Science World articles from October 2007

Science World archives from October 2007

Deep-sea cleanup.(EARTH/ECOSYSTEMSS)(Broward County's marine protection)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] About 2 million used tires--bundled together with nylon cords or steel cables--were dumped off the coast of southeast Florida's Broward County in the 1970s and 1980s. They were intended to create an artificial reef,...

Missing stripes.(LIFE/HEREDITY)(hybridization of a horse and a zebra)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] What do you get when you cross a zebra with a horse? It may sound like the start of a joke, but the offspring of these two animal species produces a zebroid, like this one named Eclyse, who recently became a popular...

Driver's education.(GRAPH IT/HEALTH)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Playing around with your friends is fun, but in a car it can be deadly. A World Health Organization (WHO) report found that traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for 15- to 19-year-olds worldwide. Why...

Handy wipes.(PHYSICAL/TECHNOLOGY)(electronic toilet paper dispenser)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... Public-restroom users rejoice! With the invention of the world's first electronic toilet paper (TP) dispenser, there's one less germy fixture to touch. Research shows that most public-stall users dread touching where others' soiled hands...

Mammoth discovery.(EARTH/FOSSILS)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A reindeer herder in northern Siberia recently discovered the most complete fossil of a baby woolly mammoth ever found. Scientists believe the baby, which they nicknamed Lyuba, lived sometime before these hairy,...

Sky high.(GRAPH IT/ENGINEERING)(United Arab Emirates' skyscraper)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... The Burj Dubai skyscraper in the United Arab Emirates has set a new record as the world's tallest building, and it's not even finished being built. Last summer, the building-in-construction topped the previous reigning high-rise: the...

Numbers in the news.(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... 500 Billion Billion positions is the maximum number of possible moves in the game of checkers. It took a computer scientist nearly 20 years to record them all. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 8,000,000 years spent frozen in the Antarctic wasn't...

Beware the body snatchers: parasites control the brains of rats, turning the rodents into daredevils. Can these parasites take over humans too?(LIFE PARASITES)(Toxoplasma gondii)
October 8, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Any rat in its right mind would flee from a hungry cat. But not so with a rat infected by a mind-controlling parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. T. gondii are tiny organisms that can make their way inside a rat's...

I want that job! Want to study parasites? Consider a career in parasitology.(CAREERS)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... WHAT'S A PARASITOLOGIST? A parasitologist (par-uh-suh-TAH-luh-jist) is a scientist who studies parasites--organisms that live on or inside another organism and cause harm to the host. Parasites affect people's lives in many different ways,...

Name that element!(OUR POPULAR MYSTERY SERIES RETURNS!)
October 8, 2007... Which element on the periodic table can stop a beating heart, tans leather, and is an ingredient in fluffy pies? Follow these eight clues to find out. Then turn to page 14 to test your chemistry I.Q. (1) CLUE NEVER LONELY This...

Hands-on science (no lab required) After reading.(chemistry experiment)
October 8, 2007... "Name That Element" (p.12), try this activity to learn about the mystery element's role in cooking chemistry. PREDICTS Cream of tartar contains the mystery element. It not only helps stiffen egg whites, but when mixed with certain...

Real life CSI: this is not your average after-school job: an Indiana teen spends her spare time working as a certified death investigator.(LIFE FORENSICS)(crime scene investigation, Amanda Barnett)
October 8, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When someone dies in Jay County, Indiana, Amanda Barnett rushes to the scene. At age 18, Amanda is Indiana's youngest deputy coroner. It's her job to examine bodies and gather clues to determine whether the cause of...

A dwindling river: as water demands rise, the Colorado River is running dry.(EARTH WATER)
October 8, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] About 100 years ago, the Colorado River raged southward toward the Gulf of California. Where the two water bodies met, great walls of water once sprayed into the sky. But these spectacular events no longer occur....

