Facts About All: July 2011

Who is John Bull?

There is no such person as John Bull. He stands for the people of Great Britain, just as Uncle Sam stands for the people of the United States. But in his picture he does not look at all like Uncle Sam. He is always short and stout. He wears leather breaches, high boots, and a funny flat hat. Often he has a club in one hand and a bulldog beside him.

John Bull is ocasionally used to refer to the whole of the United Kingdom, but has not been recognized in Walles or Scotland because he is viewed there as English rather than British.

The bloodiest single-day battle in American history. The Battle of Antietam

The Battle of Antietam or Battle of Sharpsburg, was an famous combat of the Civil War. About fifty thousand Confederate troops led by General Robert E. Lee attempted an invasion of the North. His troops were intercepted on Sept.17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Md., by a Union army of seventy thousand men under the command of General George Brinton McCIellan. In the ensuing action, the Union army suffered approximately 12,000 casualties, including 2108 killed; at least 2700 Confederate soldiers were killed, and about ten thousand were wounded or missing. Lee's army retreated across the Potomac River the following day, making the outcome technically a Union victory. The Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with about 23,000 casualties.
The name of the battle is derived from Antietam Creek, near the battle area; the area was designated a national battlefield site in 1890. Antietam National Cemetery is in the vicinity.

Space firsts

140 AD
Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria wrote the Almagest, an astronomical treatise recording all the knowledge of the ancient world. He also produced the most accurate star catalogue of his time.

1054 AD
Chínese astronomers recorded a supernova explosion in Taurus. The Crab Nebula is the remnant of this event.

1543
Copernicus laid the groundwork of modern astronomy by showing that the Earth and all the planets revolved around the Sun.

1608
The Dutchman, Hans Lippershey, used the magnifying power of glass lenses to build the first telescope. The following year, Galileo used his own telescope to observe sunspots, the moons of Jupiter and the stars oftheMilky Way.

The four inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) are the midgets of the solar system. All are quite dense and, apart from Earth, have barren, rocky surfaces. The features of Earth are softened by the great oceans that cover 71% of its surface.
Only the thinnest of atmospheres exist on Mercury and Mars. As a result there is a great difference between day and night-time temperatures. On Mercury the change can be as high as 400 °C. Earth and Venus, however, have shielding atmospheres. Their temperatures are fairly constant. On Earth at the equator, this is about 15 °C while most of Venus roasts at nearly 500 °C— hot enough to melt lead!

Orbiting in the 550 million km gap between Mars and Jupiter are tens of thousands of small rocky objects called asteroids. Ceres (recently named a dwarf planet) is the biggest, with only 950 km across—most are only house or boulder-sized.
Astronomers think that the asteroids are the building blocks of a planet which never formed.

Who was Antigone?

ANTIGONE, in Greek mythology, is a daughter of the incestuous marriage between Oedipus, king of Thebes, and Queen Jocasta. Antigone accompanied her father into exile but returned to Thebes after his death. In a dispute over the throne her brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, killed each other. The new king, Creon, gave Eteocles an honorable burial but ordered that the body of Polynices, whom he regarded as a traitor, remain where it had fallen. Antigone, believing divine law must take precedence over earthly decrees, buried her brother. Creon condemned her to be buried alive. She hanged herself in the tomb, and her grief-stricken lover, Haemon, Creon's son, killed himself. Antigone was the subject of plays by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles and the 20th-century French playwright Jean Anouilh.

Information about metals

Metals are useful to man because they can be formed and shaped more easily than stone. Many of them have greater strength for their weight than other materials, and they lend themselves to a very wide variety of uses.
In fact, it may very well be said that our present civilization would not be possible without metals.
Actually, historians do not consider the human race to have become civilized until it had learned the use of metals. The term "stone age people" simply refers to those who did or do not know how to use metals.
Even today there are some peoples who are so primitive that uses of metals are unknown to them, and they must be classed as stone age peoples.
It appears that use of metals began as early as 35,000 years ago with the Neanderthal man.
The earliest people who used metals could take advantage only of those metals, such as copper and gold, which are found in almost pure form in chunks or nuggets, perhaps just scattered around in places where the metals occurred.
One of the great discoveries of mankind was that these chunks of metal could be changed into more useful or more ornamental shapes by beating or pounding. Although the tools and equipment have advanced greatly, the basic principie of shaping metal in this way has not changed in 6,000 years.

Famous Ancient Temples

TEMPLE OF AMMON. Remains of one of the world's most imposing religious monuments can be found in the Nile Valley near Karnak, Egypt. Work on the Temple of Ammon began here about 4,000 years ago. The original temple was made bigger from time to time until it was 1,200 feet long. One hall within the temple was larger than Notre Dame Cathedral. Rows of 69-foot columns raised the roof of this inner hall above the surrounding flat stone roofs. Grilled Windows admitted light.

PARTHENON. In Athens about 450 B.C., during the time of Pericles the great statesman, a temple to the goddess Athena Parthenos was erected on top of a hill called the Acropolis. Known as the Parthenon, this temple is the finest example of the classic style of Greek architecture. Its 46 Doric columns were made of white marble. The four corner columns were slightly larger than the others and all were wider in the middle than at the base. The original temple measured 101 by 228 feet and was 65 feet high.
Phidias created a 41 foot statue of the virgin goddess for the interior. He formed the body of wood overlaid with ivory and cast a separate golden garment that could be removed and weighed by the temple treasurer. Thus Phidias was able to disprove later charges that he had stolen some of the gold provided for the statue.
After 800 years as a Temple, The Parthenon became a Christian church in A.D. 426. A bell tower was added which became a minaret when the Turks used it as a mosque in the 15th century.

THE TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS (Artemision) was a Greek temple dedicated to the Greek goddess of the moon. The temple was located in the city of Ephesus on the coast of what is now Turkey. The temple, erected during the reign of Alexander the Great, became known as one of the Seven Wonder of the Ancient World. It was almost 400 feet long, covered nearly two acres, and had more than 100 pillars, each 60 feet high. Inside the shrine was a statue of the goddess Artemis. Worshipers brought so many gifts, that the temple soon became filled with treasure. Barbarians looted and damaged the temple in A.D. 262.

SHWE DAGON PAGODA is considered by Buddhists throughout southeast Asia as one of their most important religious centers because of the relics which are housed there. Constructed in 588 B.C., the building was enlarged in the 15th century by Shin Sawbu, a Burmese queen who gave her weight in gold to gild the pagoda's 360-foot spire. This pagoda now contains about 25 tons of gold and 100 tons of silver. Around the base are 64 small shrines.
The Buddhist pagodas were intended to be used as places for meditation rather than as temples for worshiping. Pilgrims travel great distances to visit this elaborate pagoda in Rangoon, Burma.

