Natural History articles from July 2008

Natural History archives from July 2008

Wallflowers.(THE NATURAL MOMENT)(Yellow Wall)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE NATURAL EXPLANATION Up against a wall--that's often precisely where you want to be when diving. An underwater wall can provide a peerless viewing experience, a full screening of colors, textures, and...

Paleobotany.(nature.net)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ALTHOUGH DARWIN FIGURED out that natural selection was the general force driving evolution, he knew there were difficult puzzles left to solve. For example, he called the sudden appearance of flowering plants in the...

Looking a horse in the mouth.(WORD EXCHANGE)(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2008... Looking a Horse in the Mouth Sandra L. Olsen's "Hoofprints," [5/08] was a stimulating summary of her groundbreaking research. I have an additional piece of evidence that supports her early date (3500-3300 B.C.) for horse domestication. My...

Many whales ago.(SAMPLINGS)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For many Arctic peoples, whales have traditionally been an important source of food and of bone for buildings and tools. But capturing such enormous quarry is no easy task--it requires a cooperative effort,...

A whiff of DNA.(SAMPLINGS)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It's easy for small creatures to hide in a pond--what with all the murky water, vegetation, rocks, and logs--so biologists who want to catalog them must do a lot of mucking around. A new technique might make that...

Poison control.(SAMPLINGS)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... That so many bacteria have become drug-resistant is testimony to the microbes' toughness, but here's tougher: some bacteria actually eat antibiotics for breakfast. What's more, such super-tough bacteria are naturally widespread in the soil,...

Sea of stripes.(SAMPLINGS)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Sailors and scientists have been mapping ocean currents for centuries, but it turns out they've missed something big. How big? The entire ocean is striped with 100-mile-wide bands of slow-moving water that extend...

The Petal Effect.(SAMPLINGS)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Ah, roses. Their heady fragrance and delicate petals glistening with dew could soften the hardest heart. But take a sharper look at the dewdrops. They bead, rather than spread--and that's because the material composing the petal surface doesn't...

Bugs smell funny.(SAMPLINGS)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... When an animal detects an odor, a flurry of activity ensues inside its sensory cells--whether they're in a dog's nose or a moth's antenna. Those cellular mechanisms are extremely complex and were thought to be universal. New research shows,...

Clouds and mirrors.(SAMPLINGS)(black hole, Sagittarius A)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... The space surrounding a black hole at a galaxy's center normally radiates lots of X-rays, yet the vicinity of the black hole called Sagittarius A that lies at the hub of our own Milky Way is unusually dim. It wasn't always so: 300 years ago,...

Brain freeze.(SAMPLINGS)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] No one likes making mistakes on the job, but it's easy to lose focus when you're stuck doing the same thing over and over. What if you could predict--and prevent--such errors? A new study shows that the brain begins...

Six-legged agents of change.(THE WARMING EARTH)(pine beetles )(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Hordes of mountain pine beetles are decimating British Columbian forests. Rising temperatures due to global warming have boosted the beetles' numbers by increasing their reproductive rate and reducing their winter...

Battered expectations: do baseballs obey the conventional laws of physics?(BIOMECHANICS)
July 1, 2008... On fields of dreams, the duel between the batter and the pitcher at times assumes aspects of humiliation and farce. And never more so than when a batter misses a pitch, swinging so forcefully as to nearly sprain something. The culprit in such...

How dogs came to run the world: during the past 40 million years, three great lineages arose in the dog family. Two are now extinct, but diversity thrives in the array of living species.(Cover story)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The downfall of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago gave mammals an incredible opening, and they ran for it, rapidly becoming the dominant land vertebrates. Among those to emerge were the earliest carnivorans (members...

Birds of a different feather: by mimicking a variety of animal calls, Sri Lankan drongos influence the behavior of mixed-species flocks.
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] We were losing the flock. A thicket of bamboo in the Sri Lankan rainforest blocked a clear line of pursuit, and we hadn't heard any birdcalls for several minutes--only the sawmill whine of cicadas. Suddenly a black...

Water sprites: diverse wetlands rub shoulders in Michigan.(THIS LAND)(Rose Lake Wildlife Research Center)
July 1, 2008... In 1938, the Michigan Department of Conservation purchased 765 acres of farmland, swampland, and small lakes about twelve miles northeast of Lansing, and the Rose Lake Wildlife Experiment Station was established. Additional land has been added...

Beach reading.(BOOKSHELF)(Cretaceous Dawn and Final Theory)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... Reading may not be sweat-inducing, but something about the dog days of summer makes one want to go light on mental exercise. July and August reading choices should require only a comfortable beach chair, a generous coating of SPF-30 lotion, and...

The Stone Gods.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson Harcourt, 2007:$24.00 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This isn't exactly science fiction, though it does feature a lot of space travel and a world in which people are genetically engineered to stay...

