Science News articles from March 2005

Science News archives from March 2005

Brutal bubbles: collapsing orbs rip apart atoms.(This Week)
March 5, 2005... Fill a flask with liquid, rattle it with ultrasonic waves, and hellish microcosms can form within the fluid. Tiny gas bubbles swell and then implode with a fury now revealed to be extreme enough to strip electrons from atoms trapped in the...

Measuring HIV's cost: treatment adds years, but many still miss out.(This Week)
March 5, 2005... Medical care for people infected with HIV has saved about 2 million years of life so far in the United States. Even so, more than 200,000 HIV-infected people here are not benefiting from available drugs, according to new estimates. Most of...

Warm spell: arctic algae record shift in climate.(This Week)
March 5, 2005... Tiny organisms that lived in remote arctic lakes are adding evidence that large swaths of the Northern Hemisphere have been warming for many decades. High-latitude lakes become dormant in winter when they gain a thick armor of ice or...

Nursery pictures: astronomers glimpse primordial clustering.(This Week)
March 5, 2005... Peering back to an era not long after the birth of the cosmos nearly 14 billion years ago, two teams of astronomers have captured the earliest snapshots yet of the emergence of galaxy clusters, one of the universe's basic motifs. "I'm just...

Shortcut to big heart: pythons build cardiac muscle in record time.(This Week)
March 5, 2005... A Burmese python can boost its heart capacity without working out. When it needs extra pump power to digest something big, its heart can bulk up 40 percent in just 2 days. "That's the fastest increase ever measured," says James Hicks of...

Martian landscaping: spacecraft eyes evidence of a frozen sea.(This Week)
March 5, 2005... A flat region near the Red Planet's equator may hold a frozen ocean that was once as deep and big as the North Sea. The region's relatively craterless facade suggests that water gushed to the surface and froze recently, raising the possibility...

Infectious Evolution: ancient virus hit apes, not our ancestors, in the genes.(This Week)
March 5, 2005... A vicious virus infected ancestral chimpanzees and gorillas in Africa between 4 million and 3 million years ago. Not only did it kill a great many of these primates, but it also infiltrated the surviving animals' genomes, altering the course of...

Straight flush: researchers' latest effort to shape the Grand Canyon.
March 5, 2005... Last November, the Grand Canyon experienced its largest flood in more than 8 years. For nearly 4 days late that month, flow rates along the Colorado River swelled as much as 20 percent above typical peak flows. The massive inundation, rather...

A fishy therapy: a thriving but controversial dietary supplement.(shark cartilage)
March 5, 2005... Shark cartilage is for sale all over the Web. Powders of it, packaged in jars and capsules, are among the products offered at sites specializing in herbal remedies, vitamins, health wares, and bodybuilding aids. These Internet sites claim that...

Healing secret lies in blood.(Biology)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2005... Scientists have long puzzled over why old people and animals heal slower than young ones do. Now, researchers report that a pivotal factor behind this phenomenon circulates in blood. Previous work by Thomas Rando and his colleagues at...

Winged solution to biopollution?(Environment)(ferns)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2005... A half-century ago, a new type of fern arrived in Florida--probably having started out as stowaway spores in shipments of nursery plants from Southeast Asia. Today, from suburban backyards to remote locations in the Everglades, the Old World...

Cell transplants make gains versus diabetes.(Biomedicine)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2005... Transplanting insulin-making cells from fresh cadavers into diabetes patients can reverse the disease, but the procedure has been too costly for widespread use. Scientists have now developed a less costly version of the procedure. In a...

Baking dirt to predict erosion after a fire.(Earth Science)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2005... During a forest fire, the temperature at ground level can range from 50[degrees]C to more than 1,500[degrees]C. Earth denuded of plant cover by fire becomes vulnerable to erosion, but the severity of that erosion depends on the particular...

Protein may aid stroke recovery.(Biomedicine)(erythropoietin)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2005... A drug best known for kick-starting bone marrow to make red blood cells has reversed brain damage due to strokes in test mice. William D. Hill, a neuroscientist at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, and his colleagues surgically...

Pottery points to 'mother culture'.(Archaeology)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2005... More than 3,000 years ago, a coastal town served as the center of a "mother culture" that shaped societies in a wide swath of what's now southern and central Mexico. Jeffrey P. Blomster of George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and...

Hole power.(Astronomy)(Blacj holes)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2005... More evidence has emerged that supermassive black holes wield influence far beyond the grasp of their gravity. Five years ago, astronomers discovered that the core stars of a galaxy always weigh about 500 times as much as the galaxy's...

Cytoplasm affects embryonic development.(Biology)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2005... New research provides the best evidence yet that a fertilized egg's nucleus isn't the sole site of control for an embryo's development. Signals emanating from the cell's mitochondria--its power-generating organelles--also appear to influence...

After the Ice: a global human history.(Books: a selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 5, 2005... In an ambitious undertaking, archaeologist Mithen describes 15,000 years of ancient history from 20,000 to 5,000 B.C. Mithen breathes life into his tale by conveying it through a fictional victorian polymath by the name of John Lubbock. Lubbock...

The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey: unearthing the origins of monkeys, apes, and humans.(Books: a selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 5, 2005... In this sure-to-be-controversial book, the curator of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh challenges current theories that anthropoids--monkeys, apes, and humans--originated in Africa 35 million years ago. Because of fossils he...

13 Dreams Freud Never Had: the new mind science.(Books: a selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 5, 2005... In this autobiography, Harvard neurophysiologist Hobson demonstrates the advances that he and his colleagues have made during his 30-plus-year career in dream research. Hobson's research indicates that during deep rapid eye movement sleep,...

100 Words Almost Everyone Confuses & Misuses.(Books: a selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 5, 2005... Many writers keep a list of words that they avoid for risk of misusing them; others should adopt such a list. This quick guide features 100 words that frequently trip us up. If someone says you look pretty is that a compliment or a complement?...

The Velocity of Honey: and more science of everyday life.(Books: a selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 5, 2005... Following up his last book, The Science of Everyday Life, Ingram considers more ways in which science governs our daily existence. He considers, for instance, why stones skip, the science behind six degrees of separation, why people often wake...

Way-up wander?(Letter to the Editor)
March 5, 2005... It seems interesting that undersea flows have at least one characteristic different from rivers: "While river floods on land can create natural levees a few meters tall, the levees formed by [undersea] turbidity currents can grow up to 100...

What's up?(Letter to the Editor)
March 5, 2005... "Tsunami Disaster: Scientists model the big quake and its consequences" (SN: 1/8/05, p. 19) has a graphic that appears to show an area that lifted by up to 5 meters and a vaguely equal area that was depressed by up to 2 m. This suggests an...

Spuds spectacle.(Letter to the Editor)
March 5, 2005... I envision a beautifully colorful potato salad utilizing multiple colors of potatoes ("Food Colorings: Pigments make fruits and veggies extra healthful," SN: 1/8/05, p. 27). But would a cooked mixture be like carrots with potatoes (minimal...

Blindness hazard: gene variant tied to macular degeneration.(This Week)
March 12, 2005... People who make a particular form of an immune system protein have a heightened risk of developing old-age blindness, three teams of researchers report in an upcoming Science. In a search for the factors underlying age-related macular...

Monkey see, monkey think: grape thefts instigate debate on primate's mind.(This Week)(rhesus monkeys)
March 12, 2005... Rhesus monkeys may not regard the eyes as windows to the soul, but these animals do treat a competitor's averted eyes as a license to steal his or her food, a new study suggests. Using the direction of others' gazes to determine what they can...

Slowpoke: atmosphere put brakes on meteorite that formed famed crater.(This Week)
March 12, 2005... The extraterrestrial object that gouged out northeastern Arizona's Meteor Crater about 50,000 years ago struck Earth at a speed much slower than most scientists had previously proposed. When a meteorite slams into Earth, the crater that's...

Weighing in on a star: a stellar size limit.(This Week)
March 12, 2005... Stars emerge fully grown from their natal clouds of gas and dust. Many are only a fraction of the sun's size, but some are behemoths. However, a new study suggests that no star in our galaxy can weigh more than 150 times the mass of the sun....

