Headless cockroaches can teach us a lot

Question: How does a cockroach manage to survive without its head?

Answer: The bodiless head, too, lives on, waving its antennae about for several hours, says Charles Choi in Scientific American magazine. To understand how a roach and many other insects can survive decapitation, it's instructive to understand why we humans can't. First off, the blood loss and drop in blood pressure would stop the flow of oxygen and vital nutrients, and we'd bleed to death. Plus, brainless, we couldn't breathe; mouthless, we couldn't eat.

The roach neck, in comparison, would seal off by clotting, so there'd be no uncontrolled bleeding. And little holes, or spiracles, pipe air in directly to each body segment. Too, a cold-blooded roach can survive for weeks after just one meal. From cockroach decapitation, scientists can learn about glands and maturation, metamorphosis and reproduction in insects generally. As entomologist Christopher Tipping remarks, a headless roach that can still stand, react to touch and move has much to teach a human about how insect neurons operate.

Question: Parents eagerly looking forward to Baby's first word are often surprised by what they hear. Why?

Answer: Though they confidently expect it to be "mummy" or "daddy," they are as likely to get "teddy" or "drink" or "peep-bo" or "ooh," says David Crystal in "Words, Words, Words." They shouldn't get upset. "Babies, like adults, tend not to talk about the obvious but to comment on what is novel or dramatic. It isn't just teenagers who think that there are more interesting things in life than parents."

First words typically come around 12 months of age but can be as early as eight or nine months. Some babies may skip the single-word stage and launch directly into simple sentences. By 18 months, most children produce around 50 words; by age 2, 200 words; by 3, 3,000-5,000 words. One study recorded a child of 3 1/2 for a whole day and counted 37,000 words, more than 4,000 different ones. "The totals seem remarkable until you actually spend time with an articulate 4-year-old and find yourself wishing they would shut up so you can get a word in!"

Question: The furor over performance-enhancing drugs in sports continues unabated. What's one of the thorniest new issues to be tackled by the World Anti-Doping Agency n Montreal, Canada?