Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cárdenas (1925)

Miramontes was a Mexican chemist whose extensive scientific contributions include numerous publications and nearly 40 national and international patents in different areas, including organic chemistry, pharmaceutical chemistry, petrochemistry, atmospheric chemistry, and polluting agents. However, Miramontes is best remembered for his synthesis, in 1951, of norethindrone, a progestational hormone that would be used as the base of one of the first forms of what? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

First Commercial Internet Domain Name Registered (1985)

A domain name is an address of a computer, organization, or other entity on a network, such as the Internet, that follows TCP/IP communications protocol. Domain names must be unique on the Internet and must be assigned by a registrar accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. They typically include the type and name of an organization and identify the specific host server at the address. The first commercial Internet domain name was registered in 1985. What was it? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Buzzard Day

About 75 turkey vultures, also known as turkey buzzards, return to Hinckley, Ohio, each March 15 to spend the summer. Thousands of people celebrate them at the Hinckley Buzzard Day Festival, held since 1958 on the first Sunday after March 15. It features tours, hikes, and talks by naturalists at Metro Park, where the buzzards roost. The vultures’ return was first documented by a park patrolman who logged their arrival date for 23 years. Why the birds return, however, isn’t known. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Fabio Lanzoni (1959)

Widely known simply as Fabio, Lanzoni is an Italian male fashion model and actor who became famous for appearing on the covers of hundreds of romance novels throughout the 1980s and 1990s. He has also written romance novels, including Pirate and Comanche, and is said to be the first best-selling male romance writer to publish under his own name rather than a pseudonym. Lanzoni has appeared in a number of commercials for a range of different products, and he has acted in what films? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Prokaryota: The First Living Cells

It is generally accepted that the first living cells on Earth were some form of prokaryote. In biology, a prokaryote is generally a single-celled organism that lacks membrane-bound organelles such as a nucleus, mitochondria, and chloroplasts. Genetic material is instead organized into a ring-like structure called a nucleoid. Most prokaryotes are bacteria, and the two terms are often treated as synonyms. What are the four basic shapes of prokaryotic cells? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Louisiana Black Bear, Inspiration for the Teddy Bear, Removed from Endangered List

Great news for the teddy bear! U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced Thursday that the Louisiana black bear, which inspired the teddy bear, is being taken off the Federal Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. In a statement, the … Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Nazis “Liquidate” Poland’s Kraków Ghetto (1943)

In 1941, the Nazis ordered all remaining Jews in the Polish city of Kraków—15,000 of an original 68,000—to move into a walled-off district of the city, thereafter known as the Kraków ghetto. The systematic deportation of these Jews to concentration camps began in May 1942. On March 13 and 14, 1943, the deportation of 8,000 Jews to a nearby camp and the killing of 2,000 in the streets completed the Nazi’s “liquidation” of the ghetto. What non-Jewish ghetto resident saved countless Jewish lives? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary