26 | LIVING HERE
THE OBSERVER | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
STRANGE BUT TRUE / BILL & RICH SONES PH.D.
Things are always changing among the stars, even if it’s not always obvious WEIRD NOTES
Q. With apologies to Wil-
liam Shakespeare: What’s in a name, Gros Michel or Cavendish? A banana by any other name would be as tasty — right?
A. Not really. Bananas at 25 pounds per American per year are the most popular fresh fruit eaten, but they aren’t the same as those your grandparents ate, says Dan Lewis in his book “Now I Know.� “Prior to 1960, the standard commercial banana type was the Gros Michel (a.k.a. “Big Mike�), a larger banana type that, by many accounts, was also tastier.�
But it succumbed to Panama disease that attacked the plants’ roots and rapidly spread through major banana plantations, ending commercial cultivation. Enter the Cavendish banana, genetically resistant to Panama disease but also genetically identical to every other Cavendish — in other words, all of them are clones. And therein lies the problem: Any disease successfully attacking the Cavendish could wipe out the entire type. Already, a newer strain of Panama disease has found its way to Cavendish banana plantations in Australia, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and all the way to Southeast Asia. Some plantation owners have taken extreme measures to prevent a Cavendish Apocalypse, even
going so far as to burn down entire fields to stop the disease from spreading. Q. Some of us terrestrial beings have a real fascination with all things extraterrestrial, including why a day on Venus is longer than its year, how the almost-million-pound International Space Station (ISS) ever got into orbit, and why the Big Dipper will eventually become the “Big Spatula�?
A. #1: Venus rotates so slowly that it takes 243 Earth days to complete one diurnal spin, says astronomer and columnist Dean Regas in his book “Facts from Space!� And because it is closer to the Sun than Earth is, the time it takes to orbit the Sun once is only 225 days. In fact, Venus is
like a ‘Big Spatula’ by the year A.D. 75000.� Q. For adult women, menopause can have its ups and downs. For rats, it may be all downhill. How so?
the only planet in the solar system whose year is shorter than its day. #2: As to the ISS — a joint effort between the United States, Russia, and others — it was transported into space, piece by piece, starting in 1998. Currently weighing more than 900,000 pounds, it is 239 feet wide, 356 feet long and 66 feet tall — room enough for its six crew members and the replacement crew, and even guests. #3: The stars in the Milky Way are moving rapidly through space, but because they’re so far away from Earth, they barely seem to change. But that won’t be the case millenia from now: “The stars in the Big Dipper, for instance, will shift among themselves and look
A. A new type of bait called ContraPest “makes rats infertile by triggering early menopause in females and impairing sperm production in males,� says Alice Klein in “New Scientist� magazine. It has no known side effects, and the rats eventually die of natural causes. According to biotechnologist Brandy Pyzyna, one breeding pair of rats can produce 15,000 pups per year, but field trials with the bait in both urban and farm settings saw a one-third to one-half decline in rat population. So even a one-third
reduction in a few months means “you’re already talking 5,000 fewer rats, and the population will continue to go down.� Also, she argues, fertility control is more effective than outright killing since with the latter, other rats will simply move in to the territory. More research needs to be done to ensure that native rodents — some of which may be endangered — don’t eat the bait. Pyzyna and her colleagues are also working on a reformulation to target other pest species, including mice, feral pigs and even feral deer, dogs and cats.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS Bill is a journalist, Rich holds a doctorate in physics. Together the brothers bring you “Strange But True.� Send your questions to strangetrue@compuserve.com.
OBSERVER CROSSWORD PUZZLER ACROSS 1. Civilian wear 6. Bellman 12. Vipers 16. Innocent 17. Zimbabwe’s capital 18. Mrs. Dithers 19. Oversupply 20. Dolphins’ group 21. Coagulate 22. X-ray units 23. Resin 24. Of a leaf shape 26. Eastern title 27. Draws out 30. Milan money 31. Famous 33. Test format 35. Poison ___ 36. Critical 38. Bad look 41. To the rear 44. Blight 46. Devoured 47. Marsh heron 49. Kind of case
51. Affranchise 52. Hang up, in U.K. 56. Bloated 57. Blows it 59. Asian city 60. Poetic word 61. Sleeper’s woe 63. Memory 68. Host 70. Knocking 72. ___ v. Wade 73. Crße-ish? 75. Common contraction 76. Gangster’s gal 77. Fume 78. Rivalrous 81. Cuckoos 82. Burn balm 83. Get smart 84. Because of 85. Writer Ayn 86. Rains ice 87. Ancient DOWN 1. Country singer Tim 2. Empty portion of a bottle
3. Middle Aged? 4. Makes lace 5. Linear unit 6. Penny-pincher 7. Deck opening 8. A Gershwin 9. Where the kazoo was invented 10. Before, once 11. “Get ___!� 12. Increase 13. Periods between vernal equinoxes 14. First: Prefix 15. Fills 20. Post-toast sound 25. “Absolutely!� 27. Hawk, e.g. 28. In the past 29. Detonate 32. Certain apartment 34. Arid 37. You and I 39. Flight data, briefly 40. Bank 41. ___-bodied
42. Resting place 43. Allure 44. The Muses, e.g. 45. Trim 48. Acclivity 50. Toward dawn 53. Leave 54. Not theirs 55. Elaborate 58. Relieved 60. Inclines 62. Born as 64. Jams 65. Pressed 66. Grainy rock 67. Wrestling hold 68. Hinder 69. Money, in slang 71. Occupied 74. Evergreens 76. Handle roughly 79. .001 inch 80. Jeans brand 84. “__ as I say ...�
OBSERVER TRAVELS
SUDOKU CHALLENGE LOCATION
Stony Plain, Alberta
CAPTION Canada 150 and a Road Trip to the West – Larry and Monica Mann and sons Tanner and Lucas from Conestogo joined Dave and Sue Weiss and sons Bailey and Jody and Lorrie Snider from Bloomingdale on a road trip to BC and Alberta to visit Eric Duff and Lynda Snider and their children Jessica, Jacquelyn, Alex, Jenna and Karilyn who live in AB. The Observer went along for the ride. Three nights of camping followed until ending at Stony Plain Alberta.
HOW TO PLAY: Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9 only once. Each 3x3 box is outlined with a darker line. We have got you started with a few numbers already placed in the boxes.