HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Spider Science, Pages 2 and 3. Meet The Candidates, Pages 4 and 5.

Transcription

1 HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Issue 844 Thursday, October 31, 2013 Spider Science, Pages 2 and 3. Meet The Candidates, Pages 4 and 5. Supported by readers of the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News

2 2 Thursday, October 31, 2013 MICHIGAN K.I.D.S. Happy Halloween! If you re trick-or-treating tonight, remember to wear a bit of something bright with your costume. Your face should be uncovered so you can see clearly. If you re in elementary school, have an adult escort you on the walks. And wait until you get home to sort through all the candy! Spiders aren t scary, just frightfully fascinating all the time to Cara Shillington. Check out our story on Pages 2 and 3. Voters will elect a new mayor of Detroit next week. Hear what the two candidates have to say on Pages 4 and 5. Also Inside: Yakking About the News, Page 6. Your Page, Page 7. My Kid Scoop, Page 8. On the cover: A red rump tarantula. Photo by Richard Lee Printed by: The Detroit Media Partnership Sterling Heights, Michigan, Fall Spiders Can Be Boo-tiful! Photos by Patricia Chargot Biologist Cara Shillington introduces the Yak to one of the many gentle and fascinating tarantulas in her lab at Eastern Michigan University. Every day is Halloween in Cara Shillington s research laboratory. Spiders can be found atop every counter and inside every cupboard. Not one is a scary Halloween decoration. They re all real, live spiders that Cara would never think of as creepy or ugly. Spiders are gorgeous, fascinating animals, said Cara, a biologist at Eastern Michigan University. They are incredible predators. If they re in your house, they are eating things you wouldn t want. Remember: They re much smaller than you and much more afraid of you than you are of them. If Cara could, she d wave a magic wand and make scary spider Halloween decorations everywhere disappear. She d make everyone see spiders as she does, especially tarantulas, the group of arachnids (uh-rack-nihds) she s been studying for years. (Arachnids aren t insects. They are a class of animals that includes spiders, ticks, mites, and scorpions.) I see them as furry and cuddly, Cara said of her tarantula lab mates, gently removing several from their cozy homes in plastic containers. The last time we visited Cara was in She had 60 tarantulas then, so we asked how many she has now. I have no idea, she said, laughing. I mean, I really have no idea more than 60. More than 100, we asked? Oh, easily, she said. She has a collection of live scorpions, too. Cara has studied tarantulas in the wild in Arizona, Texas, and Mexico. In 2002, she had just returned from a dairy ranch in Pueblo, Mexico that was owned by a friend. The ranch was crawling with red-rump tarantulas, one of about 600 known tarantula species. Cara

