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Same Old Song (Not)
Birds are not born with a song in their hearts or their heads. They must learn them from other birds.
So naturally, it seems only reasonable that these songs evolve, with each generation tweaking tunes to fit their times.
And, in fact, this is what …Read more.
Walleye Fans See Danger in Duo
Walleyes reside at the apex of the natural food chain in the Great Lakes and are a prized sports fish, critical to a $7 billion-a-year local fishery. But that lofty and much-admired perch (the spot, not the fish) is becoming increasingly precarious, …Read more.
Digging Up Trouble
A different kind of mine disaster may be in the offing as researchers watch and worry about the human and environmental consequences of mining antimony, an element whose effects in nature and upon the human body are largely unknown.
"Antimony …Read more.
Digging Up Trouble
A different kind of mine disaster may be in the offing as researchers watch and worry about the human and environmental consequences of mining antimony, an element whose effects in nature and upon the human body are largely unknown.
"Antimony …Read more.
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Of Beaks and BitesStowaway mosquitoes, arriving in the Galapagos Islands aboard aircrafts carrying workers and tourists, have the potential of introducing fatal viruses to the native finch species of the islands, birds made famous by the evolutionary studies of Charles Darwin and others. Scientists have captured mosquitoes surviving in the holds of arriving planes. Though none of the insects found so far has carried a lethal virus, such as West Nile, they have the potential to do so. The finches lack natural immunological protection from many viruses, due to their island isolation far from the mainland. Conservationists are recommending that planes leaving mainland Ecuador for the Galapagos be sprayed with insecticide before departure. VERBATIM Finding so much plastic there was shocking. How could there be this much plastic floating in a random patch of ocean — a thousand miles from land? — Miriam Goldstein, chief scientist of the SEAPLEX expedition, which recently concluded a survey of the "Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch," a Texas-sized swath of plastic debris 1,000 miles off the California coast BRAIN SWEAT A rooster lays an egg at the very top of a slanted roof. On which side is the egg going to roll off? PRIME NUMBERS 4 — Estimated number of square meters of rain forest destroyed to produce 1 gram of cocaine Source: Government of Columbia BRAIN SWEAT ANSWER Neither. Roosters don't lay eggs. 'TRUE FACTS' European environmentalists are blaming intensive farming for the recent death of a horse and the collapse of its rider on a beach in Brittany, France, according to New Scientist magazine. Fertilizer runoff from nearby farms, they say, created a mat of algae on the beach, which releases toxic hydrogen sulfide gas as it rots. QUIRKS OF NATURE Australian scientists report that climate change is causing some indigenous bird species to shrink.
WHERE IN THE WORLD? ANSWER The Vredefort dome in the Free State of South Africa. This is the largest and oldest of 174 characterized impact structures on Earth, places where large cosmic objects have struck the planet. It is 100 miles in diameter and estimated to be 2 billion years old. By comparison, the Barringer crater, a tourist attraction 43 miles east of Flagstaff, Ariz., is less than a mile across and estimated to be just 49,000 years old. THE GEEK ATLAS The Escher Museum The Hague, Netherlands 52 degrees, 5 minutes, 0 degrees N; 4 degrees, 18 minutes, 52 seconds E M.C. Escher (1898-1972) is perhaps the world's best known optical illusionist, and this museum contains almost all of his creations, from infinite staircases to hands drawing themselves to fish turning into birds and other metamorphosing animals.
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. COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS.COM   
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