TEMPLE OF ANGKOR WAT. Deep in the dense jungles of Cambodia lies the ruins of Angkor Thom, capital of the ancient kingdom of the Khmers. One mile south are the soaring towers and elaborately carved red sandstone walls of the 600-year-old Temple of Angkor Wat. Three miles of moat and a 180-acre park surround the almost one square mile of ruíns. Built on three levels, this huge temple is capped with five spires.

MAYAN TEMPLES, found near Chichen Itza on Mexico's isolated Yucatan Peninsula, were built prior to Spanish conquest. The great Mayan civilization flourished 1,400 years ago. Working without metal tools, the people built magnificent pyramids with stone steps leading to sacrificial altars at the top.
The Pyramid of Sacrifice (El Castillo) near Chichen Itza is well preserved. It measures about 190 by 231 feet at the base and 80 feet in height. Four staircases, each about 30 feet wide lead to the wood and stone temple that surmounts the pyramid. Archaeologists have discovered that an older building of another style is buried beneath El Castillo. Many structures were buried below later ones in this region.

THE PANTHEON in Rome is a reconstruction by the Emperor Hadrian in A.D. 125 of an earlier temple that stood on the same site. At the top of its 142-foot dome is a 30-foot opening providing light for the interior. The opening is like the smoke hole in huts built by many primitive peoples. Rain that comes through the hole drains off the sloped floor.

What is Momentum?

Momentum is the quantity of motion of a moving mass. A large mass with a certain velocity has a greater momentum than does a small mass with the same velocity. Equal masses moving with equal velocities possess the same quantity of motion. If equal masses have different velocities, then the mass having the greater velocity has the greater momentum. Hence, momentum depends on both the mass of the body and the velocity with which the body is moving. It is measured by the product of the mass and the velocity or: P = mv.

Newton hinted at the quantity called momentum in the original statement of his second law, which reads, "The change of motion is proportional to the impressed motive force and takes place in the direction of the straight line in which the force is impressed." The most important part of the statement is that forces are measured by the change of motion which they produce.

Facts about Henry Hudson

The Hudson River is named for the English explorer Henry Hudson. So is Hudson Bay.

No one knows exactly when Henry Hudson was born. Not very much is known about his early ufe, either.

Some sources have identified Henry Hudson as having been born around the year 1565

Hudson first sailed up the river named for him in 1609. He went as far as present-day Albany.

His boat was a little sailing vessel named the "Half Moon."

He had been sent out by a company in Holland—the Dutch East India Company—to find a northern route to China.

Edward Anthony Jenner

Edward Jenner was an English physician who discovered a vaccine to prevent smallpox.
Jenner, the son of a minister, was born on May 17, 1749 in Berkeley, England.
Smallpox is such a rare disease now that it is hard to realize that during the Middle Ages it was the cause of horrible epidemics throughout Europe.
Not only was the death rate high, but those who lived through such epidemics were permanently scarred with ugly pockmarks. Many were left blind.
His alma mater was St George's, University of London
After receiving his medical education, Jenner returned to Berkeley where he became interested in the popular belief that people who had had cowpox, a mild disease contracted from cattle, could not get the deadly smallpox. This was not always true, because, as he discovered, only one of the two types of cowpox could protect.
Jenner had a chance to actually test the belief when a dairymaid with cowpox came to him. He injected fluid from the cowpox pustules into a healthy, young. Two months later he injected smallpox fluid into the same boy who did not develop the dread disease. This achievement started a national vaccine program which today is universal. The basic idea is used to protect against many diseases.
Edward Jenner is sometimes referred to as the "Father of Immunology"
Jenner died on January 26, 1823 (aged 73)
Jenner's works have been said to have "saved more lives than the work of any other man".

How do scientist define matter?

Matter is commonly defined as anything which has mass and occupies space. However, diverse fields use the word in diverse and occasionally incompatible ways; there is no single agreed scientific meaning of the term "matter".

All matter is composed of units called atoms and other particles which have mass. These atoms and particles have weight and occupy volume. Basically, atoms are made of electrically-charged particles —protons, found in the nucleus, and electrons, traveling about the nucleus. In addition, there are neutrons in the nucleus with a weight similar to protons, but lacking charge. Hydrogen is the only element which, in simple form, has no neutrons in the nucleus.

Cannibalism is the practice of people eating the flesh of other people.
Even among savages the custom of eating human flesh is rare today.
The term Cannibalism comes from Canibales, the Spanish name for the Carib people.
Probably nowhere except on certain Pacific islands are there any people who are still cannibals.
In the past, eating human flesh used to be rather common. In fact, some civilized peoples were cannibals.
When the Spaniards conquered Mexico some 500 years ago, they were horrified to find that the highly civilized Aztecs ate the flesh of some of the warriors they captured in battle.
A well-know example of anthropophagy is the falling in the Andes of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, after which some survivors ate the corpses of dead passengers.
Fiji was once called the "cannibal islands"

Lobsters (Nephropidae) are ocean-living shellfish which look like large crayfish.
Lobster's industry nets more than US$1 billion annually.
A lobster has ten jointed legs, the first pair bearing great, clamp-like claws.
They are invertebrate arthropods, with a strong protective exoskeleton.
Most lobsters are dark green, becoming red only when cooked.
They are appreciated for their flavor and texture.
Besides their two long antennae, they have a pair of eyes set on short stalks. Their jointed abdomens are tipped by a set of bladed tail plates used in swimming.
Lobsters, like snails and spiders, have blue blood due to the presence of haemocyanin, which contains copper.
Lobsters live in the coastal waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Full-grown lobsters are nearly two feet (60 cm) in length and weigh 25 pounds (11 kg).
A mature female may lay thousands of eggs at a time. They are carried on her abdominal gill organs until early the following spring. Then the hatching larvae come free and float on the ocean while feeding on plankton. When the larvae are one inch long, they descend to the ocean bottom and start life as young adult lobsters.
Older lobsters are more fertile than younger lobsters.
Like all arthropods, lobsters must shed their hard exoskeletons periodically in order to grow.
Lobster's right and left claws may be of unequal size.
According to the Guinness World Records, the largest lobster was captured in Nova Scotia, Canada, and weighed 44.4 lb.

What is the law of conservation of mass?

The law of conservation of mass says that in any ordinary chemical reaction, the mass of the reacting substance is exactly equal to the mass of the products. It was stated in 1756 by Mikhail Lomonosov (Russian), and independently by Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (French) in 1774. Landolt (German chemist) confirmed it by careful experiments from 1893 to 1908.

Note that the law says "ordinary chemical reactions," excluding nuclear reactions involving radioactive changes. Einstein's theory of mass-energy equivalence states that the mass plus the energy of the reactants in a reaction must equal the mass plus the energy of the products of the reaction. If the mass of the products is less than that of the starting materials, some of the original mass has been converted to energy. This is the process which releases energy when an atomic bomb explodes.

