Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication articles from January 2007

Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication archives from January 2007

Sci-triv game: have fun learning about science!
January 5, 2007... 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...

Animal spots.(humorous instances of animal behavior)(Brief article)
January 5, 2007... Heidi, a donkey that lives on a farm in Cottbus, Germany, has grown attached to Hannibal, a gander (male goose). The two animals spend their entire days together, and Hannibal attacks any male donkey that approaches Heidi. A woman in...

Rogue rage: why are so many wild elephants becoming violent?(LIFE)
January 5, 2007... Flora, an African elephant, was once the main attraction of Circus Flora. But even though she was the star, she was discontented. After each show, she would rush back to her trailer and slam the door behind her like a Broadway diva. Today,...

Gas leak.(EARTH)
January 5, 2007... Mark Fix's farm overlooks the Tongue River in eastern Montana. The climate in that part of the state is dry, and by September there's hardy a lick of water in the Tongue. Even so, Fix and other farmers aren't sure they want any water from the...

On thin ice: changes in the sport of figure skating are taking a toll on young bodies.(HEALTH)
January 5, 2007... Sixteen-year-old Michael Chau dreams of becoming an Olympic figure skater. Four years ago, he moved from Minnesota to Florida to train with renowned coach Kerry Leiteh. Michael practices from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. every day, squeezing online...

Intelligent design: a new TV game show asks teens to duke it out with applied science.(PHYSICAL)
January 5, 2007... You're fired!" Those are the two most important--and feared-words on Donald Trump's reality TV game show, The Apprentice. But the catchphrase on a new PBS game show might be "You're inspired!" The series, which debuts next month, is called...

Man serves up 100,000 pieces of pi.(math)
January 5, 2007... CHIBA, JAPAN -- Some people obsess about baseball, others, about Paris Hilton. Akira Haraguchi's fixation is more unusual--the number pi. He knows it so well that he recently broke a world's record reciting pi to 100,000 decimal places. Pi...

Drinking straw could save lives.(technology)(Brief article)
January 5, 2007... LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Imagine waking up tomorrow to discover that the taps in your home had run dry. You would have to walk miles to get a drink of water or wash your hands. That scenario might seem unimaginable, but for many people in...

Insight.
January 5, 2007... This is a satellite photo, taken in October, of the Victoria crater on Mars and NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity. When Opportunity landed on Mars in early 2004, it was expected to function for only three months. But two-and-a-half years later, it...

Maggoty bandages treat wounds.(health)
January 5, 2007... BRADFORD, England -- Did you see the movie Gladiator? Were you grossed out by the scene in which maggots are used to heal the wounds of Russell Crowe's character? Then you'll be surprised to learn that researchers in England are developing a...

Nails on chalkboard win Ig.(too weird)(Randolph Blake wins Ig Nobel Prize for research on sound waves)
January 5, 2007... NASHVILLE, Tennessee -- October was a bonanza month for Randolph Blake, a professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University. First, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at a ceremony in Boston. Then, in the same city,...

How do scientists know that carbon dioxide, a gas that causes global warming, has been increasing in the atmosphere?(Ask Professor Ossolotch)
January 5, 2007... Jennifer De Chiara, New York, N.Y. Excellent question, Jennifer! Carbon dioxide (C[O.sub.2]) has done what dinosaurs and other extinct animals did: It has left "fossil" imprints on Earth. The vast ice sheets that cover such places as...

Mystery photos.(Current Science op tricks)
January 5, 2007... Top: pipe cleaners; Middle: wieners Bottom: flyswatter

Whatizit?(Current Science op tricks)(Brief article)
January 5, 2007... This might look like some kind of dinosaur claw, but it's really the incisor tooth of a wee mammal. The tooth is always growing because of the act of eating wears it down. What might this mammal be? a mouse

Sci-triv game: have fun learning about science!
January 19, 2007... Want to play a game of science trivia? See how many point 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 so...

