Mount St. Helens

Mount St. Helens, a volcano in the state of Washington in the United States, erupted on May 18, 1980. Sixty-two people died due to the eruption. No one was surprised by the eruption on Mount St. Helens. Scientists had been predicting that an eruption was likely for almost two years before it happened.

In March 1980 a small eruption occurred and in April one side of the mountain started to swell and crack. The scientists issued warnings and asked people to clear the area. On May 18 the mountain exploded. Hot gases burst out, followed by hot ash, which ran down the mountain slopes burning everything in its path.

Islands

The world's ten largest islands (drawn to scale)

Islands	Ocean
Greenland New Guinea Borneo Madagascar Baffin Island Sumatra Honshu Great Britain Victoria Ellesmere	Arctic Pacific Pacific Indian Arctic Indian Pacific Atlantic Arctic Arctic

Michael Faraday

During the last 400 years, most scientists have relied on mathematics in their development of their inventions or discoveries. However, one great British scientist, Michael Faraday, did not make use of mathematics. Faraday, the son of the poor blacksmith, was born in London in 1791 and had no education beyond reading and writing.

In 1812 Faraday was hired as a bottle washer by the great chemist Humphry Davy. Later, Faraday become a greater scientist than Davy, making the last years of Davy's life embittered with jealousy.

Faraday made the first electric motor in 1821, a device that use electricity to produce movement. Then Faraday became interested in the relationship between electricity and magnetism. In 1831 he discovered that when a magnet is moved near a wire, electricity flows in the wire.

American Indian Smoke Signals

The smoke signals used by American Indians did not convey the complex messages seen in Hollywood movies. Smoke signals were in fact used among the seminomadic tribes of the Great Plains. However, their content was limited to a few simple messages whose meaning had been agreed upon in advance. For example, Piman warriors in Arizona who had just finished a successful raid might send up a column of smoke, and the village would reply with two columns of smoke. Smoke signals were most commonly used to broadcast news of victory in battle, or to warn of sickness in a camp or dangers such as approaching enemies.

Distant Galaxies

The development of the radio telescope has led to two of the most important discoveries in modern astronomy: the identification of the most distant galaxies and the smallest stars ever seen. Before these discoveries were made, new large telescopes had to be built.

The most distant galaxies are called quasars. They were discovered in 1963 when astronomers noticed strong radio signals coming from small points in the sky. When the radio astronomer Maarten Schmidt from Mount Palomar Observatory looked at these points, he saw faint galaxies that could be seen only because they were shining brightly. These galaxies, or quasars, were the most powerful objects ever discovered, and are the most distant objects even seen. Some are over 13,000 million light-years away. They get their power from a huge black hole at their center.

Land Art

The land art movement first appeared in the U.S. in the late 1960s. Most of the work was created in a landscape setting, using whatever materials the artist came across. Part of its appeal is that in many cases the artist's work is quickly changed by the forces of nature. For example, Robert Smithson built a vast spiral jetty from earth and stones in the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Now deposits of salt and sulphur have completely changed the way it looks.
Some land artists welcomed such impermanence, because it meant their work could not be owned. As land art is often in wild, out-of-the-way places, it is rarely seen by the public.

Violins

For 100 or more years the violin was looked down on as a lesser musical instrument; music was not composed especially for it except in overtures to court pageants or background music for aristocratic drawing rooms. However, beginning around 1680 into the nineteenth century a succession of Italian violinist composers created and enormous amount of music for the violin-people such as Corelli, Vivaldi, Pugnani, Paganini, and Viotti.

The violin is the principal member of the violin family. The other members are the viola, the cello, and the double bass. The full-size violin, which is the smallest and highest pitched of the stringed instruments played with a bow, has a body size of fourteen inches. The viola is slightly larger than the violin, and it has a slightly richer but less brilliant tone. It is really an alto violin, and it fills the gap between the violin and the cello.

The Soya Bean's Industrial Uses

Soya is not only used in the manufacture of food for human and animal consumption but also in a variety of industrial processes. These range from the manufacture of adhesives and plastics to dynamic and waterproofing preparations.
For many years soya bean oil has been used in the manufacture of paints, both for domestic and industrial use. It is also used in the printing industry in printing inks, adhesives, and paper. In the United States the soya bean is used in the brewing industry to help the yeast ferment and enhance the flavor of beer.

