Natural History articles from March 2001

Natural History archives from March 2001

In Defense of Larvae.(poor opinion held by people about insect larvae)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Larva. To a lot of people, the word signifies something half-formed, ugly, and likely to devour food stores, winter clothing, or green leaves. As a rule, we glorify the butterfly and dismiss the caterpillar. Exceptions may be made for tadpoles,...

LETTERS.
March 1, 2001... Word Count In his article on the evolution of language, "Homo Grammaticus" (12/00-1/01), Martin A. Nowak states that "English has about 100,000 words." But an article in the December 2000 issue of Smithsonian notes that English has "a...

IN SUM.(male blue-footed boobies; amoeba; chameleons)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... DADDY'S NO BOOB According to some evolutionary biologists, males will act to favor the reproduction of their own genes at the expense of their rivals' genes. Male blue-footed boobies provide extensive parental care, including defending the...

Urban Country.(city park in Indianapolis, Indiana)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... An Indianapolis park offers some natural surprises. In 1916 John Holliday, who founded the Indianapolis News and the Indiana National Bank, donated his country estate to Indianapolis for family recreation and nature study. Today, managed by...

Birding hot spots.(includes article on binoculars)
March 1, 2001... TAKE AN EXOTIC VACATION OFF THE BEATEN PATH. HERE ARE SOME DESTINATIONS TO CONSIDER FOR YOUR IDEAL BIRDING ADVENTURE. IF YOU WANT TO FOLLOW THE WORLD'S MOST FASCINATING BIRDS, PACK A GOOD PAIR OF BINOCULARS, A CAMERA, AND A FIELD GUIDE THAT...

Warm Welcome.(beaver lodges)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... A beaver's lodge is its castle, particularly when ice covers the pond. Northern winters can be long for a beaver--longer than for most nonhibernating mammals. Though equipped to gnaw through the hardest wood, beavers show little...

Lost in Space.(space station Mir to reenter earth's atmosphere)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... What goes up must come down. Or not. Every sky watcher knows that whats up in our nighttime skies isn't up at all. Celestial objects may look as though they're "up there" to observers "down here" on Earth, but we long ago adjusted our...

DESTINATION MARYLAND.(recreation in Maryland)
March 1, 2001... Where Visitors Can Be Treated to Solitude or Adventure FOR CENTURIES, MARYLAND'S NATURAL WONDERS HAVE CAPTIVATED BIRD WATCHERS, NATURE LOVERS, AND ADVENTURERS ALIKE. AND NOW MARYLAND WANTS TO INVITE YOU TO FIND OUT WHY. WHETHER YOU WANT TO...

THE SKY IN MARCH.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Mercury hugs the southeastern horizon before dawn in early March. Despite being far from the Sun (27.5 [degrees] at greatest elongation on the 11th), it comes into view only for those willing to search diligently with binoculars. Venus is...

The Scavenging of "Peking Man".
March 1, 2001... New evidence shows that a venerable cave was neither hearth nor home. China is filled with archaeological wonders, but few can rival the Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian, which has been inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Located...

A WORLD APART.(larval lifestyle of ocean inhabitants)
March 1, 2001... The larval lifestyle may seem alien to us terrestrial bipeds, but it comes quite naturally to most creatures--especially inhabitants of the world's oceans. A tiny larva, not much larger than a speck of dust, swims through the swirling soup...

The Aftershocks That Weren't.(earthquakes trigger other earthquakes)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... New evidence from California --and old reports from the Midwest--indicate that some earthquakes can trigger others hundreds of miles away. Before dawn on June 28, 1992, residents of southern California were jolted from their sleep by a...

Mushi.(Japanese children catch and play with insects)
March 1, 2001... Every summer and fall, Japanese children spend hours catching and playing with insects. Each summer and fall, many Japanese children (mostly boys) spend hours catching and playing with insects, or mushi. Live mushi are also sold in...

The Helicoprion Mystery.(where ancient shark's body were its teeth located)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Where were the teeth situated on this ancient shark? In its jaw? On its tail? On its back? In the Museum's Hall of Vertebrate Origins is a most intriguing object, tucked away where few people see it. The object appears to be a perfect...

The Magic Furnace: The Search for the Origins of Atoms.(Review)
March 1, 2001... The Magic Furnace: The Search for the Origins of Atoms, by Marcus Chown (Oxford University Press, 2001; $25) Gazing out at the far reaches of the universe led scientists back into the microworld of matter. The unity of nature isn't...

Gems of the Universe.(pictures of outer space on Internet)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Last month I revisited one of the first Internet sites reviewed in this column, the one created to post the latest images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. I was drawn to a wonderful new extension of the site called Hubble Heritage Project...

BOOKSHELF.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... The 23rd Cycle: Learning To Live With a Stormy Star, by Sten Odenwald (Columbia University Press, 2001; $27.95) Tracing the recent history of the Sun's destructive power, astronomer Odenwald warns us about the coming cycle of solar flares...

Coming to Our Senses.(use of five senses in exploration)
March 1, 2001... Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure science. -- Edwin P. Hubble Our eyes are special organs. They allow us to register information not only from across the room but from across...

Pier Revue.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Built in 1866, the West Pier at Brighton, on the south coast of England, has long been a place for socializing. Seaside visitors flocked to its pavilion and concert hall until the pier closed in 1975. Although the empty buildings on the now...

Informed Consent.
March 1, 2001... A muckraking book spotlights the ethics of anthropological fieldwork. Early last September, an ominous message addressed to the president of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) began making the rounds of the e-mail grapevine....