From space to soil, NASA is showing how having a green thumb can help the future of space travel. On Valentine’s Day, astronaut Scott Kelly harvested plants growing aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Similar plants of the same variety were …
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Source: The Free Dictionary
The island of Iwo Jima is only 8 sq mi (21 sq km) in area, but when US forces attacked the Japanese air base there during WWII, it became the site of one of the most severe campaigns of the war. More than 21,000 Japanese troops and nearly 7,000 Americans died in the clashes. A photograph of US marines raising the American flag over Iwo Jima’s Mt. Suribachi has since become one of the most famous images of the war. What was the US operation in Iwo Jima called? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Breton was a French writer, critic, and editor. In 1919, he helped found the Dadaist review Littérature. Influenced by psychiatry and the Symbolist movement, he wrote poetry using the automatic-writing technique. In 1924, his Manifeste du surréalisme—Surrealist Manifesto—provided a definition of Surrealism as “pure psychic automatism.” In 1938, he penned the manifesto Pour un art révolutionnaire indépendant with what one-time commander of the Red Army? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
In 1998, the United States signed The Copyright Term Extension Act into law, thereby extending the copyright terms set forth in the international Berne Convention of 1886. The act increased America’s term of protection for copyrighted works by 20 years. Sonny Bono, a songwriter, filmmaker, and congressman, was a major proponent of copyright extension, and the act, passed nine months after his death, was named in his honor. Why is the act pejoratively known as the Mickey Mouse Protection Act? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Definition: (noun) A mean-spirited miserly person.
Synonyms: niggard, skinflint, churl.
Usage: The old scrooge was married to his money, and spending a penny was, to him, as traumatic as divorce.
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Source: The Free Dictionary
It’s alive! In a breakthrough discovery, a decade in the making, researchers created an ear, muscle, cartilage, skull bone and jawbone using a super high-tech printer. All of the body parts were then transplanted into mice and rats. “The main goal is … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Entirely surrounded by Senegal except for an outlet to the Atlantic, the Republic of The Gambia is a West African nation that consists of a relatively narrow strip of land that spans both banks of the Gambia River and follows the river’s path inland for about 300 mi (480 km). In 1588, the territory was sold to English merchants by the Portuguese. In 1843, it became a British colony. In 1965, it gained independence, and in 1982, it joined with Senegal to form a confederation by what name? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Gambia gained independence from Britain on February 18, 1965, and became a constitutional monarchy. On that day, people gathered in Bathurst for music, dancing, and the replacement of the Union Jack with the Gambian flag. A public vote in 1970 made the Republic of the Gambia a British Commonwealth state. Independence Day is a national holiday in Gambia. Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Asperger was an Austrian psychiatrist who, in 1944, published the first definition of what is now known as Asperger syndrome. Calling it “autistic psychopathy,” he described a disorder characterized by severe impairment of social skills and restricted interests and behaviors, features that he himself appears to have exhibited as a child. Despite his patients’ handicaps, Asperger believed that they would someday make valuable contributions to society. Which of his patients won a Nobel Prize? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
In 1939, Nazi forces staged an attack on a German radio station and planted the bullet-riddled body of a Polish sympathizer at the scene, reporting the attack as the work of Polish saboteurs. The attack was part of a Nazi propaganda campaign called Operation Himmler, which involved a series of staged incidents intended to create the appearance of Polish aggression against Germany and provide a basis for the subsequent invasion of Poland. What was Hitler quoted as having said about the campaign? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary