Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication articles from January 2005

Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication archives from January 2005

Sci-triv game: have fun learning about science!(FEATURE PLUS)
January 6, 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...

The reel deal? Will the new 3-D movies take off?
January 6, 2005... My brother Marc is a Hollywood film editor. On the phone recently, I told him I had just seen Chicken Little. "What brought that on?" he asked, surprised that I had gone to a Walt Disney kids' movie. I wanted to see Chicken Little because...

Fade to white: evolution is happening before our eyes in a lizard community in a New Mexico desert.(White Sands Proving Grounds)(Cover Story)
January 6, 2005... Another eye-scorching day has dawned at New Mexico's White Sands National Monument. Erica Rosenblum, squinting behind dark sunglasses, brandishes a fishing pole that has a tiny noose made from dental floss hanging from one end. Slowly, she...

Bad new bears: why are polar bears drowning in the Arctic, and what does that signal for the future?
January 6, 2005... Dozens of polar bears died unexpectedly in northern Alaska last summer. The culprit wasn't disease or poachers or lack of food. It was melting ice. The top of the world is now capped with less ice and more water than at any time in the...

Tooth or dare: dentists are expanding their practices to include tigers, snakes, gorillas, and other zoo patients.(Tom Clark )
January 6, 2005... In 1978, Tom Clark got an unusual call for help. Clark is a dentist in Louisville, Ky., and the call was from a colleague who had friends at the Louisville Zoo. A black leopard had broken a tooth, and the tooth was now infected. Could Clark...

Why Pakistan quake was so deadly.
January 6, 2005... MUZAFFARABAD, Kashmir--In September, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 jolted Peru, killing a small number of residents. Then in October, a slightly stronger quake, with a magnitude of 7.6, struck northern Pakistan and India. This time the...

Jurassic bark fetches big bucks.(pinosaurs sold)(Brief Article)
January 6, 2005... SYDNEY, Australia--Not since the sale of the late Marilyn Monroe's belongings has a public auction generated such a buzz. In October, the auction house Sotheby's sold 148 collector's editions of a prehistoric species of tree that dates back to...

Rat competes in amazing race.(Norwegian rat's survival skills)(Brief Article)
January 6, 2005... AUCKLAND, New Zealand--A Norwegian rat recently took part in its own version of Survivor. But instead of being voted off the island, it swam. The rat, named Razza, was let loose like a Survivor contestant on the rodent-free island of...

Robocar drives itself.(Technology)
January 6, 2005... MOJAVE DESERT, Nev.--Herbie the Love Bug isn't the only Volkswagen with a mind of his own. Stanley, a driverless VW, triumphed in a $2 million road race in October. Stanley competed against 22 other vehicles in a 212-kilometer (132-mile)...

Student makes quantum leap.(Michael Bowers)(Brief Article)
January 6, 2005... NASHVILLE, Tenn.--An accidental discovery made by a U.S. student could light the world's way to the future. The student, Michael Bowers, is enrolled in the graduate chemistry program at Vanderbilt University. His research involves quantum...

Ask professor Ossolotch: should I wash my hands with antibacterial soap instead of plain soap?
January 6, 2005... Dear Hilary, In a word, no. Washing dirty hands with soap is certainly one part of good hygiene. It helps protect the body against many infectious diseases--ones caused by bacteria and viruses. But a U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel...

Insight.(Saturn's moon Hyperion)(Brief Article)
January 6, 2005... What looks to be a Ioofah sponge is really Saturn's moon Hyperion, photographed last year by the NASA space probe Cassini. Only 265 kilometers (165 miles) wide, Hyperion is an ice moon covered in a thin layer of dust.Thousands of meteor impact...

Bend your mind.(Optricks)
January 6, 2005... What number is missing? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 7; the numbers are the first five prime numbers.

Whatizit?(Optricks)
January 6, 2005... A black-eyed Susan? No. A black hole spewing cosmic radiation? No, again. This is a close-up of the aperture of one of nature's finest sensory devices. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] the iris and the pupil of a human eye

Sci-triv game.
January 7, 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,...

Horfield, England--most washing machines have separate cycles for whites and colors, but none for house cats.(Who? Knew)(Brief Article)
January 7, 2005... HORFIELD, England -- Most washing machines have separate cycles for whites and colors, but none for house cats. That didn't stop Toreilles, a 15-month-old feline, from going for a one-hour, 40-degree Celsius (104-degree Fahrenheit) wash and...