3 MICHIGAN K.I.D.S. Thursday, October 31, wanted to study their movements and found a number of adult females and juveniles in burrows. But female tarantulas are couch potatoes, mostly staying in their burrows and waiting for food to come to them. It s only adult male tarantulas that go walkabout at night and Cara was unable to find any to radio tag. She finally did, in September of 2010 when she was able to return to Mexico for six weeks. She found 38, glued the tiny tags to the front of their bodies, and set them free. If you re there at the right season they re all over, Cara said. So I would just walk the roads and I d find them crossing the road. That s the easiest place to find them because you can see them. (The tarantulas are nearly impossible to spot in the dark in pastures and other natural areas.) One thing Cara learned is that possums really like to eat red-rump tarantulas. Probably 80 percent (of males) got eaten by something. By tracking the males movements, she also discovered they walk a lot less than was believed. The ones that didn t get eaten tended to hide for long periods of time. I really expected these guys to keep walking all the time. They didn t. They stayed hidden for days. They didn t walk huge distances. The maximum distance traveled in a day was 70 meters, or 229 feet. The least active males walked only 12 meters, or 39 feet, in a day. When she returned to her lab, Cara continued studying the differences in metabolic rates, or energy levels, between males and females. She has since concluded that males have significantly higher metabolic rates than females. That means they can be more active, which is important in finding females, she explained. What is she studying now? I really don t have my own project at the moment, she said in an interview in her office at EMU, which is decorated with dozens of cute spider trinkets, including a lamp dangling with spiders. Most of her lab work right now involves overseeing student projects. She and one Photos by Patricia Chargot Cara holds an adult Chaco Golden Knee tarantula. She s called that because she has the nice, golden knees! Cara said. student recently returned from their second field trip to Puerto Rico to find a secure site where he can do field research. He s a new graduate student and he s very much interested in some of the arboreal tarantulas, Cara said. Everything I ve studied has been a burrowing tarantula. (Arboreal tarantulas live in trees; burrowing tarantulas live in holes in the ground.) The student hopes to study the ecology and behavior of one of Puerto Rico s smaller arboreal tarantulas, which is grayish, Cara said, adding: We know nothing about them. So where do they build their burrows in trees? Is it a particular kind of tree? Is the tree always of a particular height? Another student is studying handedness in scorpions. Are scorpions right or left handed? Or both? When you feed scorpions, do they have a hand, or claw preference? Do they grab with one hand or the other preferentially? like humans, she said. The student has found there is a preference and it can be right or left, Cara said. The lab scorpions are fed crickets. A third student is studying limb loss in tarantulas. Like all spiders, tarantulas have eight limbs, or legs, which they easily can lose in the wild, Cara said. But tarantulas have the ability to regrow their limbs. They re so good at it that if they re attacked say a predator grabs on to a limb, they will voluntarily drop the limb, to make a quick escape. They have muscles that seal off the wound. Fascinating. By Patricia Chargot Tarantulas eat many kinds of insects, reptiles, amphibians and small mammals. They inject their prey with venom, which breaks down the prey s insides, turning it into a kind of protein milkshake. The venom is not known to be dangerous to humans. Are scorpions left-handed or right-handed, like humans? Research revealed the answer.

4 4 Thursday, October 31, 2013 MICHIGAN K.I.D.S. Meet the Mayoral Candidates Next Tuesday is Election Day. The race everyone is talking about is the mayoral contest between candidates Benny Napoleon and Mike Duggan. Earlier this year, Mayor Dave Bing announced he would not be seeking a second term. An August primary narrowed the field to these two top contenders. Duggan was the write-in candidate. Yak s Corner asked each candidate to answer three questions just for young readers. Here are their responses. Which candidate would you choose? Additional Sources: Bennynapoleon.com, dugganfordetroit.com, Detroit Free Press Photos Detroit mayoral candidates, left, Mike Duggan and right, Benny Napoleon, will be on the ballot Tuesday. Mayor Dave Bing is retiring. I D E A S F R O M M I K E D U G G A N Q: What are your biggest goals for young people in Detroit? A: My biggest goals for young people in Detroit are to provide them a community where they feel safe and valued; a place where they would want to start a family or a business. I believe it is the next generation of Detroiters who will be most responsible for turning our city around through their creativity and energy. I want for them to see Detroit as a place where anything is possible for them. Q: Why do you want to be mayor of Detroit? A: I am running for mayor because I love this city, I love the people and I love its never give up spirit. I was born in Detroit, grew up here as a boy and have spent every day of my professional life working hard to try and make it a better place for its residents. Detroit has been through a lot of challenges recently. I have some experience in leading financial and operational turnarounds and think that I may be able to help. Q: What are Detroit s biggest challenges and how will you tackle them? A: Detroit has four main challenges that need to be addressed: Crime, abandoned buildings, non-working streetlights and financial challenges. I plan to address crime the same way I did as Wayne County Prosecutor: by partnering with every Federal, State and local law enforcement agency in a coordinated strategy to reduce violent crime. We were able to reduce the city s murder rate to a 30-year low by doing this. I also will make sure every available officer is on the street instead of behind a desk and will make sure officers have the technology they need to effectively do their jobs. I ll also address the abandoned properties the way I did as prosecutor. Instead of letting vacant homes sit, I will sue the people or the banks that walked away from them and require them to either

