Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication articles from November 2007

Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication archives from November 2007

SCI-TRIV game: have fun learning about science!
November 2, 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 a first-row question right, 20 points for each second-row...

Who knew?(Brief article)
November 2, 2007... MANCHESTER England -- It's just as well that the dinosaurs are extinct. If they weren't, we probably would be. With the help of a supercomputer, scientists at the University of Manchester have calculated the top running speeds of five...

Sunken treasures: artifacts may be some of Titanic's most surprising survivors, recalling lives lost.(PHYSICAL)(Cover story)
November 2, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Women and children first!" On April 15, 1912, that order determined who lived and who died after the luxury liner Titanic struck an iceberg. John Cribb, a butler traveling in third class, led his 16-year-old...

Why are the country's honeybees disappearing?(LIFE)
November 2, 2007... Something has been killing James Doan's honeybees. In the spring of 2006, Doan checked on his hives in Hamlin, N.Y., and found only a trickle of honey--and no bees. Doan was not alone. Beekeepers in 36 states have reported similar...

Solar power: the sun's stormiest season in 50 years may be coming soon.(EARTH)
November 2, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Good morning! Today's forecast calls for stormy weather with highs around 10,000 degrees. 10,000 degrees? That's not a typo. One day soon, forecasters may be predicting such storms, not on Earth, but on the sun....

Myth information: young baseball players are requesting inappropriate surgery to improve their pitching.(HEALTH)
November 2, 2007... Damon Petty was shocked. Petty, a doctor of sports medicine in Nashville, Tenn., was examining a teenage baseball pitcher for a knee injury last year when the boy and his father asked him an unsettling question: Would "Tommy John surgery" put...

Gecko tape has extra mussel.(technology)
November 2, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] EVANSTON, Ill. -- Researchers at Northwestern University have combined the amazing sticking powers of two animals, the gecko and the mussel, to create a new of adhesive tape. The gecko is a lizard best known for...

Fabled apes found.(life)(Brief article)
November 2, 2007... BILI, Democratic Republic: of Congo -- Every country seems to have its own mythical beast. The United States has the Sasquatch, Canada has the Ogopogo, Tibet has the Abominable Snowman, and Congo has the Bili apes, giant simians that tear lions...

Mira, a star 400 times the size of the sun, has its own tail.(insight)(Brief article)
November 2, 2007... Mira, a star 400 times the size of the sun, has its own tail. As Mira speeds through. clouds of hydrogen in the Milky Way like a boat through water, a shock wave forms in front of it. The shock wave heats and compresses the hydrogen, making it...

Britain: born in flood.(earth)
November 2, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] LONDON -- Drenching rains have brought record floods to Great Britain this year, forcing thousands of people from their homes. The floods were mere trickles, though, compared to one that scientists say happened in...

What is a blended-wing aircraft?(Ask Professor Ossolotch)(Brief article)
November 2, 2007... Dear Marianna, The actual name is blended-wing-body (BWB) aircraft. The Germans first explored the idea for BWB jet bombers more than 60 years ago, at the end of World War II. Even now, the BWB aircraft is more concept than reality. ...

iPod wearer hit by lightning.(health)(Brief article)
November 2, 2007... VANCOUVER -- Strange burn marks on a man struck by lightning puzzled the medical staff examining him in a Vancouver emergency room. Starting in the middle of his chest, the burn trailed up each side of his neck to his ears. It turned out that...

Bend your mind.(OPTRICKS: Brain Teasers From Current Science[R])(Brief article)
November 2, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Create this three-dimensional structure from an ordinary, rectangular piece of cardboard by making just three straight cuts and one fold. Bend Your Mind: [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Whatizit?(OPTRICKS: Brain Teasers From Current Science[R])(Brief article)
November 2, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This extreme close-up reveals what are called pits in a piece of plastic. When a tiny laser crosses the pits, the air vibrates euphoniously. What is this piece of plastic? Whatizit: compact disc Whatizit?:...

Mystery photos.(OPTRICKS: Brain Teasers From Current Science[R])
November 2, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] ANSWERS: Mystery Photos: Top: headphones Middle: life preserves Bottom: dog's nose

The fate of Titanic and its artifacts.(HANDS-ON ACTIVITY)
November 2, 2007... Since its sinking, Titanic and its contents have existed in an environment drastically different from what is found on the surface of the world. Salt water, high pressure, and acidic sediments have all taken their toll. The ship itself is...

