'Tweeners' with Fins by Scott LaFee - Eureka! on Creators.com

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'Tweeners' with Fins

Teenage sharks. It seems nobody understands them.

Researchers have traditionally focused either upon baby sharks confined to shallow waters or on ocean-roaming adults. Much less is known about intermediate-age sharks, which are the breeders of tomorrow and roughly similar in development to human teenagers.

A novel study in the Bahamas, however, sheds new light. Over 14 years, scientists followed the development of lemon sharks born in the area. They found that fear of deep water and the bigger predators that live there, combined with abundant prey in mangrove swamps, keeps island-born lemon sharks in home waters for years.

This was something of a revelation and an important finding. As humans develop the coast and eradicate shark habitat, they threaten not only the existence of baby sharks but much older specimens as well. Conversely, protecting such habitat helps sharks of all ages.

VERBATIM

I don't know anything about computers. I don't even know how often to change the oil.

— American comedian Buzz Nutley

BRAIN SWEAT

Why is it common for digital alarm clocks to have 9-minute snooze intervals, rather than 10?

PRIME NUMBERS

28.16 — Number of calculations, in trillions, that the Cystorm supercomputer at Iowa State University can perform per second

Source: Iowa State University

BRAIN SWEAT ANSWER

By setting the snooze time to 9 minutes, the alarm clock needs only to monitor the last digit of the time. So, if you hit snooze at 7:45, the alarm goes off again when the last digit hits 4. If it was a 10 minute interval, the alarm would go off immediately or the clock would require additional circuitry to monitor multiple digits of time.

'TRUE FACTS'

It's been a long-standing assumption that extreme cold is tougher on younger, smaller animals because, with less mass, they can't retain heat as well. But a new study of musk oxen — who live and forage through Arctic winters where temperatures drop as low as minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit — shows young oxen don't lose any more heat energy than adults.

The discovery is important because it was presumed high musk oxen calf mortality was largely due to harsh winters. Now scientists have to look for new answers.

QUIRKS OF NATURE

Like humans, cats are right- or left-handed. Or in this case, right- or left-pawed. The preference, according to a new report, appears to depend upon the cat's sex: females tended to favor their right paw while males were mostly lefties.

WHAT IS IT? ANSWER

An ornate horned frog (Ceratophrys ornata). The species is native to northern Argentina, Uruguay and the Rio Grande do Sul region of Brazil. The frogs have exceptionally fast growth rates. Within two weeks of hatching, they have metamorphosed into adult frog form. They can grow quite large, reaching 6 inches across in less than six months.

Carnivorous, they gulp down hapless lizards, rodents, small birds, large insects and other frogs in single mouthfuls. Their mouths are so big, in fact, that they have been nicknamed "Pac-Man" frogs.

POETRY FOR SCIENTISTS

Some aliens landed nearby

And borrowed our neighbor, old Sy.

They returned him intact,

But tattooed with exact

Instructions for shipping by sky.

— Jane Auerbach

To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.