Today's date: 21 November 2009
This Week: Death of the mastadon
In the News: Antarctic ozone hole: 10th largest on record!
Coming Thursday: Return of the wild: Coyotes, bears and turkeys are back!
Archive for the ‘Curiosities’ Category
Are people attracted to people who look like them? - Friday, January 30th, 2009
Yes, says Linda Roberts, a professor of human development and family studies at UW-Madison.
Roberts, who studies couples, says evidence supports this folk wisdom. People are generally attracted to those of similar social class, age and ethnicity. To illustrate the point in her class on couple relationships, she chooses someone in a long-term relationship and pretends [...]
What food was served at the original Thanksgiving celebration? - Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
Plucked from his own time in the autumn of 1621 and deposited at a “traditional” Thanksgiving dinner today, a Plymouth, Mass. Pilgrim would have gawked at the foodstuffs, says UW-Madison historian Stanley Schultz.
“He would not have recognized mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, bread stuffing of any composition, green beans (alone or in some noxious casserole), corn [...]
How do birds migrate? - Thursday, November 20th, 2008
The essential skills of bird migration are orientation — knowing north from south, and east from west — and navigation, having some sort of “map” to establish the location you’re aiming for, says Stanley Temple, emeritus professor of conservation.
Birds usually orient themselves by observing the sun and the stars – although some can also sense [...]
How do public health officials determine which strain of influenza to create vaccines for each year? - Thursday, November 6th, 2008
This year’s influenza vaccine in the United States contains three strains of the influenza virus. Last March, experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization chose those strains based on the varieties of flu virus that were present at the end of North America’s flu season.
The decision [...]
Why do people like to scare themselves by watching horror movies or going on thrill rides? - Thursday, October 30th, 2008
First of all, it’s important to remember that many people don’t enjoy these experiences, said Jack Nitschke, a UW-Madison professor of psychiatry and psychology. But those who do may be seeking thrills provided by the amygdala, a brain region that controls our emotional responses to salient objects and events.
The amygdala kicks in when we encounter [...]
Why do apple slices turn brown? - Monday, October 20th, 2008
The moment a knife slices through apple—spilling the contents of apple cells along the surface of the cut, and allowing everything to mix—a reaction begins. In particular, an enzyme known as polyphenol oxidase that had been held in check is loosed.
Almost immediately, it begins altering polyphenols, a group of health-promoting chemicals with antioxidant activity that [...]
How many people can the Earth support? - Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
It depends on the kind of lifestyle those people enjoy, says Lisa Naughton, a UW-Madison professor of geography and environmental studies.
The late 18th century English economist Thomas Malthus – one of the first to express concern about overpopulation – observed that there should be no more people in a country than can “daily enjoy a [...]
What’s behind the claims that the new particle accelerator in Europe may create black holes that could destroy the Earth? Should we be worried? - Monday, August 18th, 2008
When the Large Hadron Collider starts running this summer near Geneva, Switzerland, some physicists have predicted that some of its high-energy proton collisions could produce microscopic black holes. Concerned about the ramifications of such black holes, two men filed a lawsuit in March in Hawaii contending that safety concerns have been inadequately addressed at the [...]
What will be the most likely fuel to replace gasoline? - Thursday, July 31st, 2008
Today, ethanol is a fuel additive used to replace or decrease the need for fossil fuels in trucks, automobiles and other engines. Most of this ethanol comes from the sugars within corn kernels, but the search for other sources of sugar is under way.
“The likely candidate? Ethanol made from sugars in cellulose, or ‘grassoline,’ as [...]
Which saves more gas: driving with windows closed, and the AC on, or AC off, and windows open? - Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
That depends on conditions. “Today’s cars are designed to be very aerodynamic,” says Glenn Bower, a senior scientist at the Engine Research Center at UW-Madison. “They ‘cut’ through the air at moderate speeds. At lower speed, stopping and starting dominate the vehicle’s energy consumption, while at highway speed (45 to 65 mph) most of the [...]
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