MARCH

Who invented the singing telegram?

A Western Union executive named George P. Oslin invented the singing telegram in the depths of the Great Depression. It was on July 28, 1933 that he asked an operator named Lucille Lipps to deliver a singing message to the great vocal star, Rudy Vallee. It was Rudy's birthday.

Oslin, who was public relations director for Western Union, was criticized for making a laughingstock of the company. But as the US emerged from the depression, singing telegrams became more popular.

Today in the age of email and long-distance telephone calls, singing telegrams are falling into obscurity. The only ones available from Western Union now are those sung to the tune of "Happy Birthday to You" -- the same song sung by Lucille Lipps in 1933.

More about George Oslin and singing telegrams:
http://www.wps.com/dead-media/notes/14/147.html

Oslin wrote a book called "The Story Of Telecommunications":
http://amacord.com/telecom/

The history of Western Union:
http://members.tripod.com/morse_telegraph_club/comphis.htm

How were messages sent before the electric telegraph was invented?
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/2000/02/21.html

Why is someone who is in the know considered "hip?"

This word originated with the beatniks in the 1950s and it meant that you were "cool," with the perspective of an outsider, usually with very non-conforming politics and a lifestyle to match. Over the years it's been modified to mean an especially acute awareness of what's going on. All of which is pretty funny since it originated with a word that first meant conformity, to be in lockstep with everyone else.

Hip is a variation of "hep," a word used by jazz musicians in the 1930s that also meant to be in the know. But hep itself came from being in the know in a way that jazz musicians, beatniks, hippies or hip people today would definitely not regard as cool. It originated with the military cadence, "hep, two, three, four." Being hep, in soldier talk, meant that you were in perfect step. Definitely square.

(Source: DICTIONARY OF WORD AND PHRASE ORIGINS by W & M Morris)



FAST FACTS:

Lloyds of London, the famous insurance syndicate, has written
a lot of odd and interesting policies in its day. They have insured against:

The Loch Ness monster being captured
Elvis Presley being found alive
The possibility that the audience for a group of comedians would laugh itself to death
Children's television host Pinky Lee losing his trademark lisp

(Source: HOW THE CADILLAC GOT ITS FINS)

How many "primary smells" are there?

Our subtle senses of color and taste are the result of various combinations of a small number of "primary" senses. There are the sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami of taste, and the red, green, and blue of color. Are there "primary smells" too?

The sense of smell is far more complex than taste, but it too has primary senses. There are a lot more of them: several hundred, according to recent studies. Smell receptor cells come in many varieties, each of which responds to a small group of similar molecules.

When you smell the complex aroma of baking cookies or the subtle tang of seaweed decaying on the beach, your brain is recognizing a very complicated message composed of hundreds of distinct signals. Change just a few of those signals by a tiny amount, and you might realize that the cookies are beginning to burn.

How smell works:
http://www.sfn.org/briefings/smell.html

A school project on smell (for teachers and students):
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chems.html

A very smelly fruit:
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/2000/03/06.html

The five primary tastes, including umami:
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1999/01/04.html

Where is the world's largest airport?

You might think that the world's largest airport would be near one of the world's largest cities. Actually, the largest airport in the world (measured by total land area) is Saudi Arabia's King Khalid International Airport, which covers 87 square miles (225 square km).
Located near Saudi Arabia's capitol, Riyadh, it was opened in 1983 and like Riyadh it is surrounded by hundreds of miles of empty desert.

When it was first opened, King Khalid Airport (air traffic code: RUH) had the capacity to handle 7.5 million passengers a year. Projections then claimed that by the year 2000 that capacity would be doubled. It is one of the most modern airports in the Middle East, with a high-tech industrial park nearby that specializes in the aviation industry.

What Saudi Arabia says about the airport:
http://www.saudinf.com/main/a8124.htm

Basic facts about Saudi Arabia:
http://www.us-saudi-business.org/basic.htm

A guide to the world's airports:
http://www.d-l-s.freeserve.co.uk/aircraft_and_airports.htm

Who made chewing gum popular?

One of the prime candidates is not somebody you would connect to chewing gum. You've probably heard of him, but only if you "remember the Alamo." He was the commander of the Mexican troops who attacked and killed the Texans defending this San Antonio mission in 1836: General Santa Anna.

