Category: Article of the Day

May 1968 is the name given to a series of protests and a general strike that nearly led to the collapse of the de Gaulle government in France. It began as a series of student strikes at a number of universities and lycées in Paris and quickly spread throughout the country. Within a matter of weeks, roughly two-thirds of France’s workforce, or 10 million people, were on strike. The vast majority of the protesters espoused left-wing causes and pushed for change in what areas of French society? Discuss

MOOSE, originally an acronym for Man Out Of Space Easiest and later changed to the more professional-sounding Manned Orbital Operations Safety Equipment, was a proposed emergency bail-out system capable of bringing a single astronaut safely back to Earth from orbit. The system required the astronaut to exit his spacecraft in a specially-designed suit, climb into a plastic bag filled with insulating foam, and reenter the atmosphere protected by a thin heat shield. Has anyone ever used the system? Discuss

The weightlessness experienced by people in space can lead to a number of adverse health effects including nausea, muscle atrophy, and skeletal deterioration. In order to prevent astronauts from developing such health problems, engineers have proposed the development of artificial gravity devices that can simulate gravity in outer space. Theoretically, a rotating spacecraft could produce this sort of gravity inside its hull. How would a ship’s rotation exert artificial gravity on an object? Discuss

Sacrifice, from the Latin word meaning “to make holy,” is the practice of offering food, or the lives of animals or people, to the gods as an act of propitiation or worship. Biblical accounts of sacrifice begin with Cain’s sacrifice of the fruit of the ground and Abel’s sacrifice of the firstlings of his flock. In the New Testament, the symbol of Jesus as the sacrificial lamb is frequently employed. What religion’s practice of animal sacrifice led to a US Supreme Court case? Discuss

Thermohaline circulation refers to the deepwater circulation of the oceans and is primarily caused by differences in density between the waters of different regions. It is mainly a convection process in which cold, dense water formed in the polar regions sinks and flows slowly toward the equator. The circulation of ocean waters is vitally important in dispersing heat energy around the globe. Two factors determine the density of ocean water; one is temperature, what is the other? Discuss

Nori is the Japanese name for an edible, dried preparation of red algae of the genus Porphyra. It is farmed in the sea, where Porphyra plants grow attached to nets suspended at the sea’s surface. Farmers operate from boats and use mechanical harvesters to collect their crops. The nori sheets are then produced in a process that is quite similar to papermaking and involves a shredding and rack-drying process. This “sea vegetable” is commonly used in the preparation of what foods? Discuss

A virus is a minute infectious agent that, in general, cannot be seen with a light microscope. It lacks an independent metabolism and is able to replicate only within a living host cell. A free virus particle does not carry out the functions of a living cell, such as respiration and growth, and may be thought of as a packaging device by which viral genetic material can be introduced into appropriate host cells. What are the arguments for and against classifying viruses as living organisms? Discuss

The medicinal properties of opium have been known for millennia, and by 4000 BCE, both Sumerian and European cultures were using it as a narcotic. Early in the 19th century, British merchants began smuggling opium into China, and by 1905, more than a quarter of China’s male population was addicted to the drug. The generous use of opium-derived morphine in treating wounded American Civil War soldiers also produced many addicts. How much morphine does one gram of poppy seeds contain? Discuss

Mangroves are large tropical evergreen trees of the genus Rhizophora. They are found in the muddy swamps of tropical and subtropical coastlines and estuaries and grow most abundantly in tropical Asia, Africa, and the islands of the southwest Pacific. Mangrove trunks produce aerial roots that become embedded in the mud and rapidly form close-growing mangrove thickets. These swamps are rich breeding grounds for fish and shellfish. How many plant species can be found in a mangrove habitat? Discuss

In the spring of 1771, an outbreak of bubonic plague swept through Moscow. Authorities instituted a number of policies in an attempt to contain the epidemic, but the severe measures were unpopular with the general public. Factories and stores were shut down, and the economy was essentially at a standstill. Fearful, and faced with acute food shortages, the people took to the streets in an uprising that would later be known as the Plague Riot. What was done to the bell that mobilized the rioters? Discuss