X-ray leaf tricks

Scientists are amazing. And intriguing.

I'm sure you've read or heard about the scientists who have discovered that Scotch tape, under the right circumstances, gives off X-rays. This is not an entirely frivolous finding, since scientists now believe they can make inexpensive X-ray devices that might be used, say, to treat tumors. That would be a good thing.

Despite this scientific breakthrough, I was disappointed to learn that not all tape gives off X-rays. I thought surely a good-sized roll of duct tape could light up an airport security checkpoint. Not so, the scientists say. They are either telling the truth or lying to protect their discovery, just like that fellow who found gold at Sutter's sawmill.

But doesn't all the hoopla over Scotch tape make you wonder what makes a scientist start ripping off tape to see if there are any X-rays floating around?

I don't know if this is exactly how it happened, but I imagine a couple of scientists were sitting around one afternoon with nothing to do. One of the scientists was making animals out of paper clips, and the other was wrapping Scotch tape around his hand to remove cat hairs from his slacks. Suddenly the one with the paper clips noticed some sparks coming from the tape.

"Hey, Ed," he says in his best scientist voice, "I think you may be making some X-rays there."

Way back in 1939, according to the New York Times, scientists saw sparks of light when they peeled tape. Scientists have been bored for a long time, it seems. I'm told you can make light by peeling tape in a dark closet. I've never tried.

What will be the next big discovery? I'm wondering what you might be able to do with a stapler.

n

My wife and I love to take mystery tours in our car. These are drives we take without any destination in mind, except we want to wind up at home eventually.

Last Saturday we found ourselves in Fruitland and decided it was such a gorgeous day that we ought to look for fall colors.

We soon found that several county roads go off Highway 177 but don't go far. So we did a lot of turning off and turning around. We saw some beautiful scenery. It's that time of year when, because of the rain we've had, the greens are lush and the turning leaves stand out brilliantly.

With the first frost of the season this week, I expect the leaves will disappear pretty fast. The forecast for Saturday and Sunday is mostly sunny. It would be a great time for a mystery tour of your own. Cape Girardeau and surrounding counties have plenty of less traveled roads to explore. We might even pass along the way.

n

It is Halloween, and in some parts of town there will be masked children, some of them adult-sized, traipsing from door to door asking for candy. In most cases, they will get it.

When I was a child on the Killough Valley farm in the Ozarks over yonder, trick-or-treating meant getting your parents to take you to town. Going from door to door on Killough Valley wouldn't have made much sense.

Those were the days when young hooligans made good on the "trick or treat" demand. If you didn't get candy, you pulled a bar of soap out of your pocket. The windows of businesses, closed for the night, were particularly vulnerable.

Or you put the canoe of your favorite high school band director on his porch. The next day, during band rehearsal, he would call out the names of a few of the band members and ask them to take the canoe down from the roof -- usually the same ones who put it there in the first place.

We've come a long way since tipping outhouses was a fairly routine Halloween activity. And nobody needs a soaped window.

I wonder what kids today mean when they say "Trick or treat"?

R. Joe Sullivan is the editorial page editor of the Southeast Missourian. E-mail: jsullivan@semissourian.com.