- In response to a Massachusetts viewer's inquiry about bats, Beakman notes they are mammals, not birds, and their wings are actually hands with thin membranes of skin stretched between long fingers. Claiming they sleep upside down because it takes less energy, he goes on to explain that, contrary to popular myth, bats actually have good eyesight. Then, aided by Dr. Patricia Brown, Beakman explains how bats are able to hunt at night using sound to build a picture of their environment, or echolocation. During "Beakmania," Beakman notes that the longest living animal was a one hundred and forty?two-year?old turtle which died in 1918; that the most poisonous snake in the world is an Australian marine cobra; and that intense concentration can require as much energy as physical exercise. In the "Beakman Challenge," Lester is asked to break a ruler without holding onto it and using only a hammer. Although Lester doubts it can be done after trying the feat himself, Beakman shows that a large sheet of newspaper creates enough air resistance with its' surface area to hold the ruler firmly in place as it is being struck by the hammer. Asked how gliders fly without a motor, Beakman notes that they rely on converting potential energy into kinetic energy. After using a bowling ball and a swing to demonstrate these two types of energy, he explains that a tow plane transfers its potential energy to the glider by pulling it high into the air before the downward forces exerted by the Earth's gravity are converted into kinetic energy and forward motion by the glider's wings. Finally, after describing how their pilots use rising columns of hot air to stay aloft, Beakman notes that the highest recorded glider flight was to 49,009 feet ?? 10,000 feet higher than large commercial jetliners.—Anonymous
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