Sci-triv game: have fun learning about science!(science trivia)
November 16, 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 a first-row question right, 20 points for each second-row question,...

Who knew?(grizzly bears)
November 16, 2007... CUMBRIA, England -- One of the bare necessities of life for a male grizzly bear is a good "rub tree." The bear urinates as he approaches the tree before rubbing his back on it Then he turns around, bites and claws the tree, gives it a bear hug,...

On the edge: scientists are trying to rescue the ocelot from extinction in the United States.(LIFE)(Cover story)
November 16, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] At 3 o'clock in the morning, Michael Tewes is hiding in the bush, being eaten alive by mosquitoes. He doesn't dare scratch, though, or make any other movements, for fear of revealing his presence. The minutes...

Double trouble: as the number of diabetes cases continues to rise in the United States, some people are developing "double diabetes.".(HEALTH)
November 16, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Martha Larkin learned she had diabetes when she was 3 years old. "I was scared," she recalls, "with all those doctors and nurses around." She had to stay in a hospital for two weeks while her parents learned how to...

Home wreckers: earthquake scientists shake houses until they break to test construction designs.(EARTH)
November 16, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] One fall day last year in Buffalo, N.Y., the ground suddenly shook. A two-story wooden town house rocked violently back and forth on its trembling foundation. A wide crack appeared in the white stucco plaster on the...

Outside the box: automakers look everywhere--even under the sea--for ways of improving gas mileage.(PHYSICAL)
November 16, 2007... What did engineers at Mercedes-Benz do when challenged recently to design an extremely fuel-efficient car? They went fishing. They studied the shapes of the ocean's nimblest swimmers and discovered that the unlikely boxfish is the most agile of...

Flying fish anger anglers.(life)
November 16, 2007... BATH, Ill. -- Betty DeFord got a good giggle five years ago when a fish flew out of the Illinois River and landed in her boat. She wasn't so tickled, however, a short time later when a whole school of the fish pelted her and her husband. "One...

Battery looks great on paper.(technology)
November 16, 2007... TROY, N.Y. -- Picture yourself opening Current Science to read about the latest marvels in technology-while the magazine charges your iPod or cell phone. Perhaps that will happen one day now that researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute...

Mineral gives ground creep.(earth)
November 16, 2007... MENLO PARK, Calif. -- Marathon runners rub it on their thighs to prevent chafing. Your mother probably sprinkled it on your bare butt when you were a baby. Now geologists working in central California have found the same material thousands of...

This is the Magdeburg Water Bridge, a huge concrete "bathtub" built over the Elbe River in Germany that carries barges from one shipping canal to another.(insight)(Brief article)(Photograph)
November 16, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: This is the Magdeburg Water Bridge, a huge concrete "bathtub" built over the Elbe River in Germany that carries barges from one shipping canal to another. The bridge took six year to build at a cost of more...

Hot squirrels scare snakes.(too weird)
November 16, 2007... DAVIS, Calif. -- When a California ground squirrel is confronted by a rattlesnake, it truly gets all hot and bothered. It tosses pebbles at the snake and waves its bushy tail in the air. Now, a U.S. biologist has discovered that the squirrel...

What is tennis elbow?(Ask Professor Ossolotch)
November 16, 2007... Dear Brian, Tennis elbow is a painful injury to a tendon in the elbow, usually from overuse of the arm. A tendon is a tough piece of tissue that connects a muscle to a bone. Doctors call tennis elbow lateral epicondylitis. Applying ice and...

Bend your mind.(OPTRICKS)
November 16, 2007... Tie a piece of string to the handle of a mug and hold it off the ground. How can you cut the string between the mug and your hand so that the mug doesn't fall? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Answers Tie a loop in the piece of string, and...

Whatizit.(OPTRICKS)
November 16, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] These colorized particles are bits of ash--but notthe ash from a campfire or a cigarette. A natural explosion throws this type of ash into the air. What is the source material for this ash? Answers a...

Mystery photos.(OPTRICKS)
November 16, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Answers Top: Slinky; Middle: dominoes; Bottom: barbed wire

Discoveries.
November 16, 2007... Fill in the Blanks Find the word that best completes each sentence Write the word in the blank 1. A centimeter is equal to -- nanometers 2. Talc is a mineral that is -- than a diamond 3. Snakes have sensors that can detect --...

Word search.
November 16, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 1. the formation of soil (11) 2. a symptom of diabetes (6,4) 3. a scale used to measure the hardness of minerals (4) 4. an aerodynamic fish (7) 5. an animal that inhabits Texas thornbrush (9) 6....

