Ascending Over Arizona
Abilene’s Arielle Ash led the first-ever all-female flyover at the end of the national anthem at the Super Bowl in February. Ash, a lieutenant in the Navy and a graduate of Texas Tech University, piloted an F/A-18F Super Hornet. The four-aircraft flyover commemorated 50 years of female pilots in the U.S. Navy. Women were first admitted to Navy flight school in 1973.
Skeeter Bleeders
Rice University bioengineers have teamed with other experts to study the bloodsucking behavior of mosquitoes using patches of synthetic skin made with a 3D printer, eliminating the need for human volunteers.
Holy Cow!
Texas has more reasons to celebrate Cow Appreciation Day—July 11 this year—than any other state. With about 12.5 million head of cattle, Texas has almost twice as many as the next most-populous state, Nebraska.
Historic Trail Boss
Margaret Borland drove about 2,500 cattle from her herd of 10,000 from Victoria to Wichita, Kansas, 150 years ago, becoming what is believed to be the only woman to lead a cattle drive. Borland, a widow, was joined that spring by trail hands; two sons, both under 15; a 7-year-old daughter; and an even younger granddaughter.
But on July 5, 1873, shortly after arriving in Kansas, she died of an illness variously described as “trail fever” and “congestion of the brain”—likely cholera and typhoid.
