Author: Ian

Dolly, the First Cloned Sheep, Is Born (1996)

Perhaps the most famous sheep in history, Dolly was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell through the somatic cell nuclear transfer technique, in which the nucleus of an egg cell is replaced by the nucleus of a cell from the organism to be cloned. In successful cases, the egg cell develops into a healthy fetus, but the success rate of cloning has been low. Of 277 eggs, only 29 created viable embryos, and Dolly was the only one to survive to adulthood. How did she get her name? Discuss

Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou (1911)

Pompidou was premier of France from 1962 to 1968 and president from 1969 to 1974. As Charles de Gaulle’s chief aide from 1958 to 1959, he helped draft the constitution of the Fifth Republic. He secretly negotiated a cease-fire in the Algerian War in 1961 and was appointed premier the following year. In 1968, he skillfully negotiated an end to the French student-worker strikes. Elected president in 1969, he continued de Gaulle’s policies. What job did Pompidou hold before he entered politics? Discuss

The Great Train Robbery

Five days after one of the biggest heists in British history, an anonymous tip led police to a farm where they found the robbers’ fingerprints, including some on a Monopoly game that had apparently been played after the robbery—with real money. Thirteen of the criminals involved in the 1963 event now known as “the Great Train Robbery” were eventually caught, but the bulk of the stolen £2.6 million—the equivalent of US $80 million today—was never recovered. How did the robbers stop the train? Discuss

Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass Published (1855)

Often considered the most influential volume of poetry in American literature, Whitman’s Leaves of Grass was unconventional in both content and technique and initially scandalized the public with its frank celebration of sexuality. The first edition contained 12 poems, including “Song of Myself,” in which the author proclaims himself the symbolic representative of common people, but Whitman revised and expanded subsequent editions. How many poems are found in his “deathbed edition”? Discuss

Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807)

Garibaldi is considered an Italian national hero for his role in the Risorgimento, the movement to liberate and unify Italy. In 1848, after having spent time in South America learning guerilla warfare tactics, he returned to Italy to fight for its independence. He fought Austria in Milan and France in Rome. In 1860, he raised an army of 1,000 and attacked Sicily. By the end of his campaign, he commanded 30,000 men, with whom he seized Naples, before handing all of southern Italy over to whom? Discuss

Bodie, California: A Preserved Ghost Town

Once boasting a population of nearly 10,000 during a mining boom in the late 1800s, Bodie, California, is now an authentic Wild West ghost town. Visitors can walk the deserted streets to see the remnants of a town whose mines produced more than $34 million worth of gold. That success brought to Bodie the amenities of larger towns, including a railroad, banks, a brass band, and a jail. What type of business had 65 different locations along Bodie’s main street at the peak of the city’s popularity? Discuss

Rani Lakshmi Bai

In 1857, Indian troops in the service of the English East India Company ignited a massive rebellion. They refused to use rifle cartridges thought to be lubricated with grease containing a mixture of pigs’ and cows’ lard, considered religiously impure. Lakshmi Bai—queen of the Indian state of Jhansi—became an unlikely hero in the rebellion. When a British commander vowed to destroy Jhansi unless its people surrendered, Lakshmi Bai asserted that they would fight to the death. What happened to her? Discuss

abaxial

Definition: (adjective) Located away from or on the opposite side of the axis, as of an organ or organism

Synonyms: dorsal.

Usage: The abaxial surface of the leaf was covered in stomata, tiny pores that allow the exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen between the internal tissues of the plant and the outside atmosphere.

Discuss