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Question of the Week

March 8, 2010

Who invented the traffic signal?

The modern traffic light was invented in America. New York had a three-color system in 1918 that was operated manually from a tower in the middle of the street. Other cities soon adopted the idea of having someone on the scene to control the lights.

Garret Morgan, inventor of the gas mask, also developed traffic signaling devices. Having witnessed an accident between a car and a carriage, Morgan felt compelled to devise a system to prevent such collisions at street intersections. In 1923 he patented an electric traffic light system using a pole with a cross section on which the words STOP and GO were illuminated.

Source: Travers, Bridget, and Jeffrey Muhr. World of invention. Gale Cengage, 1994. Print.

Past Questions of the Week

March 2, 2010

What is the difference between an ocean and a sea?

Seas are smaller than oceans and are usually located where the land and ocean meet. Typically, seas are partially enclosed by land.

Source: http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/oceanorsea.html

February 22, 2010

Who was Narcissus?

In Greek, mythology, son of Cephisus and Lirope. Narcissus scorned the love of Echo, a nymph. As punishment, the gods made Narcissus fall in love with his own reflection in a pool. Because he received no answer from his image, the youth killed himself and was transformed into a flower.

Source: The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend.

February 15, 2010

What is a cryptid?

Cryptid is a term which is used in cryptozoology to refer to a creature whose existence has been suggested but that is unrecognized by a scientific consensus, and whose existence is moreover often regarded as highly unlikely.[1] Noted cryptids include Bigfoot, Yeti, and the Loch Ness Monster.

Source: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptid

February 8, 2010

How many national parks are there?

58 - Acadia, American Samoa, Arches, Badlands, Big Bend, Biscayne, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Carlsbad Caverns, Channel Islands, Congaree, Crater Lake, Cuyahoga Valley, Death Valley, Denali, Dry Tortugas, Everglades, Gates of the Arctic, Glacier, Glacier Bay, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Great Basin, Great Sand Dunes, Great Smokey Mountains, Guadalupe Mountains, Haleakala, Hawaii Volcanoes, Hot Springs, Isle Royale, Joshua Tree, Katmai, Kenai Fjords, Kings Canyon, Kobuk Valley, Lake Clark, Lassen Volcanic, Mammoth Cave,Mesa Verde, Mount Rainier, North Cascades, Olympic, Petrified Forest, Redwood, Rocky Mountain, Saguaro, Sequoia, Shenandoah, Theodore Roosevelt, Virgin Islands, Voyageurs, Wind Cave, Wrangell-St. Elias, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Zion.

Source: World Book Encyclopedia, 2010

February 1, 2010

I need a biography of Charles Darwin.

Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. He revolutionized biology with his theory of evolution by natural selection. Although others contributed to the theory of evolution, Darwin was the first to win wide acceptance from the world's experts in biology.

Darwin was the son of a physician and the grandson of the physician and naturalist Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802). In the 1790s, Erasmus Darwin proposed a theory of evolution. Charles Darwin studied medicine at Edinburgh University and religion at Cambridge University. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Cambridge in 1831. There, his interest in biology was encouraged by his friendship with John Stevens Henslow (1796-1861), who studied plants. Henslow recommended Darwin as naturalist for a scientific expedition to South America. In 1831, Darwin began the five-year journey aboard the ship HMS Beagle. He gained valuable knowledge about the plants, animals, and natural features of the lands that he visited. In 1839, Darwin married his first cousin, Emma Wedgewood. They had ten children, seven of whom survived past childhood.

By 1846, Darwin had published several works on his discoveries about coral reefs and volcanic islands. For his writings and other scientific activities, he won the respect of the scientific community. Darwin spent years developing his theory of evolution. It is believed that he waited so long to share it with the world because he feared the religious controversy that would result. He finally was moved to go public when he received a paper from Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) in 1858. Wallace had the same ideas that Darwin had been pondering for twenty years. Darwin and Wallace presented their theories in a joint paper to the Linnean Society in 1858. In 1859, Darwin published his famous book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. While the theory was accepted quickly in most scientific circles, religious leaders strongly opposed it. Many religious persons felt that the theory was inconsistent with the biblical book of Genesis. They feared that God had no place in Darwin's world. They claimed that in Darwin's theory, man was descended from apes and not placed in a superior position over other animals.

Darwin expanded his theory in other publications. His theories included the following ideas: (1) most evolutionary changes are very gradual, requiring millions of years; (2) natural selection is the driving force behind evolutionary change; and (3) today's millions of species are descended from a single, original life form.

Darwin's theories spurred further research in biology. His theories form the foundation of much of modern scientific thought, and he is considered one of the greatest figures in the history of biology. He died at the age of seventy-three on April 19, 1882.

Source: Biography Resource Center http://www.cityofpalmdale.org/library/electronic_resources.html

January 19, 2010

When did the Saber-toothed Tiger live?

The saber-toothed tiger was a catlike, prehistoric animal. It was one of many catlike species that had enlarged canine teeth (long pointed teeth near the front of the mouth). The teeth were shaped like sabers (curved swords), and were about 8 inches long.

The first saber-toothed cats lived about 40 million years ago. They became extinct about 10,000 years ago. Fossils have been found in Africa, Europe and North and South America. The cats were probably as have as today's tigers. They probably ate thick-skinned animals, including elephants, mastodons, and ground sloths.

Source: World Book Encyclopedia, 2010

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