Born Lucila Godoy Alcayaga, Mistral was a Chilean poet who combined writing with a career as a cultural minister, diplomat, and professor. She established her reputation as a poet in 1914, when she won a prize for “Sonetos de la Muerte”—”Sonnets of Death.” Her passionate lyrics, with love of children and of the downtrodden as principal themes, are collected in many volumes. In 1945, Mistral became the first Latin American to be honored in what way? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
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
Source: The Free Dictionary
Definition: (noun) Any of the relatively cool dark spots appearing periodically in groups on the surface of the sun that are associated with strong magnetic fields.
Synonyms: macula.
Usage: Come, cheer up, old man; there's no use in losing your grip and going back to this child's play merely because this big sunspot is drifting across your shiny new disk.
Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Scientists have found a rare three-star system 685 light years away. Instead of the more typical single star, or even a pair, it boasts a trio of suns that coexist in a complex dance. And the system is rare even among the triple-threat crowd: It hosts … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Just two decades after the first successful powered flight, pilots from the US Army Air Service completed the first aerial circumnavigation of the globe. The trip took 175 days, and not all of it was smooth sailing—or flying, as it were. Weeks after the group of four airplanes set out from Seattle, Washington, one crashed in Alaska. Luckily, the crew survived, as did that of another of the planes, which later went down over the Atlantic. How many of the original planes completed the journey? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Chakri Day is a national holiday in Thailand to commemorate the enthronement of Rama I, who founded the Chakri Dynasty in 1782. He was born Chao Phraya Chakri in 1737 and had become Thailand’s leading general when a palace coup took place in Thon Buri. The dynasty he established has headed the country to this day, although the end of absolute monarchy came in 1932. The king was given the title Rama after his death. Ceremonies on April 6 honor his deeds and the founding of Bangkok as the capital. Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
An English naturalist, Gosse built the first marine aquarium and was an innovator in the field of marine biology. He was a member of the Plymouth Brethren, a Christian group that rejected the theory of evolution, and wrote many books on zoology, including Omphalos, an attempt to reconcile geological theories with the biblical account of creation. After his death, Gosse was caricatured as a despotic father in Father and Son, written by his son Edmund, who was also his what? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
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
Source: The Free Dictionary
Definition: (noun) A trait of dignified seriousness.
Synonyms: staidness, sedateness.
Usage: Do I seem to have lost my solemnity, my gravity, my poise, my dignity?
Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
A hiker who noticed a little brown bat dying on a trail near the slopes of the Cascade Mountains in western Washington did what he could to save it. He took it to an animal health center, but within two days it was gone. The death in mid-March seemed … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary