serengeti? Should big African mammals be introduced to the Great Plains of the United States?
December 16, 2005... Critical Thinking * Do people have an ethical responsibility to help endangered animals? Why or why not? * Name some other species that humans have driven to extinction. (passenger pigeon, dodo, Tasmanian tiger) National Science...

Safe and sound: listening to MP3 players at high volumes can damage young ears.
December 16, 2005... Critical Thinking * Should MP3 players be manufactured so they can't be turned up high enough to damage hearing? Why or why not? * What other loud noises might endanger hearing? (engine noise, rock concerts) How might people protect...

Ripple effect: here's what scientists have learned about the superquake that caused the disastrous Indian Ocean tsunami one year ago.
December 16, 2005... Critical Thinking * Why is a tsunami warning system less necessary in the Atlantic Ocean than in the Pacific Ocean? (much less earthquake activity in the Atlantic) * How can people in Asia be better defended against tsunamis? (build a...

Quicksand doesn't kill.
December 16, 2005... PARIS -- Physicist Daniel Bonn was vacationing in Iran several years ago when he came across a field of quicksand. Local shepherds told him that the sand had sucked camels to their death. Skeptical of those claims, Bonn decided to test the...

Dog nurses squirrel.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2005... SEATTLE -- Debby Cantlon has a knack for helping injured animals. In September, a friend brought her a baby squirrel that had fallen out of a tree. The squirrel's eyes weren't even open yet, and it was dangerously dehydrated--lacking in body...

Ig Nobel winner creates buzz.(Technology)(Gauri Nanda)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2005... CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Once again this fall, a select fewindividuals were recognized for their landmark contributions to science, yes, the winners of the annual Ig Nobel Prize were announced. Among this year's recipients was a 25-year-old...

Insight.(Varna Diablo II, the recumbent bicycle)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2005... Lance Armstrong may be the world's most famous bicyclist, but he isn't the fastest. Canadian Sam Whittingham hit 130 kilometers (81 miles) per hour in the Varna Diablo II at the 2002 World Human Powered Speed Challenge. The Diablo is a...

Could men carry babies?(Brief Article)
December 16, 2005... LONDON, Ontario -- Like many first-time pregnancies, Lia Tharby's was an uncomfortable experience--so uncomfortable, in fact, that the pain "felt like razors," she says. Routine ultrasounds could not identify the source of the pain. Not...

Government issues ADHD drug warning.(Health)
December 16, 2005... WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The federal government has ordered Eli Lilly, a U.S. pharmaceutical company, to add a "black box" warning to a drug often given to children and teens. The drug, called Strattera, is commonly prescribed for attention deficit...

Do animals use tools?(Brief Article)
December 16, 2005... Justin Perry Chicago Let's put it this way, Justin: A walk through nature can be like a trip to Home Depot. Animals everywhere seem to be poking, pulling, and banging away with tools nowadays. Chimpanzees crack nuts with rocks....

Mystery photos.(Optricks)
December 16, 2005... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Answer Top: onion field Middle: s'more Bottom: cracked dried mud

Bend your mind.(Optricks)
December 16, 2005... Where does a fifth dot belong? Answer The dots are inserted in this sequence, starting at the apex: dot, skip one triangle, dot, skip two triangles, dot, skip three triangles, dot, skip four triangles.

Whatizit?(Ptolemaic system)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2005... This is the Ptolemaic system, formulated almost 2,000 years ago by Claudius Ptolemaeus, a Greek astronomer and geographer. His model was accepted until Nicolaus Copernicus challenged it in the 16th century. What dial Copernicus object to? ...