Overgrown toes.(GROSS OUT)(macrodactyly)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Shen Xiaojing doesn't bother shopping for the latest footwear. The 21-year-old's feet are too big to squeeze into store-bought shoes. From her heel to the tip of her longest toe, her right foot measures a whopping 32...

Mystery photo.(YOU CAN DO IT)
October 8, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] WHAT'S THIS? Hint: Its active ingredient is sodium fluoride. ANSWERS toothpaste

Monster-size treat?(EXPLAINS THIS!)(Bill Yosses' largest candied apple)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Last October in New York City, chef Bill Yosses created the world's largest candied apple. He made the treat by filling in apple-shaped container with 10,000 apples and 379 liters (100 gallons) of melted candy...

Tease your brain.(YOU CAN DO IT)(mental test)(Image)
October 8, 2007... Mentally rotate the three rings of this circle so that each segment spells a three-letter word when read from the outside ring to the center. Hint: All of the words in each segment have something in common. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Why do you cry when you are sad?(ASK ScienceWorld)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Humans have lacrimal, or tear, glands on the underside of their upper eyelids. These organs produce a salty fluid that washes over your eyes every time you blink, keeping them moist and free of irritating particles....

Science news.(CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... 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. How is the artificial reef made of car tires in Florida harming the...

Flipping out.(PHYSICAL/ENERGY)(measuring backflips)(Brief article)
October 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] At the 2006 X Games, Travis Pastrana became the first motocross rider to launch his dirt bike into a successful double backflip. The record-breaking stunt made James Riordon, a physicist with the American Physical...

Fossil forest.(EARTH/FOSSILS)(cypress swamp )(Brief article)
October 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Scientists are getting a rare view of the past. Miners digging for coal in Hungary recently uncovered an 8 million-year-old cypress swamp forest there. The tree stumps stand up to 6 meters (19 feet) tall and 3 m (10...

Optical illusion.(PHYSICAL/TECHNOLOGY)(Brief article)
October 22, 2007... This dress may look normal to the naked eye, but snap a picture with a digital camera and hidden images appear. That's because patterns on the garment are designed to give off light waves detectable when viewed by digital cameras, but not the...

Quiet please.(LIFE/BEHAVIOR)(animal preference)(Brief article)
October 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] You won't catch any monkeys grooving to the latest playlist. While humans have the ability to enjoy music, a recent study shows that other animals with high intelligence might not. Joshua McDermott, a cognitive...

Step on it.(LIFE/HUMAN BODY)(wooden toe of an Egyptian mummy)(Brief article)
October 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Could this wooden toe be the world's oldest, functional prosthesis? A scientist hopes to find out. The fake body part was attached to the foot of a female Egyptian mummy. That woman would have lived between 1000...

Carbon releaf.(GRAPH/POLLUTION)(emission control through tree planting)(Brief article)
October 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The U.S. Forest Service has launched the first government program whereby individuals can pay to have some of the pollution created by our modern lifestyles removed. Burning fossil fuels, like coal and oil, to...

Numbers in the news.(Brief article)
October 22, 2007... 6.5 Million online garners play World of Warcraft. Researchers are Studying the fantasy world to learn how a disease may spread through the human population. 25,000 litter baskets line New York City streets. Still, it's not enough. In the...

Hanging out at a bat hospital: when tragedy turns baby bats' worlds upside down, volunteers come to the rescue.(LIFE ANIMAL ADAPTIONS)(bat hospital )
October 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A colony of bats hangs from tree branches in the Australian rain forest. Suddenly, a female bat loses her grip; she crashes into the underbrush with a baby clinging to her. Luckily, Jenny MacLean, coordinator of the...

Mission: mars.(testing of astronauts for Mars flight)
October 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Last June, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced a search for test subjects to participate in an experiment that's tougher than anything you've ever seen on reality TV. In 2008, a team of six men and women will...

Hands-on science.(no lab required)(satellite signals )(Brief article)
October 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] PREDICT It takes time for satellite signals to travel between Earth and a spacecraft. How does a communication delay affect how quickly and accurately a task can be completed? MATERIAL bag of mixed...

Spin master: a teen masters the ups and downs of yo-yos, putting a cool new spin on an old toy.(PHYSICAL FORCES AND MOTION)(Sterling Quinn )
October 22, 2007... Fourteen-year-old Sterling Quinn can send his yo-yo zinging off its string, catch the flying orb behind his back, and weave the yo-yo's string into webs so complicated you lose count of all the toy's flips and turns. Yo-yos have been around for...

I want that job! Interested in the latest toys? Consider a career in toy engineering.(CAREERS)(Brief article)
October 22, 2007... WHAT ARE TOY ENGINEERS? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Toy engineers are part inventor and part scientist. They help come up with ideas for new toys, and also make sure that the ideas are possible. For example: If designing a new yo-yo, a toy...

Out of it: nearly everyone knows that drug abuse impairs the way a person thinks and functions--but what are the consequences?(HEADS UP REAL NEWS ABOUT DRUGS AND YOUR BODY: FACTS FOR THOUGHT)
October 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ask someone to name the harmful health effects of drug abuse and addiction, and you might get the following very scary list: overdose; cancer; heart disease; lung disease; liver dysfunction; mental disorders;...

Long locks.(GROSS OUT)(hair growth)(Brief article)
October 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Most parents repeatedly remind their sons and daughters to get their hair cut. For the past 16 years, Xia Aifeng, 36, decided not to heed the hair-chopping advice. As a result, her hair is now longer than she is...

Tease your brain.(YOU CAN DO IT)(Brief article)
October 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The houses on Elm Street are numbered from 1 to 100. If you were to walk past all the buildings, how many 9's wouldn't you count on the street? ANSWERS 20

Which foods help prevent cancer?(ASK ScienceWorld)(Brief article)
October 22, 2007... If you've listened to your parents about eating fruits and vegetables, then you're doing your part to help ward off cancer. Cancer is a medical condition in which abnormal body cells multiply out of control. According to Marji McCullough of the...

Bug-eyed?(EXPLAIN THIS!)(trivia of a fly)(Brief article)
October 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ANSWERS This fly is the only bug to have a pair of custom made glasses sized to fit its tiny, 2 millimeter (008 inch) wide head The German company Micreon engineered the specs to demonstrate their ability to...

Science news.(CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING)(testing one's knowledge)(Brief article)
October 22, 2007... 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. 1. The amount of--a motocross rider has determines the maximum number of backflips possible. ...

Bat ears.(CHART-READING SKILLS)(hearing ranges of animals and humans)
October 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In "Hanging Out at a Bat Hospital" (p. 8), you learned that spectacled flying foxes are bats. But these nocturnal creatures are quite unlike most bat species. For instance, flying foxes rely on keen vision and an...

Astronaut training instructions for teachers.
October 22, 2007... In the "Hands-On Activity" on p. 15, students will simulate a sample-gathering mission to Mars. Before students begin the activity, they will need your help to prepare. WHAT YOU NEED TO DO: 1. Instruct students to read the activity on...

Drug abuse and impairment.(Letter to the editor)
October 22, 2007... Dear Teacher: As an educator, you know that the choices teens make can have profound effects, both immediate and long-term. You also know how important it is for your students to function to their full ability, both inside the classroom...

Lesson plan & reproducible.(education on drug abuse and its consequences)(Brief article)
October 22, 2007... Preparation: Make copies of the activity reproducible (other side of this page) for each student. OBJECTIVE Students will understand: how drug abuse impairs one's thinking and behavior; what some of the consequences of impairment are; what...

What do you know about impairment from drug abuse?(STUDENT ACTIVITY REPRODUCIBLE)(Brief article)
October 22, 2007... Answer the questions below to find out what you know about drug abuse, impairment, and the dangerous consequences of "drugged driving." For each question, fill in the circle next to the correct answer. 1. Which of the following health...