Science World articles from January 2003

Science World archives from January 2003

On the brink. (Life/Environment).
January 10, 2003... Take a good look at these photos of the Iberian lynx and red-shanked Duoc langur monkey--because you'll probably never see these animals in the wild. Both species are critically endangered, meaning they're likely to go extinct within 10 years....

Big dam, big problem? (Earth/Engineering).
January 10, 2003... In November, China's Yangtze River changed forever. Earth's third-longest river once flowed freely over 6,300 kilometers (3,915 miles), from Tibet to the China Sea. Now its waters are plugged behind a wall of concrete and boulders--the...

Giant goose. (Earth/Archaeology).
January 10, 2003... Think your holiday turkey left a huge carcass? When paleontologists pieced together these 8-million-year-old fossil bones found in Alcoota, Australia, they rebuilt what was possibly the biggest bird that ever lived. The jumbo flightless goose,...

Wear or pay: heads-up on the nation's toughest helmet law. (Physical/Sports Safety).
January 10, 2003... Strap on a sports helmet--or pay the price, say California legislators. Starting this month, the Golden State enacts the nation's toughest helmet law: If you're caught biking, skateboarding, or scootering without a "brain bucket," you'll be...

How a helmet works.
January 10, 2003... 1. Vents usher in cool air (blue arrow) and flush out warm air (pink arrow). 2. Foam liner is made of expanded polystyrene (EPS), picnic-cooler foam. Upon impact, EPS crushes, absorbing energy and cushioning the head's impact. 3....

Under pressure. (Physical/Technology).
January 10, 2003... The "Hardsuit"--also called a "Newtsuit" (after its inventor Phil Nuytten)--is a wearable submarine. The stylish machine weighs in at 227 kilograms (500 pounds), and sheathed in its aluminum hull a diver can safely descend 305 meters (1,000...

Life on ice: extreme cold is both a killer and lifesaver. Learn how scientists are tapping its powers to preserve body organs--and corpses. (Life Science: temperature scale * cryogenics).
January 10, 2003... When baseball legend and Hall-of-Famer Ted Williams died last summer, he wasn't buried in a cemetery or cremated to ashes. No, the former slugger's fate was far stranger. His body was whisked away to the Arizona desert: There, inside the...

Science in the news quiz.
January 10, 2003... Direction: Read the late-breaking news in our Science News section on pages 4 to 7. Then, test your knowledge by answering the questions below. Circle the correct letter. 1 How does a helmet protect against brain injury? A. A helmet...

Icebergs: top to bottom: plunge under Antarctic ice to learn about the ocean's frozen wonders ... (Earth science: icebergs/glaciers).
January 10, 2003... It's October--high spring in the Southern Hemisphere--when nature photographer Norbert Wu arrives at McMurdo Station, a U.S. research base on the eastern tip of Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf. The thick slab of floating ice is as large as France...

Thrills, chills and spills: what keeps two daredevils safe on the slopes? World-class skills and an expert grasp of Physics. (Physical science: Newton's laws of motion).
January 10, 2003... Picabo Street is one of America's greatest downhill ski racers. She barrels down snowy slopes at speeds up to 80 miles per hour clad in little more than spandex and a helmet. "Speed is in my system," says Picabo (pronounced Peek-a-boo). "I...

What's with this friendship? (Activities & Oddities).
January 10, 2003... EXPLAIN THIS! [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ANSWERS Homeless pets unite! Abandoned by their owners last year, Piek, a four-year-old monkey, and Porn, a one-year-old cat, now live in a temple in Ayutthaya, Thailand. These two not only...

Tease your brain. (Activities & Oddities).
January 10, 2003... Can you trace this figure using one continuous line? The line can't cross at any point, trace any part more than once, and must start where indicated by the arrow. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

From icecap to iceberg. (Diagram-Reading And Critical-Thinking Skills).
January 10, 2003... Name: -- Like all deserts, most of Antarctica receives less than 25 centimeters (10 inches) of precipitation per year. So how did a 2,438 meter (8,000 foot)-thick layer of frozen water, or icecap, form on Earth's driest continent? The...