Slick surfaces: pressure builds to make better motor oils.(This Week)
March 12, 2005... Motor oil's protection against the wear and tear of steel engine parts takes effect only at high pressures, according to a new study. The analysis reveals the molecular behavior of a common lubricant additive, whose mode of action had...

Anoint them with oil: cheap-and-easy treatment cuts infection rates in premature infants.(This Week)
March 12, 2005... In developing countries, babies that arrive prematurely with low birthweights have mortality rates that exceed 50 percent. Infections are to blame for many of these deaths. A new study suggests that one way to curb infections and save babies'...

Bacterial nanny: beewolf grows microbe for protecting young.(This Week)(wasps)
March 12, 2005... For a new twist on child care, consider the wasp called the European beewolf. The mom leaves a smear of bacteria near each of her eggs as protection against the perils of youth. This wasp carries an abundance of a particular bacterial...

Venetian grinds: the secret behind Italian Renaissance painters' brilliant palettes.(Cover Story)
March 12, 2005... While sifting through 15th- and-16th century documents at the state archives in Venice, Louisa Matthew came across an ancient inventory from a Venetian seller of artist's pigments. The dusty sheet of paper, dated 1534, was buried in a volume of...

Primordial nukes: the 2-billion-year-old tale of Earth's natural nuclear reactors.(geology and nuclear fission)
March 12, 2005... For more than a decade, Alexander P. Meshik has kept close tabs on a fleck of black rock no larger than an infant's fingernail. It's so unassuming that most people would sweep it into a dustpan without a second thought. Yet to Meshik, a nuclear...

Faces elicit strong emotions in autism.(Neuroscience)(Brief Article)
March 12, 2005... Children with autism avoid eye contact because they experience uncomfortably intense emotional reactions when looking at faces, a new brain-imaging study suggests. What's more, abrain area needed for perception of faces fails to be activated in...

Inside view of our wee, ancient cousins.(Anthropology)(Homo floresiensis)(Brief Article)
March 12, 2005... A half-size Homo species that lived on an Indonesian island more than 20,000 years ago possessed a remarkably small yet capable brain. According to a new report, that brain shows organizational similarities to the larger brain of Homo erectus,...

Master gene found for insect smell.(Biology)(Brief Article)
March 12, 2005... Bugs use their sense of smell to find food and mates and to avoid predators. New research suggests that a single gene may be behind all that smelling in a broad range of insect species. Many insects detect scents through odor receptors...

Radiation from a baby star.(Astronomy)(Brief Article)
March 12, 2005... X-ray telescopes have captured the earliest and clearest view of the core of a gas cloud about to transform into a star. Most intriguing to astronomers is evidence suggesting that some force other than gravity is hastening the transition. ...

Inner-brain electrode may curb depression.(Biomedicine)(Brief Article)
March 12, 2005... Deep-brain stimulation, an electrical treatment increasingly common for degenerative nerve disorders such as Parkinson's disease, has now shown promise in treating severe depression. People suffering from depression have a wide range of...

Death can outdo ABCs of prevention.(Epidemiology)(HIV prevention)(Brief Article)
March 12, 2005... The prevalence of HIV has fallen over the past decade in Uganda, but abstinence and monogamy--two elements of a widely advocated prevention strategy--deserve little, if any, credit for the decline in at least one region of the country, a new...

Injections cut need for HIV drugs.(Therapeutic Vaccine)(Brief Article)
March 12, 2005... An experimental vaccine, when given to people infected with HIV, appears to reduce their dependence on antiviral drugs. Minimizing the need for the drugs, which must be taken daily, could spare people from those medicines' costs and side...

The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms.(Books: a selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 12, 2005... THE EARTH MOVED: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms. AMY STEWART Being blind, deaf, and spineless, earthworms would seem to lack the tools to be high-impact players in life on Earth. These creatures, however, are pivotal for...

Five Quarts: a Personal and natural History of blood.(Books: a selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 12, 2005... FIVE QUARTS: A Personal and Natural History of Blood BILL HAYES We're born in it. It contains our DNA, the molecular chronicle of our history. It marks our entry into adulthood through the first shaving nick or menstrual cycle. We each...

