Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication articles from January 2002

Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication archives from January 2002

Tongue action. (insight).(Northern Arizona University research on chameleon tongues)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... The muscular tongue of a chameleon can grab prey from a distance of two body lengths. That's an extraordinary feat because muscle tissue is less able to generate force when in a stretched position. Try doing a pull-up with your arms fully...

Break down: looking for smooth moves on the dance floor? Try a little physics! (Physical).
January 4, 2002... "Phat move!" A small crowd gathers around Skorpio whenever he starts break dancing. Skorpio's legs pinwheel high over his head while his torso gyrates on the ground. That move, called a "windmill," is just one of many perfected by this...

Sleeping giant: beneath Yellowstone Park lies one of Earth's most destructive geological phenomena: a supervolcano. (Earth).
January 4, 2002... Right now, an eruption is brewing in Yellowstone National Park. Sometime during the next two hours, the park's most famous geyser, Old Faithful, will begin gurgling boiling water and steam. Then, WHOOSH, an enormous fountain will shoot high...

Seeing in tongues: researchers hope to help blind people "see" with their tongues. (Health/Life).
January 4, 2002... Allison Nastoff, 11, doesn't remember what life was like before she went blind. She was only 6 months old at the time. Still, she longs to have her sight back. "I'd like to see the shapes of things--things outside, cars on the road,...

Discoveries.(inflatable loudspeakers)
January 4, 2002... PARK CITY, Utah--Is your career goal to become a roadie, someone who hauls sound equipment for rock stars? Sorry to say, but roadies may soon hit the end of the job road. An American company has devised inflatable loudspeakers that anyone can...

Miss Cleo's cards fail to foretell lawsuits. (Too Weird).(Brief Article)
January 4, 2002... Have you seen Miss Cleo? She's the tarot card reader whose TV ads show her dishing out tough advice to callers on her 1-800 psychic hotline. Too bad Miss Cleo's cards didn't warn her about the trouble she'd get herself into. On Nov. 1,...

Professor Ossolotch ask.
January 4, 2002... Does hot water freeze faster than cold water? Mallory Freeman and Ashley Lemke, Prentice, Wis. Dear Mallory and Ashley, In 1969, a Tanzanian high school student named Erasto Mpemba and his classmates were each making batches of ice...