Santa Anna won that battle but his country lost the war and the territory of Texas. The General ruled Mexico for a while and then, in exile, ended up in--of all places--Staten Island, New York. He brought with him his habit of chewing chicle, the sap of a Mexican tree. An inventor he befriended, Thomas Adams, was inspired by Santa Anna's habit to turn chicle into a commercial product. Adams later added flavor to it and it became modern chewing gum, making one of America's most reviled villains also an unsung hero of its popular culture.

(Source: EXTRAORDINARY ORIGINS OF EVERYDAY THINGS by C. Panati)





FAST FACTS:

Hannibal, the Carthaginian general who fought Rome, is famous for his use of elephants in battle. But he also had another cute trick up his sleeve. Faced with the necessity of crossing an alpine path blocked by boulders, he had his engineers light fires to heat the rocks and then pour vinegar on them. It was enough to break the boulders, unblocking the path.

(Source: ISAAC ASIMOV'S BOOK OF FACTS)

What is the "green flash" of the sun?

You may have heard stories about the "green flash" that can sometimes be seen as the Sun sets, if conditions are just right. Is it real, or just a myth?

As the Sun descends toward the horizon, its color changes from yellow-white at noon to deep shades of orange and red, because the blue and green colors are scattered by the air. But there's still some green light in the mixture, and that is the key to the green flash.

If the air is very clear, there's a point when the topmost rays of the Sun's light can shine brilliant emerald green. This green flash, which lasts only a few seconds, happens when the Sun's light is split into its component colors, the same way that a prism creates a rainbow. The shortest wavelengths (green at sunset) appear at the top of the Sun just as it drops below the horizon.

Photographs of the Sun showing green flashes:
http://www.isc.tamu.edu/~astro/research/sandiego.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000507.html

More about the green flash:
http://stardate.utexas.edu/radio/sd_search.taf?f=detail&id=19980711
http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/

How hot is the core of the Sun?
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1999/05/04.html

What are sunspots?
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1998/09/24.html

Why is someone who has stopped drinking, "on the wagon?"

This phrase always brought to my mind the old beer wagons that used to carry kegs of beer from breweries to taverns.
But that's hardly the place for someone intent on swearing off the stuff, unless they were trying to demonstrate enormous self-control.

Then what kind of wagon are we referring to? A vehicle as old as the one that sallied forth with the suds: the water wagon. It used to water down the streets to prevent the dust on them from being stirred up by traffic, choking pedestrians. Their presence on American streets in the 1890s suggested to proponents of prohibition the connection between water and sobriety, as in climbing on the water wagon, and gradually a phrase was born.

(Source: HEAVENS TO BETSY! by Charles Earle Funk)




FAST FACTS:

The golf term "fore" was shortened from the old military term, "ware before." This command was shouted to the front line to kneel so the second line could fire. It caught on after one poor soldier didn't heed the warning and spent the rest of his military career with the nickname, "Earless Jackson."

(Source: LIFE'S IMPONDERABLES)

What kind of glowing cloud floats sixty miles high?

When an unusually large meteor of a certain kind streaks into Earth's atmosphere, it might leave behind a glowing trail that can last several minutes before it dissipates. These "glowworms" shine mysteriously by their own light as high-altitude winds slowly tear them apart.

Scientists who want to study the glowing trails are forced to wait for a meteor of the right kind. Fortunately, the annual Leonid meteor shower often includes such meteors, and in 1998 and 1999 laser beams from the ground probed several of the glowing trails.

No one knows why some meteor trails glow for several minutes. The light may come from the recombination of atoms with electrons ripped away by the energy of the passing fireball, or possibly from chemical reactions within the cloud of vapor.

A Leonid glowworm being probed by a laser beam:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000428.html

One Leonid glowworm was called "Puff Daddy":
http://www.de.afrl.af.mil/PA/RELEASES/1999/99-78.html

More glowworm trails:
http://www.sor.plk.af.mil/Leonids.htm

How fast do meteors move?
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1998/03/11.html

Can you really hear the ocean if you hold a seashell to your ear?