Facts about Daniel Boone

American explorer and pioneer, Daniel Boone, was born on November, 1734, in Pennsylvania.
Daniel Boone is the most famous of the early American pioneers.
In colonial days, when Daniel was a boy, much of North America was still a wilderness.
Boone was given a rifle when he was 12 years old. He often went into the woods to hunt. He learned to know every trail through the forests. He was friendly with the Indians and learned many of their ways.
When Daniel Boone was a young man he became a soldier. He fought with the English in a war against the Indians.
In 1769, with the help of 30 men, Daniel Boone cut the famous 300-mile Wilderness Road that led to the Kentucky River.
Boone founded the town of Boonesborough.
Daniel was a militia officer during the American Revolutionary War (1775 – 1782)
Before the end of the Eighteenth century, more than 200,000 European people migrated to Kentucky/Virginia by following the route marked by Daniel Boone.
Several times Boone was captured by Indians. But he always managed to escape.
Boone lived to be an old man.
Boone died on September 26, 1820
He is buried in Frankfort, Ky.

matches

waterproof matches

Matches have been known centuries ago, but the earliest types were usually inconvenient, and expensive. Too often they were made of poisonous materials or gave off poisonous gases. Today's matches are easy to use, work well under most conditions, and are cheap and safe to use where reasonable safety is practiced. Caution in use and storage of matches can prevent many serious fires. The commonest varieties of matches are strike-anywhere matches and safety matches.

Strike-anywhere matches are made of wood splints, treated against after-glow, and paraffined for better burning. The head is made of two parts, the white tip or eye, and the red, blue, or black bulbous base. The eye is made of a phosphorus compound which ignites at a relatively low temperature, created by the friction from striking it. The fire ignites the base, which cannot ignite itself. It provides heat sufficient to light the paraffin coating and subsequently the wood.

Safety matches, packed in books or boxes, divide the ignition material between the match head and package. Thus they cannot light except by friction with a special striking surface. The head is a potash compound, while the striking surface is made of red phosphorus and sand.

FACTS ABOUT MATCHES

1.- A precursor of the match, small sticks of pinewood impregnated with sulfur were invented in China in AD 577.

2.- Matches appeared in Europe by about 1530. But the first modern, self-igniting match was invented in 1805.

3.- The first "friction match" was invented by English chemist John Walker in 1826.

4.- In the Netherlands and Belgium matches are called lucifers.

Facts about jade

green jade beads

Jade is a tough, hard green mineral used for ornaments and jewelry.

Jade is one of the gem minerals. But it is not as rare and expensive as diamonds and emeralds. It is one of the semiprecious stones.

The English word jade is derived from the Spanish term piedra de ijada (first recorded in 1565) or "loin stone", from its reputed efficacy in curing ailments of the loins and kidneys.

The Chinese prized it above all rare stones and metals.

The Chinese almost worshiped jade itself. To them this mineral stood for all the virtues.

The Aztecs of Mexico used jade, believing that it could cure illness and disease.

Some jade is mined, but much of it is found in streams.

Bells of jade produce a clear tone.

Today many thousands of dollars can be spent for a jade ornament. The carving, of course, is worth more than the jade itself.

There are two true jades: nephrite, which polishes to an oily luster, and jadeite, (most prized) which polishes to a glassy luster.

Jade colors include black, brown, green, lilac, and white.

In some countries, jade is more commonly known as 'greenstone'.

Ivory facts

Ivory tusk

People have used ivory ever since the days of the cave men.
The Egyptians had many beautiful ivory objects, and India has long been famous for its intricate ivory carvings.
Ivory is a type of tooth dentine present in the tusks of certain animals.
The word ivory likely derives from the Ancient Egyptian âb, âbu "elephant", through the Latin ebor- or ebur.
Ivory is harder than bone. Its chief source is elephant tusks.
The ivory in the tusks of an adult elephant may weigh as much as 90 kg.
Ivory can be carved easily. It can be beautifully polished, too.
Ivory products include piano keys, billiards balls, chessmen, knife handles and carved ornaments.
King Solomon, the Bible tells us, had a whole throne carved out of ivory.
Some ivory is found buried in the ground in northern countries. It comes from the tusks of mammoths and mastodons that lived there thousands of years ago during the great Ice Age. A little ivory comes from walrus tusks.
The chemical composition of the teeth and tusks of mammals is the same regardless of the species of origin.

What is Metamorphosis?

Metamorphosis is the modification in body form and structure which takes place in some animals as they develop from young (larvae) to adult. The word "metamorphosis" comes from a Greek word which means "to transform." Grasshoppers, termites, dragonflies, damselflies, and frogs go through an incomplete metamorphosis in which there is a partial change of body form. Bees, beetles, flies, fleas, moths, butterflies, and doodlebugs go through a complete metamorphosis in which there are three stages of change m body form and structure. These three stages are: larva, pupa, and adult.

Baby grasshoppers are called nymphs, and undergo incomplete metamorphosis. With their six legs and compound eyes, they look somewhat like adult grasshoppers, except for their wings. The nymph's wings grow va slowly, getting a little bigger each time the nymph molts (sheds its outer covering). The wings are not fully developed until the grasshopper has reached the adult stage.

Jellyfish are simple, transparent sea animals, varying in size from an inch to over 100 feet.
Jellyfish have no backbone or skeleton and thus are not actually fish at all.
The body of a jellyfish looks as if it were made of jelly. It is easy to see, then, how jellyfish got the "jelly" in their name. It is not easy to see how they got the "fish" in their name, for they are not much like fish, except that they do live in water.
Most jellyfish live in warm water.
The bodies are soft and often umbrella-shaped with stinging tentacles around the edge, for getting food.
Jellyfish eat true fish and other sea animals. They first paralyze these anímal, with poison darts on their feelers.
Jellyfish are of the group (phylum) called coelenterates.
The animals propel themselves by squirting jets of water from this opening.
Some jellyfish have beautiful colors. Some shine at night. Some are almost transparent. Some are so soft that they collapse when they are out of water. Others are more like gristle and keep their shape
Jellyfish are actually the medusa stage in the life cycle of certain coelenterates.
The Portuguese man-of-war is one of the most unusual of jellyfish. Each colorful float actually supports a whole colony of animals.

Facts about llamas

The llama (Lama glama) is a member of the camel family.
Llama is the name given the domestic animals of the species. The wild relative is called the guanaco.
They are found in South America.
Llamas are widely used as a pack and meat animal by Andean cultures since prehispanic times.
Llamas do not have humps like camels, but they are used as beasts of burden.
The height of a adult llama is between 5.5 ft (1.7 meters) and 6 ft (1.8 meters) tall.
Llamas can go for several days without water.
They are very social animals and love to live with other llamas as a herd.
LLamas are used to living at high altitudes. They make good pack animals for mountainous areas.
Llamas are shaggy beasts and provide good wool for clothing. The alpaca, a variety of llama, is bred for its wool.
The vicuña is a wild type that produces especially fine wool.
These animals can carry about 25 percent to 30 percent of their body weight for several kilometers.
The meat of the llama can be eaten.
The llama is a very intelligent animal and can learn simple tasks after a few repetitions.
The llama is a stubborn animal. If it gets tired of carrying its load, it lies down.

