Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication articles from November 2003

Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication archives from November 2003

Sci-triv game: have fun learning about science!
November 7, 2003... 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...

Who? Knew.(snake bite; fuel efficient cars from Ford Motor Co.; brain size)
November 7, 2003... Dennis Carr of Australia chopped the head off a deadly brown snake he found in his garden. When he reached down to get rid of the severed head, it bit him on the finger. Carr passed out but was saved from dying when his wife called for medical...

Deep trouble: can huge floodgates keep rising tides from being the death of Venice.(Earth)(Venice, Italy)
November 7, 2003... IMAGINE wading through water up to your knees to get to school or vacating the flooded ground floor of your home for months every year. That's life in Venice, Italy. Venice sits on more than 100 islets (little islands) in the middle of a...

Tennessee trunks: a unique retirement facility in the United States returns circus and zoo elephants to nature.(Life)
November 7, 2003... Elephants can't jump! I'm keeping that fact foremost in my mind because a narrow creek bed is all that separates me from Tarra, a 4-ton elephant. I smile weakly at the big pachyderm as she looks down at me. She wags the tip of her trunk,...

Cool fuel: will hydrogen cure the country's addiction to fossil fuels?(Physical)(hydrogen fuel cells)
November 7, 2003... Build a car in less than a day! That was the challenge handed Liyang Chen and his teammates at the National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C., last May. OK, the car was only a model car--but not just any model car. It was a hydrogen fuel...

Blackout drama: teen receives double transplant.(Health)
November 7, 2003... NEW YORK -- Last August's blackout brought life to a virtual standstill for 50 million people in Canada and the United States--but not for the 50 or so involved in saving the life of 18-year-old Paul Giella. At midnight on August 14, about...

Supercells soak up extra sun.(Technology)(solar cell)
November 7, 2003... SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- The day when your house will be run by the sun just got moved forward. A U.S. company, SunPower Corp., has invented a solar cell that is 30 percent more efficient and 95 percent cheaper than any other solar cell. A...

Insight.(Discoveries)(Griffith, Australia is blacked out by dust)
November 7, 2003... The town of Griffith in southeastern Australia experienced a blackout of a different kind from the one pictured on page 12. Winds moving at 90 kilometers (56 miles) per hour whipped up dried topsoil and gathered it into a humongous wave of dust...

Perfumes stir up a hornet's nest.(Life)(proposal to use hornets to test perfumes )
November 7, 2003... TOKYO -- Many cosmetic companies proudly claim that their products are not tested on lab animals, such as mice and rabbits. Perhaps the products should be tested on hornets! A Japanese biochemist, Masato Ono, has found that chemicals added...

McDonald's says no to drugs.(Health)(McDonald's Corp. will not buy beef that has been given antibiotics)
November 7, 2003... OAK BROOK, III. -- McDonald's, the world's biggest fast-food chain, is kicking a drug habit. In June, it demanded that its meat suppliers stop feeding antibiotics to their animals to promote growth. Antibiotics are prescription drugs...

Ask professor Ossolotch.(Discoveries)(asteroids colliding with earth)
November 7, 2003... I worry a lot about an asteroid colliding with Earth. What should I do? --W'lona Bunch Houston,Texas Dear W'lona, You should chill, girl! Yes, astronomers are quite certain that another asteroid will hit Earth one day. But a...

Death made ultimate recycling project.(Too Weird)
November 7, 2003... LYROE, Sweden -- A new "green" scheme dreamed up by a Swedish ecologist could have dead people truly pushing up daisies. The scheme would recycle human corpses into fertilizer. Susanne Wiigh-Masak says the traditional methods for disposing...

Discoveries.
November 7, 2003... Fill in the Blank Find the word that best completes each sentence. Write the words in the blanks. 1. A -- is a period of no rainfall or below-average rainfall. 2. A -- is a chemical released by an animal that has an effect on...

Have fun learning about science!(Sci-Triv Game)(Illustration)
November 21, 2003... 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...

Flashbacks.(Yesterday Once More)
November 21, 2003... January 20-24, 1941--What a drag! A professor at Harvard University dressed men in women's clothes and women in men's clothes in an experiment. The professor wanted to determine the comfort levels of clothing during the winter and summer. He...

Itchy and scratchy: what irritates your skin--and prompts your fingers to do the walking?
November 21, 2003... Don't you just hate it? That pesky itch on your back--the one you can't qu-i-te reach by yourself? While straining to reach that spot, have you ever wondered where itches come from in the first place? For years, scientists have been...