5 MICHIGAN K.I.D.S. Thursday, October 31, fix them up or tear them down. Otherwise, I will seize the homes and sell them to people who will fix them up and reoccupy them. In just three years as prosecutor, we saved more than 1,000 vacant homes this way. Fixing our streetlights should not be so hard. Just like we reduced a threehour emergency room wait to 29 minutes at the DMC, I plan to institute a five-day street light repair standard in most cases. I will do this by making sure we have a good process and strong accountability procedures. As far as the city s finances, I ve already turned around three near-bankruptcy situations at Wayne County in the 1980s, the SMART bus system in the 1990s and the DMC in the 2000s. I believe I can bring in a financial management team that can get Detroit s finances back on track in fairly short order. I D E A S F R O M B E N N Y N A P O L E O N Q: What are your biggest goals for young people in Detroit? A: Youth in this city are 40 percent of the population and 100 percent of our future making them Detroit s leaders of tomorrow, starting today. We will create a neighborhood environment that young people want to live and raise their families in. An economic climate that allows young people to flourish, and giving them a seat at the table by giving them a role in Detroit s transformation. First, we will make it safe to live in our neighborhoods through my five-point 50 percent crime reduction plan that includes partnering with the schools to enforce truancy when I was Detroit s chief of police due to our truancy enforcement, in partnership with Detroit Public Schools, there was not a single youth shot at high schools in this city. Second, through my One Square Mile Initiative, each officer who is assigned to a square mile of the city will work with school(s) in their assigned area to reduce blight and reduce the opportunity for crime. Third, we will partner with schools, community organizations, businesses and faith-based organizations to provide recreational after-school opportunities for our youth Fourth, we will partner with schools and businesses to return the high school co-op program to this city to provide our youth with skills in emerging industries. Fifth, we will involve our youth in community service projects and paying jobs as we revitalize our neighborhoods. Q: Why do you want to be mayor of Detroit? A: The city that I knew growing up in the neighborhood is much different than the city our youth face today. We could walk to the corner store. We lived in thriving middleclass homes. We felt relatively safe in our neighborhood. I want to change the city s focus from downtown to the neighborhoods where most Detroiters live. Downtown and midtown will keep growing and thriving. Our families who live in the neighborhoods need attention. We will make it safe again. We will create livable, walkable and sustainable communities. Q: What are Detroit s biggest challenges and how will you tackle them? A: Until we affirm Detroit as a safe city, nothing else matters. High crime is the new normal in our neighborhoods. That is unacceptable. I have a plan to reduce crime by 50 percent in this city within the first four years. Within six months of when I become mayor, youth, their families and businesses will see a noticeable change in the neighborhoods as the trash gets picked up, graffiti removed, a blight reduction plan in place, we remove the thugs from our streets, and we go to work to grow our neighborhoods. Our city s fiscal challenges will get worked out. But in order to thrive as a city, we must focus on public safety and the economic growth in the neighborhoods. Mike Duggan Growing up Years: Born in Detroit, and lived in city as a young boy, moved to suburbs, then back to city in Education: Detroit Catholic Central High School. Bachelor s degree from University of Michigan and a law degree from University of Michigan. Career Highlights: Former Wayne County prosecutor, and most recently former Chief Executive officer at the Detroit Medical Center. Known as a turnaround specialist, helping companies turn from tough times to healthy firms Benny Napoleon Growing Up Years: Napoleon was born and raised in Detroit and continues to live in the city. Education: Cass Technical High School. Bachelor s degree in criminal justice from Mercy College (now University of Detroit-Mercy) and a law degree from Detroit College of Law. Career Highlights: Wayne County Sheriff, since 2009, winning re-election in Law enforcement work began with the Detroit Police Department, becoming the youngest Chief of Police in department history. Also served as executive vice president of a large real estate firm and was Wayne County assistant executive.