Great Churches

THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. PETER in the tiny state of Vatican City is the largest Christian church in the world. It is built in the shape of a cross, 718 feet long and 450 feet wide, with its great dome rising over 400 feet. Like many large cathedrals, it took over 100 years to build. It was dedicated in 1626.
According to church usage, a cathedral is a church which holds the bishop's chair or throne; size is unimportant. St. Peter's, in this sense, is not a cathedral. St. John Lateran is the cathedral for the diocese of Rome.

Hagia Sophia

HAGIA SOPHIA began as a Christian church in A.D. 532 in Constantinople (formerly Byzantium; now Istanbul). Over ten thousand men labored six years to build it. About 1453, the Turks converted ít into a mosque, a Moslem place of worship. Now it is a museum. The main floor plan resembles a Greek cross. Above the center is a 184-foot dome flanked by half domes. Rich mosaics decorate the floors, arches, vaults and upper walls. Many of these colorful mosaics were plastered over by the Turkish conquerors. Eight dark-green marble columns brought to Hagia Sophia from the dismantled Temple of Artemis are remnants of an earlier faith.

CHARTRES CATHEDRAL (the Cathedral of Notre Dame of Chartres) has two unmatched spires. Only the cathedrals of archbishops were permitted to have identical towers, and the cathedral of Notre Dame was founded by a bishop. Most of this famous Frenen church was built during the 12th and 13th centuries, but the tallest spire—377 feet—was not completed until the 16th century. It is known for its rose window and Gothic architecture.

NOTRE DAME DE PARIS, is the Gothic cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that comprises the cathedra (official chair) of the Archbishop of Paris. Notre Dame de Paris is broadly considered one of the excellent examples of French Gothic architecture in Europe, and the naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture. The first period of construction from 1163 into the 1240's coincided with the musical experiments of the Notre Dame school.

Breathing facts

All animals breathe. They breathe in oxygen, one of the gases the air is made of. Some animals (including humans) get oxygen directly from the air itself. Some get it from air that is dissolved in water. All animals, as they breathe out, throw carbon dioxide away.
Different animals breathe in different ways. People and all other mammals breathe with lungs. So do all birds and reptiles and most grown-up amphibians. Lungs are made of tiny air sacs joined by little tubes.
All fishes have gills for breathing. Gills are small fringes or sheets of thin "skin." As water flows past them, the gills take in oxygen from the air dissolved in the water. Lungfishes have both gills and lungs. They can breathe either in or out of water.

The Laekenois (or Belgian Shepherd Dog) is sometimes classified as a variety of the Belgian Shepherd Dog rather than as a separate breed.
The Belgian Shepherd Dog is not fully recognized in the USA.
The Laekenois breed is renowded for their loyalty and intelligence.
The Laekenois dog is usually quite reserved with strangers
The Belgian Shepherd is a medium-sized, square-proportioned dog.
The Belgian Laekenois originated as a sheep herding dog at the Royal Castle of Laeken.
The Laekenois is considered both the most rare and the oldest of the Belgian Shepherd Dogs.
The Laekenois breed can participate in obedience and dog agility trials.
Original purpose: herding
Weight : Male 29-34 kg (65-75 lb), Female 25-30 kg (55-65 lb)
Size: Male 61-66 cm (24-26 inches) Female 56-61 cm. (22-24 inches)
Life Expectancy: Around 12-14 years
Litter Size : Average 8-10 puppies
Coat: rough, coarse, tousled look
Ears: triangular, stiff, erect
Tail: strong base
Nose: black
The Belgian Laekenois is a good guard dog, and it will protect family members as well as property.

Malnutrition facts

Malnutrition results when the body does not obtain the proper amounts or the right kinds of food. Malnutrition may occur in animals (including humans) as well as plants. When the body is in a state of malnutrition, it becomes susceptible to disease and infection.

Malnutrition may be caused by failure of the body to absorb the nutrients in proper food. A common example of this is the loss of food by chronic or recurring diarrhea.

Malnutrition occurs in individuals or in groups of people because of poverty, famine, wars, disease, or ignorance.
The body must obtain six basic elements from foods for good health and proper functioning. The body needs these elements for growth, repair of body tissues, production of heat and energy, and the regulation of the heart and other organs. These basic essentials are: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, water, minerals and vitamins.

When a person is unable to get enough food because of poverty or famine, he will suffer from a form of malnutrition called hollow hunger. Or he may get enough food to satisfy his appetite and yet not get all the
nourishment his body needs. This malnutrition is called hidden hunger.

Wonders of ancient Rome

The Appian Way

THE APPIAN WAY, begun about 312 B.C., is the best known of the ancient, paved, Roman highways. From Rome the Appian Way climbed the hills of Italy's southern tip to such ports as Naples, Bari, Taranto,
Brindisi and Reggio. Including branch roads, it was over 350 miles long and was an average of 20 feet in width. A crown-shaped base of heavy stone blocks cemented together provided good drainage. The surface may have been gravel at first, but closely fitted blocks of lava were added later for a more durable covering.

ROMAN AQUEDUCTS. Many ancient cities grew so large that nearby wells and rivers could no longer supply them with sufficient fresh water. Both the Greeks and Romans built aqueducts to carry water from distant mountain reservoirs to their large cities. Aqueducts consisted of underground pipes, of rock-lined tunnels, and, the most impressive sections, of masonry arches that carried the water in aerial canals. Pont du Gard in France is a well-preserved example of a Roman aqueduct.

THE CIRCUS MAXIMUS in Rome, started in the 3rd century B.C., was the earliest and biggest of the Roman structures built for viewing chariot races. Over the years the Circus Maximus grew from a natural depression near Palatine Hill to a massive U-shaped stone building topped with tiers of seats for more than 250,000 spectators. Wooden seats and standing room for the masses were free; dignitaries occupied front-row marble seats. Three marble-faced arcades, one above the other, provided space for people selling food, drink, and other services.

THE COLOSSEUM in Rome was opened by the Emperor Titus in A.D. 80. On the first day 5,000 beasts were killed. Metal bars and high walls protected the public from the wild animals in the elliptical arena. Crowds cheered while gladiators fought lions, tigers and each other. There were 80 entrances to this largest of all Roman ampitheatres. The first floor of the Colosseum's outer wall had Doric columns, the second Ionic, and the third Corinthian. Small Windows and shields of bronze ornamented the rather plain face of the fourth story.

What is ionization?

Ionization is the process of turning uncharged atoms or groups of atoms into ions. Ions carry an electric charge. This occurs when atoms either lose or gain electrons. With fewer electrons, the charge is positive. More electrons create a negative charge.
It is rather striking that after ionization most atoms have the same number of electrons as the inert gases (those that do not readily combine with others). The resistance to change (stability) of these ions and the chemical inactivity of the inert gases is attributed to a special electronic arrangement. These atoms, except for helium, have eight electrons in the outermost energy level. metals, such as sodium, lose electrons readily, ionize, since they have one or two more electrons than the inert gases.
Non metals such as chlorine, gain electrons easily in ionization since they have one or two fewer electrons than the corresponding inert gas.

