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Watching the Detectives

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How Pigeons Really Get Home

Homing pigeons (35) ________ for their uncanny internal compass, yet a new study reveals that sometimes the birds get home the same way we do: They follow the roads. Tim Guilford and Dora Biro at (36) ________ Oxford University followed pigeons in Oxford over a three-year period, using tiny tracking devices equipped with global positioning system technology (37) ________ by Swiss and Italian colleagues.
What they discovered was surprising. Within ten kilometers of home, the pigeons relied less on their well-known talents for decoding the sun’s position or deciphering the Earth’s magnetic field (38) ________ them navigate. Instead they opted for a habitual route that followed linear features in the landscape, such as roads, rivers, railways, and hedge lines – even when it wasn't the most direct way home. “It was almost comical,” says Guilford. “One pigeon followed a road to a roundabout, then exited onto a major road that led to a second roundabout. Others flew down the River Thames, only to make a (39) ________ turn at a bridge.” Guilford suggests that sticking to a (40) ________, linear route may actually make homing more reliable – and easier. “It made me smile to see it,” says Guilford. “You can imagine yourself flying along a road doing the same thing.”

Why Does Red Mean Stop?

The 19th-century Scottish engineer Robert Stevenson, who was active in designing early lighthouses, (41) ________ for an alternative colour to white – most lighthouses had a white beacon – when he built a lighthouse near to one that already existed, because he was afraid ships (42) ________ be able to tell which was which.
Of the light sources and (43) ________ glasses available at the time, he found that red was a particularly intense light, meaning it (44) ________ from the greatest distance.
So in maritime signalling red became an alternative to white, and was later adopted by the Admiralty in 1852 (45) ________ the port-side on steam vessels. Green was adopted for the starboard-side, and vessels seeing the green light on other ships had the right of way.
When train tracks were developed, engineers adopted this system as (46) ________ stop and go – and the same system continued with cars.

Writing

The Whole World in One Building