6 6 Thursday, October 31, 2013 MICHIGAN K.I.D.S. Yakking about the news A weekly wrap-up for young readers Today s column is in the spirit of Halloween with some weird and wonderful thrills and chills! From the Deep A snorkeler with the Catalina Island Marine Institute found a big surprise in the sea recently on spotting a huge eel-like creature. Jasmine Santana couldn t even pull in the long mysterious fish out of the Pacific Ocean waters by herself. NPR and other media reported that the California find was an oarfish, often called a ribbonfish, the longest bony fish in the world. It was dead, so probably rose in the water for the snorkeler to find. It usually lives 3,000 feet below the sea. Skull Scientists Scientists find important clues to the past of humans development in unearthing ancient bones. In the nation of Georgia, near Russia, a 1.8- million-year-old skull was found in 2005 and this month, researchers released their study in the journal, Science, saying the find shows how early pre-humans migrated around the world from Africa. The adult male skull found in Georgia wasn t from our species, Homo sapiens; it was from an ancestral species in the genus Homo. Scientists compared this skull with others and say it likely is from Homo erectus, an ancestor of Homo sapiens. Tim White of the University of California at Berkeley, not part of the study, told the Washington Post it was the first good evidence of what these expanding hominids looked like and what they were doing. One important finding, say the researchers, is that it looks like humans evolved from fewer species than previously believed. Tricky Treat? The power of the Oreo cookie is mighty strong, almost as addictive as the dangerous drug of cocaine, says a new report. I haven t touched an Oreo since doing Volunteers hold on to the giant oarfish found near Catalina Island. this experiment, neuroscience assistant professor Joseph Schroeder said in a press release from Connecticut College. In the experiment, the researchers used a maze with rats in it to test the cookies power. Rats favored the Oreos over rice cakes in the maze. A separate test in a different maze showed rats preferred the drug more than a simple salt solution. Researchers said the two tests showed the pull, or attractive nature of Oreos, appeared to be as strong as a drug. (But they are just cookies!) Yakking about the Yeti In more weird creature news, CNN reported that the Yeti, or abominable snowman of legends in the Himalaya Mountains, is the subject of a United Kingdom report. An Oxford University scientist who asked for hair samples said he found a 100% match of two living creatures hair samples in the Himalayas with an ancient polar bear jawbone from Norway. He told CNN there is much more research to do, but thinks it could mean there is a subspecies of brown bear descended from the bear that was the ancestor of the polar bear. Or it could mean there has been more recent hybridization between the brown bear and the descendant of the ancient polar bear. Zombies And Witches! What are you wearing today for Halloween? If you re going to be a zombie, princess or witch, you ll have plenty of company. According to the National Retail Federation s 2013 Top Costumes Survey, more than 5 million adults plan to dress as a witch this year and 2.9 million will dress as a Batman character. Children surveyed have said they plan to dress up as a princess (3.8 million), an animal (2.8 million) or a Batman character (2.5 million). Plenty of pets are put into costumes for the holiday: 7.9 percent of people will dress their pet as a pumpkin. Hot dog, cat, and devil costumes are the next most popular choices for pet dressup. Halloween also is a big holiday for stores. The NRF says the average person will spend $75.03 on Halloween candy, costumes and decorations, bringing total spending in the U.S. to $6.9 billion. Happy Halloween! Compiled by Cathy Collison AP Photo

7 MICHIGAN K.I.D.S. Thursday, October 31, By Juliana Jameel, 11, Troy By Eliona Rakipi, 11, Dearborn Heights By Taurean Allen, 9, Detroit Send us your art Draw on only white 8 -by-11 paper and use bright colors. Be sure to print your name, age, city and phone number clearly on the back of your drawing. Send your art to Yak s Corner Art, c/o DNIE, 615 W. Lafayette Blvd., Detroit, MI 48226

8 8 Thursday, October 31, 2013 MICHIGAN K.I.D.S. This page for young Yakkers is brought to you this week by readers of The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press who donated their vacation newspapers.