For the birds
Beware the cassowary, which can sprint 31 miles per hour and deliver fatal slashes with its daggerlike middle talons.
Q: Just how bad can a big, bad, bird get?
A: Very bad indeed. Just ask biological anthropologist Samuel Urlacher, who was doing field work in the jungles of Papua New Guinea when he encountered an adult cassowary, considered “one of the world’s most dangerous birds,” writes Discover magazine. At least five feet tall and flightless, the bird is able to sprint 31 miles per hour and deliver fatal slashes with its daggerlike middle talons. Some 150 cases of attacks against people have been recorded, with at least one resulting in death.
Urlacher told his story to the magazine’s Bridget Alex: Machetes in hand, he and his local guide were hiking from his research village to a neighboring community when “all of a sudden, trotting directly toward us appears this huge, fully grown adult cassowary. It’s taller than I am and probably 120 or 130 pounds.” His guide was already climbing a tree when Urlacher belatedly sprang into action, climbing as fast as he could. He got up only a few feet before the cassowary was right on him, but fortunately, it turned away and veered off the trail, stared at them and then walked off. Concluded Urlacher: “It could have been a very bad story had it decided to actually get me. So, we survived, laughed about it, then picked up our machetes and moved on.”
Q: “Everyone hates a ‘humblebrag,’” declares New Scientist magazine. Just what is a “humblebrag,” anyway?
A: It’s feigning modesty while boasting, a practice that “annoys people even more than outright self-promotion,” says the magazine’s Ann Klein. According to Ovul Sezer at the University of North Carolina, “humblebrag” can be expressed either as “a display of humility — ‘I’m so shocked my new book is a best-seller’ — or a complaint — ‘I’ve got nothing to wear after losing so much weight.’” When volunteers judged the likability and sincerity of complaints, brags, and these two forms of humblebrag, none were very popular but humblebragging (both kinds) scored lowest on both measures (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology). As Sezer explains, people humblebrag to broadcast achievements without looking too arrogant, but it comes across as sneaky and strategic, lacking the critical element of sincerity. A better strategy is to tell a trusted friend to spread the news. Or announce it yourself but be sure to credit those who helped you, thus appearing “warm and communal, which people find attractive.”
Q: “If the aviation sector were a country, it would rank seventh worldwide in carbon pollution,” writes Scientific American magazine. What is being done to address this dire statistic?
A: “A team of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, along with their government and industry collaborators, is attempting to fundamentally redesign airplanes,” says the magazine’s Annie Sneed. Dubbed “double-bubble” D8, the concept changes the standard Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft to include a wider, more oval-shaped fuselage (like two bubbles joined side by side); smaller and lighter wings and tail; and a more aerodynamic nose. Most critical, however, is the repositioning of the engines from underneath the wings to atop the body near the tail — where they suck in and reaccelerate the slow layer of air, greatly reducing drag. As aerospace and mechanical engineer Alejandra Uranga explains, an airplane thus designed would use 37 percent less fuel than a typical passenger jet, and future technological advances could “ultimately add up to 66 percent in fuel savings in two decades.” Scientists are now exploring the development of a halfscale plane prototype. Stay tuned.
Send questions to brothers Bill and Rich Sones at sbtcolumn@gmail.com.