Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication articles from May 2005

Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication archives from May 2005

Scie-triv game: have fun learning about science!
May 6, 2005... SCI-TRIV GAME 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 questions right, 20 points for...

Wave action: geophysicist Judith Sheridan applied her knowledge of science to become a goddess of bodysurfing.(EARTH/PHYSICAL)(Cover Story)
May 6, 2005... Dawn has just broken on a crisp November morning at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. I'm alone on the shore, watching a bright orange dot bobbing among the violently tossing waves. The dot is a swim cap worn by surfer Judith Sheridan. Just...

Casualties of War: the war in the Congo has further endangered the remarkable bonobo.(LIFE)
May 6, 2005... THE WAR in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1998-2002) claimed an estimated 3 million lives--more than any other war since World War II. That figure doesn't include many of the war's most innocent victims, the world's only wild population...

Cell division: stem cell research shows great promise, but moral questions about it divide Americans.(HEALTH)
May 6, 2005... Some of the rats at a lab at the University of California, Irvine, used to walk funny. Their limp hind legs dragged behind them. and their tails, normally high in the air, sagged to the floor. Spinal cord injuries had paralyzed their back legs....

Dark galaxy found?(PHYSICAL)
May 6, 2005... MANCHESTER, England -- If asked to define the word galaxy on an astronomy quiz, you'd be right if you said it was a huge collection of stars, gas, and dust. But scientists in England have now found what may be a galaxy that has no stars at...

Blind people 'see' sound.(HEALTH)
May 6, 2005... MONTREAL -- The Oscar-winning movie Ray includes a memorable scene that occurs after the young Ray Charles has gone blind. Ray has fallen down in his home and is crying for help from his mother when he realizes that his hearing has suddenly...

What caused snowball earth?(EARTH)
May 6, 2005... BOULDER, Colo. -- Forget global warming for a minute, and consider global cooling instead. Temperatures on Earth might have plunged several times during its existence, encasing the planet in snow and ice. The big chill might have happened at...

Rare liver operation rescues teen.(HEALTH)(Sammy Drake)
May 6, 2005... HOUSTON -- From infancy, Sammy Drake had a rare liver condition. He managed to live to age 14, but because of the condition, his body was filling with poison and his life was in danger. The poison in his lungs made him so short of breath he...

Flowers play heavy petal music.(TOO WEIRD)(Let's Corp)(Brief Article)
May 6, 2005... NAGOYA, Japan -- The American philosopher and writer Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) said roses speak all languages. Now they also sing. A Japanese telecommunications company, Let's Corp., has invented a device that broadcasts music through...

Oscar is foundation of youth.(LIFE)
May 6, 2005... TORONTO -- When Hilary Swank won the best actress Oscar for Million Dollar Baby in February, she might have also added two years to her life. That's on top of the four years she probably gained for winning her first Oscar in 2000 for Boys Don't...

Paper made from roo poo.(TECHNOLOGY)
May 6, 2005... BURNIE, Australia -- A paper-making company on the island of Tasmania has taken recycling to a new low. It is making paper from marsupial manure collected from the ground. Tasmanian landowners have stooped and scooped enough wild kangaroo...

Mystery photos.(Optricks)
May 6, 2005... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Top: arm of a Lego character Middle: stack of colored sticky notes Bottom: bath beads

And the winner is ...(Optricks)
May 6, 2005... Eileen Horn and her sixth-grade life Science class at St. Rose of Lima School in Denver are the winners of this year's Mystery Photo Contest. They took pictures for an art/science Project and seven of the pictures were chosen for Publication in...

Whatizit.(Optricks)
May 6, 2005... This organism, photographed in Arizona, might be called a "cephalopod succulent." Like a cephalopod, it has many arms (thought it can't move). Like other succulents, it has fleshy tissue that conserves moisture. What might it be? Answer...

Weekly Reader Corporation and the National Middle Level Science Teachers' Association present The Vincent J. Marteka Jr. Award for Creative Science Teaching.
May 6, 2005... The Vincent J. Marteka Jr. Award for Creative Science Teaching, sponsored by Weekly Reader Corporation, publishers of Current Science, is presented annually at the National Science Teachers' Association National Convention during the Middle...