Ludwig Bemelmans grew up hearing stories about a young girl who attended a boarding school where the students “slept in little beds that stood in two rows” and “went walking in two straight lines.” That young girl was his mother, Franciska. Today we might recognize … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
In one of America’s most notorious crimes, the infant son of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped and murdered in 1932. The massive search effort included unprecedented federal involvement, and Lindbergh even met with organized crime figures in an attempt to determine the whereabouts of his son. Ten weeks after the boy disappeared, his corpse was found just miles from the Lindbergh home. Four years after the kidnapping, a riotous trial resulted in the conviction and execution of whom? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
When a group of high school students in Pella, Iowa, staged an operetta called Tulip Time 1935, the only tulips growing in the town were in pots. But the musical performance gave the local chamber of commerce an idea for promoting the town’s Dutch heritage. They planted thousands of bulbs and got the local historical society to start preserving the town’s Dutch buildings and heirlooms. During the festival, townspeople dress in Dutch provincial costumes and engage in such activities as street scrubbing, authentic Dutch dancing and folk music, and tours of the formal tulip gardens. Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Hodgkin developed a passion for chemistry at an early age and went on to become a leader in the field of X-ray crystallography. In 1948, she and her colleagues made the first X-ray photograph of vitamin B12—one of the most complex nonprotein compounds—and eventually determined its atomic arrangement. Her work in determining its structure, as well as that of other biochemical compounds, won her a 1964 Nobel Prize. In 1969, Hodgkin completed a similar three-dimensional analysis of what hormone? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Castoroides ohioensis, the giant beaver, was a huge rodent species that lived in N America during the Pleistocene and became extinct at the end of the last Ice Age, roughly 10,000 years ago. Fossils of the creature, first found in 1837, indicate that it could grow as large as 8.2 ft (2.5 m) long and weigh up to 220 lb (100 kg). While the teeth of modern beavers are suited for gnawing on wood, the giant beaver’s teeth were bigger and broader. Did it construct lodges like modern beavers do? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Definition: (noun) A long flag; often tapering.
Synonyms: waft, streamer.
Usage: The boy had fastened a brightly-colored pennant to the front of his bike.
Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Scientists are one step closer to understanding how modern birds evolved to have beaks, and the answer starts millions of years ago with some of the sexiest dinosaurs. Modern gulls, with their large eyes, long beaks and distinctly ancient-looking and … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
During the spring climbing season in 1996, 15 people died trying to reach the summit of Mount Everest, making it the deadliest season in the mountain’s history. Eight of the deaths occurred on a single day in May, when climbers were caught by a fierce storm. The disaster was chronicled in a number of books, including one by journalist Jon Krakauer, who was on assignment writing about the commercialization and overcrowding of Everest. What non-weather factors contributed to the deaths that day? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
In a career spanning more than half a century, American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham transformed the art of dance with her revolutionary style and choreography. Her technique became the first significant alternative to classical ballet, and her influence extended worldwide through her students, many of whom went on to become choreographers themselves. One of the foremost pioneers of modern dance, Graham was the first dancer ever to perform at the White House and to receive what honor? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Definition: (noun) The term during which some position is held.
Synonyms: tenure, term of office.
Usage: During his incumbency, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt instituted the New Deal to counter the Great Depression.
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Source: The Free Dictionary