I remember from childhood the evocative sound that came from holding a seashell to my ear. Far from the ocean I could still hear the roar of waves beating against the sand and the cry of the gulls. I also thought I could hear again the sharper cry of my mother warning me not to go in the water for at least an hour after lunch.

Science, unfortunately, throws cold water on the whole thing. You're not hearing the ocean or even the sound of the blood circulating through your ears. And a coffee cup or drinking glass may produce similar sounds. Whatever you're holding to your ear is simply amplifying some of the sounds around you. Which ones get magnified, or resonate, depends on the size and shape of what you have against your ear. So if you want to hear the ocean, you have to go to the beach.

(Source: MYTH-INFORMED by Paul Dickson & Joseph C. Goulden)




FAST FACTS:

In only 11 months, starting from when it is but a tiny egg, a whale grows about 23 feet and puts on about 15 tons. And THEN it's born! No wonder you'll never see a whale in a Lamaze natural childbirth class.

You can also tell a whale's age by counting the lines of growth in its earwax. But why would you want to?

(Source: HOW A FLY WALKS UPSIDE DOWN)

What's the active ingredient in catnip?

Something about catnip (Nepeta cataria) is very appealing for cats. Crush a few leaves of this herb in the mint family, and many cats will rub their faces on it, roll around on it, and dig their claws into it. Why do they do this?

Like many predatory mammals, cats are very sensitive to smells. Humans, who do not generally share this kind of deep olfactory experience, may not fully understand what it is like for a kitty to smell catnip.

For years, catnip's effects were mysterious. Then the active ingredient was discovered, a complex molecule called nepetalactone. Researchers suspect that nepetalactone resembles some of the molecules cats respond to during the hunt. Maybe it smells like "super prey," triggering an extreme response. However it smells, catnip is harmless fun for your pet.

More about catnip and your pet:
http://www.thevet.com/catnipresp.htm
http://128.252.223.112/posts/archives/may97/860023357.Zo.r.html

More about nepetalactone (and more catnip links):
http://chemistry.about.com/education/chemistry/library/weekly/aa083099a.htm

What's the only cat that always lives in the desert?
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1998/04/08.html

What asteroid is shaped like a bone?

An asteroid called 216 Kleopatra that orbits between Mars and Jupiter has been imaged by radar, creating a detailed model of its shape. It is shaped like a giant dog bone as big as New Jersey.

Because of its optical color and because it reflects radar waves very well, astronomers believe that 216 Kleopatra is made mostly out of metals like nickel or iron. Large parts of it are composed of loose, metal-rich rubble, although there may be larger solid chunks in the center.

How did 216 Kleopatra get to be so strangely shaped? It may have been sculpted by one or more tremendous collisions billions of years ago. With two lobes connected by a thin neck, 216 Kleopatra is the most unusually shaped object found in the Solar System so far.

A computer image of 216 Kleopatra's shape:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000510.html

Early images revealed hints of Kleopatra's strange shape:
http://sc6.sc.eso.org/~fmarchis/Science/Kleopatra/

More Cool Facts about asteroids:
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1998/06/01.html
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1998/08/04.html
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1999/03/25.html

What are we singing about when we sing "pop goes the weasel?"

How many times do you suppose you sang this when you were a child? Did you ever think about what in the world you might have been referring to? Probably not because like many childhood songs, it has such a nice combination of hypnotic rhythm with pronounced, bouncy accents that the words might as well have been gibberish.

Well this is a case of what you see is not what you get. The song lyrics have nothing to do with exploding weasels or some feral animal suddenly emerging--surprise!--from a carbonated beverage bottle. They're from an old rhyme full of Cockney slang, about a tailor who drinks away his profits and has to pawn ("pop") his iron ("weasel"). As someone once put it: "Kids say the darndest things."

(Source: WHO PUT THE BUTTER IN BUTTERFLY? by David Feldman)




FAST FACTS:

The only thing that can destroy a diamond is intense heat.
Although, a rotten marriage tends to dull its luster.

Most tropical marine fish could survive in a tank filled with human blood, but refilling the tank each week could be deadly.

(Source: 2201 FASCINATING FACTS)

What is the oldest board game in the world?

The oldest board game still played today is Go, a game with only a few very simple rules but such complex strategy that many players dedicate their entire lives to its mastery.

