Eureka! from Creators Syndicate

Stubborn and Smart for 09/04/2008

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Being called "mule-headed" might not be such a bad thing.

An English biologist tested the cognitive skills of horses, donkeys and mules (bred from a male donkey and a female horse) and reported that mules are smarter than their parents.

Six of each animal were shown sets of two food buckets, each bucket marked with a different symbol. To obtain the food, the animals had ...

Updated: Thu Sep 04, 2008

Stubborn and Smart for 09/04/2008

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Being called "mule-headed" might not be such a bad thing.

An English biologist tested the cognitive skills of horses, donkeys and mules (bred from a male donkey and a female horse) and reported that mules are smarter than their parents.

Six of each animal were shown sets of two food buckets, each bucket marked with a different symbol. To obtain the food, the animals had ...

Updated: Thu Sep 04, 2008

Amber Insured This Gecko Would Last for 09/11/2008

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Scientists at Oregon State University and London's Natural History Museum have announced the discovery of 100-million-year-old remains of a gecko, pushing back the known life history of geckos 40 million years.

A tiny foot, toes and part of a tail were found entombed in amber — fossilized resin or tree sap. The rest of the lizard was missing, perhaps eaten by a predator or scavenge ...

Updated: Thu Sep 11, 2008

Downsized and Down for 09/18/2008

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The pain of downsizing isn't limited to laid-off workers and their families, says a new study. Even a single involuntary job displacement has a lasting impact on a worker's current and future inclination to volunteer and participate in his or her social group and community.

The study by sociologists at UCLA and the University of Michigan found that workers who had experienced just one in ...

Updated: Thu Sep 18, 2008

Snack Hole for 09/25/2008

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The question of whether the startup of the Large Hadron Collider in Europe would create a black hole capable of swallowing the Earth apparently wasn't the only thing on the minds of editors at Scientific American magazine.

They had another question: How fast could it defrost a pizza?

The LHC, of course, is the newest and biggest particle accelerator, a device intended to explore t ...

Updated: Thu Sep 25, 2008

Remember Pompeii for 10/02/2008

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The volcano Mount Vesuvius has erupted multiple times in recorded history, most recently in 1944 and most notoriously in the year 79, when it destroyed the Italian city of Pompeii. Some vulcanologists fear it may be preparing to do so again, with explosive consequences.

French researchers say they have detected significant upward movement of the volcano's magma chamber. Generally speakin ...

Updated: Thu Oct 02, 2008

Worse Than Their Bark for 10/09/2008

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Wood-chomping pests like the pine bark beetle are already infamous for their devastating impact on forests. Now, it appears, their destructiveness isn't limited to trees.

Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research are investigating how beetle-induced destruction of large swaths of forest is influencing rainfall, temperature, smog and other aspects of the atmosphere.

< ...

Updated: Thu Oct 09, 2008

Sacrificial Ants for 10/16/2008

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The tiny ant Forelius pusillus makes its home in the sugar cane fields of Brazil. Each night, the ants seal up the entrance to their nest with sand, a defensive measure against marauding colonies of predatory army ants. Each night, a few workers die for the greater good.

In order to make sure the nest entrance is completely closed, a few Forelius pusillus workers must remain outside to p ...

Updated: Thu Oct 16, 2008

Vote for Me for 10/23/2008

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

By definition, a narcissist is someone who's self-absorbed, egotistical and abundantly confident of his or her abilities. So maybe it's not surprising, especially to narcissists, that a new Ohio State University study suggests they're most likely to take charge when a group is without a leader.

"Not only did narcissists rate themselves as leaders, which you would expect, but other g ...

Updated: Thu Oct 23, 2008

Eaten out of House and Home for 10/30/2008

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The 2005 devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina is broadly attributed to the powerful winds and waters that overwhelmed vast sections of the city's network of levees and floodwalls.

But new findings by a professor at Louisiana State University suggest the destruction had begun years earlier, and the culprit was considerably smaller: the Formosan subterranean termite.

Greg ...

