Science World articles from January 2009

Science World archives from January 2009

Rocket man.(PHYSICAL/AERODYNAMICS)(Yves Rossy)
January 12, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Yves Rossy recently became the first person to fly across the English Channel with a jet-powered wing strapped to his back. After leaping from a plane, Rossy opened his wing and fired up its four jet engines. As he...

Stuck on you.(LIFE/REPRODUCTION)(conjoined Nile Tilapia)
January 12, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] You're not seeing double! These conjoined Nile Tilapia, which live in an aquarium in Bangkok, Thailand, are physically connected at the stomach. Every fish begins its life as a growing ball of cells inside an egg....

Let it show.(GRAPH IT/MARS)
January 12, 2009... Oh, the weather outside is frightful--on Mars! Last fall, NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander detected a flurry of snowflakes in the Martian atmosphere. This was one of the final discoveries the lander made during its five-month mission researching the...

Get in the groove.(PHYSICAL/SOUND)(musical road)
January 12, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In Lancaster, California, you don't need a sound system to play music in your car. Just drive down the town's "musical road" and you'll hear the "William Tell Overture." The stretch of blacktop, created by Honda...

Long-distance voting.(PHYSICAL/TECHNOLOGY)
January 12, 2009... On January 20, Barack Obama will be inaugurated 44th President of the United States following an election in which Americans everywhere cast their ballots--even those who were in space. Astronauts Michael Fincke and Greg Chamitoff voted...

That's bananas!(GRAPH IT/PLANTS)
January 12, 2009... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] What color is a ripe banana? Hint: It's not what you think. Scientists have discovered that ripening bananas actually luminesce, or glow, blue when exposed to the invisible energy waves of ultraviolet (UV) light,...

$15,000,000, is the price tag for a new veterinary hospital for dogs trained to work with the military.(NUMBERS IN THE NEWS)
January 12, 2009... $15,000,000, is the price tag for a new veterinary hospital for dogs trained to work with the military. The facility will perform routine checkups and treat any four-legged soldiers wounded on the battlefield.

790,000 years ago is the date when scientists believe humans' ancient ancestors mastered how to create fire.(NUMBERS IN THE NEWS)
January 12, 2009... 790,000 years ago is the date when scientists believe humans' ancient ancestors mastered how to create fire. The researchers uncovered a charred piece of flint thought to have been used as a prehistoric fire-starting device.

7,257 miles is the longest non-stop flight made by a bird.(NUMBERS IN THE NEWS)
January 12, 2009... 7,257 miles is the longest non-stop flight made by a bird. The bar-tailed godwit's trip, which was tracked by scientists, started in Alaska and ended in New Zealand. [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED]

37 pages of a diary from the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon were recently put on display at the Israel Museum.(NUMBERS IN THE NEWS)
January 12, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 37 pages of a diary from the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon were recently put on display at the Israel Museum. Ramon died in the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003, but the pages amazingly survived.

22 inches is the length of the world's longest insect.(NUMBERS IN THE NEWS)
January 12, 2009... 22 inches is the length of the world's longest insect. The stick bug, Phobaeticus chain, was recently discovered on the Southeast Asian island of Borneo.

5 minutes instead of the usual 10 minutes is how long the Eiffel Tower's 20,000 lights will sparkle every hour.(NUMBERS IN THE NEWS)
January 12, 2009... 5 minutes instead of the usual 10 minutes is how long the Eiffel Tower's 20,000 lights will sparkle every hour. The light display's time has been reduced to encourage people to save electricity. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

It's playtime at the zoo: from computer games to art projects, zoos are using enrichment activities to keep animals entertained. But critics say no amount of fun and games can mimic the wild.(LIFE/ANIMAL BEHAVIOR)
January 12, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] An octopus named Louis loves playtime with Mr. Potato Head. In fact, keepers at Blue Reef Aquarium in England have a hard time releasing the popular children's toy from the octopus's suckered clutches. It's time...

Perks for pets.(nuts & bolts)
January 12, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Enrichment isn't only for wild animals in zoos and aquariums. Pets need enrichment too. "[Pet owners] do enrichment whether they realize it or not," says Scott Silver, a curator at the Queens Zoo in New York. "Every...