Birmensdorf, Switzerland--there's a humongous fungus among the trees and shrubs of Swiss National Park, in the Engadine Valley.(Who? Knew)(Brief Article)
January 7, 2005... BIRMENSDORF, Switzerland -- There's a humongous fungus among the trees and shrubs of Swiss National Park, in the Engadine Valley. Spanning 35 hectares (86 acres) and believed to be 1,000 years old, the fungus, a honey mushroom, is the biggest...

Born to be wild: can zoos save endangered animals from extinction?(Life)(Cover Story)
January 7, 2005... Early one morning last July, Emi the Sumatran rhinoceros became restless in her stall at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. She calmed down a day later after giving birth to Suci, a healthy, wide-eyed female calf. Just 15 minutes after her...

Success stories: at least 19 species have been reintroduced to the wild from captivity. Here are three of the saved.(Brief Article)
January 7, 2005... Red Wolf: The red wolf once ranged from Pennsylvania to Florida and as far west as Texas. By 1980, the species had been hunted almost to extinction; just 20 animals were alive. Those animals were collected for breeding, and the species was...

Gas leak: leaking gas-station tanks have polluted hundreds of U.S. water supplies with a noxious chemical.(Physical)
January 7, 2005... Jordan Gottwald, 15, never drinks tap water. "It's pretty nasty stuff," she said. "And if I had a million dollars, I wouldn't bathe in it either. I'd use bottled water." That may seem a bit extreme, but the Santa Monica, Calif., teen has...

Fat change: Lawrence Capici had radical surgery to lose weight. Should other obese teens follow his example.(Health)
January 7, 2005... IT'S NO SECRET: AMERICANS have gotten fat. According to the U.S. surgeon general, 61 percent of adults and 14 percent of teenagers are overweight. Obesity rates have tripled among children and teens in the last 20 years. As waistlines have...

Snow way: American engineers are building the first road to the bottom of the world.(Earth)
January 7, 2005... Where will you find the world's best spot for stargazing? Many astronomers would say the South Pole. The sky is always clear there, and during the winter it's always dark. Astronomers flock to the South Pole, as do scientists who study...

California attacks greenhouse gas.(Earth)
January 7, 2005... SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger might not be able to terminate global warming by himself, but his administration has approved the world's toughest restrictions on automobile emissions of carbon dioxide (C[O.sub.2]). C[O.sub.2] is...

Gorilla calls for dentist.(Too Weird)
January 7, 2005... WOODSIDE, Calif. -- Koko the gorilla knows more than 1,000 words in American Sign Language. But last summer, one sign dominated her vocabulary: pain! The 127-kilogram (280-pound) ape also pointed repeatedly to her mouth, indicating that the...

Ask Professor Ossolotch.(Discoveries)(Letter to the Editor)
January 7, 2005... Should short kids take growth hormone? Charlotte McTierney Chicago, III, Dear Charlotte, I'm not a medical doctor, so I can't dispense advice about prescription drugs. However, I can tell you about a fascinating new study on...

Man grows fruit-punch tree.(Life)
January 7, 2005... SANTIAGO, Chile -- When Luis Carrasco, 50, wants a fresh peach, he walks into his backyard and picks one off a tree. When he wants a nectarine, an apricot, a cherry, or a plum, he heads for the same tree. All five fruits grow on it! The...

Dogs sniff out cancer.(Health)
January 7, 2005... AMERSHAM, England -- Everyone knows that dogs have a phenomenal sense of smell. Measurements have shown that it is 10,000 to 100,000 times better than the human sense of smell. Now researchers at Amersham Hospital, northwest of London, have...

Teen paves way.(Technology)(new road pavement)(Brief Article)
January 7, 2005... PRINCE GEORGE, British Columbia -- Four years ago, 13-year-old Gina Gallant and her family were passing through Cache Creek when she spotted the city's infamous giant landfill. Many other cities in the province truck their garbage to Cache...

Insight.(SpaceShipOne won Ansari X Prize)(Brief Article)
January 7, 2005... SpaceShipOne, a privately developed spacecraft, won the coveted $10 million Ansari X Prize last fall White Knight, a larger launch jet, carried SpaceShipOne on its underside to an altitude of about 15.2 kilometers (9.4 miles). At that point,...

For conservation.(Discoveries)(experimental paavement that mixex liquid asphalt, stone material and ground-up plastic bottles)(Brief Article)
January 7, 2005... Gina took her idea to several local paving companies. "They thought I was crazy, a young girl working on such a problem--what's going on?" Gina told Current Science. She persisted and finally persuaded one company to concoct experimental...

Mystery photos.(Optricks)
January 7, 2005... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Top: fire hose Middle: watchband Bottom: flip-flop

Bend your mind.(Optricks)
January 7, 2005... The numbers in column D are connected in some way to the numbers in the other columns. Decipher that connection, and find the right number to replace the question mark. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 4; A times B divided by C equals D.

