Free Republic

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a leading advocate of stricter gun control, said yesterday that there was nothing wrong with owning a gun for hunting. In fact, he said he even had one himself as a teenager. Mr. Bloomberg told listeners on his weekly radio program on WABC-AM that he participated in riflery at a Boy Scout camp, and that his parents later allowed him to own a rifle while he was growing up in Medford, Mass. "When I was 15 or so, I had a .22-caliber rifle, but I used it only at a range, and you know there's nothing...

The next time someone whispers in your ear, think "cochlea." The cochlea is the marvelous structure in the inner ear that is shaped like a snail shell and transforms sounds into the nerve impulses that your brain can process and interpret. This critical hearing organ consists of a fluid-filled tube about a cubic centimeter (three hundredths of an ounce) in volume. For decades, hearing experts thought that its spiral shape was simply an efficient packing job and its shape had no effect on how it functions. But a recent study headed by Vanderbilt mathematician Daphne Manoussaki calls this conventional wisdom...