The game is played on a plain grid of black lines, where two players alternate placing black and white "stones" on the intersections, simultaneously trying to capture one another's stones, avoid capture of their own stones, and surround territory.

The aesthetics of the game are as important as the game itself. The best boards are thick, solid pieces of yellow hardwood; the best stones are made from slate and clamshells; the stones are kept in elegant wooden bowls. Although most people play with much less expensive boards and stones, it is possible to spend many thousands of dollars on a nice Go set.

A good introduction to the game:
http://www.well.com/user/mmcadams/gointro.html

More Go resources:
http://www.cwi.nl/people/jansteen/go/go.html

Was there really a Lady Godiva - and did she ride naked
through the streets?

Let me first clear up a misunderstanding. She was most certainly not the creation of the marketing department of a certain pricey brand of chocolates, a heavenly product she predated by hundreds of years. Now on with our story.

Lady Godiva did exist in 11th century England, but her named was really Godgifu. She was married to Leofric, the hard-nosed tax collector in Coventry, whose policies she deemed unduly harsh. But did she protest them by a little streaking on horseback? No source from her time reports that she did and surely someone would have noticed.

In fact the story was written 150 years later by a monk, who said her husband offered to let up on the peasants if she sacrificed herself on their behalf by riding nude through the streets, thus pinning a convenient moral on the tale. That's all we know about the lady who gave new meaning to the phrase
"bare back riding."

(Source: FABULOUS FALLACIES by Tad Tuleja)

Why do some kinds of sloths need to bask in the sun?

Sloths are among the slowest-moving mammals in the world. Part of the reason for this slowness is their diet: lots of green leaves.

Green leaves are not a very energy-rich diet, and they can be quite difficult to digest. All sloths have intestinal bacteria that help them break down the leaves they eat. Even so, it can take up to 100 hours to digest a full meal.

Some kinds of sloth have developed a habit that helps further: they bask in the sun, warming themselves up so the bacteria can do a better job on the leaves. If a sun-loving sloth is not able to find a sunny place, the bacteria can't do a good enough job on the leaves it eats, and the poor animal may starve to death even while eating plenty of food.

Sloths on Barro Colorado Island, Panama:
http://www.csam.montclair.edu/ceterms/mammals/sloths.html

Why do three-toed sloths have green hair?
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1997/06/10.html

Why do some comedians leave us in "stitches?"

Have you heard this joke? What do you call a man who wears a mask and carries a knife? Answer: a surgeon.

Ok, ok, but it does leave some people in "stitches." Why? What does laughing hard have to do with getting sewn up? The answer is in the etymology of stitches, which ain't no laughing matter. Stitches evolved from a Germanic word that meant to stick or jab with a sharp point. Did you ever notice that when you really laugh hard your ribs can hurt? That common cramping or stabbing feeling suggests the pain you might experience from being stuck in the ribs by something sharp. Hence the laughter leaves you in "stitches."

By the way, don't even think about it. Your HMO won't cover
it.

(Source: WHY YOU SAY IT by Webb Garrison)




FAST FACTS:

On July 14 France celebrates Bastille Day. The holiday commemorates the fall of this fortress/prison in Paris in 1789 during the early days of the French Revolution.

The first Bastille Day was celebrated a year later -- not in Paris, but in Philadelphia! Americans had been first to declare their independence, in 1776, and many sympathized with the French revolutionaries. But those revolutionaries were too busy to party because they were preparing to guillotine the aristocrats.

So now you know: The Americans, in demanding their independence, had been ahead of their time, while the French thought the times demanded a few heads.

(Source: THE BOOK OF DAYS)

Do flying fish really fly?

Well let's put it this way: don't expect to find this aquatic creature competing with the finches and sparrows in your backyard birdfeeder. They don't "fly," they glide - always over water. But that almost begs the question with a little semantics because their gliding range can extend up to about a quarter of a mile and they've been clocked at speeds as high as 30 miles per hour. Maybe that can't beat a seagull but it sure turns my parakeet green with envy (actually he's already green).