Damage report: critics of a report on the Columbia disaster say NASA should scrap the space shuttle and renew its commitment to space exploration.(Earth/Physical)
November 21, 2003... Blurred photos taken during the launch of the space shuttle Columbia on January 16 showed a chunk of insulating foam from the shuttle's external fuel tank striking the craft's left wing. Engineers at the Kennedy Space Center became alarmed when...

Drug problem: two young men are campaigning against antidepressant use by teens and children.(Health)
November 21, 2003... EARLIER THIS YEAR, an unlikely meeting took place between two teenagers, Mark Taylor and Cory Baadsgaard. Taylor, 19, had been hit by at least six bullets during the Columbine High School shooting on April 20, 1999. Baadsgaard, 18, took a rifle...

Painting by numbers: three scientific sleuths calculated when Vincent van Gogh created one of his famous paintings.(Earth)
November 21, 2003... The year before he died, Vincent van Gogh created a painting now called Moonrise. In vivid colors and the artist's distinct brushstrokes, Moonrise shows a full moon rising above a golden wheat field. A cliff hides part of the moon, and a...

Famous fish bend gender.(Life)(clown fish)
November 21, 2003... PAPUA NEW GUINEA -- If you are one of the millions who saw the hit movie Finding Nemo last summer, you know what a clown fish is. What you don't know from watching the movie is that the cute orange-and-white-striped marine animals have a...

Some kids outgrow peanut allergies.(Health)
November 21, 2003... BALTIMORE -- Here's good news for the 1.5 million Americans who are allergic to peanuts. About 20 percent will outgrow the allergy, according to a new study by a group of U.S. researchers. In the United States, peanut allergies send 15,000...

Amphibious car launched.(Technology; Aquada)
November 21, 2003... LONDON -- A British engineering company has come up with a new solution to traffic jams--a sports car that can leave the highway and take a detour by water. Called the Aquada, it was demonstrated for the first time publicly on the river Thames...

U.S. students win chemistry medals.(Physical; International Chemistry Olympiad; Bobby Liu, Eric Brown, Frances Hocutt and Benjamin Kaduk)
November 21, 2003... ATHENS, Greece -- An American student won a silver medal at the 35th International Chemistry Olympiad held here last July. Three other U.S. students won bronze medals. The Americans competed against 196 students from 59 other countries. ...

Too weird.(Discoveries; northern bald ibises being reintroduced to Austria)
November 21, 2003... BIRDS ASK: "ARE WE THERE YET?" GRUNAU, Austria -- A group of birds in Austria has it made. Instead of migrating under their own wing power, they are chauffered south for the winter by car. The birds are northern bald ibises. The...

Ask Professor Ossolotch.(Discoveries; what would happen someone fell into a black hole)
November 21, 2003... Dear Professor Ossolotch, What would happen if I fell into a black hole? --Maui Williams San Diego, Calif. Dear Maui, You'd be toast! A black hole is a collapsed star with such immense gravity that nothing, not even light, can...

Insight.(Discoveries)
November 21, 2003... Arturo the polar bear seemed to be feeling blue after his pal Pelusa was separated from him last summer. But it was Pelusa who was truly off-color. After Pelusa contracted dermatitis, or inflammation of the skin, veterinarians sprayed her with...

Mystery photos.(Optricks)
November 21, 2003... Top: blackboard eraser Middle: tornado in a softdrink bottle Bottom: sloppy Joes

Bend your mind.(Optricks)
November 21, 2003... What will happen when this steel washer is heated? Will the hole get smaller, get bigger, or remain the same size? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The answers are in the Teacher's Guide. Mindbender: When the steel washer is heated,...

Whatizit?(Optricks)
November 21, 2003... This photograph is a close-up of the scales on Limbo, a family pet. Limbo is a long-legged lizard of a kind that lives mainly in North and South America. Many of these lizards inhabit the Galapagos Islands. What type of animal might Limbo be?...

Department of corrections.(Features Plus)(Correction Notice)
November 21, 2003... Due to an editing, error, the second Think Piece on page 3 of issue 4 (October 10, 2003) had a misprint. The Think Piece should read: In a bicycle race from point A to point B and back, Monique averages 30 kilometers per hour to point B and...

Discoveries.
November 21, 2003... Fill in the Blank Find the word or words that best complete each sentence. Write the words in the blanks. 1. Clown fish have a strict social order, or --. 2. -- is the force that opposes or slows a body's movement...