Evolving Eden: an Illustrated Guide to the Evolution of the African Large Mammal Fauna.(Books: a selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 12, 2005... EVOLVING EDEN: An Illustrated Guide to the Evolution of the African Large Mammal Fauna ALAN TURNER AND MAURICIO ANTON Vertebrate paleontologist Turner teams with artist Anton to explain more than 30 million years of mammalian evolution in...

Sneaking a look at God's cards: unraveling the Mysteries of quantum mechanics.(Books: a selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 12, 2005... SNEAKING A LOOK AT GOD'S CARDS: Unraveling the Mysteries of Quantum Mechanics GIANCARLO GHIRARDI The world of quantum mechanics is inherently counterintuitive. Waves behave like particles; particles behave like waves. An electron faced...

Cheaters like us?(Letter to the Editor)
March 12, 2005... The model for the emergence of a population of "cheaters" out of a population of "cooperators" described in "When Laziness Pays: Math explains how cooperation and cheating evolve" (SN: 1/15/05, p. 35) gives a fresh view-point on existing...

Reptilian resemblance.(Letter to the Editor)
March 12, 2005... I was disappointed in news coverage of the dinosaur find in China ("Reptilian Repast: Ancient mammals preyed on young dinosaurs," SN: 1/15/05, p. 36). Science News and others ran an illustration with an obvious mistake. Unless the newly...

Here comes the sun.(Letter to the Editor)
March 12, 2005... Titan may represent conditions that existed on Earth when life arose ("A World Unveiled: Creme brulee on Titan," SN: 1/22/05, p. 51). One important difference is the extremely cold temperature on Titan. However, the known life cycle of stars...

Nano hazards: exposure to minute particles harms lungs, circulatory system.(This Week)
March 19, 2005... Nanomaterials, the current darlings of industry, are showing up in products ranging from cosmetics to electronics. However, new animal studies indicate that inhaling these microscopic spheres and tubes could cause big trouble, especially for...

Vampires run: bats on treadmills show high-speed gait.(This Week)
March 19, 2005... Vampire bats have evolved their own form of running, the first test of these creatures on a treadmill shows. As the treadmill pace picks up, they switch to a run, with all limbs airborne at one point in each stride. These are the only bats...

Schizophrenia syncs fast: disconnected brain may lie at heart of disorder.(This Week)
March 19, 2005... Interconnected brain areas that use split-second timing to interpret new information suffer a communication breakdown in people with schizophrenia, a new study suggests. The finding hinges on measurements of some brain waves that arise...

Sugar coated: molecular dress-up may disguise gut bacteria.(This Week)
March 19, 2005... Even when you think you're alone, you're not. Several trillion bacteria tag along within the intestines of a typical person or other mammal. While researchers have long known that these bacteria serve beneficial functions for their hosts,...

Student scientists to watch: with diverse ideas, young talents win big in annual competition.(This Week)
March 19, 2005... Pity the judges. With science projects by 40 of the nation's brightest high school students arrayed before them last week, they had to weigh the merits of undertakings as diverse as a study of deep-sea volcanism and the discovery of a promising...

Vitamin E loses luster: nutrient tests show disappointing results.(This Week)
March 19, 2005... Is that the sound of gelcaps plunking into trash cans? It could be, after publication of a new study reporting that vitamin E supplements fail to promote overall health in older people at risk for heart problems and might even hike their...

Light's hidden holdup: reflected laser beams loiter a little.(This Week)
March 19, 2005... Physicists in France have timed the tiny pause between the arrival of light at a reflective surface and its departure from that surface. Ever since Newton made the suggestion, theorists have been aware that incoming light slightly overshoots...

Cops with six legs: law and order among insects.(wasps)(Cover Story)
March 19, 2005... In a colony of tree wasps, workers on nursemaid duty crawl this way and that along the bottom of their nest, tending the youngsters in the comb. Most of the workers dutifully look after the queen's offspring, stopping only to spit a runny meal...

