Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication articles from September 2004

Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication archives from September 2004

Have fun learning about science!(Sci-Triv Game)
September 10, 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.(Holstein cows with toupees at Ohio State Fair)(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The owners of two Holstein cows were busted at the Ohio State Fair after judges discovered that the cows were sporting toupees. The cows' owners had pasted and painted hair onto the backs of the animals to make the backs...

Bully, want a cracker?(Butch the pet bullfinch talks)(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... TEIGNMOUTH, England -- Butch the pet bullfinch seems to think he's a parrot, He startled his owners recently when he began to talk. Butch was rescued as a chick two years ago after falling out of his nest on a seaside cliff. Wildlife...

Kitty, kitty! Would you like a living copy of your cat? A U.S. company is taking orders.(Life)(Genetic Savings & Clone)
September 10, 2004... Smokey the cat is 19 years old, charcoal gray, and exceptional, according to his owners, Roland and Mary Ann Daniel. "What make him special are eye contact, communication, and interpersonal skills that we have not found very often in cats,"...

When the sky screamed: was a geologic catastrophe the inspiration for a legendary painting?(Earth)(Krakatoa, Indonesian volcanic eruption and "The Scream")
September 10, 2004... In The Scream, a famous 1893 painting by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, a ghostly figure stands on a road. He clasps his distorted head in his hands, mouth open in an anguished cry. Reds and oranges streak the sky like fire--or blood. ...

No sweat: operation perspiration: extreme sweating can call for extreme treatment.(Health)(hyperhidrosis and iontophoresis)
September 10, 2004... When Roberta Gualandi was a kid, her parents dragged her from doctor to doctor. Gualandi had an embarrassing problem: really sweaty hands and feet. "Sometimes in the playground or at school, children didn't want to hold hands with me...

Fat to flat: thin TVs are the rage, but are they really all that?(Physical)(television sets)
September 10, 2004... Without a doubt, the hottest piece of home electronics today is the flat-screen TV. Last year, Americans bought more than 657,000 of them, and this year the number could top 1 million. Flat TVs are hot because they're cool. They're sleek...

Mini mouse dies.(Life)(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Yoda the mouse died peacefully of old, old age in his cage at the geriatric center of the University of Michigan on April 22. Yoda spent his life in the field of medical research and was a contender for the Methuselah Mouse...

Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! Boogie jet breaks barrier.(Technology)(National Aeronautics and Space Administration)(X-43A Hyper X plane)
September 10, 2004... EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Imagine a day of hypersonic travel. You roll out of bed in your New York City apartment, shower, grab some breakfast, flag a cab to the airport, fly to Los Angeles for a business meeting, hop a flight back to...

Teen wins science prize.(Technology)(Intel Science Talent Search award to Mary Lou Hjerpe)
September 10, 2004... NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. -- This year's Intel Science Talent Search award ceremony in Washington, D.C., was a proud occasion for audience member Mary Lou Hjerpe. Not only was the winner of the competition, Mason Hedberg, her 17-year-old grandson...

Too weird.(Discoveries)
September 10, 2004... An X-ray taken one hour after the accident shows the six nails that were accidentally driven into Isidro Mejia's head. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Nail gun victim lives.(Discoveries)(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... LOS ANGELES -- Construction worker Isidro Mejia, 39, fell from the roof of a house onto a co-worker who was using a nail gun on the house's second floor. The two men grabbed each other for balance but couldn't keep from tumbling to the ground....

Are fairies Lord of the rings?(Earth)(Southwestern Africa)(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... PRETORIA, South Africa -- The famous crop circles of England were exposed as the work of human pranksters, not space aliens. After years of study, however, the fairy circles of southwestern Africa remain a mystery. Fairy circles are round...

Mystery photos.(Optricks)
September 10, 2004... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Top: balloon bursting Middle: car tire Bottom: badminton birdie

Bend your mind.(Optricks)
September 10, 2004... Find the number to replace the question mark. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 1. The number in the bottom row of each column is found by subtracting the number in the top row from the number in the middle row.

Whatizit?(Optricks)
September 10, 2004... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] What might these be? The tentacles of an octopus or a squid? Baaaaaaaaad answer. They're the sheared epidermal outgrowths of a young ruminant that usually lives in flocks. sheared lamb's wool

Have fun learning about science!(Sci-Triv Game)
September 24, 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, and...

Phoenix, Ariz.--Dozens of brown pelicans crashed into roads in Arizona this summer.(Who? Knew)(Brief Article)
September 24, 2004... PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Dozens of brown pelicans crashed into roads in Arizona this summer. Brown pelicans are ocean birds, but some birds find their way inland each year. This year, an unusually large number of brown pelicans ended up in Arizona....

