Natural History articles from November 2005

Natural History archives from November 2005

Beachcombing.(THE NATURAL MOMENT)(Charles Darwin discovered some creatures)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Sail to the Galapagos Islands, where Charles Darwin made his most famous discoveries, and you'll likely be met on the lava rocks near the water's edge by two stalwart creatures: the marine iguana and the sally lightfoot crab. Both species use...

The new Darwinism.(UP FRONT)
November 1, 2005... Evolutionary biology has always been the most controversial of the scientific disciplines. Darwin himself hesitated to bring his ideas to light, for fear of the misunderstanding and vitriol they might engender. His fears, of course, were...

Making music.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2005... "The Magic Flutes" [9/05], by ZhangJuzhong and Lee Yun Kuen, was fascinating, but it does not discuss how the flutes were made. How did someone from the early Neolithic period cut fragile bones to size and drill holes in them? Do we have any...

Bad bugs.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2005... In her article on the assassin bug ["In The Heat of the Night" (7-8/05)], Graciela Flores falls into the inverse-square-law trap when she writes that the amount of heat received by a bug's antennae quadruples as the bug halves the distance to...

Measure for measure.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2005... I enjoyed Neil deGrasse Tyson's article on measurement ["The Long and Short of It," 4/05], but I was disappointed when he said of the Imperial units, "I'm in no hurry to see it all go" Whether you're doing carpentry, plumbing, or cooking,...

Hair trigger.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2005... In his article on the Venus flytrap ["Snap!" 6-05], Adam Summers writes, "The flytrap features a set of inch-long, heart-shaped capture leaves, each fringed with trigger hairs...." The projections along the outer edges of both halves of the...

Your theory or mine?(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2005... In his Up Front column "Prove It!" [9/05], Peter Brown argued that intelligent design is a problem because "it can't be tested, proved, refuted, or falsified." I agree. Nevertheless, in an advertisement a few pages later, you claim that...

Incredible India-incredible Wildlife: a country devoted to conservation.(distinctive destinations/special advertising section)
November 1, 2005... EXOTIC, ACCESSIBLE INDIA IS HOME to one of the world's most vibrant cultures, bustling cities, glorious architecture, and, of course, the Taj Mahal. But savvy travellers seeking a singular experience know that India is equally known for its...

Peru's hidden legacy: a land of natural- and man-made wonders.(distinctive destinations/special advertising section)
November 1, 2005... SAY "PERU," AND THE FIRST IMAGE that comes to mind is the spectacular buildings of Machu Picchu and the Inca empire. But this verdant, rugged country is also rich with archaeological sites from even more ancient times, when great civilizations...

The secret desert: Tucson's sunshine and saguaros are just the beginning.(distinctive destinations/special advertising section)
November 1, 2005... TUCSON--THE OLDEST continuously inhabited settlement in the United States--embodies a rich Native American, Spanish, Mexican and American heritage. For those seeking spirit of place beyond the ordinary, the city's unique mix of cactus and cool...

Unexpected New Mexico: a state of natural wonders.(distinctive destinations/special advertising section)
November 1, 2005... NEW MEXICO HAS ALWAYS BEEN A place where distinct cultures, traditions and talents abound. Civilizations dating back thousands of years--Spanish conquistadors in the 16th Century, and Anglo settlement in the 1800s--created a vibrant present-day...

Learning in luxury: a cruise line gives passengers the gift of time.(distinctive destinations/special advertising section)(Orient Lines)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... ORIENT LINES, CELEBRATED FOR its comprehensive itineraries and good value, now in its 12th year, has carved out a top-notch reputation among discerning passengers who seek education along with destination. A tradition of friendly ambiance...

Discover the world: ... with everything included.(distinctive destinations/special advertising section)(Swan Hellenic Cruises)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... SMART TRAVELLERS HAVE ALWAYS EMBRACED THE IDEA OF seeing the world on a cruise, visiting exotic lands with the convenience of having one's hotel room move with you. And for 50 years, Swan Hellenic has been the leader in discovery travel for the...

Short-listed.(SAMPLINGS)(astronomical observations)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Saturn's small, icy moon Enceladus already holds the title of most reflective object in the solar system. Now it's vying for a spot on another select roster. Recent images made by the Cassini spacecraft show four eighty-mile-long fractures...

You can't tell a tortoise by its cover.(SAMPLINGS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... In 1835, as he surveyed the flora and fauna of the Galapagos archipelago, the young Charles Darwin was struck by how the shapes of the giant tortoises, Geochelone nigra, vary from island to island. The reptiles' shells are their most...

Happy farmers.(SAMPLINGS)(nitrogen-15 isotope used for plant growth)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... How much can a bit of sleuthing glean from a few ancient bones? Sometimes, the answer is, a lot. For one thing, anthropologists can get a pretty good idea, from traces of various elements in the bones, what their original owners ate. An...