Updated: Thu Oct 30, 2008

Worst Pollution Problems for 11/06/2008

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

In artisanal gold mining, workers collect silt from crudely dug pits and then add the element mercury to the dirt. Mercury attracts the gold, causing it to lump together. The dirt is then heated, which dissipates the mercury, leaving the gold easier to see and extract.

The method is effective but deadly. Mercury is a toxic metal known to cause brain damage and death. Artisanal miners inv ...

Updated: Thu Nov 06, 2008

The Sky is Falling (Killing, Too)! for 11/13/2008

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Astronomer Phil Plait (who also runs the Discover magazine blog, Bad Astronomer) has just published a book — "Death From the Skies!" (Viking) — which illustrates the various ways the universe might conspire to destroy Earth.

Here's an abbreviated list, with odds of fatality per lifetime and whether the event is preventable or not:

— Asteroid impact: Loc ...

Updated: Thu Nov 13, 2008

Accessorizing Death for 11/20/2008

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Archaeologists in northern Israel recently unearthed the 12,000-year-old skeleton of a female Natufian shaman, among the oldest ever found and the only shaman grave discovered thus far in the region.

The woman, estimated to be 45 years old at the time of her death, was buried in an unusual position, on her side with her back pushed up against the curved wall of an oval-shaped grave. Her ...

Updated: Thu Nov 20, 2008

Stone-Baked Dead for 11/27/2008

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Five hundred million years ago, animal life appears to have burst out in glorious diversity, taking new shapes, sizes and forms in an event picturesquely known as the Cambrian explosion.

But the proof — a plethora of beautifully, intricately preserved fossils extracted from the Burgess Shale, a geological formation in Canada — has long been paradoxical. The fossils were once ...

Updated: Thu Nov 27, 2008

Economies of Scale for 12/04/2008

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The shortfin mako isn't the scariest shark in the ocean, but it's arguably the fastest, capable of speed bursts reaching 50 miles per hour. That ability, say researchers, isn't just due to the mako's abundant and powerful muscles, though they no doubt play a role. Credit the shark's skin as well. According to Amy Lang and colleagues at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, tiny scales on the ...

Updated: Thu Dec 04, 2008

Worth the Weight for 12/11/2008

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Here's a variation on an old physics joke:

Physics student: Hey, did you know protons have mass?

Other physics student: I didn't even know they were Catholic.

In fact, particle physicists have known protons had mass since they were discovered 89 years ago, but until recently, scientists have never been able to calculate protons' mass from scratch.

Instead, they estim ...

Updated: Thu Dec 11, 2008

Snail Tale for 12/18/2008

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

At first glance, Sorbeoconcha physidae hardly impresses. It's a small freshwater snail, about one-third of an inch long, dark brown, with no distinguishing features. Except, perhaps, one: It walks on water.

Or more precisely, it walks on the underside of water.

Land snails crawl using adhesive locomotion. That is, they rely upon the sticky properties of their slime trail to both p ...

Updated: Thu Dec 18, 2008

Wingdows and Wingshields for 12/25/2008

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

If you want to build a better window or windshield, perhaps it's best to start with a butterfly's wing.

The insect's lovely wings also represent the fine art of natural engineering — each wing covered with superficial microstructures that keep raindrops beaded up. The drops just roll off, taking dirt with them.

The same thing happens with lotus leaves, which have millions of ...

Updated: Thu Dec 25, 2008

Picture Perfect for 01/01/2009

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Exactly 40 years and one day ago, the residents of Earth received an unprecedented present.

American astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders were orbiting the moon in Apollo 8, 69 miles above the lunar surface. Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon, a preparatory mission for later lunar landings.

On the evening of Dec. 24, 1968, the astronauts were ...

Updated: Thu Jan 01, 2009

This Old Home for 01/08/2009

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

It doesn't take a scientist — or even a very advanced form of hominid — to know that caves make mighty fine shelters. Researchers from the University of Toronto's Archaeology Centre have discovered the oldest evidence yet that early humans knew enough to get in out of the cold and rain.

Working in the Wonderwerk cave in South Africa, a rich repository of early human artifacts ...

Updated: Thu Jan 08, 2009