The Abyssinian Proof.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... The Abyssinian Proof by Jenny White Norton, 2008; $23.95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] You can almost see the smoke and hear the calls to prayer as author Jenny White guides you through the narrow streets of Istanbul. The year...

Flatland: A Journey of Many Dimensions; The Movie Edition.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... Flatland: A Journey of Many Dimensions; The Movie Edition by Edwin A, Abbott with Thomas Banchoff and the Filmmakers of Flatland Princeton University Press, 2008; $15.00 Originally published in 1884, this wonderful fantasy--written...

Skylog.
July 1, 2008... The "star" of the summer is Jupiter, shining bright within Sagittarius, the Archer--above and to the left of the constellation's most prominent star pattern, popularly known as the Teapot. In early July, when Jupiter swings into opposition...

July nights out.(SKYLOG)(Brief article)(Calendar)
July 1, 2008... 1 Mercury approaches its greatest elongation (apparent distance) west of the Sun--a separation of 22 degrees. Look for the planet low near the east-northeast horizon about an hour before sunrise. An hour or so after sundown this same day, low...

August nights out.(SKYLOG)(Brief article)(Calendar)
July 1, 2008... 1 A total solar eclipse sweeps from northern Canada across the Arctic Circle and Siberia into China (see story above). The Moon becomes new at 6:12 A.M. EDT. 8 The Moon waxes to first quarter at 4:20 P.M. EDT. 11-12 The Perseid meteor...

Historic summit aims to improve science education.(At the Museum: American Museum of Natural History)
July 1, 2008... In early April 2008, an eminent group of nationally recognized leaders in education, business, philanthropy, science, media, and government gathered for a dynamic summit convened by the American Museum of Natural History intended to expand and...

Island-hopping for malaria's evolutionary path.(At the Museum: American Museum of Natural History)(Susan Perkins )(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Who doesn't dream of turquoise waters, verdant backdrops, d scarlet birds? Susan Perkins has taken the archetypical vacation one step further: her research on the evolution of malaria "forces" her to island-hop in...

Web extra: the story behind The Horse www.amnh.org/horse.(At the Museum: American Museum of Natural History)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... The development of any exhibition holds unique challenges and hat was certainly true of The Horse, the current show exploring the evolution of this animal and the ensuing enduring bond between horses and humans that truly changed the world. ...

Exhibitions.(At the Museum: American Museum of Natural History)(Calendar)
July 1, 2008... The Horse Through January 4, 2009 This trailblazing exhibition explores the origins of the horse family, extending back more than 50 million years; examines early interactions between horses and humans that led to horse domestication;...

Lectures.(At the Museum: American Museum of Natural History)(Chris McMillian and David Wondrich)(Calendar)
July 1, 2008... Global Kitchen: Mint Julep Tuesday, 7/22, 6:30 p.m. Taste a bit of history--the mint julep, official drink of the Kentucky Derby--with master mixologist Chris McMillian and cocktail historian David Wondrich.

Field trip.(At the Museum: American Museum of Natural History)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Bat Walks Friday, 7/58 (rain date 7/19), 7/25 (rain date 7/26), 8:30 p.m. (Not for children under 5) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Join the New York Bat Group for a walk through Central Park to learn how bat watchers are cataloging...

AMNH adventures: summer camps.(At the Museum: American Museum of Natural History)(Brief article)(Calendar)
July 1, 2008... Each session includes hands-on investigations, behind-the-scenes tours, and visits with Museum scientists. For further information, please call 212-769-5315. Water Camp Monday-Friday, 7/7-11 (For children entering grades 2 or 3) ...

Hayden Planetarium programs.(At the Museum: American Museum of Natural History)(Brief article)(Calendar)
July 1, 2008... TUESDAYS IN THE DOME Virtual Universe Things That Go Bang Tuesday, 7/1, 6:30 p.m. Journey through the Milky Way Tuesday, 8/5, 6:30 p.m. Celestial Highlights Near and Far Tuesday, 7/29, 6:30 p.m. ...

Hayden Planetarium shows.(At the Museum: American Museum of Natural History)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Cosmic Collisions Journey into deep space to explore the hypersonic impacts that drive the formation of our universe. Narrated by Robert Redford. Cosmic Collisions was developed in collaboration with the Denver Museum of Nature &...

Imax movies.(At the Museum: American Museum of Natural History)(Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure)(Movie review)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure Travel back 82 million years to a time when strange creatures filled the seas that once covered what is now the middle of North America.

Fine grain.(ENDPAPER)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I started looking at sand under my microscope in 2001, when my brother sent me a can full of sand from Maui as a subtle hint to come visit him there. Expecting to see a bunch of tiny brown rocks, I was astonished at...