A whiff of danger: fragrances hinder cells' removal of other chemicals.
March 19, 2005... Just as even the most seaworthy ship must steadily pump out bilgewater, cells continuously rid themselves of chemicals that don't belong inside. The biological pumps that cells use for this purpose are among evolution's oldest and most enduring...

Puzzling radio blasts.(Astronomy)(Brief Article)
March 19, 2005... Astronomers are stumped by powerful radio wave hiccups that appear to have emanated from near the center of our galaxy. Scott Hyman of Sweet Briar (Va.) College and his colleagues recently discovered the radio bursts while analyzing a survey of...

New largest prime discovered.(Mathematics)(Brief Article)
March 19, 2005... The roster of prime numbers--those numbers divisible only by 1 and themselves--has a new top dog. On Feb. 18, the computer-based Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) turned up the largest known prime number, whose formula is 2 to the...

Picky-eater termites choose good vibes.(Zoology)(Brief Article)
March 19, 2005... Termites are fussy eaters. Some go for twigs and branches. Others favor logs and trunks. Vibrations in the wood may help all these termites choose what to eat, according to Theodore Evans of CSIRO, Australia's national research agency, in...

Tungsten-alloy shrapnel might cause cancer.(Biomedicine)(Brief Article)
March 19, 2005... An alloy containing tungsten, cobalt, and nickel turns wounds cancerous within a few months, a test in rats shows. The finding raises questions about the current military practice by many countries of using this alloy in bullets and other...

Remembering, on the cheap.(Technology)(electronic identity tags)(Brief Article)
March 19, 2005... Radio-equipped electronic identity tags and sensors may soon broadcast prices, expiration dates, and other useful information from myriad objects, ranging from aspirin bottles to zoo cages. Now, researchers in the Netherlands have demonstrated...

Silicon chips land a lasting laser.(Technology)(Brief Article)
March 19, 2005... It's a basic rule of microelectronics: For components that generate and manipulate light, silicon is the wrong material. But rules, as the saying goes, are made to be broken. Engineers in California now report that they've made a microchip...

Hepatitis B link to cancer is clarified.(Biomedicine)(Brief Article)
March 19, 2005... It's well established that hepatitis B virus can cause liver cancer. Scientists in Taiwan now report that a certain kind of hepatitis B is much more likely than others to lead to cancer and that large amounts of any type of the virus correlate...

Nanostructures mimic Inuit stone sculptures.(Nanotechnology)(Brief Article)
March 19, 2005... The stacked slabs of flat rocks called inukshuks, which mark trails and other important locations in the Arctic, have been cultural icons for Inuit people for thousands of years. Now, the icons' signature structure is inspiring...

Parrot plumage has exclusive pigmentation.(Biochemistry)(Brief Article)
March 19, 2005... The spectacular red feathers of certain parrots owe their vibrancy to a rare set of pigments found nowhere else in nature, a new study suggests. Kevin McGraw of Arizona State University in Tempe and Mary Nogare, a parrot enthusiast in...

Saturn says 'cheese'.(Planetary Science)(mapping Saturn)(Brief Article)
March 19, 2005... By combining 126 snapshots of Saturn taken by the Cassini spacecraft last fall, astronomers have assembled the largest and most-detailed global portrait of the ringed planet ever made. Recorded during a 2-hour interval on Oct. 4, 2004, when...

The End of the Certain World: The Life and Science of Max Born.(Books: a selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 19, 2005... THE END OF THE CERTAIN WORLD: The Life and Science of Max Born NANCY THORNDIKE GREENSPAN Physicist Max Born was both a committed pacifist and a teacher to several of the men who built the first atomic bomb. He was also a Nobel laureate...

The Philosopher Fish: Sturgeon, Caviar, and the Geography of Desire.(Books: a selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 19, 2005... THE PHILOSOPHER FISH: Sturgeon, Caviar, and the Geography of Desire RICHARD ADAMS CAREY The cachet associated with caviar continues to grow. It sells for $100 an ounce, with the better grades going for considerably more. The price of...

The Einstein Almanac.(Books: a selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 19, 2005... THE EINSTEIN ALMANAC ALICE CALAPRICE In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein's "miraculous year," in which he published some of his most significant work, including that detailing the theory of relativity, comes...

