Bad Deer

Perhaps the most frightening thing about being mauled by a deer is the ridicule you'll suffer from friends. But that's what happened at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale after four people were injured and others threatened last spring by what biologists believe were aggressive does protecting their fawns. Three more people were attacked this past May, as well as a campus police officer, who shot his assailant to death.

No more attacks occurred after the doe's death, leading officials to believe they may have been the work of one rogue deer.

By Doug Howlett, Outdoor Life, Dec2006

Angler survives being run through the chest by a soaring billfish

By Bob Butz, Outdoor Life, Dec2006

Sudden Impact: A soaring marlin packs quite a wallop when, it's hurtling into semething' solid-like this boat (inset). A marlin estimated at only 200 pounds pierced the boat's 5-inch-thick tuna door before breaking off its bill.

It was the closing hours of a high-stakes billfishing tournament in Bermuda. And for Alan Card, 58, and his son Ian, 32-local charter fishing guides-the money looked to be all but in the bag.

"The fish was about fourteen feet long, around eight hundred pounds," says the elder Card. First Mate Ian handed the rod to a client just as the fish came toward them. Then it jumped.

"It happened so fast and without warning," he says. The marlin skewered Ian through the chest.

"The two went airborne, fifteen feet over the side," says Card. "Ian's a big boy, two hundred and sixty pounds, and that fish picked him up like he was a rag doll."

While underwater, Ian and the marlin separated. Card says his son then surfaced, totally conscious, two boat lengths behind, with an exit hole in the middle of his back and a fist-size entry hole just below his collarbone.

Ian was rushed to a hospital for surgery, where doctors said the fish missed cutting the main artery to his heart by only half a centimeter.

Big Bucks

Counterfeit, or fake, money causes big problems for banks and other businesses — but hopefully not for much longer. A company in Japan has developed a machine that spots these illegal bills before they are spent.

To create the machine, workers first had to compare the characteristics of a real bill with one that was counterfeit. Because some of the characteristics were hard to see, the workers blew the bills up 400 times their original size. Then, they took alt the information they gathered and programmed it into their machine.

When officials suspect that a bill is fake, they place it into the machine. If the bill is fake, the machine alerts the officials.

Scholastic SuperScience

Interesting Facts about Monsoons

A mouse piggybacking on a frog may seem strange, but the floodwaters that these animals were escaping from were anything but unusual. In fact, they are a very common sight in India during the country's annual rainy season.

India's superdamp weather is caused by monsoons, or moist winds that bring heavy rains. These monsoons blow in each May and can last up to six months.

The monsoons produce about 30 centimeters (12 inches) of rain each month — that's more water than the ground can soak up. "Half the country can be underwater," says researcher John Fasullo of the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

That may seem like a problem, but the locals actually welcome the rains. Why? Before the monsoons blow in, India is very dry. These rains provide much-needed water for the crops that the people eat.

That's good news for the people. India's mice and frogs, however, don't seem too thrilled.

The United States has its own monsoon. It occurs in Arizona and New Mexico from Late June to mid-September. During this time, rainfall increases by 23 percent in these states.

Scholastic SuperScience