Botany science

The science of botany is the scientific study of plants. Plants are very important. Without them people and other animals would have no food. Plants also furnish many things besides food.

Botany also include a vast range of disciplines concerned with the study of plants, fungi, and algae, including structure, metabolism, growth, development, reproduction, chemical properties, diseases, and evolutionary relationships among taxonomic groups.

Because plants are so important, we need to know a great many things about them. We need to know how they are built and how they carry on the work of living. We need to know how different plants manage to live in different soils and different climates and with different plant and animal neighbors. We need to know which plants are closely related. We need to know how to make plants grow well and how to get new and better kinds. We need to know, too, how to protect plants from disease and insect enemies.

Paleobotanists study ancient plants in the fossil record.

What is a boomerang?

A boomerang is a throwing object with a curved shape (an open flat V or a cross) used as a weapon or for sport.

When thrown, the boomerang will first fly forward, spinning as it goes. Then it will turn around in the air and come back to the thrower.

A skillful thrower can make his boomerang do many stunts. He can make it bounce off the ground several times before it rises into the air and starts back. He can make it loop-the-loop several times. He can even make it turn in a figure-eight in the air

A boomerang is simply a curved club. But it must be curved in exactly the right way. It must be curved so that the air pushing against it will make it do its stunts. Some boomerangs are carved from small trees which already have a good bend. It may be at a place where a branch joins the trunk. Some boomerangs are made from straight pieces of wood that are first soaked in water and then bent into shape.

There are also boomerangs that do not return to the thrower. These are rather heavy and are almost straight. They make better weapons, but they are not as inter-esting to watch.

What is mineral water?

Mineral water is water which has a higher content of dissolved minerals or gas than ordinary water. All water contains some dissolved minerals.
The composition of mineral water depends on the kind of rock and soil through which it has passed. Some of the chemicals likely to be in it are compounds of silicon, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron, and manganese, and hydrogen sulfide gas. Mineral water in different places has different tastes and temperatures. It can be cold or hot, alkaline, salty, carbonated; or it can have a strong odor and taste of sulfide.
Mineral water when drunk is thought to have a beneficial effect on the body. There are over 400 mineral springs used commercially in the United States.

MINERAL WATER FACTS

The FDA classifies mineral water as water comprising at least 250 ppm total dissolved solids (TDS), originating from a geologically and physically guarded underground water source.

There are more than three thousand brands of mineral water commercially available in the world.

In many locations, the term "mineral water" is usually used to signify any bottled carbonated water or soda water, as contrary to tap water.

The Seven Wonders of the World

THE 7 WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD

THE GREAT PYRAMID OF KHUFU near Cairo is the only one of the original seven wonders of the world that is still standing. Built about 2600 B.C., this tomb of a pharaoh is the largest of the 70 or so pyramids in Egypt. Each side of the 13-acre square base originally measured about 756 feet. Blocks of stone quarried nearby rise in steps to a 481-foot peak. Some of the more than two million blocks of limestone weigh 30 tons, but the average is about 2½ tons. It took 30 years and the labor of 100,000 men to haul the stones up long ramps. Fine stones to line the inner passages and burial chambers were quarried in the south of Egypt and shipped by raft 700 miles down the Nile to the site of the pyramid. On the exterior was placed a facing of white limestone blocks that made the tomb glisten in the sunlight. Many of these finely cut slabs have since been removed and used to adorn public buildings.
Nearby on the plains of Giza is the Sphinx, a temple-monument carved after a second pyramid had been built in the area. The Sphinx was cut from a natural bluff of rock, formed as a result of stone quarrying for the pyramids. Its shape is that of a lion with a human head.

MAUSOLEUM AT HALICARNASSUS. Shortly after the death of King Mausolus ín 353 B.C., his widow, Queen Artemisia, had an elaborate tomb, 140 feet high, erected in his memory. On the top a chariot drawn by prancing horses carried figures of Mausolus and his queen. The tomb still existed in Asia Minor on the Aegean Sea when Columbus discovered America. Later destroyed by an earthquake, remnants of the statues can be seen today in the British Museum.

Carbon - the facts

Out of all the chemical elements—the materials the world is built of —carbon is one of the most important. An entire branch of chemistry deals with the thousands of compounds of carbon.
There could not be any living things without carbon. For carbon makes up a part of the living material in every plant and animal. We ourselves are part carbon.
Carbon is also a part of all our common fuels. Wood, coal, coke, charcoal, fuel oil, gasoline, and cooking gas all have some carbón in them.
Almost all our foods contain carbon. In fact, salt and water are the only things we eat or drink that are not part carbon. Carbon is in many other substances, too.

Facts about Mirrors

A mirror is any smooth superficies which reflects more light rays than it absorbs.

The earliest mirrors were pieces of polished stone such as volcanic obsidian.

All mirrors absorb some light, but the more highly polished they are, the more they will reflect. Even a highly polished sheet of glass will act as a mirror, to an extent, although it allows most of the rays to pass through. The condition of being opaque and the smoothness of surface determine the quality of reflection.

Good mirrors are made of polished glass with a silvery back surface.

The angle between a light ray striking a mirror and the normal (perpendicular) to the mirror is the angle of incidence. The angle between the normal and the ray reflecting off the mirror is the angle of reflection. These two angles are always equal.

Mirrors are of 3 kinds: Plane, or flat, concave, and convex. A concave mirror is one whose surface is like the inside of a hollow ball. It will reflect a larger or smaller image depending on the object's distance from it. If the object is further away, the image will appear upside down. A convex mirror always shows an image smaller than the object. Concave mirrors are used in reflecting telescopes.

The most common kind of mirror is the plane mirror, which has a flat surface.

German chemist Justus von Liebig invented the silvered-glass mirror in 1835.

What are Joints?

Whether at work or at play, man almost always moves some part of his body. Arms, hands, legs and feet may be in motion. All of these movements are possible because most of the bones of the body are movable. They are connected to one another in some way. The points of connection between the bones are called joints.

There are certain bones of human bodies which have little or no need for movement. For example, the bones of the skull are fixed and immovable. They are joined so closely by fibrous tissues that the connections between them appear only as lines. Such joints are called synarthroses. There are other bone junctions which provide for limited movement (amphiarthroses). An example of these connections is the socalled pubic symphysis. The pubic bones are in the lower front part of the abdomen near the genital region. These two bones are held together by bundles of thick fibers called ligaments. During pregnancy there is a relaxation of these connections in the female body which serves as a preparation for childbirth.

Those joints which move most freely (diarthroses] are usually classified as hinge, pivot, or ball-and-socket joints. The hinge joints allow backward and forward motion in one plane. The bending of the elbow, the knee and the fingers are examples of motion provided by hinge joints.

