Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication articles from December 2008

Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication archives from December 2008

Sci-triv game: have fun learning about science!
December 12, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 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 a first-row question right, 20...

Uki, Australia--Caroline Hayes's lifelong love of animals was sorely tested when an enormous stray pig showed up in her garden in September.(ANIMAL SPOTS)
December 12, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] UKI, Australia -- Caroline Hayes's lifelong love of animals was sorely tested when an enormous stray pig showed up in her garden in September. The animal, which had been roughing it in the bush, had a swollen eye and...

Scottsdale, Ariz.--Buddy the German shepherd is truly a man's best friend.(ANIMAL SPOTS)(Brief article)
December 12, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Buddy the German shepherd is truly a man's best friend. Joe Stalnaker, who suffers from life-threatening seizures, adopted Buddy when the dog was a puppy and trained him to hit the speed dial...

High life meet a botanist on his way to the top.(LIFE)(Steve Sillett)
December 12, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] If your day includes climbing tall trees, tying complicated knots, and shooting arrows, you're probably a hunter, a kid at camp, or a contestant on Survivor. Or you're botanist Steve Sillett. A professor at...

Hot shots: hockey plays by the rules of physics.(PHYSICAL)
December 12, 2008... Science isn't Greg Silverman's favorite subject. He prefers math and business. Yet day after day, without knowing it, he relies on the laws of physics that govern his favorite pastime. Greg plays right wing on a junior hockey league team and...

Cold blast: a volcanic eruption might have changed a far-off country's history.(EARTH)
December 12, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Climate change is a red-hot topic nowadays. Earth's climate is warming up, and scientists say humans are mostly to blame. But natural disasters can throw climate for some big loops too. In 1452, a volcano in the...

Bug bites.(HEALTH)
December 12, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Twenty years ago, Florence Dunkel as working as a consultant in the African country of Rwanda. Dunkel is an entomologist--a scientist who studies insects--at Montana State University. One day in the capital city of...

Tigers out of the woods.(life)
December 12, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] LAOHU VALLEY, South Africa -- When Li Quan was a child growing up in China, she befriended the stray cats in her neighborhood. Decades later, she's still helping cats, this time big cats living thousands of miles...

Wind energy takes new turn.(technology)(Brief article)
December 12, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FULLERTON, Calif. -- Doug Selsam has put a new spin on wind energy. He has compacted the technology so it can be carried by hand and installed in any backyard. He calls his invention the Sky Serpent. For a...

Hurricanes growing fiercer.(earth)
December 12, 2008... TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Americans who bore the brunt of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike will have no trouble believing the findings of a team of U.S. researchers. In a report published the same day that Ike hit its peak, the scientists concluded that...

A colugo soars through a forest in Indonesia.(insight)(Brief article)(Photograph)
December 12, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: A colugo soars through a forest in Indonesia. The colugo is the most proficient of any gliding mammal, able to fly as far as about 100 meters (330 feet) in a single bound.

She falls down laughing.(too weird)(Brief article)
December 12, 2008... BARROW-UPON-SOAR, England -- Laughter is said to be the best medicine--but not for Kay Underwood. Whenever the 20-year-old architecture student laughs, she collapses. Underwood has cataplexy, a sudden weakening of the muscles brought on by...

Ask Professor Ossolotch.(DISCOVERIES)(Brief article)
December 12, 2008... What are stem cells? Carol Williams, Provo, Utah Dear Carol, Stem cells are immature cells in the body that develop into specialized cells--heart cells, brain cells, muscle cells, and so on. you have stern cells throughout your...

Whatizit?(OPTRICKS)(Brief article)
December 12, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This extreme close-up of several Eschericha coli bacteria shows their cell walls deteriorating after exposure to a powerful outside agent. What might that agent be? Whatizit?: an antibiotic (in this case...

Mystery photos.(OPTRICKS)
December 12, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Top: computer keyboard Middle: desk lock Bottom: RCA jack on a DVD player

Bend your mind.(OPTRICKS)(Brief article)
December 12, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Why is Canada's flag nicknamed Jack and Jacques? Look closely at the maple leaf. Bend your Mind: If you look at the upper left- and right-hand edges of the maple leaf, you can see the outline of two angry,...

Tall thirst.(HANDS-ON ACTIVITY)
December 12, 2008... The article "High Life" describes one of the reasons why trees can grow only so tall. Trees have difficulty transporting water all the way up to their highest branches. To appreciate that difficulty, try taking a sip from a 7.6-meter (25-foot)...