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Lessons Drawn
The ancient Nazca of Peru were terrific artists, best remembered now for creating their complex line drawings of animals and geometric objects that can only be fully appreciated from the air. Nazca knowledge of their environment, however, seems to …Read more.
Man-eaters Not So Much
For more than 80 years, the man-eating Tsavo lions have been a fabulous story and crowd-pleaser. The two lions reportedly killed and ate as many as 135 people in the Tsavo River region of Kenya before being shot and killed in 1898. Their skinned and …Read more.
Counting Cardsharps Out
In the 1988 film "Rain Man," the lead characters hope to strike it rich gambling by "counting cards" at blackjack. That is, by precisely remembering which cards have been played, they would have a better of idea of which cards …Read more.
Cleaning Up, Using Ammonia
When Archaea, an ancient line of bacteria, were first discovered 30 years ago, it was thought they existed only in extreme environments like deep-sea hydrothermal vents or hot springs like the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park (…Read more.
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What's it all about, Algae?The asteroid that struck Earth 65 million years ago notoriously wiped out most of life on the planet, large and small. Even algae in the ocean were affected, though apparently not for long. New evidence reported by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology says ocean algae may have recovered less than 100 years after atmospheric dust from the cosmic impact reduced sunlight available for photosynthesis. Researchers base their conclusions upon finding increased chemical signatures for algae in fossilized sediments dating almost immediately after the asteroid strike. VERBATIM Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion. — Greek philosopher Democritus of Abdera (460 B.C. to 360 B.C.), who first conceived the idea that matter consisted of atoms BRAIN SWEAT Each of the following phrases describes two words that differ by only one letter. The extra letter has either been added to the beginning or the end of the second word. All of the other letters are in the same order. For example, "insect being angry and vocal" translates as "ant rant." 1. Angry buccaneer 2. Second of two dishes 3. Scrawny unidentified object PRIME NUMBERS 10 million — Value of "L Prize," in dollars, a contest sponsored by the U.S. BRAIN SWEAT ANSWER 1. Irate pirate 2. Latter platter 3. Thin thing QUIRKS OF NATURE Weighing more than 3 pounds, the ostrich egg is nature's largest single cell. But it's also the smallest egg laid by a bird in terms of relative size. An ostrich egg represents less than 1.5 percent of the weight of its mother. A wren's egg, in contrast, is 13 percent of its mother's weight. The largest egg in comparison with the size of the bird is that of the little spotted kiwi. Its egg is 26 percent of the mother's weight: the equivalent of a woman giving birth to a 6-year-old. JUST ASKING What should you do if you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant? ANTHROPOLOGY 101 In rural England, it was once thought that a rainstorm could be stopped by making the eldest child of the house strip naked, go outside and stand on his or her head. WHAT IS IT? ANSWER A Japanese spider crab (Macrocheira kaempferi), the largest known arthropod in the world. Fully grown, its leg span can reach almost 13 feet, with a body size of up to 15 inches and a maximum weight of almost 50 pounds. The crab resides in deep waters in the Sea of Japan, where it feeds on dead animals and shellfish. It is believed to have a life expectancy of up to 100 years. 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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