Who knew?(rubber tire helps tortoise move around)
January 19, 2007... WILTSHIRE, England -- Getting around used to be exhausting for Tina the tortoise. It no longer is now that she's tired. Five years ago, when she was donated to Longleat Safari Park, Tina was a sorry sight. She had only three legs and...

Da Vinci decoded: scientists probe the secret of Mona Lisa's smile.(PHYSICAL)
January 19, 2007... What was Lisa Gherardini smiling about when she posed for the Mona Lisa, the world's most famous painting? Had the painter, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), just cracked a joke? Was Gherardini remembering a delicious meal? New research suggests...

An Answer to cancer? A new therapy treats cancer by altering a patient's DNA.(HEALTH)(Deoxyribonucleic acid)
January 19, 2007... Two years ago, doctors told Mark Origer that he had about three months to live. Origer, 51, had a deadly from of skin cancel: a disease in which abnormal cells grow without limit. The disease started as a black mole on Origer's back and then...

Ruff treatment: critics object to the Dog Whisperer's tough-love approach to dog training.(LIFE)
January 19, 2007... You flip on the TV one evening, and a dog appears onscreen, growling and snapping at strangers. Enter a handsome, gray-haired man. With a couple of quick gestures, he teaches the dog who's boss. The animal's aggression disappears. The dog's...

Water boys: two teens tackle a global shortage.(EARTH)
January 19, 2007... When Akana Jimmy was 8 years old, he had to fetch water for his family every day before leaving for school. He rose before sunrise and walked from the Ugandan village where he lived to a pond 5 kilometers (3 miles) away. To fetch enough water,...

U.S. storms are worst.(earth)
January 19, 2007... HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Readers of Current Science who live in the South and the Midwest know how fierce thunderstorms can be there. Those storms are, in fact, among the fiercest in the world, according to a new study. For nine years, the...

Dog hooked on toads.(too weird)(Brief article)
January 19, 2007... WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Members of a U.S. family have gone public with a secret that might shock even Oprah: Their dog is an addict. The strange tale began when the Mirsch family moved into a house with a pond behind it. Before long, the...

This air guitar rocks!(technology)(Brief article)
January 19, 2007... GEELONG, Australia -- Your secret dream of sounding like Slash or Jimi Hendrix may soon come true. An Australian engineer has found a way to play air guitar and make real music. The music materializes out of thin air when the "guitarist"...

Patient: heal thyself!(health)(Brief article)
January 19, 2007... STANFORD, Calif. -- A doctor at a Stanford University clinic has found a novel way to help patients suffering from tennis elbow heal themselves. Giving each patient a single injection of his or her own blood cured the condition. Tennis...

Pollinators plummet.(life)
January 19, 2007... WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Two years ago, the United States government opened its border to millions of workers from Mexico. Employers desperately needed help to make up for a severe labor shortage on U.S. farms. The Mexican workers weren't...

New element made?(physical)(Brief article)
January 19, 2007... DUBNA, Russia -- Do you have a square to spare? The periodic table might need it. A team of Russian and U.S. chemists claims to have synthesized a new element. The element is an artificial one, created in a lab. The first 92 elements in...

Mystery photos.(current science optricks)
January 19, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Mystery Photos: Kristen George, Vandalia, Mo. (3); Whatizit: Eye of Science/Photo Researches; Refrigerator: Michael Mahovlich/Masterfile; Magnets: Shutterstock. Answers Top: dartboard Middle: piano keys...

Bend your mind.(current science optricks)
January 19, 2007... Move, but don't remove, one licorice stick to make this equation correct. IV = III - I Answer Bend your Mind: IV - III = I

Whatizit?(current science optricks)
January 19, 2007... What you see here is an extreme close-up of one part of the anatomy of a hummingbird hawk-moth. The structures in the photo are sensory units called ommatidia, and the hawk-moth has hundreds of them. What type of sensory information do the...