Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication articles from May 2004

Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication archives from May 2004

Sci-triv game: have fun learning about science!
May 7, 2004... 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.
May 7, 2004... A herd of 130 hungry elephants went on a rampage in Thailand. The elephants were hungry because of dry-season shortages of food and water. On several occasions, the leader of the herd stood in a road and blocked trucks hauling sugar cane, while...

Swing time: Current Science editor Kirsten Weir swung over New York City to learn about the fun and physics of the flying trapeze.(Physical)(Cover Story)
May 7, 2004... Inching forward until my toes curl over the edge of the narrow metal platform, I peer down--waaaaaay down--to the ground. My brain knows that the thick belt around my waist connects me to a safety harness and the net below separates me from the...

The good sun: too much sun can be bad for human health. So can too little.(Health/Life)
May 7, 2004... Several years ago, an Ohio mother was arrested and thrown in jail for endangering her three young children. Her crime? She let the kids become sunburned while spending the day outdoors at a county fair. The charges against her were...

Hot pockets: if you can't stand the heat island effect, get out the Phoenix and Houston and ...(Earth)
May 7, 2004... Forget global warming for 30 seconds. Consider local warming instead. In Phoenix, Ariz., the hottest big city in the United States, the average nighttime temperature in July rose by 6.6 degrees Celsius (12 degrees Fahrenheit) between 1948 and...

Monkeys protest bum deal.(Life)
May 7, 2004... ATLANTA -- If all men and women are created equal, does the same apply to animals? Some monkeys might say so. At the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, female capuchin monkeys recently took part in an experiment on fairness. The...

New state of matter found.(Physical)
May 7, 2004... BOULDER, Colo. -- A team of U.S. scientists has discovered a new phase of matter, bringing to six the number of known phases. The three basic states of matter are solid, liquid, and gas. The fourth state, plasma, is gas that has become so...

M&M's solve Math problem.(Math)
May 7, 2004... PRINCETON, N.J. -- In a remarkable feat of self-control, physicist Paul Chaikin conducted a novel experiment without eating it first! Chaikin loves M&M's--so much so that his Princeton University students tease him about it. With the help...

Insight.(Discoveries)
May 7, 2004... This might look like a sea horse tangled up in a clump of seaweed, but it's really a leafy sea dragon. A close relative of the sea horse that has leaflike appendages all over its body, the leafy sea dragon is a mimic, an organism that...

Student's eyes on skies and prize.(Earth)(Maxwell Moe wins 2003 National Young Astronomer Award)
May 7, 2004... FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A Colorado high-school student is the recipient of the 2003 National Young Astronomer Award (NYAA). Maxwell Moe, 18, won top honors for his study of the deterioration of the nation's skies. During the last 30 years,...

Ask professor Ossolotch.(Discoveries)(Letter to the Editor)
May 7, 2004... What is the largest diamond? --Topher Strang Spokane, Wash. Dear Topher, Funny you should ask! In February, scientists discovered the biggest known diamond, one measuring 4,000 kilometers across and weighing 2.3 million trillion...

Whatizit?(Optricks)
May 7, 2004... This is cross section of an environmentally friendly material Found everywhere today. The orange dots are tiny granules of Starch. When the material is buried in the soil, the starch grains Absorb water and expand. That action breaks the...

Vincent J. Marteka Jr. award announced.(Features Plus)(Jody Hodges)(Brief Article)
May 7, 2004... The seventh Vincent J. Marteka Jr. Award for Creative Science Teaching was awarded to Jody Hodges of Aledo, Texas, at this year's convention of the National Science Teachers Association, held in Atlanta. The award is administered by the...

Discoveries.
May 7, 2004... Fill in the Blank 1. A -- is an organism that masquerades as another organism. 2. -- is a gas that is so hot that electrons have broken away from its atoms. 3. The ability of some materials to conduct electricity with almost no...