Vitamin C

In the past people suffered from a disease called scurvy. Their gums bled, their skin became rough, their wounds did not heal, and their muscles wasted away. The cause of these symptoms was a lack of vitamin C; people ate preserved meats and foods and could not get fresh vegetables and fruits.

The best sources of vitamin C are oranges, lemons, grapefruit, cantaloupes, strawberries, and fresh vegetables. These fruits must be fresh because vitamin C is destroyed by heat, storage, or exposure to air.
Although today more people take vitamin C pills than any other supplement, some people still have scurvy, including some of the elderly, alcoholics, and the chronically ill.

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was an American politician, inventor, and scientist. He was born in 1706 and at the age of ten set to work in his father’s candle and soap business. However, his disliked his work and two years later he went to work for a printer. He eventually became a successful printer, producing a weekly newspaper and popular books. He also became a politician and help the United States become free from British rule. His inventions included a smokeless stove, bifocal lenses, and new types of fertilizer.

Computers

It is relatively easy for computers to speak. A computer that says “please” and “thank you” in the right places is no miracle of science, but recognizing the words that make up normal, continuous human speech is another matter. Not until now have computers been programmed to react to a range of spoken commands. Until recently it was thought that computers would have to be programmed to the accent and speech habits of each user, and only then would be able to respond accurately to their master’s or mistress’s voice. Now rapid progress is being made with systems programmed to adapt easily to each new speaker.

Asbestos

Asbestos is a type of mineral found in rocks that has a fibrous structure and so can be woven. Unlike other flexible woven material, it is capable of withstanding very high temperatures, and at the same time deflecting heat. Woven metal wire, for example, might do the first job, but would not do the second. For this reason, asbestos gloves, suits, and shields have been vital for protection in fire fighting. There are hundreds of uses for asbestos in industry and construction. Asbestos can be mixed with other materials, such as rubber, graphite, paint, and cement, for special purposes that demand extra flexibility, slipperiness, coating quality, or hardness. Asbestos is so useful that it was once found in almost all modern buildings and machines. Modern industry has also benefited from its uses as a material for electrical and sound insulation.

The Brain

The brain can store 100 trillion pieces of information. In each second the brain receives more than 100 million nerve messages from the body. The brain loses 1,000 cells per day, which are not replaced, and yet memories are maintained. The brain cannot feel pain. If a surgeon operates on the brain, the patient feels no pain. During the first six months of a baby's life, its brain doubles in size.

The human brain weighs about 3.5 pounds. A man's brain is heavier than a woman's brain. The brain weighs one-fiftieth as much as the body, but uses one-fourth (25 percent) of the body's oxygen. The left side of the brain controls the right side of the body; the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body.

The Olympics

The word “Olympic” comes from the name of the town Olympia in Greece, where the ancient Olympic Games were always held. The first recorded Olympic Games were held in 776 B.C; the Games took place every fourth year after the date until they were abolished by a Roman emperor in A.D. 394.

It was not until 1875, when archeologists discovered the ruins of the Olympic Stadium in Greece, that interest in the Games was renewed. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a French scholar and educator, proposed that the Games should be revived as an international competition to encourage both sport and world peace.

Phyllis Wheatley

Phyllis Wheatley was kidnapped from Africa at the age of eight. She was brought to Boston in 1761, a sickly child only able to speak Senegalese. At the age of thirteen she wrote her first poem. In 1773 her first book of poems was published, the second volume of poetry published by a woman in America.

At the Boston slave market, Phyllis was purchased by John Wheatley, a tailor whose wife, impressed by the child's aptitude, taught her to speak, read, and write English. In a few years Phyllis had also learned geography, history, and Latin and had developed a liking for classical poets such as Horace and Virgil. Her first poem, a translation from the Latin of Ovid, so amazed the literary circles in Boston that they had it published.

Penguins

There are eighteen different kinds of penguins, and they all live south of the equator. The largest are the emperor penguins, which live in Antarctica. They lay their eggs about fifty miles from the coast. There the penguins have nothing to make a nest out of, but the eggs cannot be laid directly on the ice, or they would freeze. The emperor penguins have to take care of their eggs in a special way.

The female produces one egg. As soon as she lays her egg, the male penguin rolls it on top of his feet. A special fold of skin on the bottom of his stomach comes down over the egg to protect it from the cold. For two months the male penguins stand together to protect themselves from the cold with their eggs on their feet. They cannot move or eat.

The female goes to find food as soon as she lay her egg. Finally, after two months she returns and takes the eggs from the male. The male penguin, which now has had no food for two months, return to the sea.