Whatizit?(toothed whale)(Brief Article)
January 7, 2005... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Many years ago, sightings of this unusual cetacean led some people to believe in unicors. The male animal has one very big tooth, which can grow to be 3 meters (10 feet) long. The tooth's function is uncertain, but...

Sci-triv game: have fun learning about science!
January 21, 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,...

Who knew?(Casino raid money found by beavers)
January 21, 2005... GREENSBURG, La. -- No charges were filed against a colony of beavers after the animals were caught in a money-laundering scheme last November. The buck-toothed mammals were fingered after a ski mask-wearing gunman held up the Lucky Dollar...

Small wonder: the discovery of ancient tiny people is one big find.(Life)(Cover Story)
January 21, 2005... Once upon a time, a group of hairy, elf-sized men and women lived on an island far away. In the shadows of a towering volcano, they pursued with sharp spears the pygmy elephants, enormous dagger-toothed lizards, and golden retriever-sized rats...

Green team: save your school energy and money--and win a prize!(Physical)(recycling)
January 21, 2005... On a sunny fall afternoon at Gleneagle High School in Vancouver, British Columbia, students are hanging out on the steps or buzzing around the parking lot on skateboards. But 12th grader Alex Yip, 17, has something more exciting to do. He's in...

Killer cough: an old-fashioned illness is back with a vengeance.(Health)(whooping cough)
January 21, 2005... Last spring, Sophie Starcevic, 15, of Philadelphia, came down with a vicious cough. Her doctor prescribed a cough medicine, but it didn't help. Her symptoms got worse. She coughed so hard that she could hardly breathe and sometimes even threw...

Shooting hoops: with cameras clicking and sensors whirring, a NASA probe starts unlocking secrets of the ringed planet.(Earth)(Saturn and Cassini)
January 21, 2005... Last June, the U.S. spacecraft Cassini swung into orbit around Saturn. The journey from Earth had taken Cassini across 2 billion kilometers (1.2 billion miles) of space. It had also taken the craft far back in time. With its spectacular...

Professor has two brains.(Life)(molecular computing)
January 21, 2005... GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- A scientist at the University of Florida has grown a brain in a laboratory dish and taught it to fly a plane. The scientist, Thomas DeMarse, a professor of biomedical engineering, extracted several neurons (nerve cells)...

Surfer rides whale.(Too Weird)(Spyros Vamvas)
January 21, 2005... SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. -- One morning last September, Spyros Vamvas, 60, was following his usual routine, surfing in the Pacific Ocean off Lasuen Beach in Southern California. Vamvas had ridden too far from shore to hear a group of volleyball...

Lubricant triggers earthquake.(Earth)
January 21, 2005... GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- Early last November, an earthquake shook the Utah-Colorado border. Earthquakes happen every day around the world, of course. This quake was special, though--it was triggered by human activity. A U.S. government...

Teen 'geek' wins bio prize.(Life)(Kay Aull)
January 21, 2005... BRISBANE, Australia -- Kay Aull's favorite hobbies when she was a kid were setting leaves on fire with a magnifying glass and chasing bugs around the yard with a butterfly net. "I was always interested in biology," she told Current Science. "I...

Diabetes cure found?(Health)(Denise Faustman)
January 21, 2005... BOSTON -- Denise Faustman is the Madonna of modern medicine. People fly across oceans to see her. Kids demand her autograph. Her e-mail box bulges with messages. Faustman is a professor at Harvard Medical School. How did she become a...

Insight.(SBI Enterprises launches Flybar 1200 pogostick)
January 21, 2005... Andy Macdonald, an eight-time World Cup skateboarding champ, takes off on the Flybar 1200, a new, high-testosterone pogo stick. Designed by physicist Bruce Middleton (below), the Flybar 1200 substitutes 12 large rubber bands for the steel...

Mystery photos.(Optricks)
January 21, 2005... Top: tether ball Middle: glass jug Bottom: plastic chair [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED]

Bend your mind.(Optricks)
January 21, 2005... Sparky was tied to a post with a 2-meter length of chain. Feeling hungry, he trotted over to his doggie bowl, located 3 meters away, and gobbled some kibble. The chain didn't break, and the post didn't bend or fall over. How did Sparky reach...

Whatizit?(Optricks)
January 21, 2005... The starchy tuber of an American herb of the nightshade family is one of the most popular foods in the country. When the tuber is sliced thin and deep-fried, it becomes a snack food whose air pockets give it a satisfying crunch. What is this...