How do they do it? Flying fish propel themselves out of the water with their tales, catch a breeze, use their oversized fins spread out as wings, and steer with their tail fin. There are also flying squirrels and even flying lizards. But the Flying Tigers were a group of World War II-era aviators and not what you might think. Be grateful.

(Sources: DICTIONARY OF MISINFORMATION by Tom Burnam)

What kind of fax machine makes 3-dimensional objects?

A normal fax machine receives a coded message over the phone and translates it into a pattern of black and white dots on a page of paper. But there's a kind of fax machine that builds a three-dimensional object instead of a picture on paper.

Charles Hull invented the process, called stereolithography or solid imaging, in 1984. More than just a 3-D fax machine, it's a whole new way of making things. Descriptions of objects are stored as computer data files, which can be given physical form in a solid imaging machine.

A solid imaging machine creates an object by scanning a light beam across the surface of a liquid. The liquid solidifies wherever the light touches it. The newly created solid is lowered slightly, and another scan adds another layer of solid material. An object of almost any shape can be created.

More about stereolithography:
http://www.aaroflex.com/stereo.htm
http://www.caip.rutgers.edu/~kbhiggin/VDF/SLA.html

Description and diagram of a solid imaging machine:
http://www.cs.hut.fi/~ado/rp/subsection3_6_1.html

Why is it so important?
http://reality.sculptors.com/stereolithography.html

How come we have those two little ridges in the middle of our upper lip?

The ridges are as plain as the nose on your face, under which they sit, occupying some pretty important facial real estate.
But what have they done for you lately?

The ridges are the medial band and the lateral band and the valley between them is known as the philtrum, Greek for "love charm." The Greeks thought the upper lip, if turned on end, looked like Cupid's bow.

Anyway, enough kissy, kissy. The ridges that create the philtrum are there to protect several delicate bones that come together right beneath them, one of which is the bone that holds your nostrils apart. That's pretty darned important. Were your two nostrils to collapse into one big hole, who knows? The next time you sneezed, you might blow your brains out.

(Source: THE STRAIGHT DOPE by Cecil Adams)




FAST FACTS:

Fifty years ago the B. F. Goodrich Company, the American corporation known for its automobile tires, thought it was really on to something. Its engineers came up with the prototype of an atomic golf ball. The ball, with a radioactive core, would be easy to locate with a Geiger counter if hit into the rough.

But the company abandoned the invention as unworkable.
Perhaps it was too hot to handle.

(Source: STRANGE STORIES, AMAZING FACTS OF AMERICA'S PAST)

Why do some people cross their fingers for good luck?

The western tradition of crossing the first and second fingers as a way of "attracting" good luck is a holdover from the early history of Christianity, when there was great tension between Christians and non-Christians (called Pagans by early Christians).

Early Christians believed that it was important to honor their faith by making the sign of the cross, which is done by touching the body four times. But in the presence of Pagans this act might have given offense or even incited violence. So instead they made a "cross" by unobtrusively crossing their fingers, and many people still do it today.

More about all kinds of superstitions:
http://home.flash.net/~tinyt/superstitions.html

Why is a rabbit's foot thought to be lucky?
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1999/11/01.html

Why do people prefer not to walk under ladders?
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1999/12/02.html

What wild animal was the first to be domesticated?

Throughout history, many kinds of wild animals have become domesticated (changed through breeding to live among humans). The first animal to become domesticated was also one of the smartest -- the dog.

Recent studies of the DNA of modern dogs show that dogs probably became a part of human society about 100,000 years ago in Africa, long before any other animals were living with people. How did these canine hunters come to live with our ancestors?

No one can say for sure exactly how it happened, but most experts agree that the first domestic canines were wolf pups, perhaps separated from their families by misfortune or by the actions of human tribes. As hunting companions, tame wolves would have been quite useful to early humans.

Dogs descended from wild wolves:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/science/ancient/lsa023.htm

Is the "carolina dog" a primitive breed, or just a mutt?
http://www.carolinadogs.com/news/smithsonian.html

Why are dalmatians associated with firemen?
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1999/12/28.html

How do lie detector tests work?

According to American courts they don't work well enough to be admitted as evidence unless each side in a case agrees to their use. Yet they are used informally by law enforcement officers to further investigations and sometimes by defense attorneys to "show" the public that a client under investigation or just suspicion is telling the truth.

