New light has been shed on a little understood period of dinosaur evolution after giant prehistoric footprints were discovered on the Isle of Skye. Researchers, including some from Edinburgh University, have been analysing dozens of the footprints … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Based on James Michener’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book Tales of the South Pacific, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific opened on Broadway to great acclaim. Set on a Pacific island during WWII, the musical relates two parallel love stories that are threatened by prejudice and war. The play’s first run earned 10 Tony Awards, and its 2008 Broadway revival earned seven. When it was awarded the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, who notoriously failed to receive credit for coauthoring it? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
The Grand National is the world-famous steeplechase run at the Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. It was started in 1839 by William Lynn, owner of the Waterloo Hotel in Liverpool, as a means of attracting hotel patrons. The course is four and one-half miles long and has 16 bush fences, of which 14 are jumped twice. The race is limited now to 40 starters; horses have to qualify by winning three other set races in England, although any horse that wins the Maryland Hunt Cup is automatically eligible to run. Only men could ride originally, but today women are eligible as well. Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
A journalist and conservationist, Douglas lived to the age of 108. A turning point in her long life came in 1947, when her book, The Everglades: River of Grass was published. It sounded an early warning of the environmental perils facing the Florida Everglades. Everglades National Park was established that same year. Douglas cofounded Friends of the Everglades in 1969 and is widely credited with helping to slow the destruction of the swamp ecosystem. Where were her ashes scattered? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
The idea that water can retain a “memory” of a substance dissolved in it even after heavy dilution was proposed by French immunologist Jacques Benveniste to explain the alleged therapeutic powers of homeopathic remedies, which are prepared by serially diluting aqueous solutions to such a degree that even a single molecule of the original solute is unlikely to remain in each final preparation. He successfully tested his theory in 1988, but attempts to reproduce his results have failed. Why? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Last year was a difficult one for Madden Humphreys. His classmates at school were bullying him for how he looked. Madden, 7, was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. In addition to having a scar from repair surgeries, he has heterochromia … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Petrarch claimed to have first laid eyes on his beloved Laura, who was to inspire his great vernacular love lyrics, at the church of Sainte-Claire d’Avignon on Good Friday 1327. Over the next 20 years, the Italian humanist poet wrote hundreds of sonnets and odes about the lovely Laura, with whom he may never have conversed even once. Petrarch revealed little about the object of his chaste love, and her true identity has been the source of much debate. Who or what are some potential candidates? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Dele was a professional basketball player who disappeared at sea in 2002 and is believed to have been killed by his brother. Three years earlier, at age 30 and arguably at the peak of his career, Dele opted out of a $36 million contract and retired from the National Basketball Association. In 2002, he set sail on the South Pacific Ocean with his girlfriend, the boat’s captain, and his brother—the only one ever seen or heard from again. How did his brother draw further suspicion after his return? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Spanish for “Cave of the Hands,” Cueva de las Manos is an Argentinean cave famed for the paintings of hands—along with depictions of humans, animals, hunting scenes, and geometric shapes—that are believed to have been made thousands of years ago by the region’s indigenous inhabitants. Based on the size of the hands, it is speculated that teenage boys stenciled them on the wall of the cave to mark their advancement into manhood. Most of the paintings are of left hands, suggesting what? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary