Science World articles from March 2003

Science World archives from March 2003

Space mutants? (Space/Radiation).(Chinese plant research space program)
March 7, 2003... What's blooming from China's budding space program? Bigger flowers and supersize veggies: For more than a decade, the Asian nation has made use of Earth's upper atmosphere (thick layer of surrounding gas)--up to 402 kilometers (250 miles)...

Bye bye birdie? (Life/Conservation).(Hawaiian honey-creeper bird)
March 7, 2003... The Hawaiian honey-creeper, or po`ouli (poh-oh-U-lee), may be Earth's rarest bird. Scientists believe only three are left! A male and two females live within 1.5 miles of each other in dense rainforest on the northeast slope of Maui's Haleakala...

P + 5E + 3H = :-). (Short Take/Psychology).(mathematical measurement of happiness)
March 7, 2003... If you haven't figured out the secret of happiness, don't worry--scientists may have done it for you. And the secret may be a mathematical formula! "This is the first equation of its kind that enables people to put a figure on their emotional...

Sucking California dry. (Earth/Watersheds).(Colorado River water supply)
March 7, 2003... If nature had its way, the Colorado River would flow 2,300 kilometers 1,400 miles) southwest from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California. But currently the river often runs dry before reaching the sea. Why? The booming Southwest sucks up...

Smallpox: could a deadly disease--declared eradicated on Earth--come back to haunt humans as a bioweapon? (Life Science Infectious Viruses).
March 7, 2003... It's one of history's oldest and most fearsome killers. Smallpox causes scorching fever, oozing blisters, terrible scarring--and death, especially in children. Thought to have taken its first human life 10,000 years ago in Africa or Asia, the...

The making of a mountain: journey to the Himalayas and discover what happens when continents collide. (Earth Science Geology).
March 7, 2003... Fifty years ago, on May 29, 1953, mountain climbers Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first humans ever to scale the icy summit of Mount Everest (elevation 29,035 feet), the world's highest peak. Since then, more than 1,500 other...

Gotcha! You can easily spot a familiar face in a crowd. But what if your mission was to pick out the face of someone you've never seen? Enter facial-recognition technology. (Physical/Life Science Technology/Vision).
March 7, 2003... Ever searched for a friend in the middle of a mall or football game? It may seem like a miracle when you finally spot him or her, but have you stopped to think about how you managed to single out the one face you were looking for amid a sea of...

Close-up: inhalants. (Heads up" real news about drugs and your body).
March 7, 2003... Until she was 12, Megan Hakeman had a simple life in Watertown, South Dakota, a small town with one mall and one movie theater. She described herself as a "regular, happy kid" who hung out with friends and watched TV. The only real suffering...

Explain this! (You Can Do It).(Monkey Mountain, Hong Kong)
March 7, 2003... What's with these monkeys? ANSWER It's not quite the Planet of the Apes, but these monkeys have overtaken the main road by Hong Kong's famous "Monkey Mountain." About 1,250 monkeys have organized themselves into gangs, menacing hikers...

Tease your brain. (You Can Do It).(quadrilaterals)
March 7, 2003... How many quadrilaterals (four-sided figures) are there in the diagram? ANSWER The quadrilaterals can be convex (left), concave (center), or crossed (right). Count by shape: convex, 5; concave, 5; crossed, 5; total, 15.

Building Himalayas. (Diagram-Reading/Critical-Thinking Skills).
March 7, 2003... In "The Making of a Mountain" (pp. 13 to 15), you learned about how the world's highest mountains formed over millions of years' time. Use the diagrams on pages 14 and 15 to help answer the questions below. Write your answers as complete...

Are vaccines worth the risk? (Debate).
March 7, 2003... Are vaccines a safe way to stop disease? Or do they have hidden dangers? Read opinions on both sides, then debate and decide. BACKGROUND: Health authorities generally consider vaccines to be a safe and effective way to control disease. Yet...