Developed in the 1920s, the lie detector, or polygraph, monitors how a person physically reacts to questioning, charting fluctuations in blood pressure, pulse rate and the like. But taking the test itself can make some people nervous, skewing such measurements. Other people claim to be able to control such bodily responses in a way that will fool the machine. The skill of the questioner is also a factor. All in all it's very imperfect.

Believe me. I wouldn't lie to you. Read my lips. Feel my pulse.

(Source: THE WORLD BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA)

What was the first newspaper ever published?

The first known newspaper was the free "Acta Diurna" (Daily Happenings), which was a hand-lettered gazette in ancient Rome, published from 59 B.C. to A.D. 222. It was mostly a record of what happened in political meetings.

The second newspaper was published about 1,300 years ago in China. It was called the "Tching-Pao" (News Of The Capital). The government used it to distribute news of events and decisions.

The first periodical publications with dated front pages were released in Europe in the 1620s. London's Morning Post began
circulating in 1772. Then came the London Times, which is still
being published today. Today, more than 600 million people buy a paper every day.

A history of newspapers in Great Britain:
http://www.bl.uk/collections/newspaper/britnews.html

An imaginary newspaper of ancient Rome:
http://www.mts.net/~aisensee/

Why is there so much ritual in Japanese sumo wrestling?

Sumo bouts usually are over in a few seconds. Nevertheless they are accompanied by a lot of business, such as each humongous contestant reaching a foot high in the air and bringing it down with a crash. The wrestlers also toss salt around. This ritual, called shikiri, seems to have all the mystery of some ancient religion.

Well it should, for the kick and the salt are supposed to banish evil spirits. The ritual and the sport were originally connected to Shinto, the ancient state religion of Japan that used to involve emperor worship. The top sumo wrestlers still take part in some formal Shinto ceremonies.

Is sumo ever likely to evolve into the buffoonery that passes for "professional" wrestling in the United States? Fat chance.

(Source: ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA)



FAST FACTS:

Translations of the Bible that include the phrase, "My cup runneth over," are in error. The original just says, "My cup is full." The only way it runneth over is if you over-poureth.

Nor does the Bible say, "Money is the root of all evil." It's not money itself but "the love of money" that will leave you with the Devil to pay.

(Source: DICTIONARY OF MISINFORMATION)

How far has mankind descended into the ocean's depths?

On January 23, 1960, Swiss adventurer Jacques Piccard and U.S. Navy Lt. Donald Walsh climbed into the bathyscaphe Trieste and began a dive that would go deeper into the ocean's waters than anyone has traveled before or since.

During a five-hour descent into the Challenger Deep off the Pacific's Marianas Islands, water pressure on the vessel, which had been jointly designed by Piccard and his father (explorer Auguste Piccard), rose to more than 16,000 pounds per square inch. Ultimately, they plunged to nearly 36,000 feet, some 7,000 feet deeper than Mt. Everest's height above sea level. To their surprise, they observed fish swimming about, which disappointed some scientists who had hoped to use the ocean's depths as radioactive waste disposal sites-- had they been found to be stagnant and devoid of life.

Deep sea diving facts:
http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/madisonjason11/fun_facts.html

Photo and specifications of the original Trieste and its descendant, the Trieste II:
http://www.maritime.org/hnsa-triesteii.htm

Today's Person of the Day is Jacques Piccard:
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/person/06/20.html

Why gave Ladybugs such a benign name?

Let's face it: Creepy crawly things and flying, many-legged creatures will win few popularity contests. We don't have too many affectionate names for bugs. All the more reason why Ladybugs--in Britain they're "Ladybirds"--sound like a creation of the Disney studios. Who can step on something with a name like that? How did these beetles, for that's what they are, get away with it?

Simple. They eat other insects that eat plants. Plant loving people were so grateful that they not only gave them a warm, friendly name, but also in fact named them in honor of the Virgin Mary, as in "Our Lady!" How's that for a good press?

There's only one problem. Some Ladybugs like a salad before
the main course. They, too, will eat plants. But I won't tell
if you won't.