Dr. Math Introduces Geometry.(Books: a selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 19, 2005... DR. MATH INTRODUCES GEOMETRY THE MATH FORUM, DREXEL UNIVERSITY Novice geometry students will find here a wealth of explanations and examples of two-and three-dimensional objects. This guide is based on questions that have been asked...

Chew on this.(Letter to the Editor)
March 19, 2005... As an occasional betel nut chewer, I note that the report "Palm-Nut Problem" (SN: 1/15/05, p. 43) doesn't touch on possible positive aspects of the habit. Chewing sapari (coarsely powdered, sweetened, and clove-flavored areca nut) at the end of...

What's going on in there?(Letter to the Editor)
March 19, 2005... "Same brain region handles whistles and words" (SN: 1/22/05, p. 61) reports that left brain areas normally associated with language comprehension are activated in shepherds who communicate in a whistled language. I wonder if the same brain...

There go the solar cells.(Letter to the Editor)
March 19, 2005... Plastic solar cells may indeed be gaining in efficiency ("Infrared Vision: New material may enhance plastic solar cells," SN: 1/22/05, p. 53), but here in the Southwest, anything plastic left out in the sun quickly clouds, desiccates, and...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
March 19, 2005... The statement that "carbon-14 gradually decays to carbon-42" in "Natural or Synthetic? Test reveals origin of chemicals in blubber" (SN: 2/12/05, p. 101) is wrong. Carbon dating is possible because carbon-14 decays to nitrogen-14.

Old softy: Tyrannosaurus fossil yields flexible tissue.(This Week)
March 26, 2005... Scientists analyzing fragments of a Tyrannosaurus rex's leg bone have recovered pliable material containing structures that appear to be cells and blood vessels. Paleontologists usually find only a creature's hard body parts, such as...

Alien light: extrasolar planets are detected in new way.(This Week)
March 26, 2005... Although astronomers have identified more than 130 planets beyond the solar system, these alien worlds remain phantoms. Too faint and small to be imaged, each planet has been detected only indirectly, either by the wobble it induces in its...

An ounce of pollution: particles' harm varies by person, region, season.(This Week)
March 26, 2005... A gram of small, air-polluting particles has deadlier effects in certain seasons and regions of the country than in others, new research shows. Furthermore, particulate pollutants and ozone seem to most readily affect people who already have...

Tug-of-war: how bacteria prevent host-cell suicide.(This Week)
March 26, 2005... When they battle bacteria, animal cells have a surefire way to keep infection from spreading: They drop dead. New research suggests that with tiny tugs on the attacked cells' membranes, bacteria may pester the cells into living longer--and...

Clever coating: new polymer may prolong life of medical implants.(This Week)
March 26, 2005... Lacing the protective polymer coatings on medical implants with copper could reduce the clot-inducing tendency of these devices and may keep them functioning for months or even years. The new coating material staves off clotting because its...

Big mimics: African elephants can learn to copy sounds.(This Week)
March 26, 2005... Two captive elephants--one making truck noises and the other chirping like a different elephant species--could be the first nonprimate, land mammals demonstrated to do vocal imitations. "It is certainly a surprise to most people, even those...

Babies learn to save face: infants get prepped to perceive.(This Week)(babies can be taught to retain ability to distinguish animal faces)
March 26, 2005... By the time babies are 6 months old, they distinguish the faces of different people--and can also discern the faces of specific monkeys. Now, researchers have found that with parental coaching, infants can retain their skill at telling animals...

Possible worlds: imagination gets its due as a real-world thinking tool.(Cover Story)
March 26, 2005... Kids make some unusual friends. Take Simpy, an 8-year-old girl with blue skin and black eyes who likes funny clothes. Then, there's Skateboard Guy. He wears cool shirts and performs amazing tricks on his fancy board, even though he's small...

Too darn hot: an abundance of alien earths.
March 26, 2005... Imagine if Earth nearly touched the sun. It would take only one day for our planet to whip around the entire star, and Earth's surface would be hot enough to melt iron. That may sound like a hellish situation for a terrestrial planet, but if...