Are Lobsters Ambidextrous? Read Free

The cutter has tiny, serrated teeth and moves swiftly.
    The two claws do not start out distinctly different. Lobsters shed their shells more often than Cher has plastic surgery—they undergo three molts in the larval stage alone. When lobsters are first hatched, the two claws look identical, but with each successive stage in their development, the differences become more pronounced. It isn’t until their fifth molt, and second postlarval molt, that the two claws are truly differentiated.
    As you may have guessed, the crusher claw is important for the defense of lobsters against predators, and the cutter particularly useful in eating. Claws of lobsters are often torn off in accidents and in fights. Although there are some differences among species of lobsters, most lobsters will regenerate severed claws.
    Most bizarre of all, if the remaining claw of an injured lobster is a cutter, many species with “plastic dimorphism” will change the function of that claw from cutter to crusher, presumably because the crusher is more essential for survival. The next regenerated claw of that lobster is capable itself of shifting to the cutter function, so that the positions of the two claws are reversed.
    According to Darryl Felder, chairman of the University of Louisiana, Lafayette, biology department, lobsters are not always right-or left-“handed.” The crusher may be on the right or left side of a lobster.
    The ultimate answer to this Imponderable depends upon how you define ambidextrous. Certainly, lobsters can use either cheliped (the scientific name for claw) with equal ease. Although their regenerative powers give lobsters a certain flexibility, the versatility of each claw is not as great as that of a switch hitter in baseball, who can swing the bat equally well from both sides, or the pickpocket who can pilfer skillfully with either hand.
 
    Submitted by Danny Kotok of New York, New York .
     
     
    Why is there no Betty Rubble character in Flintstones Multivitamins?
     
    For reasons too unfathomable for even us to delve into, we are thrown this question periodically on radio phone-in shows but have never received it in a letter. Perhaps no one wants to take credit for asking this Imponderable. One radio host said that hehad investigated the matter, and found that for technical reasons, it was difficult to manufacture a realistic Betty facsimile.
    Ah, we wish that were true, but the real story is far sadder, far darker. We heard from William D. Turpin, director of consumer relations for Multivitamins’ manufacturer, Miles, Inc.:
 
    The current group of Flintstones characters was selected based upon research of the popularity of each character with children. As a result of this research, it was determined that Betty Rubble is not as popular with the majority of the children as the other characters.
     
    Thus, if you investigate the contents of a Flintstones Multivitamins jar carefully, you’ll find seven different “characters.” As expected, Wilma, Fred, and a lonely Barney are included. Bamm-Bamm, Pebbles, and Dino are there, too, to help round out the nuclear family. But the Flintmobile? Is a car really more popular with children than a fine specimen of womanhood? You’d better believe it.
    Truth be told, Betty was never our favorite character either. In fact, we don’t think she deserved a great catch like Barney. Nevertheless, her lack of charisma is hardly reason enough to break up the family units that helped make the Flintstones a television and multivitamin supplement institution.
     
    What in the heck is a tumbleweed? Why does it tumble? And how can it reproduce if it doesn’t stay in one place?
     
    Three Imponderables for the price of one. The first part is easy. The most common form of tumbleweed, the one you see wreaking havoc in movie westerns, is the Russian thistle. But actually the term is applied to any plant that rolls with the wind, drops its seed as it tumbles, and possesses panicles (branched