Science World articles from November 2002

Science World archives from November 2002

Coming soon: the world's longest bridge. (Physical News).(Brief Article)
November 8, 2002... Rumor has it that a legendary six-headed monster lurks in the deep waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea between Italy and the island of Sicily. If true, one day you might spy the beast while zipping across the Messina Strait Bridge. When completed in...

Fat-friendly fries? (Graph It!).(Brief Article)
November 8, 2002... McDonald's is giving its famous fries a makeover. How come? The average American devours 27 kilograms (60 pounds) of potatoes each year--mostly in the form of French fries drenched in saturated fats and trans fatty acids. Saturated fats, the...

Moon secrets. (Earth/Space News).(Titan lets us see its secrets)(Interview)
November 8, 2002... The fog is lifting for scientists who study the atmosphere of Titan, the largest of Saturn's 18 moons. It's the only moon in the solar system with an atmosphere, a thin gas layer; in this case, a hazy swirl thick with nitrogen. For decades...

Award-winning survival skills: how animals elude prey. (Life science: animal defenses/adaptations).(Cover Story)
November 8, 2002... It's a dog-eat-dog world out there--not to mention a snake-eat-lizard world. To survive and reproduce, every creature must avoid becoming another predator's meal. But how to elude a hungry hunter who's bigger or faster than you? Animals...

Skull shocker: a 7-million-year-old skull has scientists asking "who is it?" (Earth/life science: fossils/hominids).
November 8, 2002... When it lived, the creature was probably just another small flat-faced animal dwelling on the wooded shore of a giant lake. But now--7 million years after death--its remains are shaking the human family tree clear to the roots. A skull,...

Can you save my backyard? Fourteen-year-old Aaron Carter is a pop sensation with best-selling CDs like Oh Aaron and Another Earthquake! But he also helps conservationists spread the word to protect one of Earth's most invaluable resources. (Earth/life science: conservation/wetlands).(Everglades and South Florida)(includes a list of endangered species)
November 8, 2002... When Aaron Carter roams around his neighborhood, he sees houses, restaurants, and shopping malls. But part of the view also includes mangrove trees crowding the coast, tiny Key deer hiding among trees, and roseate terns wheeling overhead. Aaron...

Explain this! (Activities & Oddities).
November 8, 2002... What's this elephant doing? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Tease your brain. (Activities & Oddities).
November 8, 2002... Can you divide this six-by-six grid of squares into four pieces of equal size and shape, with each piece containing one # and one *? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Elephant hunt: how many species are there? (Science News).(Interview)
November 29, 2002... From a distance, scientist Lori Eggert spies on a West African elephant herd. She watches patiently until, finally, something plops from an animal's rear: "That's what we're looking for," she says, and moves in to scoop up a forkful of dung....

The incredible shrinking ozone hole. (Earth News/Graph It!).(Interview)
November 29, 2002... For two decades, an ominous hole in the ozone layer has ballooned over Antarctica, alarming scientists. The ozone layer, a thick band of bluish gas that wraps around the planet, shields Earth from life-threatening solar radiation. By last fall,...

Freeze frame. (Science News).(chameleon)
November 29, 2002... This male chameleon (Chameleo jacksonii) at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, totes a 3.8 centimeter (1.5 inch) hatchling on his horns. But don't mistake this reptile (cold-blooded animal with scaly skin) for a loving parent. Chameleons...

Tooth talk. (Tech News).(tooth phone implant)(molar mobile)
November 29, 2002... Wouldn't it be great to have a cell phone invisible to everyone but you? Well, with this tiny tooth-phone implant you need only start listening to pick up a call--the ultimate hands-free phone. Last summer, two researchers at the Royal...

Separating sisters: inside the groundbreaking surgery. (Life/medical science: anatomy/blood vessels).
November 29, 2002... On July 25, 2001, in a small Guatemalan village, Alba Leticia Alvarez gave birth to identical twin girls. The sisters shared nearly everything: beautiful brown eyes, angelic smiles, even the same first name, Maria. But they also shared an...

Guess who's coming to dinner? Meet your surprise holiday guest: Physics! (Physical/tech science: light waves/forces & motion/chemistry).
November 29, 2002... The last thing on your mind when you sink your teeth into a perfectly roasted drumstick may he science. "But when you start asking questions about the world, you'll find science everywhere," says physicist Lou Bloomfield. fine of the best...

Amazing voyager: 25 years of exploring space. (Earth science: solar system/interstellar space).
November 29, 2002... They're the most distant human-made objects in space. And soon they'll exit the solar system forever. In 1977, NASA launched the identical robotic probes Voyager/and 2 into deep space. Through their visits to four planets and 48 moons, they've...

What is it? (Avtivities & Oddities).(Voyager spacecraft's greeting to extraterrestrials)
November 29, 2002... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Should either Voyager spacecraft encounter extraterrestrials, they are prepared to make a presentation about Earth. Each spacecraft carries a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing music, greetings, and 115...

What's he doing? (Explain This!).(cranberry harvesting)(Illustration)
November 29, 2002... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] He's harvesting cranberries. To learn more about how cranberry harvesting works, visit: www.oceanspray.com/about/asp

Gross out? (You can do it: activities & oddities).(blueberries)
November 29, 2002... Smashing your face in a blueberry pie to win a pie-eating contest might turn your stomach, but blueberries are worth devouring because they're good for you. The fruit, produced in 35 states in the U.S., is a great source of vitamin C and fiber,...

Tease your brain. (You can do it: activities & oddities).(pair matching)
November 29, 2002... Here are 5 pairs of dots labeled 1 to 5. Use the grid to match each pair: For example, 1 to 1, 2 to 2. None of the routes may touch or cross each other. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Are we there yet? (Math Skills).(concept of distance in the solar system)
November 29, 2002... The solar system is one big space. It took Voyager 2 twelve years to travel from Earth to Neptune, the eighth-farthest planet from the Sun. How far away is that? To visualize the size of the Solar system, why not make a scale? 1. To make...

What wavelength are you on? (Chat-Reading Skills).
November 29, 2002... Energy waves are all around you, although the only type humans can see is visible light--as colors from red to violet. But light rays are merely a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum--the entire range of electromagnetic energy, from long...

Science in the news quiz.
November 29, 2002... 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. Why would a scientist collect dung to analyze elephant DNA...