Defeating a deadly disease: one teen's quest to beat cancer increases the chances that minorities can receive a lifesaving treatment.(LIFE/CANCER)(Steven Gonzalez with leukemia)
January 12, 2009... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Two years ago, Steven Gonzalez was like any 12-year-old boy. He played roller hockey, was a Boy Scout, and had just started at a new middle school. But his life was about to change. Increasingly, Steven began...

Steps to a cure.(nuts & bolts)
January 12, 2009... For some types of cancer of the blood, a bone marrow transplant is the only treatment option. The procedure replaces a patient's unhealthy blood-forming cells with healthy cells from a donor. Here's how: (1) Recipients receive a high dose...

I want that job! Tina Neal has one hot career! She's a volcanologist--a scientist who studies volcanoes.(CAREERS)
January 12, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WHAT IS YOUR JOB? I am a staff volcanologist at the Alaska Volcano Observatory. I am part of a team that monitors Alaska's dozens of potentially active volcanoes and issues warnings when a volcano is restless and...

Name that element! What element found in meteorites can strengthen steel, power model airplanes, and color glass green? Follow these eight clues to find out.(PHYSICAL/CHEMISTRY)
January 12, 2009... (CLUE 1) IT'S MINED In its pure form, the mystery element is a silvery white metal. The majority of this element on Earth is found in the planet's core, or center. However, there are deposits closer to Earth's surface. The United...

The periodic table.
January 12, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The periodic table is a systematic way to organize Earth's elements, substances that consist of atoms of only one kind. Today, there are 112 known and named chemical elements. Elements are arranged according to their...

It's your choice.
January 12, 2009... Test you chemistry IQ! Answer the following questions about elements and the periodic table. 1. Name that element! -- 2. Which of the following elements is NOT a noble gas? A Helium (He) B Xenon (Xe) C Fluorine (F)...

Hands-on science: (no lab required).
January 12, 2009... After reading "Name That Element!" (p. 16), try this activity to see how different metal objects react to exposure to air and water. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] BACKGROUND INFORMATION Rust is the reddish, flaky coating that appears on...

Wild-weather birds: a scientist braves brutal conditions to study an unusual group of flamingos.(EARTH/WETLANDS)(Felicity Arengo )
January 12, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When Felicity Arengo tells people she studies flamingos, they usually picture her working in a T-shirt in a warm and sunny spot. But when Arengo heads out to watch the pink birds in the wild, she needs far more than...

Slimed!(GROSS OUT)
January 12, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A green slime covered the coastal waters in Qingdao, China, just weeks before sailing events for the Olympics were to take place there. At its worst, the slick covered a third of the racing area. But determined...

Mystery photo.(YOU CAN DO IT)
January 12, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WHAT'S THIS? In 2006, about 175,000 of these were wrapped together to form a record-size ball. Answer Key: Rubber bands

Explain this!(YOU CAN DO IT)
January 12, 2009... Heads of State? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Answer Key: Last November, engineers at the University of Michigan created these portraits of President-elect Barack Obama, which are smaller than a grain of salt. Each microscopic face is...

Why does lightning affect TV?(ASK Science World)
January 12, 2009... Lightning is basically a big spark of electricity that radiates electromagnetic waves called radio waves. Radio waves bring us radio and television. According to Joseph Dwyer, a physicist at the Florida Institute of Technology, during a...

Tease your brain.(YOU CAN DO IT)
January 12, 2009... On Saturday, Jennifer picked a bag of apples. On Sunday, she used a third of the apples to make a pie. On Monday she ate half the remaining apples. On Tuesday, only two apples were left. How many apples did Jennifer originally pick? Answer...

Science news.(CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING)
January 12, 2009... DIRECTIONS: Read the Science News section on pages 3 to 7. Then, test your knowledge by filling in the letters of the correct answers below. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 1. Yves Rossy was the first person to fly (A) into space in a...

What are you made of?(CHART-READING SKILLS)
January 12, 2009... Like all matter, the human body is made of elements. Look at the chart below to see the percent of various elements that can be found in your body. Then, answer the questions that follow. [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] CHART IT 1. Use...

What do you know?(CRITICAL-THINKING SKILLS)
January 12, 2009... Before you read the article "Wild-Weather Birds" (pp. 20-21), take the short quiz below. Put your answers in the column labeled "Pre-reading Answers." Once you have finished reading the article, retake the quiz. This time, place your answers in...