Update: two of a kind. (Special Report).(conjoined Guatemalan sisters surgical separated )
January 24, 2003... Nearly five months ago, 17-month-old twin sisters Maria de Jesus and Maria Teresa Quiej Alvarez lay hospitalized, conjoined at the head. The rare birth defect made it impossible for the girls to walk, sit upright, or even turn to smile at one...

Machine mountain: the future of skiing? (Tech/Invention).(indoor skiing on magnetic slopes)
January 24, 2003... Every winter, millions of people flock to ski slopes in search of fresh powder and exhilarating runs. But often, they find overcrowded lift lines and unpredictable weather. Now, Australian inventor Kevin Ferris has whipped up an ingenious...

Lost island returns. (Earth/Geology).(volcani island Ferdinandea in the Mediterranean Sea)
January 24, 2003... Just 8 meters (26 feet) below the surface of the Mediterranean Sea, a volcanic island sunken for more than 170 years may burst out of the water and blow its top, says Italian volcano expert Enzo Boschi. The top of island Ferdinandea last...

Coffee, tea, or bacteria? (Health/Bacteria).(airplane tap water)
January 24, 2003... Next time you fly, think twice before brushing your teeth or washing your hands in the plane's lavatory. Tap water on planes may be swimming with bacteria (microscopic single-cell organisms), claims a recent Wall Street Journal investigation:...

Leaf's life. (Freeze Frame).(Southeast Asian leaf insect)
January 24, 2003... Don't be fooled by this leaf. The Southeast Asian leaf insect is a living imposter! A close relative of the walking stick, this 9 centimeter (3.5 inch)-long female imitates leaves at the Butterfly Pavilion & Insect Center in Westminster,...

The mating game: ligers, zorses, wholphins, and other hybrid animals raise a beastly science question: what is a species?
January 24, 2003... What has a mane like a lion, the sleek muscular body of a tiger, stripes and spots, and weighs up to 1,000 pounds? Answer: A liger. The punch line sounds like a joke, but ligers--produced by a female tiger mating with a male lion--are actual...

A day in the life of earth & weather. (Earth Science).(planet Earth)
January 24, 2003... WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT YOUR PLANET? Talk about the ultimate workaholic. Earth is on the move 24/7, spinning, shaking, heating up, and cooling down. So just what goes on in a day in the life of Earth and weather? Check out the next four...

Name that element! (New Science Mystery Series!).
January 24, 2003... It's both a solid and a gas. It's tasteless, odorless, and may have killed Napoleon. But it's also in the food we eat, the air we breathe, and may be fuel for life on other planets. What is it? Grab a periodic table (next page) and follow these...

Gross out? (Activities & Oddities).(rats at the Karni Mata temple, India)
January 24, 2003... WHAT IS IT? There's a place on Earth where rats aren't horrid pests, but treasured guests. In fact, as many as 20,000 run rampant within the Karni Mata temple in Deshnok, a city in northwest India. These residents of the 17th-century Hindu...

Explain this! (You Can Do It).
January 24, 2003... What happened to this guy? No, this man's not stuck due to a construction accident. He's actually poking out from a manhole, leveling cement freshly poured on a street in Winona, Minn. (Thanks Ruth Amundson for the suggestion!)

Tease your brain. (You Can Do It).(triangles and circles)
January 24, 2003... Color the triangle above with five red, five green, and five yellow circles. Rule: No two circles of the same color can be next to one another. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Here's one solution. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Design your own super-species!
January 24, 2003... In this issue, you've read about the science of interspecies breeding. If you could create the ultimate species, what would it look like and how would its physical traits help it to survive? Science World invites you to use your wild...

Quiz. (Science In The News).
January 24, 2003... DIRECTIONS: Read the late-breaking news in our Science News section on pages 4 to 7. Then test your knowledge by answering the questions below. Circle the correct letter. 1. Which statement about the Quiej Alvarez sisters is NOT a fact? ...

You're not from this planet. (Math Skills).(calculating your age on different planets)
January 24, 2003... Earth completes one rotation on its axis in what has come to be a universal measure of 24 hours: one day. And when Earth completes one orbit around the sun, the measure is 365.26 days: one year. But not all planets in the solar system rotate or...