Sci-triv game: have fun learning science!(science trivia)
November 30, 2007... Want to play a game of science trivia? See how many points you can win by correctly identifying who or what is pictured in each box. To find your score, give yourself 10 points each time you get a first-row photo right, 20 points for each...

Who knew?(Brief article)
November 30, 2007... Who knew Current Science was 80 years old? Magazines normally publish one volume per year, so you'd never guess the magazine's age from its volume number--93. But in its early years, Current Science published more than one volume a year. ...

Dark materials: most of the universe is hiding in the dark. Can astronomers find it?(PHYSICAL)
November 30, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Critical Thinking * What kind of experiment might a scientist conduct to discover the nature of dark matter and/or dark energy? National Science Education Standards * Structure and properties of matter:...

Too weird: searching for life not as we know it.(LIFE)
November 30, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Critical Thinking * Where else in the solar system might weird life exist? (the sulfuric acid clouds of Venus, the ammonia crystal clouds of Jupiter; the nitrogen and methane ice on Neptune's largest moon,...

Slow burn: is chronic inflammation a common factor in many major diseases?(HEALTH)
November 30, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Critical Thinking * If inflammation is a natural response of the immune system, why do doctors sometimes prescribe anti-inflammatory drugs? (Inflammation can spiral out of control, causing tissue damage and...

Post history: what would the future be like without us?(EARTH/PHYSICAL)
November 30, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Critical Thinking * If humans disappeared from Earth, what would happen to the buildings and the infrastructure in your town or city? * What animals other than baboons might become dominant if humans...

Great wall has great fall.(earth)(Great Wall of China )
November 30, 2007... GANSU PROVINCE, China -- The Great Wall of China needs an extreme makeover. Sandstorms are wearing away the wall, say archaeologists, and more than 40 kilometers (25 miles) of it in northwestern China has vanished in the past 20 years. The...

Nets prevent malaria.(health)(mosquito nets)
November 30, 2007... KAKAMEGA, Kenya -- Charity Ngilu was surprised and pleased by what she encountered in a hospital in western Kenya. "[I] found empty beds except for one child admitted with pneumonia," Ngilu, Kenya's minister of health, told AllAfrica.com. ...

'Life' gets new twist.(space)
November 30, 2007... GARCHING, Germany -- The search for life elsewhere in the universe has taken an amazing new turn. An international team of scientists has found evidence that interstellar dust particles can organize themselves into the spiral-shaped structures...

Kidney pulled through keyhole.(technology)
November 30, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DALLAS -- Keyhole surgery is a medical technique that doctors perform through small openings in the body. For the first time, a doctor has used the technique to pull a kidney--an organ the size of an adult...

Students of teacher James Benini at Parish Hill High School in Chaplin, Conn., hold up the hovercraft they designed and built in their technology education class.(insight)
November 30, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Students of teacher James Benini at Parish Hill High School in Chaplin, Conn., hold up the hovercraft they designed and built in their technology education class. A hovercraft moves on a cushion of air ejected...

Doc linked to composer's demise.(life)(Doctor Andreas Wawruch)
November 30, 2007... VIENNA, Austria -- Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) spent the last months of his life lying in agony on a filthy straw mattress. Illness had plagued the great composer all his adult life, but the final bout might have been unintentionally...

Mystery photos.(OPTRICKS)
November 30, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Answers Top: vinyl record; Middle: hairbrush; Bottom: stack of books

Whatizit?(OPTRICKS)
November 30, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This kaleidoscopic image is a visual representation of a sound made in nature. Using a computer, California engineer Mark Fischer transformed the song of a species of cetacean into the image. What might the animal...

Bend your mind.(OPTRICKS)
November 30, 2007... You don't know your own strength. Have a friend sit up straight in a chair, and gently press your index finger against her forehead. Now ask your friend to stand up. Can she do it? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Answer If you're sitting...

Discoveries.
November 30, 2007... Fill in the Blanks Find the word that best completes each sentence. Write the word in the blank. 1. A--is a treeless plain dominated by grasses. 2. People suffering from plumbism have an excess of --in their bodies. 3. When...

The universal solvent.
November 30, 2007... If human beings ever encounter weird life-forms, we might find that the chemicals in their bodies are very different from the ones in ours. Instead of water, they might have sulfuric acid or ammonia. Whatever the substitute is, it will have to...