Mommy training.(SAMPLINGS)(chimpanzee trains baby to do termite fishing)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... In 1960 Jane Goodall watched a chimpanzee strip the leaves off a twig and then insert it into a termite mound to "fish" for termites. Her observation was the first time anyone documented seeing a nonhuman animal manufacture a tool in the wild....

It's snot raining.(SAMPLINGS)(food preparation by sea squirts)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... In the deep sea, where it's too dark for photosynthesis, the water teems with crabs, fish, jellyfish, mollusks, and other life-forms. But what do all those hungry mouths eat? Some eat each other, of course, as well as the nutrients raining down...

Tree impostors.(SAMPLINGS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Some parasites are content simply to feed off their host. But the most intriguing parasites also manipulate the host's physiology to their own ends. Recently, the first example of an insect parasite that takes control of seed development in a...

Eye on the eye.(SAMPLINGS)(Richat structure)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... The Richat structure lies in western Mauritania, surrounded by the vast Sahara. It includes a 650-foot-high plateau surrounded by concentric ridges and valleys, which together make up a dome structure some twenty-five miles across, perhaps best...

Silent defense.(SAMPLINGS)(Nucleotide sequencing)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Immunologists studying the HIV virus have been so busy deciphering the response it evokes in humans that they have missed a simple, ancient line of defense: RNA "silencing." Silencing is a form of nucleic-acid-based immunity, originally...

Sideways glance.(SAMPLINGS)(flamingo eyes)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... If you could redesign your own head, where would you put your eyes? The question isn't entirely frivolous. To see in three-dimensions, and so to gauge distances effectively, your two eyes must face forward. But binocular vision comes at a...

The perimeter of ignorance: a boundary where scientists face a choice: invoke a deity or continue the quest for knowledge.(UNIVERSE)
November 1, 2005... Writing in centuries past, many scientists felt compelled to wax poetic about cosmic mysteries and God's handiwork. Perhaps one should not be surprised at this: most scientists back then, as well as many scientists today, identify themselves as...

Introduction: the illusion of design.(Darwin & Evolution)
November 1, 2005... The world is divided into things that look as though somebody designed them (wings and wagon-wheels, hearts and televisions), and things that just happened through the unintended workings of physics (mountains and rivers, sand dunes, and solar...

The Miraculous Season: tramping in the fields and tinkering in the greenhouse, Darwin created a revolution in botany.(The Historical Darwin)
November 1, 2005... The spring and summer of 1860 were the first growing seasons after the Origin of Species appeared. Darwin anxiously kept tabs on the debate about his revolutionary theory, which raged that summer--notably at the Oxford meeting of the British...

Bee lines and worm burrows: growing up as Darwin's little helpers.(Charles Darwin's children)
November 1, 2005... Charles and Emma Darwin moved from London to Down, Kent, in 1842, when their first two children, William and Annie, were still small. As Emma gave birth to more children, their father grew comfortably ensconced in the country house that he...

Darwin's shrink: a noted Darwin historian proves the naturalist's inner life.(Interview)
November 1, 2005... Psychiatrist Ralph Colp Jr.'s favorite patient has been buried in Westminster Abbey since 1882. Nevertheless, Colp has come to know him intimately through unpublished letters, his medical diary, and written reminiscences of his family and...

Good breeding: Darwin doubted his own family's "fitness.".(Charles Darwin)(Biography)
November 1, 2005... Brought up in a provincial market town, Charles Darwin lived for forty years in rural Kent, where he raised a large family. The English countryside was his natural habitat, a world of gentleman farmers devoted to breeding livestock, flowers,...

Evolution in action: finches, monkeyflowers, sockeye salmon, and bacteria are changing before our eyes.(Darwinism Today)
November 1, 2005... Charles Darwin's wife, Emma, was terrified that they would be separated for eternity, because she would go to heaven and he would not. Emma confessed her fears in a letter that Charles kept and treasured, with his reply to her scribbled in the...

The fossils say yes: the discovery of transitional forms has filled in some of the most talked-about gaps in the fossil record.
November 1, 2005... It has been asserted over and over again, by writers who believe in the immutability of species, that geology yields no linking forms. This assertion... is certainly erroneous.... What geological research has not revealed, is the former...

The origins of form: ancient genes, recycled and repurposed, control embryonic development in organisms of striking diversity.
November 1, 2005... When we no longer look at an organic being as a savage looks at a ship, as at something wholly beyond his comprehension; when we regard every production of nature as one which has had a history; when we contemplate every complex structure and...

On Darwin's shoulders: computers and molecular techniques are ushering evolutionary biology into a new era.(Charles Darwin)
November 1, 2005... Charles Darwin's daring proposal that all living things have descended with modification from "a few forms or one" gained wide acceptance among biologists within twenty years of its publication in the Origin of Species. That vision of common...

