Month: September 2024

Pierre de Ronsard (1524)

Now considered one of the greatest French poets, Ronsard first served as a page and a squire and seemed destined for a career at court both in France and abroad. However, an illness left him partially deaf, and he turned to scholarship and literature. Named poet royal, the “prince of poets” wrote a great number of poems on many themes, especially patriotism, love, and death. He led a group of poets who cultivated the sonnet form and took the name of what earlier group of poets and tragedians? Discuss

Infrasound

Long thought to cause feelings of fear or awe, infrasound is sound that is able to cover long distances with little dissipation at a frequency too low to be detected by the human ear. It is created by natural phenomena such as ocean waves and earthquakes and can be artificially produced by explosions or machines. Infrasound is used by some animals to communicate over long distances and by predators to “freeze” their prey. Why do some scientists believe infrasound is related to ghost sightings? Discuss

The Battle of Pinkie Cleugh (1547)

The Battle of Pinkie Cleugh was part of the War of Rough Wooing, the ruthless war launched by Henry VIII against Scotland to force a marriage between Mary Queen of Scots and his son, the future Edward VI. The first “modern” battle to be fought in the British Isles and the last pitched battle between the English and Scottish royal armies, it resulted in a catastrophic defeat for the Scots, who came to call it Black Saturday. After the battle, what happened to the infant Queen Mary? Discuss

Thomas Sydenham (1624)

Known as “the English Hippocrates,” Sydenham was a physician who advocated direct observation instead of theorizing to determine the nature of disease. His conceptions of the causes and treatments of epidemics and his classic descriptions of gout, smallpox, malaria, and other maladies established him as a founder of modern clinical medicine and epidemiology. He introduced laudanum as a medication, helped popularize the use of quinine in treating malaria, and described what “dancing” disease? Discuss

Tracer Ammunition

Used in machine guns since World War I, tracer ammunition contains modified bullets packed with a pyrotechnic charge that ignites upon firing, illuminating the bullets. This technology enables a shooter to check a bullet’s trajectory and adjust their aim accordingly. Since the tracer path can also betray a shooter’s position, many modern tracers are designed to become visible only once they have traveled a set distance. Why were tracers especially useful against Zeppelins in World War I? Discuss

Harland David "Colonel" Sanders (1890)

In 1929, Sanders opened a gas station and small restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky. His cooking grew so popular that he soon closed the gas station. By 1939, he had developed a secret blend of herbs and spices and a process for cooking chicken more quickly than conventional methods. He sold his restaurant in 1956 and took to the road franchising his fried chicken recipe. By 1964, when he sold the Kentucky Fried Chicken corporation, he had sold more than 600 franchises. How did Sanders get his title? Discuss

Molecular Machines

A molecular machine is a minute mechanism consisting of molecular components that perform mechanical-like movements in response to specific stimuli. Chemists have synthesized a number of simple molecular machines, including molecular propellers and molecular motors, the latter of which are powered by light or reactions with other molecules and are capable of unidirectional rotation. Far more complex biological versions of these artificial nanomachines are found in living cells. What do they do? Discuss