Bewdley, England--Dave Alsop didn't realize he had such a hot car.(Who? Knews)(Renault Laguna appeals to white rhinoceros at animal safari park)(Brief Article)
September 24, 2004... BEWDLEY, England -- Dave Alsop didn't realize he had such a hot car. Alsop was driving the vehicle, a Renault Laguna, through an animal safari park when he spotted a 2-ton white rhinoceros, named Sharka, mating with his partner, Trixie....

Buff enough? More teens are using steroids to look pumped and do better at sports. Do they know the terrible risk they're taking?(Health)
September 24, 2004... At age 16, Taylor Hooton was 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 180 pounds. By most standards, he was a big guy. Most standards, that is, except his coach's. Hooton, a promising pitcher on his high school baseball team in Plano, Texas, was...

Planet X? Could the large object recently found beyond Pluto be the tenth rock from the sun?(Earth)(National Aeronautics and Space Administration)(www.space.com/scienceastronomy/new_object_040315.htlml)
September 24, 2004... What's the last stop before leaving the solar system? Until this year, most people would have said Pluto. But a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) team recently located a massive object beyond Pluto--the biggest object found...

Fish story: eighteen-year-old Eric Bragg has a farm his basement--a fish farm.(Life)(wins Vermont State Future Farmers of America Entrepreneurship Award)
September 24, 2004... Many teens have a dog or a cat or a turtle for a pet. Some, like Eric Bragg, of Thetford, Vt., have a tank of fish, except that Bragg's tank is big--really big. In his basement, Bragg, 18, designed and built a 1,500-liter (400-gallon) fish tank...

The little plane that could: Maynard Hill and his crew made history last year when they flew the first model airplane across the ocean.(Physical)
September 24, 2004... Four of Maynard Hill's beloved airplanes had already crashed into the drink. The fifth, named TAM-5, was supposed to be cruising over the Atlantic Ocean south of Iceland. But when Hill awoke at 4 a.m. to check on its progress, his trusty...

Student invents slim inhaler.(Technology)(Adam Bates and the compact "Thinhaler" to treat asthma)(Brief Article)
September 24, 2004... UXBRIDGE, England -- Adam Bates, 22, a design student at Brunel University, has asthma. So does a good friend of his. Recently, the friend complained to Bates that her inhaler was too bulky and conspicuous to be taken into a pub or a...

Insight.(Discoveries)(Brief Article)
September 24, 2004... Surf's up! Penguins ride the waves to shore on New Island in the South Atlantic Ocean. New Island is home to about 5,000 gentoo penguins (and four humans). The penguins spend their day at sea, diving for food, and return home in droves in the...

World is growing darker.(Earth)(Montreal, Quebec conference)
September 24, 2004... MONTREAL -- You've heard the term global warming, but have you heard about global dimming? As Earth has grown warmer during the last 50 years, it has also grown darker. In May, scientists from several countries gathered in Montreal to...

Do the wave.(Technology)(Xpress-on Fun Shell)(Nokia cell phone message attachment)(Brief Article)
September 24, 2004... ESPOO, Finland -- You're at a party and you spot a total babe across the room--someone you really want to talk to, except you're too shy to make a move. What do you do? Send a wave message: "U R QT!" The Nokia cell phone company has...

Hippo slime blocks UV.(Life)(ultraviolet rays)(Kyoto Pharmaceutical University)(Brief Article)
September 24, 2004... TOKYO -- The next time you see a hippopotamus sunbathing at the beach, don't bother offering some of your sunblock. The hippo won't need it. Hippopotamus skin protects itself from the sun's harmful rays. Scientists at the Kyoto...

How the XPress-on fun shell works.(Technology)(wave phone)(Brief Article)
September 24, 2004... The wave phone has a vertical row of 12 LEDs, each one a small colored light that can blink on or off, The LEDs are wired to blink in a variety of combinations in extremely rapid succession. When you wave the phone, each combination in the...

Mystery photos.(Optricks)
September 24, 2004... Top: hairbrush Middle: fishing bobbers Bottom: lampshade [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Bend your mind.(Optricks)(Brief Article)
September 24, 2004... A sealed bottle containing butterflies is put on a scale. When does the scale register the heaviest weight: When the butterflies are resting on the bottom of the bottle or when all the butterflies are in flight? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

What iz it?(Optricks)(Brief Article)
September 24, 2004... Just one spoonful of pond water can contain thousands of members of a group of single-celled organisms. Some are amoebas, some are paramecia, some are radiolarians. The yellow filaments on this one are hairlike projections called cilia, whose...