Vision Human vision like that of other primates has evolved in an arboreal environment.In the dense complex world of a tropical forest, it is more important to see well than to develop an acute sense of smell. In the course of evolution members of th...
Types of Speech Standard usage includes those words and expressions understood,used,and accepted by a majority of the speakers of a language in any situation regardless of the level of formality. As such, these words and expressions are well defined...
Treasure in Sunken Ships Of the tens of thousands of ships on the oceanbottom, only a handful, less than 1 percent, containnegotiable treasure, such as gold and jewels. Mostgive us a different priceless treasure -- history. Asunken ship lies in trust...
Topaz Topaz is a hard, transparent mineral. It is a compound of aluminum, silica, and fluorine. Gem topaz is valuable. Jewelers call this variety of the stone precious topaz. The best-known precious topaz gems range in color from rich yellow to light...
The War between Britain and France In the late eighteenth century, battles raged in almost every corner of Europe, as well as in the Middle East,South Africa, the West Indies, and Latin America. In reality, however, there was only one major war durin...
The Source of Energy A summary of the physical and chemical nature of life must begin, not on the Earth, but in the Sun; in fact, at the Sun's very center. It is here that is to be found the source of the energy that the Sun constantly pours out into...
The Satiric Literature Perhaps the most striking quality of satiric literature is its freshness,its originality of perspective.Satire rarely offers original ideas.Instead, it presents the familiar in a new form. Satirists do not offer the world new p...
The Salinity of Ocean Waters If the salinity of ocean waters is analyzed, it is found to vary only slightly from place to place. Nevertheless, some of these small changes are important. There are three basic processes that cause a change in oceanic s...
The Origin of Sports When did sport begin? If sport is, in essence, play, the claim might be made that sport is much older than humankind, for, as we all have observed, the beasts play. Dogs and cats wrestle and play ball games.Fishes and birds dance...
The Origin of Refrigerators By the mid-nineteenth century, the termiceboxhad entered the American language, but ice was still only beginning to affect the diet of ordinary citizens in the United States. The ice trade grew with the growth of cities.Ic...
The Organic Foods Are organically grown foods the best food choices? The advantages claimed for such foods over conventionally grown and marketed food products are now being debated. Advocates of organic foods -- a term whose meaning varies greatly -...
The Nobel Academy For the last 82 years, Sweden's Nobel Academy has decided who will receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, thereby determining who will be elevated from the great and the near great to the immortal. But today the Academy is coming un...
The Microscopic Technique Each advance in microscopic technique has provided scientists with new perspectives on the function of living organisms and the nature of matter itself. The invention of the visible light microscope late in the sixteenth cen...
The Language of Music A painter hangs his or her finished pictures on a wall, and everyone can see it. A composer writes a work, but no one can hear it until it is performed. Professional singers and players have great responsibilities, for the compo...
The History of Chemistry Chemistry did not emerge as a science until after the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century and then only rather slowly and laboriously. But chemical knowdedge is as old as history, being almost entirely concerned...