Bacteria Killers. (Hands-On Science).(effectiveness of antibacterial soap)
March 7, 2003... Washing your hands with soap is one way to stop the spread of infectious diseases. But is antibacterial soap any better than regular soap at zapping disease-causing germs? Do this experiment and find out! YOU NEED (for each group of 3-4...

Inhalants: stats, signs, & more info. (Heads up: real news about drugs and your body).
March 7, 2003... Studies show that the vast majority of teens choose not to huff, and the number of users keeps going down. Use the graph to answer the questions: 1. By what percentage has inhalant use by 8th-graders decreased since 1998? 2. The bar...

Columbia: 16 minutes from home. (Space/Atmosphere).
March 28, 2003... On February 1, the morning sky over Cape Canaveral, Florida, was flawless. After a successful 16-day mission, the homeward-bound space shuttle Columbia was scheduled to touch down at 9:16 a.m. EST. At 9 a.m., NASA Mission Control in Houston,...

Whirlpool! (Life/Animal Behavior).(Brief Article)
March 28, 2003... Six newcomers to the San Francisco Zoo made an unexpected splash last December. Upon arrival, the Magellanic penguins from SeaWorld in Ohio promptly plunged into the penguin pool. And much to penguin-keeper Jane Tollini's surprise, "In one...

Teens name must-have inventions.
March 28, 2003... GRAPH IT! HISTORY'S TOP INVENTION? Quick! What one invention can't you live without? TV? Cell phone? Computer? Wrong! In a recent survey of 400 American teens and more than 1,000 adults, the humble toothbrush ranked as the most...

Gross medicine: hundreds of years ago, maggots and leeches were "medicine cabinet" staples. Now, old is new again: ready to try them? (Life science: circulatory system).
March 28, 2003... A dazed young man recently stumbled into Pensacola, Florida's Baptist Hospital, bleeding profusely from a gaping facial wound. "He'd lost a chunk off his nose," says plastic surgeon Dr. Ian Rogers. "It was dangling from this little flap of...

Killer asteroids. (Earth/space science: asteroids).(colliding into planet Earth)
March 28, 2003... It happens once in a great while: a mountain of rock crashes out of the sky at a rate 20 times faster than a speeding bullet. With an indescribable explosion, it turns Earth into a cataclysm of fire and dust storms, earthquakes, tidal waves....

Name that element! It powers rockets to the moon, can bleach your hair, and decimates zits. It's Earth's most abundant element and interacts with a staggering number of chemicals. Can you name it? Grab a periodic table and follow these eight clues. Then turn the page to test your "element IQ." (Physical science: chemistry).
March 28, 2003... CLUE 1 ELEMENTAL It fills almost one half of Earth's crust, 21 percent of the atmosphere, and two thirds of the human body. In nature, it's rare to find a lone atom of this element. Instead, the mystery element exists mostly as a...

Gross out? (Activities & Oddities).(insect eating or entomophagy)
March 28, 2003... You probably won't find fried grasshoppers (chapulines) or succulent butterfly larvae (gusanos de maguey) at your local burrito joint--but for 80 percent of the world's population, bugs are hot menu items. "In Mexico, you can buy them...

Gross ER. (Reading Comprehension/Language Arts).(use of maggots and leeches in medicine)
March 28, 2003... Name: -- Gross ER PART A: Medical Chart Directions: Read "Gross Medicine" on pages 8 to 11. Then compare maggots and leeches by filing out the chart below. Maggots Leeches What kind of...

Make a crater. (Hands-on Activity).
March 28, 2003... Name: -- When a meteorite (space rock) slams into Earth, it often leaves behind a crater, or a large depression. How are craters formed? And why does each look different? Follow this experiment to find out. You Need: newspaper *...

The city of New York.(Letter to the Editor)
March 28, 2003... Dear Students, My name is Lieutenant Thomas Woods. I am a New York City firefighter. Most all of you now know what happened off September 11, 2001. It was a very difficult time for us, as well as for all of you. The emergency workers were...