Word: rhinos
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Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has formally certified that both Taiwan and China are flouting international agreements by continuing trade in products made from endangered tigers and rhinos. Tiger bones and rhino horns are used in traditional Chinese medicine, but both countries will have to weigh tradition against the threat of possible trade sanctions...
Metallurgist Ann Van Orden, for her part, is fascinated by the fibrous structure of rhinoceros horn. "What strikes me about rhino horn," says Van Orden, "is that it is a natural composite. Really, it looks just like the material used to make the wings of a Stealth aircraft!" The benefits that might flow from such an insight can only be guessed at. Perhaps most intriguing is the fact that rhino horn is self-healing: capable of repairing the tiny cracks that come from jousting matches with other rhinos. "Now imagine a car that could self-heal after a fender bender...
...course, no car of the future will be made of rhino horn, just as no silk spun by spiders is likely be woven into designer clothes. For starters, it would take 500 to 1,000 spiders to spin out enough silk for one necktie. "And you probably wouldn't want to wear a necktie made of spider silk anyway," laughs zoologist John Gosline of the University of British Columbia. Reason: when wet, spider silk contracts 50%, a property that, in a necktie at least, might prove decidedly unpleasant on damp days. Armed with the tools of molecular biology, however, scientists...
While some of Ferragamo's wedged shoes are sedate, others are fantastical, and a few are downright ugly. But even these, like a black-laced shoe with a prow toe shaped like a rhino's horn, work as sculpture if not as footwear. One wedged shoe made in 1938 is a kind of psychedelic homage to the raised Venetian chopines of the 17th century; it could easily have been worn by Elton John in concert...
...RHINO RECORDS. A small but scrappy Southern California label that does some superb -- and economical -- musical salvage work, Rhino specializes in repackaging oldies that more established companies have let gather dust in the vaults, from the high-octane rockabilly of Del Shannon to the screeching serenades of Lou Christie. Rhino's recent Groove 'n' Grind compilation is a floor-scuffling, roof-raising anthology of raucous party tunes from the '50s and '60s, featuring sodden classics like Land of 1,000 Dances by Cannibal and the Headhunters. The current Rockin' in the Country: The Best of Wanda Jackson is a roundup...