(Source: WHO PUT THE BUTTER IN BUTTERFLY? by David Feldman)



FAST FACTS:

Even at birth--right out of the womb, in fact--the South American vicuna can run faster than a person can. And why not? If someone saw you in terms of the expensive coat they could make from you, you too might hit the ground running.

In Russia some dogs have been trained to discover iron ore by
smelling it. In the United States, cats have been similarly trained to sniff out premium-priced ice cream and costly cuts of meat left unguarded for even a few seconds.

(Source: ISAAC ASIMOV'S BOOK OF FACTS)

How do we know the universe is expanding?

Astronomers see countless galaxies for billions of light years in every direction. The farther away a galaxy is, the faster it moves away from us. The whole universe is expanding. How do we know?

When an object moves away from an observer, the light from that object changes color, similar to the way a train whistle changes pitch if the train is moving away. This "Doppler shift" causes the light of receding galaxies to stretch out, becoming more reddish. Measuring this "red shift," astronomers can tell how fast each galaxy is receding.

If the universe is currently expanding, it makes sense that at one time it was much smaller. The "Big Bang" theory, which describes how the universe might have started in a stupendous explosion, is one possible explanation of how the universe began.

The Hubble Constant is a number for how fast the universe is expanding:
http://csep1.phy.ornl.gov/guidry/violence/hubble_constant.html

How big is the universe?
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1998/11/02.html

More evidence for the Big Bang theory:
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1998/09/11.html

How do cells make protein molecules?

One of the most important tasks of any living cell is making the protein molecules that form its internal structures, trigger important chemical reactions, and fill many other roles. How are protein molecules made?

Protein molecules are assembled from simple molecules called amino acids by molecular machines called ribosomes, themselves made largely out of protein. A ribosome starts making a protein by catching the end of a molecule called messenger RNA, which contains the coded instructions to make the protein.

The messenger RNA (which was created by reading DNA in the cell's nucleus) feeds through the ribosome like a ribbon, and as it feeds through its code is read. The ribosome recognizes the pattern of code, and adds the appropriate amino acids to the partially completed protein. When the protein molecule is finished, it is released and the ribosome can begin building another one.

One of the best images (so far) of a ribosome:
http://www.aip.org/physnews/graphics/html/ribosome.html

Detailed, illustrated explanations of ribosomes:
http://ntri.tamuk.edu/cell/ribosomes.html
http://cellbio.utmb.edu/cellbio/ribosome.htm

Your body is glued together by protein molecules:
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1999/06/14.html

Your muscles are mostly made of protein:
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1999/07/07.html

Why do large explosions create mushroom-shaped clouds?

Atomic blasts are not the only kinds of explosions that create mushroom clouds. Any explosion large enough will create a mushroom cloud if it happens close enough to the ground. What forms the mushroom shape?

When the blast begins it is a nearly perfect sphere. But the spherical blast front soon encounters the ground and begins to vaporize it. Because of the way the blast hits the ground, it usually creates a parabolic crater with the greatest curvature in the deepest, central part.

Similar to the way parabolic telescope mirrors focus light, the crater focuses the blast wave and redirects it straight up, forming the vertical "stem" of the mushroom cloud. Eventually the stem loses energy and flattens out against the resistance of air layers higher in the atmosphere, forming the "cap" of the cloud.

Most people hope they never see one:
http://www.netoriginals.com/uss/bomb.html

Mushroom clouds can also happen in outer space:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990203.html

More Cool Facts about explosions:
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1998/05/19.html
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1998/06/12.html
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1999/07/16.html

Where and when were the first traffic stop signs used?

You might think that stop signs were an offshoot of the invention of automobiles, but actually they were used centuries before in ancient Rome.

The Romans were great builders of roads, aqueducts, and other public works. Their dense city had many of the problems we have in our cities today, including air pollution, crowding, and heavy traffic. Coming to a stop at a busy corner makes sense whether your vehicle is a car or a horse-drawn chariot, and the Romans were smart enough to make it the law where appropriate.

Parking was also an issue in ancient Rome, and various laws addressed the problem. Improperly parked vehicles were subject to fines, just as they are today.

What was daily life like in ancient Rome?
http://members.aol.com/Donnclass/Romelife.html

Another Cool Fact about ancient cities:
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1999/04/06.html