Credits: xxxx Credits: xxxx

Magnetic

Helmets

Rescue!to the

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February 2015

Science Newsinthe

Written by Rhonda Lucas Donald

Rover, Rover, Come on Over!

Returning from Space Is a Bumpy Ride

Corals and Crabs Are BFFs

What’s Inside:

Helmets lined with magnets may protect football players from harmful head injuries.

P o w e r e d b y , a d i v i s i o n o f L e a r n i n g A - Z

Credits: front cover: © Kyle Green/The Idaho Statesman/AP Images; page 2: © Sandro Di Carlo Darsa/PhotoAlto/Corbis

MAGNETIC POLES GENERATE FORCE

S N N S

attract

S N S N

repel

S N N S

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During every football game, players crash, bash, and bang into each other. They often experience head-to-head collisions. These collisions can cause head injuries called concussions. A concussion is damage to the brain from an impact. Hard, high-speed hits are the most dangerous. The brain sloshes around in the head, banging into the skull. Hard hits can cause permanent damage to the brain. But even mild impacts can affect the brain and increase the chances of future damage.

All football players are at risk and need protection. But high school and younger players need even greater protection. Kids are at greater risk of brain injury than adults. That’s because their brains are still developing. A new “magnetic” helmet may protect against concussions better than regular helmets do now.

An Attractive (and Repelling) IdeaAfter watching a favorite player get a concussion during a game, Raymond Colello had an idea. Colello is a neuroscientist from Virginia Commonwealth University. He wondered if magnets could reduce the danger of a head-to-head impact. The opposite poles of magnets attract. But poles that are alike push away, or repel, each other. Magnets placed in helmets could repel when two players begin to collide. As the magnets push away from each other, the force from the impact would decrease. Less force means less damage to the brain.

Drop TestBefore trying out the helmets on the football field, Colello tested magnets in the lab. He used magnets made of the metal neodymium. These magnets are lightweight, flexible, and very strong. He attached magnets to 4.5-kilogram (10 lb.) weights and dropped them from different heights onto other weights with magnets attached. Then he measured the force with which the weights hit each other. With magnets attached in a repelling position, weights generated much less force than without magnets.

Crash Tests Are NextThe next step is to outfit crash-test dummies with magnetic helmets to see whether this new technology can protect a human head during a game. If the helmets work as hoped, Colello thinks they could cut the risk of concussion by 80 percent. Now, that’s something to cheer about! v

February 2015

Invisible lines of force around magnets’ poles show how opposite poles attract and like poles repel.

Powerful magnets in football helmets could create “force fields” to lessen the impact of head injuries.

Repel Head Injuries with MagnetsSCIENCE in the NEWS

Physical Science

Using two magnets with the poles clearly marked, observe how opposite poles attract and stick together, whereas like poles repel each other.

Credits: top: © Fuse/Thinkstock; bottom: courtesy of NASA/Bill Ingalls

penguin rover

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Studying penguins isn’t easy. Scientists who get too close

stress the birds out. Radio-tracking tags only work when the penguins are near an antenna that can pick up a signal. So a team of French scientists decided to try using a robot to sneak into a penguin colony.

The robot, also called a rover, is a heart-rate monitor and radio tag reader on wheels. Since the penguins’ heart rates sped up, it seemed the birds were wary of the rover, but it didn’t disturb them as much as people did. The scientists then tried disguising the rovers to look like penguins. The disguised rovers did not disturb the penguins at all. The birds even tried to interact with them!

The scientists have used rovers to study king and emperor penguins. Using the rovers to gather information from these penguins will help scientists understand how the birds are affected by climate change. v

In November 2014, three astronauts returned to

Earth after six months aboard the International Space Station. It was a wild ride, but all returned safe and sound.

First, they piled into a cramped Soyuz (SAW-yooz) capsule that launched them toward home. Traveling at 30,000 kilometers (18,640 mi.) per hour, the entire trip took three hours. Once in Earth’s atmosphere, things got quite bumpy. The speeding lander slammed into trillions of air molecules. Before touchdown, parachutes billowed open and rockets ignited. Both slowed the craft way down. The astronauts endured one more bump as wind pushed the capsule on its side.

After landing, rescuers helped the three men out of the lander. The astronauts needed assistance after so long in space. Living in zero gravity weakens muscles. Was it worth all the trouble? Astronaut Reid Wiseman says it was “awesome”! v

February 2015

Returning

from Space Is

a Bumpy Ride

Astronauts Alexander Gerst, Max Suraev, and Reid Wiseman rest outside their Soyuz capsule after landing in Kazakhstan, a country south of Russia.

A new rover used in Antarctica looks like a fuzzy penguin chick.

SCIENCE in the NEWS

Space Science

Technology

Credit: © Fred Bavendam/Minden Pictures

Fill in

the Bl

ank

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Corals live on the ocean floor and can’t move. How can

they possibly defend themselves from predators? They get help from some feisty crab friends!

Sea snails and sea stars devour the soft parts of coral, called polyps. The coral would be helpless if not for tiny crabs that live on them. Attackers feel the pinch of claws as the crabs defend their coral home. It’s a relationship called mutualism—the coral is protected from predators, and the crabs get shelter.

When marine scientists removed some of the guard crabs from their coral, it was clear how important they are. Sea stars gobbled up more than half of the unprotected colony. They only ate a small amount of coral guarded by the crabs.

Scientists also found that different crabs specialize in different duties. Some fend off snails; others take on different sea star species. Now, that’s a friend you can count on! v

Corals and Crabs Are

BFFs

After reading the articles, use what you’ve learned to complete the sentences.

Show What You Know

1. Football players can get ____________________________________ as a result of hard hits to the head.

2. Opposite poles of magnets attract, whereas like poles ____________________________________ .

3. Magnets inside helmets could reduce the ____________________________________ of a collision.

4. Scientists found that rovers cause penguins less ____________________________________ than people do.

5. Living in zero gravity on the ISS causes muscles to ____________________________________ .

6. The beneficial relationship between coral and crabs is called ____________________________________ .

Fill in the Blank Answers: 1. concussions or injuries; 2. repel; 3. force or impact; 4. stress; 5. weaken; 6. mutualism

February 2015

A tiny red-spotted coral crab sits on the branches of a cauliflower coral, ready to protect its host from predators.

SCIENCE in the NEWS

Life Science