Star Search

Even in an age when high-powered telescopes penetrate to the farthest edges of the universe, the naked eye remains one of astronomy’s most important tools. Take a close look at the large star field above and see if you can find each of the six star formations shown below.

Biochemists must be able to visualize the complex spatial transformations of organic molecules, which fit together like three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles. Exercise your spatial reasoning on the two geometric equations below. Which of the six shapes shown to the right of the equal signs can be created by combining the two shapes shown on the left? Hint: Some cubes may be hidden in back of other cubes.

Double Exposure

X-rays, CT scans, and other medical imaging technologies require a skilled analysis of a flat image in order to visualize the overlapping three-dimensional structures that the images represent. Each of the colorful designs at right show the areas common to the letters of two overlapping words related to the human body. For instance, the first word pair is ARM and LEG. Imagine the A in ARM centered on top of the L in LEG. The area where the leg of the L and the peak of the A intersect is blue; the small divot in the leg of the L is the hole in the middle of the A, where the two letters don’t overlap. Can you untangle the other word pairs?

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