Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication articles from May 2009

Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication archives from May 2009

Sci-triv game: have fun learning about science!
May 1, 2009... Want to play a game of science triva? 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 a first-row question right, 20 points for each second-row...

Washington, D.C.--when a zookeeper heard whistling coming from the great ape house at the Smithsonian's National Zoo, he thought one of the visitors had climbed inside.(ANIMAL SPOTS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2009... WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When a zookeeper heard whistling coming from the great ape house at the Smithsonian's National Zoo, he thought one of the visitors had climbed inside. Tums out Bonnie, one of the resident orangutans, was making the sound....

Ipswich, England--foxes are moving up in the world.(ANIMAL SPOTS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2009... IPSWICH, England -- Foxes are moving up in the world. Foxes normally live underground in burrows. But a family of foxes that lives in a garden in England has made its home in the branches of a bee, 9 meters (30 feet) off the ground. "I couldn't...

Keeping the beat: looking for a good workout? Try drumming!(HEALTH)(Cover story)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Touring for months on end, all night, sleeping all day--rock stars aren't known for healthy living. But some of them could be in better shape than you might suspect, says British researcher Christopher Potter. If...

Coal case: another disastrous spill is prompting Americans to ask: how clean is coal?(EARTH)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It was the nightmare before Christmas. At roughly 1 o'clock in the morning on Dec. 22, 2008, a retaining wall burst outside the city of Harriman in eastern Tennessee. A flood of gray sludge up to 2 meters (6 feet)...

Custom fit: bike fitters tweak bicycles to suit their riders' bodies.(PHYSICAL)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Eli Kranefuss is a serious cyclist. The sixth-grade student from Mill Valley, Calif., attends a stationary bicycling class twice a week. On the weekend, he covers 20 miles of road on his yellow Specialized Allez...

Top crops: things are looking up for 'green' roofs.(LIFE)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Students at the E. C. Reems Academy of Technology and Art Pin Oakland, Calif., really believe in higher learning. They climb all the way to the school's roof to study biology and home economics. The roof is where the...

Ask Professor Ossolotch.(DISCOVERIES: News Briefs From Current Science[R])(amount of water to drink)(Column)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Should I drink eight glasses of water a day? Susan Anderson, Los Angeles Dear Susan, You should if you enjoy going to the bathroom a lot. If you don't, there's no need to consume so much. The...

How sweet it is for the honeypot ants of central Australia.(insight)(Brief article)
May 1, 2009... How sweet it is for the honeypot ants of central Australia. Every colony has a group of workers, called repletes, that gorge on nectar and swell to the size of grapes. When other ants in the nest get hungry, the repletes regurgitate the nectar...

Stem therapy reverses MS.(health)(multiple sclerosis)
May 1, 2009... RICHMOND, Va. -- Edwin McClure was in his final year of high school in 2003 when his eyesight suddenly dimmed. He thought his allergies were to blame. But the culprit turned out to be something much worse: the nerve disease multiple sclerosis...

Super snake found.(too weird)(Titanoboa)(Brief article)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] GUAJIRA, Colombia -- If you think that anacondas and boa constrictors are scary snakes, you don't know Titanoboa. Picture a snake 1,135 kilograms (2,500 pounds) in weight, 13 meters (42 feet) in length--as long as a...

Did extra planet orbit the sun?(space)(Planet V)(Brief article)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As everyone knows, Jupiter is the fifth major planet from the sun. But was it always? A U.S. astrophysicist suspects that the number-five spot was once occupied by a long-lost planet--Planet V....

Did, dam cause quake?(earth)(Sichuan Province earthquake)
May 1, 2009... BEIJING -- This month marks the first anniversary of the Sichuan Province earthquake, which killed 80,000 people and left 5 million homeless in southern China. A rupture in a fault, or crack in the ground, caused the quake. Now several U.S. and...

Bend your mind.(OPTRICKS: Brain Teasers From Current Science[R])(rectangle)(Brief article)
May 1, 2009... Which rectangle is a perfect square? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Answer Rectangle B is a perfect square. People usually choose A, however, because they tend to overestimate the length of vertical lines in...

And the winners are ...(OPTRICKS: Brain Teasers From Current Science[R])
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Congratulations to the winners of Current Science's Mystery Photo contest. They are Eric Cerra, Hannah Hart, Emily Cowles, Jenny Spero, Sarah Hartigan, and Rachel Yrsha, all of Flood Brook Union School in...

Mystery photos.(OPTRICKS: Brain Teasers From Current Science[R])(Brief article)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Mystery Photos: From top: Eric Cerra/Flood Brook Union School/ Londonderry, Vt. (2): Rachel Yrsha and Devin Brown/Flood Brook Union School/ Londonderry, Vt. Background image: Shuttlestock. Answer Top: leaf...