Human Behavior, features and articles | Educational Science

Jul 31, 2006

Clues to 'Black Paul Bunyan' Found

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- Archaeologists excavating the 200-year-old graves of a slave family said Tuesday that they recovered several artifacts that could shed light on the life of a man dubbed the black Paul Bunyan.'' However, the scientists uncovered no genetic material from Venture Smith, who is depicted in...

Jul 31, 2006

X-rays Reveal Archimedes' Hidden Writings

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)—Previously hidden writings of the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes are being uncovered with powerful X-ray beams nearly 800 years after a Christian monk scrubbed off the text and wrote over it with prayers. Over the past week, researchers at Stanford University's Linear Accelerator Center in Menlo Park have...

Jul 31, 2006

Extinction of Languages Puts Plants and Animals at Risk

The ears of linguists, anthropologists, and conservationists perked up with the recent announcement that the federal government will continue to support the digital documentation of languages on the brink of extinction. More than half of the world's 7,000 languages are endangered; many face extinction in the next century. Interestingly, the...

Jul 31, 2006

Urban Legends: How They Start and Why They Persist

My mother has this friend whose daughter got sick from rat pee on her soda can. Sound familiar? You've might have heard the same story. Except that it was someone's boyfriend's brother—or friend's cousin, or doctor's travel agent—who became ill. Either our food inspection system has gone downhill fast, or...

Jun 30, 2006

CSI: Turning from Science to Psychics

Psychics claim to guide us in matters of romance and money, predicting handsome strangers or future fortunes. (If anyone finds a psychic who correctly predicts lottery numbers, please let me know.) But what happens when psychic powers are used for much more important and practical purposes, such as solving crimes?...

Jun 30, 2006

U.S. Military Plans Shape-Shifting Supersonic Bomber

For years, the U.S. military has wanted a plane that could loiter just outside enemy territory for more than a dozen hours and, on command, hurtle toward a target faster than the speed of sound. And then level it. But aircraft that excel at subsonic flight are inefficient at Mach...

Jun 30, 2006

The Artifact Wars: Nations Battle Over Bits of History

Just who holds the deeds to ancient artifacts—the institutes that house them or the countries they came from? Museums might want to bolt their collections to the floor, if a slew of 2006 court decisions are any indication [Quiz]. In one example, the Republic of Iran just entered the fray...

Jun 30, 2006

Ancient Human Footprints Uncovered in Australia

About 20,000 years ago, humans trekked along the margins of a shallow lake in Australia, leaving behind records of their passage in the soft, wet sand. In 2003, an aboriginal woman who is likely a descendant of those early Australians stumbled across dozens of timeworn footprints in the same area....

Jun 30, 2006

Graves Searched for 'Black Paul Bunyan'

EAST HADDAM, Conn. (AP)—Archaeologists have begun digging up the 200-year-old graves of a slave family in hopes of separating fact from fiction in the legend of the black Paul Bunyan.'' The dig has the blessing of more than a dozen descendants of Venture Smith who believe science can finally lend...

May 31, 2006

New Device Disables Digital Cameras

Researchers have built a prototype device that disables digital cameras. Future versions might thwart unwanted photo-taking at a specific location and even prevent clandestine videos from being made. The technology might one day prevent espionage in a building or stop pirating of movies from theaters. It could even be used...

Apr 30, 2006

One-Third of Young Americans Can't Find Louisiana

WASHINGTON (AP)—Despite the wall-to-wall coverage of the damage from Hurricane Katrina, nearly one-third of young Americans recently polled couldn't locate Louisiana on a map and nearly half were unable to identify Mississippi. Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 fared even worse with foreign locations: six in 10 couldn't...

Apr 30, 2006

Bosnian Pyramids: Great Discovery or Colossal Hoax?

It's either one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of our time, or man has made a giant pyramid out of a molehill. In the wake of recent news that evidence of colossal pyramids had been found in the small Bosnian town of Visoko, many in the archaeological community are speaking...

Apr 30, 2006

'Poseidon' Packs Punch of Real Science

MOVIE REVIEW Pity the cruise ship Poseidon, for fortune does not follow her. But it’s that same doomed nature that drives director Wolfgang Petersen’s 2006 update of the 1972 disaster epic The Poseidon Adventure. One is forced to wonder whether another remake of producer Irwin Allen’s Adventure is warranted—especially after...

Apr 30, 2006

Multimedia Babies: What's a Parent to Do?

WASHINGTON (AP)—They're bombarded with electronics starting in infancy, from the new Sesame Street'' for 6-month-olds to game-playing laptops for toddlers. But when does being a multimedia youngster help—and when does it hurt—children's malleable brains? The claims vary widely, from proponents who say TV and baby software can help kids learn...

Apr 30, 2006

Al Gore Takes 'Inconvenient Truth' to Cannes

CANNES, France (AP)—Michael Moore has been the American on a mission at the Cannes Film Festival for the past few years. This time it's Al Gore's turn, with the studious but engrossing documentary An Inconvenient Truth.'' The former U.S. vice president climbed Cannes' famous red carpet in black tie this...