Michael Faraday was born on September 22, 1791 in Newington Butts.

In 1831 MIchael Faraday found that electricity can be made to flow in a coil of wire by moving that coil in the magnetic field between the poles of a U-shaped magnet. The current can be made more powerful simply by using more turns of wire in the coil and by using more powerful magnets.

All the generators which supply our modern world with electricity are made of magnets and coils of wire.

Michael Faraday also showed that if a wire that has electricity flowing through it is placed in a magnetic field the wire wíll move. This discovery became the basis for the later development of electric motors.

Faraday is often called the father of the age of electricity.

Faraday established that magnetism could influence rays of light and that there was an basic relationship between the 2 phenomena.

He made discoveries in the field of chemistry, too. Among them was benzene, which is the starting point in the manufacture of many dyes, perfumes, and explosives used today.

Faraday's accomplishments seem more wonderful when we realize that he had very little schooling. His father, who was a blacksmith, was too poor to send him to school. So the boy went to work in a bookbinder's shop and became interested in books on science.

Michael Faraday married Sarah Barnard on June 12, 1821, They had no children.

Faraday died on August 25, 1867.

German physicist, Albert Einstein, kept a portrait of Michael Faraday on his study wall alongside pictures of Isaac Newton and J. C. Maxwell.

Complex machines

Machinery consists of complex machines. Such complex machines may be defined as two or more simple machines connected together. There are six simple machines: the lever, the wheel and axle, the pulley, the inclined plane, the wedge, and the screw. These simple machines are all used to help men do different kinds of work—to lift, carry, turn, pulí, and cut. A combination of any of the simple machines is a complex machine. Most complex machines are designed to do special kinds of work.

One of the complex machines easiest to understand is the gear. A gear is made up of two simple wheel and axle machines placed next to one another. When one turns, it causes the other to turn. Usually the wheels are of different sizes and have teeth cut into their edges to prevent slipping. The smaller gear turns faster, with less turning force, trian the larger gear, which then has more turning force. Every time the small gear turns all the way around, the large gear turns only part way. The large wheel and its axle are turning more slowly but can lift something heavier or turn something too difficult for the axle of the small wheel. By cutting the edge of the gears at an angle, the axes of rotation of the two gears can be at an angle with each other rather than being along the same direction. In this way, a force in a vertical direction can be changed to one in a horizontal direction. Gears are used in watches, automobiles, outboard motors, trains, and many other complex machines.

What is centrifugal force?

When a muddy car wheel spins around, it flings off some of the mud that is on it. The force that makes the mud fly off is called centrifugal force. "Centrifugal" comes from Latín words whích mean "running away from the center."

Suppose one man whirling a bucket full of water around him. The water would not come out. It would be thrown against the bottom of the bucket by centrifugal force. The bucket might be upside down part of the time, and still the water would stay in.

Anyone who has watched the hammer-throw at a track meet has seen centrifugal force at work. The hammer is a weíght on the end of a slender rod. The faster it is whirled, the harder centrifugal force pulls it outward. At last the thrower lets go, and the hammer sails away.

Dairy farmers find centrifugal force very helpful in separating cream from milk. In a cream separator the milk is whirled around very fast. Cream is rather light. It stays near the center. The heavier part of the milk is whirled to the outside and drained away.

It is a good thing that another force called gravity is always pulling us. If it weren't, centrifugal force would throw us off into space as the earth whirls around!

Some facts about leprosy

Leprosy is a chronic, infectious disease affecting the skin and producing certain changes in the nerves.

While said to be passed from one person to another, the risk of infection is relatively slight. The disease first came to man's notice because of the victims's coarse, thickened skin and some deformities.

The immediate of leprosy cause is a rod-shaped germ called Bacillus leprae, discovered by Hansen in 1874.
Hence, the disease is called Hansen's disease.

There are two types of leprosy found in the southern part of the United States. In one type, nodules, which later break down into ulcers, form on the skin. In the other, the nerves of the extremities become thickened and painful.

The ancients called leprosy an "unclean" disease. This is not necessarily so, but certainly scrupulous cleanliness and sanitation are necessary. The common housefly has been blamed for carrying the disease, but this is not yet proven.

Leprosy may pass between armadillos (Dasypodidae) and humans.

Armadillos, mangabey monkeys, rabbits and mice (on their footpads), are among the few known non-human animal species that can contract leprosy systemically.

Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the late Fifteenth century, leprosy was unknown in the New World. Given that armadillos are native to the New World, at some point they acquired the disease from people.

What is a mirage?

sunset mirage

A mirage is a reflection caused by bending light rays. When riding along a highway, one may sometimes see a reflection ahead which looks like a distant pool of water. People traveling across a desert will occasionally see what appears to be a distant lake, only to find it disappear as they move toward it. These reflections are mirages caused by a layer of dense warm air near the surface of the earth. Light rays bend when they pass through substances of different densities. The light rays from the sky are reflected toward one's line of visión by the dense warm air near the ground; so what one sees is not water, but a reflection of the sky.

History of bricks

brick kiln

For thousands of years people have made brick for building. Most of the bricks of long ago were sun-dried. They were made of mud, usually with straw mixed in to help hold the mud together. The first sun-dried bricks were made in Mesopotamia (what is now Iraq), in the ancient city of Ur in about 4000 BC.
But some centuries later brickmakers learned how to make much harder bricks by baking them in an oven instead of drying them in the sun.
Brick has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.
The Romans made use of fired bricks, and their legions, introduced bricks to many parts of the Roman empire.
Today sun-dried brick is still used in many parts of the world. But what most people mean by brick now is brick that has been made in an oven. An oven for making bricks is called a "kiln".
The mud for brick is clay mixed with water. Some sand is added, too. The mud may be pressed into separate brick molds or made into long strips and then cut into bricks. The bricks are first dried. Then they are "fired." The temperature in a brick kiln may be over 2,000° F. The bricks are very hard when they leave the kiln. "As hard as a brick" is a common saying.
There are different kinds of "fired" brick. Glazed brick and firebrick are two of them. Glazed brick has a coating that makes it as smooth as glass. Firebrick contains much silica, which makes it stand fire well.
Termites do not eat brick. Fire cannot destroy it. Wind and weather do not make it rot. Buildings made of brick last a long time.

Meteor facts

leonid meteor

Meteors are sometimes called "shooting stars" or "falling stars." They are not stars at all.
Meteors are lumps of metal or rock that are speeding around in space.
When a meteor goes through the atmosphere of Earth, the meteor glows like a star and leaves a shining trail.
When a meteor explodes in the atmosphere, it is called a bolide.
Most meteors burn up 50 or 60 miles (80 or 96 km) above Earth.
Meteors, in size, usually range from a grain of sand to a baseball.
There are countless millions of meteors whirling through space.
When meteors enter the Earth's atmosphere, the resistance of the atmosphere and the friction between the meteor's molecules and the molecules of the atmosphere cause the meteor to burn and glow.
There are about nine annual meteor showers per year.
The trail of the meteor may be an optical illustion. The eyesight retain a row of images of the meteor.
Some meteors are probably fragments of old comets.
In 1833, In the Leonid meteor shower, a meteor storm occured. Ten-thousand meteor's per hour were reported.
A meteorite is a meteor or a piece of a meteor that lands on the surface of the earth.
Tiny pieces of meteors or meteoric dust are falling to the earth constantly.

