Author: Ian

Sandra Day O'Connor Becomes First Female US Supreme Court Justice (1981)

O’Connor is a lawyer and jurist who was the first female associate justice of the US Supreme Court. She served as an assistant state attorney general in her home state of Arizona in the late 1960s and, in 1969, was appointed to the state senate, where she became the country’s first female majority leader. She was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to the Supreme Court in 1981, becoming the first female justice. Who took O’Connor’s Supreme Court seat when she retired in 2006? Discuss

The Evolutionary Arms Race

An evolutionary arms race is a struggle between interdependent organisms that evolve competing genetic adaptations with the back-and-forth escalation characteristic of an arms race. This competitive adaptation may occur between members of the same species or between different species, such as a predator and its prey, and it can be either symmetrical or asymmetrical, meaning competitors strive either for the same trait or to counter a trait in the other. What are some examples of this phenomenon? Discuss

Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin (1739)

Potemkin was a Russian army officer who helped bring Catherine II to power in 1762. After fighting in the Russo-Turkish War, he became Catherine’s lover and perhaps the most powerful man in Russia. He played an important role in the annexing of the Crimea, but he underestimated the cost of colonizing it and left many projects incomplete. His success in disguising his shortcomings led to the claim that when he gave Catherine a tour of the region, he showed her “Potemkin villages,” which are what? Discuss

What Lights the Firefly

Commonly called fireflies or lightning bugs, the carnivorous beetles of the family Lampyridae are named for their use of bioluminescence when attracting mates or prey. Fireflies are capable of producing red, yellow, or green “cold light” containing no ultraviolet or infrared rays. Approximately 90% of the energy used in the process is converted to visible light—compared to 10% for incandescent electric bulbs, which emit the remainder of their energy as heat. How do fireflies produce their light? Discuss

Honda Motor Company Founded (1948)

In 1946, Japanese mechanic, race car driver, and self-taught engineer Soichiro Honda founded a company that made small, efficient engines. It was incorporated as Honda Motor Co. two years later and originally produced only motorcycles. Its clean-burning CVCC engine created an automotive revolution, and its cars won a large share of the US market after they went on sale in 1963. Today, Honda is one of the world’s leading automakers. What else besides cars and motorcycles does Honda manufacture? Discuss

Mickey Rooney (1920)

Rooney was an American actor who began his career when he was just 17 months old, as part of his family’s vaudeville act, and made his film debut at 6. He went on to star in 50 RKO short comedies, and his diminutive size allowed him to play boys until he was nearly 30. From 1937, he played the cocky, energetic Andy Hardy in a series of popular films, often teamed with Judy Garland. In 1983, he received an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement. What was Rooney’s name at birth? Discuss

The Huaorani

Known pejoratively as “Aucas,” meaning “naked ones” or “savages,” the Huaorani are an indigenous people of the Ecuadorian Oriente in the Amazon basin. With a population of approximately 2,000, the Huaorani speak Huao Terero, a language unrelated to any other known living language. Several Huaorani communities have rejected all contact with outsiders and move often to progressively more isolated areas. During the mid-20th c, what led them to become one of the most violent cultures ever known? Discuss