The Evening Standard (London, England) articles from September 2008

The Evening Standard (London, England) archives from September 2008

This month in Odyssey.(Science Scoops)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There are things we just don't like to think about. The inevitability of our death is usually number one. But each of us will be a lifeless corpse someday. Is there a way to extend our usefulness in the world?...

Who's in that cave?(Science Scoops)(CAVEman)
September 1, 2008... He lives in a cave, floats in midair, and you can walk right through him! No, were not talking about a ghost. We're describing the world's first anatomically correct virtual human, named CAVEman by his creators. His "CAVE" (AVE--Automatic...

At your next funeral, wear green!(Science Scoops)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Eco-friendly green is the new color of business, energy, and politics, so why not death? Over two million Americans die every year, and ach death is one more casket (or cremation). Buried bodies are usually preserved...

Music of the future?(Science Scoops)
September 1, 2008... Your parents probably stare in awe at your MP3 player, but when you have kids, you may have a whole new music format to wonder about. You might find yourself asking, "Is that song you're listening to really the original artist's voice, or is it...

Breaking gravity's rules.(Science Scoops)(spacecrafts)
September 1, 2008... Houston, we've got a problem. Scientists don't know why spacecraft are gaining extra speed while flying past Earth. The bonus bursts of speed are tiny: between 1.8 and 13.5 millimeters (mm) per second--only one-millionth of the craft's total...

First patient.(anatomical donors)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Death. For most, it marks the end of all actions and contributions to society. But that's not the case for anatomical donors. Many people make a decision during their lives to extend their usefulness beyond death....

Getting to know a cadaver: reflections of a medical student.
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I timidly unveil the cadaver, my first patient. It's the opening moments of the first day of gross anatomy class, and I am curious, yet afraid. I am full of wonder at my donor's generosity, full of unanswered...

A gut approach to learning: the maximum experience.
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] GROUNDHOGS. BEAVERS. SKUNKS. COYOTES. The students in Dr. Harry Hitchcock's physiology class at Clinton High School in Tennessee say they've dissected everything. And they mean everything! They recently gathered...

The king of dead things: a Maori legend.(Short story)
September 1, 2008... In the long ago days, when men died and their bodies were swallowed by the Earth, a girl called Iria was born with a terrible affliction: Whenever she opened her mouth, a question fell out. The people of her village first indulged her, and then...

What does the autopsy show?
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE DEAD CHILD'S PARENTS BALKED about the autopsy. But the county medical examiner had questions, and state law let him proceed. Now, after thoroughly examining the young patient, the doctor knows the truth. This...

Mary Cate's masterpiece.(Play)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The kids in Mr. Bluni's science class think that their project on forensics is too old-fashioned. But it turns out to be cutting edge--in more ways than one! CHARACTERS: Nat, Wendy, Esteban, Jimmy, Mary Cate, Mr....

Facing Harwa: high-tech virtual autopsies are revealing secrets of the dead and cures for the living.(Activity to Discover)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] At the Museum of Antiquities in Torino, Italy, archaeologists look upon the face of a 3,000-year-old Egyptian craftsman named Harwa--without unwrapping his mummy. How? By performing a virtual autopsy inside a...

Clues from a cute cadaver.(BRAIN STRAIN)
September 1, 2008... You are walking with Dr. Cold Corpse, a genius forensic detective who has a fondness for riddles, an affinity for cold cases, and who also happens to be a mouse. Before you lies the body of Millie, another mouse, who may have been murdered. She...

Welcome to the body farm.
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "You never get used to the smell," says Rebecca Wilson, Assistant Coordinator of the University of Tennessee's Forensic Anthropology Center. "Human decomposition has a very unique smell to it... not an identifiable...

Bodies from the bog: one mummy was so well preserved that scientists could take his fingerprints.
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] YOU kick your shovel into the earth, dislodge another block f peat, and bend to retrieve it. You're gathering fuel for the approaching winter. As you reach to lift it up, your hand glides across something leathery. A...

Mummies on a budget: tired of those boring jack-o'-lantern for Halloween? Wow your friends with a do-it-yourself mummy instead!(Activity to Discover)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Sounds expensive, right? You think mummies are a luxury for fabulously are a luxury for fabulously rich pharaohs. Not so. Making mummies on a budget is easy, even with the puniest allowance. All it will cost you is...

Modern mummies.(Body Worlds)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A skinless human body, brain exposed, sits at a table in front of a chessboard. Down the hall, a dissected camel with some fur tufts still attached has three heads: one raised, one lowered, and one seeming to graze...

Star chart.
September 1, 2008... This monthly All-Sky Chart depicts the sky (minus the Moon) as it appears at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 15. Useful all month (except for planet positions), the chart is also accurate for 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 1 and 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 30. To use the...

The summer triangle gives way to the autumn square.(STARGAZING with Jack Horkheimer)
September 1, 2008... GREETINGS, GREETINGS, FELLOW STARGAZERS! [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DID YOU KNOW THAT WHEN THE SEASONS CHANGE ON EARTH, SO TOO DO THE STARS CHANGE OVERHEARD? EVER HEAR OF THE PHRASE "THE STARS OF THE SEASON"? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]...

You've got mail.
September 1, 2008... In the November 2007 "Animal Angles," our readers learned that sightings of the narwhal, a real sea mammal, may have been the basis for legends about mythical unicorns. In BOOMERANG!, we asked you to think of other real creatures that may have...

What's in a name?(ASK DR. CY BORG)(the moon)
September 1, 2008... Dear Dr. B, I'm stumped... why is it that all the moons associated with the other planets have names and our Moon doesn't? Rebecca Adwell, Decatur, IL [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Actually, our Moon does have a name. Its name is......

Bug bait.(BOOMERANG!)
September 1, 2008... Are you up to conducting your own flesh-eating observation? Place a medium-sized piece of meat (such as half of a hot-dog) in a location where it will be available to bugs, but not to dogs or small rodents. (Inside a screened porch should work...

Bugs and bodies.(Animal Angles)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] You might find a dead body gross, but to a maggot or fly--it's a meal. These critters are called carrion-feeding insects. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Which bugs favor us humans? Flies, such as the diverse group of...