No links missing.(nature.net)(creationism versus evolution)
November 1, 2005... On a windswept stretch of Interstate 10, between Los Angeles and Palm Springs, a forty-five-foot concrete sauropod overlooks the speeding cars. Behind it looms an even taller T. rex. Built by a former amusement park sculptor in the 1960s, these...

Fyi reader service.(Advertisement)
November 1, 2005... 1. ADVENTURE CANADA Travel on the 104-passenger, zodiac-equipped M/S Explorer and discover the art, culture and wildlife of Arctic Canada and Greenland with our team of artists, scientists, and culturalists. 2. ADVENTURE LIFE JOURNEYS...

The galaxies, they are a-changin': the cosmos evolves, just like life on Earth.(OUT THERE)
November 1, 2005... Evolution happens--and not just to life on Earth. Planets evolve. Stars evolve. Galaxies evolve. Even the universe itself evolves. Now, before you imagine celestial objects undergoing a surreal form of natural selection, I should clarify what...

The sky in November.
November 1, 2005... Mercury will be hard to see early this month. Look for it with binoculars, about twenty-three degrees below and to the right of Venus shortly after sunset. Viewers in the south will have the best chance to spot the planet this month, because it...

Dolls in the discovery room.(At the Museum: American Museum of Natural History)
November 1, 2005... As a child holds a small doll dressed in a green sari, her parents excitedly point to Bangladesh on a map on the wall nearby, explaining that this is the place her family came from. The child in turn shows her friend. This is the type of...

Darwin.(At the Museum: American Museum of Natural History)(Charles Darwin)(Calendar)
November 1, 2005... November 19, 2005-May 29, 2006 Gallery 3, third floor On Saturday, November 19, 2005, the American Museum of Natural History will open Darwin, the most in-depth exhibition ever presented on this highly original thinker, botanist, geologist,...

Kevin Orangers: Moveable Museum Program Manager Department of Education.(PEOPLE AT THE AMNH)(American Museum of Natural History)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... For ten years, Kevin Orangers has filled a unique and challenging role as an educator, planner, and administrator for the Moveable Museums, an educational outreach program that brings the science of the Museum into the community in retrofired...

Exhibitions.(Museum Events: American Museum of Natural History)(Calendar)
November 1, 2005... Darwin Opens November 19, 2005 A comprehensive, engaging exploration of the life and times of Charles Darwin, featuring live animals from the Galapagos Islands, actual fossil specimens collected by Darwin, archival documents, and...

Margaret Mead film & video festival.(Museum Events: American Museum of Natural History)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
November 1, 2005... Thursday-Sunday, 11/3-6, and Saturday and Sunday, 11/12 and 13 The 29th annual film and video festival, showcasing the best international documentaries, will include screenings, discussions, and panels. Visit www.amnh.org/mead or call...

Lectures.(Museum Events: American Museum of Natural History)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
November 1, 2005... Dinosaurs on Film Saturday, 11/5, 12:00 noon How have dinosaurs been represented on film? Enjoy clips from classic animation and science fiction blockbusters with John Canemaker of New York University and Carl Mehling, AMNH. ...

Family & children's programs.(Museum Events: American Museum of Natural History)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
November 1, 2005... Dr. Nebula's Laboratory: Dino Adventure Sunday, 11/20, 2:00-3:00 p.m. Join Scooter for a paleontological dig right in Dr. Nebula's laboratory, where she'll uncover the mysteries of dinosaurs and what might have happened to them. ...

Hayden Planetarium programs.(Museum Events: American Museum of Natural History)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
November 1, 2005... TUESDAYS IN THE DOME Virtual Universe Solar System Spectacular Tuesday, 11/15, 6:30-7:30 p.m. This Just In... November's Hot Topics Tuesday, 11/15, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Celestial Highlights Sea of Stars Tuesday, 11/29,...

Hayden Planetarium shows.(Museum Events: American Museum of Natural History)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
November 1, 2005... Sonic Vision Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30, 8:30, and 9:30 p.m. Hypnotic visuals and rhythms take viewers on a ride through fantastical dreamspace. SonicVision is made possible by generous sponsorship and technology support from Sun...

Large-format films.(Museum Events: American Museum of Natural History)
November 1, 2005... LeFrak I MAX Theater For films and showtimes, visit www.amnh.org or call 212-769-5100. IMAX films at the Museum are made possible by Con Edison.

Patterns.(ENDPAPER)(Charles Darwin's observations)
November 1, 2005... When I set out to organize the "Darwin" exhibition, as part of the American Museum of Natural History's great scientists series--and as an early start on Darwin's birthday celebration in 2009--I began with a simple question: What exactly did...