Month: October 2023

Honey

Honey is the sweet, viscous fluid honeybees produce from flower nectar. Worker bees transport the nectar to the hive in their honey sac, and enzymes in the sac convert the nectar into honey. Bees produce honey in much greater amounts than they need to survive, and humans have made use of this excess honey for centuries. In addition to its uses in cooking and baking, honey has antibacterial properties and was used in ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece as a wound salve. What is honey intoxication? Discuss

O.J. Simpson Found Not Guilty in the "Trial of the Century" (1995)

In 1994, Simpson, a former football star, was charged with the murder of his estranged wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. His trial was a media-saturated event that highlighted racial tensions in America and resulted in his acquittal in 1995. In 1997, a civil jury levied a $33.5 million wrongful-death award against him in a suit brought by the victims’ families. Simpson’s infamous car chase in June 1994 interrupted TV coverage of what? Discuss

Honduras Soldiers' Day

This celebration is held on the birthday of Francisco Morazán (1792–1842), a highly revered Honduran general and statesman. Morazán’s achievements as a military leader in various liberation struggles led the Honduran government to designate his birthday as the official date to honor the country’s soldiers. The day’s main celebration is a military parade that takes place in Tegucigalpa, Honduras’s capital city. The procession features the service members of every branch of the armed forces, along with dozens of tanks and artillery carriers. Discuss

Thomas Wolfe (1900)

After beginning his career writing plays, Wolfe turned to novels, many of which are thinly veiled autobiographies. His writing habits, influenced by excessive drinking, were haphazard and undisciplined. In his The Story of a Novel, Wolfe describes how editor Maxwell Perkins helped him turn the chaotic manuscripts for his first two books into publishable works. Which one of Wolfe’s literary contemporaries likened his writing to “an elephant trying to do the hoochie coochie”? Discuss

Stem Cells

Stem cells are unspecialized cells that can reproduce themselves for long periods of time using cell division, but are also capable of differentiating into almost any type of specialized cell. This unique ability makes them ideal for use in regenerative medicine. Adult stem cells are derived from umbilical cord blood and bone marrow. Embryonic stem cells are also used in medical research, but their use is more controversial. Why is there an ethical debate surrounding embryonic stem cell use? Discuss

Pasilalinic-Sympathetic Compass Demonstrated (1851)

French occultist Jacques Toussaint Benoit’s pasilalinic-sympathetic compass was a contraption developed based on his belief that when two snails touch, they create a telepathic bond. His “snail telegraph” contained 24 snails, each associated with an individual letter of the alphabet as well as with a snail counterpart in a second device. One could theoretically transmit a message by touching the snails, eliciting reactions from their counterparts. What happened when he demonstrated his device? Discuss