Facts about the Aztecs

human sacrifices

About three hundred years before Columbus made his first voyage to the New World, a tribe of Indigenous people moved down from the north into what is new Mexico. These people were the Aztecs.
The Aztecs dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.
The Aztecs were hunters with bows and arrows.
At that time most of the natives of central Mexico were corngrowers. They had no weapons except clubs. It was easy for the Aztecs to conquer them.
Aztec is the Nahuatl word for "people from Aztlan", a mythological place for the Nahuatl-speaking culture of the time, and later adopted as the word to define the Mexica people.
2 centuries after the Aztecs came, most of central Mexico was under their rule.
The Aztecs chose an island in the middle of a lake as the place for their capital city. They named it Tenochtitlan.
To the Aztecs themselves the word "aztec" was not an endonym for any particular ethnic group. Rather it was an umbrella term used to refer to several ethnic groups, not all of them Nahuatl speaking, that claimed heritage from the mythic place of origin, Aztlan.
The Aztecs made jewelry of gold and silver. They made, for instance, ornaments for their lips and ears.
The Aztecs had no alphabet, but they could write. They wrote with pictures.
One of the most famous relics of the Aztecs is a great calendar stone that weighs more than 20 tons
The chief god of the Aztecs was the sun god, and there were other gods of wind, light, rain, and fire. The Aztecs believed that their gods wanted human sacrifices.
In 1521, the beautiful city of Tenochtitlan fell to the Spaniards. Now Mexico City stands where this older city stood.

facts about the soya bean

soybean products

The soya bean or soybean have become one of the most important vegetables grown in the world.
The plant of the soybean is classed as an oilseed rather than a pulse.
The plant of the soya bean was cultivated in China more than 4,800 years ago but it was not until 1908 that soya beans were first shipped to Britain and began to arouse world-wide attention.
Fat-free soybean meal is a primary, low-cost, source of protein for animal feeds and most prepackaged meals.
Soya beans are grown all over the world, principally in China, Brazil, Argentina, India, Manchuria, the United States and Japan.
Soybeans produce much more protein per acre than most other uses of land.
The soya bean produces oil and is made into flour, soya sauce, synthetic meats, milk and cheese-like products.
The soybeans contain important amounts of alpha-linolenic acid, phytic acid, and the isoflavones genistein and daidzein.
The soybean meat is rich in protein, costs less than meat and, for the production of the raw material, is less wasteful in space than the grazing of animals.
The English word "soy" is derived from the Japanese pronunciation of shōyu (soya sauce).

Jim Caviezel facts and trivia

Name at birth: James Patrick Caviezel, Jr.
Caviezel is an American actor best known for his role as Jesus Christ in the 2004 film The Passion of the Christ.
He was born in Mount Vernon, Washington, on September 26, 1968.
Parents: Margaret and James Caviezel.
Jim Caviezel was raised in a tight-knit Roman Catholic family.
Caviezel's surname is of Romansh origin.
Siblings: one brother, Timothy, and three sisters, Ann, Amy, and Erin.
Jim Caviezel height: 6 ft 1.75 in (1.87 m).
Mel Gibson warned Caviezel that playing Jesus in The Passion of the Christ could hurt his acting career.
Alongside Ian McKellen, James Caviezel starred in a remake of the British science fiction television show, The Prisoner, which aired in November 2009.
While auditioning for roles, Jim Caviezel did some modelling for ‘The Gap‘.
James Caviezel is married to school teacher, Kerri Browitt.
In 2004, while he was filming Passion of the Christ, Caviezel was struck by lightning during a storm.
His favorite food is Mexican.
Jim Caviezel is extremely religious.

Some facts about milk

bottle milk

Milk is a liquid product that comes from the breasts or udders of animals that nurse their young. These animals are called mammals.
The exact components of raw milk vary by species and by a number of other factors, but it contains substantial amounts of saturated fat, protein and calcium as well as vitamin C.
Although cow's milk is by far the most widely used, man has used milk from the mare, goat, ewe, camel, ass, zebra, reindeer, and llama. Cow's milk contains proteins, vitamins, fats, carbohydrates, and minerals.
Cow's milk has a pH ranging from 6.4 to 6.8, making it slightly acidic.
Milk has been considered almost a perfect food.
Some cultures, historically or currently, continue to use breast milk to feed their children until they are 7 years old.
Because it is easily digested, milk is the chief food of infants. Adults, too, should have milk in order to get calcium and other needed vitamins. The milk of the Jersey and Guernsey cows is especially rich in fat. Skim milk, almost fat-free, is usually fortified with extra vitamins lost with the fat and is used in weight-control and cholesterol-control diets.
The largest producer and consumer of cattle and buffalo milk in the world is India.
Federal, state, and local laws in the U.S. demand pasteurization of milk. This means heating according to standards to destroy any germs that may be present in the milk. It is also frequently homogenized so that the different components of the milk are thor-oughly mixed.
The term milk is also used for white colored, non-animal beverages resembling milk in color and texture such as soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, and coconut milk. In addition, a substance secreted by pigeons to feed their young is called crop milk and bears some resemblance to mammalian milk.
Milk products include buttermilk, cheese, butter, cream, and ice cream. Milk by-products are cold-water paints, waterproof glues, face creams, buttons, combs, artificial wools, plastics, drugs, soft drinks, and insecticides.

bagpipe facts

No other musical instrument looks or sounds like a bagpipe. When it is played, a queer drone serves as a background for the tune.
The term bagpipe is equally correct in the singular or plural, although in the English language, pipers most commonly talk of "pipes."
The bagpipe gets its name because a bag filled with air furnishes air for the pipes that make the sound.
The most common method of supplying air to the bag is by blowing into a blowpipe, or blowstick.
The bagpipe is a very old instrument. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all had it. Today the bagpipe is thought of as the instrument of the Scotch Highlanders.
An innovation, dating from the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries, is the use of a bellows to supply air.
A Highland bagpipe has five tubes. The player blows into the bag through one. He plays the tune on another. The other three tubes make the droning sound.
Bagpipes initially provided music for dancing in most cultures.

Interesting facts about Sarah Palin

Miss Wasilla, 1984

Name at birth: Sarah Louise Heath.
Sarah Louise Palin was the first woman elected Governor of Alaska.
Sarah Palin is an American politician and commentator.
She became a grandmother when her daughter Bristol gave birth to a son, Tripp Easton Mitchell.
Palin's book Going Rogue has sold more than 2,000,000 copies.
Palin is of Irish, English and German descent.
She was born in Sandpoint, Idaho on February 11, 1964.
Parents: Charles R. "Chuck" Heath and Sarah "Sally" (née Sheeran).
In 1984, Sarah won the Miss Wasilla beauty pageant.
On August 29, 1988, she married Todd Palin.
She and her husband Todd Palin have 5 children.
Sarah Palin has stated that she enjoys fishing, hunting, and running marathons.
While serving as governor of Alaska, Palin has earned approval ratings of ninety percent.
She earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" while playing high school basketball.
She is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association (NRA).
Sarah Palin was the first female vice presidential nominee of the Republican Party.
She finished 3rd in the Miss Alaska pageant in 1984.
Oprah Winfrey’s television show with Sarah Palin was her most watched show since 2007.
MSN.com named Sarah Palin as one of the sexiest women over 40 (#8)

Facts about true bugs

assassin bug

All bugs are insects, but not all insects are bugs. Even some of the insects that have "bug" in their names are not true bugs. The lightning bug, the ladybug, the June bug, and the potato bug are not bugs. They are beetles.
True bugs (Hemiptera) have transparent outer wings that overlap a little at the tip. Their legs are long and slim. They have mouth parts with which they can pierce a plant or an animal and suck out the juices.
Hemiptera includes around 50,000–80,000 species of aphids, cicadas, leafhoppers, planthoppers, shield bugs, and others.
Some bugs have names that fit them very well. The squash bug sucks the juice from squash plants. The assassin bug kills many other insects. The ambush bug lies in ambush among leaves and flowers and watches for insects it can catch. The toad bug looks as warty as a toad and goes hopping about in search of food.
True bugs range in size from 1 millimetre to around 15 centimetres, and share a common arrangement of sucking mouthparts.
Most bugs do little or no harm. A few do some good. The assassin bug, for example, eats many grasshoppers and potato beetles. But some are our enemies. The chinch bug, for instance, does a great deal of damage to our crops.
The fossil record of hemipteran bugs goes back to the Early Permian.
A few true bugs are parasites, feeding on the blood of larger animals. These include bedbugs and the kissing bugs.
Aphid bugs are born pregnant and can give birth when they are only 10 days old.

Facts about some extinct birds

Archaeopteryx

Many species of birds that once lived on the earth have disappeared. They have, as scientists say, become extinct.
Archaeopteryx is the oldest bird scientists know about. It lived far back in the days of dinosaurs. There have been no birds of this kind for over 100 million years.
The name Archaeopteryx means "ancient wing."
The Archaeopteryx was very different from any bird of today. It had no horny bill. Instead, it had sharp teeth—something no bird of today has. On its wings it had sharp claws. And its tail was much like a lizard's tail even though it had feathers on it.
Archaeopteryx was about the size of a crow. Their wings were too weak to lift them off the ground.

Everyone expects people to eat apples. But no one expects apple trees to eat people. They never do. But there are plants that eat animals. They are called carnivorous plants. These plants do not eat any very big animals. Most of the animals they eat are insects.

Of course. plants cannot go hunting. But each of the insect-eating plants has a way of its own of catching insects.

The leaves of a sundew plant act like flypaper. They are about half as big around as pennies. On them there are hairs, and on the ends of the hairs there are drops of sticky liquid. Insects get caught in the liquid. Their bodies are digested by it. The sundew gets its name because the drops of sticky liquid sparkle in the sun like dew.

Venus' flytrap has clever traps at the ends of its leaves. Each trap is a section of leaf that folds in the middle. On each half there are three signal hairs. For an insect to touch one of these hairs is like pulling a trigger. The trap closes at once, holding the insect fast. There is little chance that the insect will get away. because teeth around the edge of the trap lock together like the fingers of two hands. Digestive juices from the plant work on the trapped insect. When the soft parts of the insect are digested, the trap opens. What is left of the insect falls out and the trap is reset.

Pitcher plants also have traps. Their leaves are shaped like vases or pitchers. They catch and hold rain water. The vases are sweet smelling and brightly colored. Inside they have hairs that point downward. Attracted by the sweet smell and bright color, an insect lands on the edge of a pitcher and starts down into it. The hairs seem to say, "This way, please." But the wall is so slick that the insect soon slips into the rain water at the bottom.

Butterwort leaves are a combination of "flypaper" and traps. There are little openings all over the leaves. When an insect touches a leaf, a sticky liquid comes out of the openings. It holds the insect while the edges of the leaf curl up into a trap.

Carnivorous plants are not common. They are found only in places where some of the materials green plants need for food-making are scarce.

The electron microscope facts

The electron microscope is an apparatus which permits scientists to see and photograph objects too small to be seen with an optical microscope.

The electron microscope uses beams of electrons in place of beams of light.

The superiority of the electron microscope over the optical microscope depends on the fact that fast-moving electrons have a wave length a 100,000 times smaller than the wave length of visible light.

The magnifying power of the electron microscope is about 200 times that of the very best optical microscope.

The magnifying power of an optical microscope is thus limited by the fact that objects cannot be distinguished unless they are somewhat larger than the waves of light reflected from them.

Contemporary electron microscopes are capable of 2 million-power magnification.

In 1932 Ernst Ruska, a German physicist, constructed an electron microscope. He allowed a beam of electrons to be reflected from an object. Since electrons are charged they can be controlled by electric and magnetic fields.) The reflected electrons were directed through a magnetic field and then focused on a screen (as electrons are focused on a televisión screen to make a visible image) or on a photographic plate so that the image be recorded.

The major disadvantage of the transmission electron microscope is the need for extremely thin sections of the specimens, typically about 100 nanometers.

Playing card facts

Playing cards came to Europe from the East sometime in the Middle Ages. We know they were used in Italy in 1279. Long before then they were common in China and India.
Hundreds of distinct games can be played with playing cards.
Playing cards come in decks of 52 suit cards and, as a rule, one or two jokers.
Playing cards are typically palm-sized for convenient handling.
Decks of cards have not always looked like those we have now. Some cards were square. Some were much narrower than ours. Some were even round.
Early German cards had acorns, bells, hearts, and leaves.
Spanish cards were marked with swords, batons, cups, and money.
The idea of marking playing cards with clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades came from France.
For most games, the cards are assembled into a deck, and their order is randomized by shuffling.
Each suit has not always had a king, a queen, and a jack. Suits once had knights instead of queens. Some decks had extra cards which were used to foretell the future.
A French king once paid $500 for three decks of playing cards.
Cards are now cheap enough so that almost everyone can have them.
Because playing cards are commonly available, they are often adapted for other uses, such as cartomancy, magic tricks, or building a house of cards.
The 78-card Tarot deck, and subsets of it, are used for a variety of European trick-taking games. The Tarot is distinguished from most other decks by the use of a separate trump suit of 21 cards, and one Fool, whose role varies according to the specific game. Additionally, it differs from the 52-card deck in the use of one additional court card in each suit, the Cavalier or Knight.

What is a depressant?

statscounter

Facts about birthstones

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