Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, written in approximately 1385, is a collection of twenty-four stories ostensibly told by various people who are going on a religious pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral from London, England. Prior to the actual tales, however, Chaucer offers the reader a glimpse of fourteenth century life by way of what he refers to…
In a world where plants are at the bottom of the food-chain, some individual plant species have evolved ways to reverse the order we expect to find in nature. These insectivorous plants, as they are sometimes called, are the predators, rather than the passive prey. Adoptions such as odiferous lures and trapping mechanisms have made…
What is Bioluminescence? The current paper’s main focus is on bioluminescent Fungi but the basic features of bioluminescence discussed are common to all bioluminescent organisms. Bioluminescence is simply light created by living organisms. Probably the most commonly known example of bioluminescence by North Americans is the firefly, which lights its abdomen during its mating season…
Aim “To see what factors affect the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide by the enzyme catalase which is found in the liver” Introduction Enzymes are biological catalysts. They speed up the chemical reactions which go on inside living things. Without them the reactions would be so slow that life would grind to a halt. Enzymes work…
Among the many hundreds of thousands of astonishing organisms with which we must share this earth, there is one seemingly ordinary group of specimens which fascinates many people beyond all others. There is nothing too extraordinary in the proportions or appearance of ants, but it is their history and culture that induces a second look.…
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a deadly disease of the nervous system. Also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. One in 50,000 people will be affected in any one year. The average age for diagnosis of ALS is between 30 and 70, although there have been cases of teenagers contracting it. The average life span after diagnosis…
The word “albinism” refers to a group of inherited conditions. People with albinism have little or no pigment in their eyes, skin, or hair. They have inherited genes that do not make the usual amounts of a pigment called melanin. One person in 17,000 has some type of albinism. Albinism affects people from all races.…
The global energy balance and atmospheric motion mainly determine the circulation of the earth’s atmosphere. There is a hierarchy of motion in atmospheric circulation. Each control can be broken down into smaller controlling factors. The global energy balance is an equal balance of short-wave radiation coming into the atmosphere and long-wave radiation going out of…
Project Mercury, the first manned U.S. space project, became an official NASA program on October 7, 1958. The Mercury Program was given two main but broad objectives: 1. To investigate man’s ability to survive and perform in the space environment and 2. To develop basic space technology and hardware for manned space flight programs to…
Astrology is the study of planetary influences and their affect on the world and everything in it. Astrology is usually limited to human beings–their nature, and their affairs, although a chart can be drawn up for just about any event. The horoscope is a blue print or pattern of the solar system cast for a…
Comets are small, fragile, and irregularly shaped. Most are composed of frozen gas. However, some are composed of frozen gas and non-volatile grains. They usually follow very strict paths around the sun. Comets become most visible when they cross the sun. This also applies to people who view comets with telescopes. When a comet gets…
His Life Throughout history people have always looked up at the sky and wondered about the universe. Some just wonder while others attempt to solve this mystery. One of the people who had endeavored to solve it was Nicolaus Copernicus. Copernicus was born in the present day town of Torun, Poland in February of 1473.…
Neptune is the outermost planet of the gas giants. It has an equatorial diameter of 49,500 kilometers (30,760 miles) and is the eighth planet from the sun. If Neptune were hollow, it could contain nearly 60 Earth’s. Neptune orbits the Sun every 165 years. It has eight moons, six of which were found by Voyager…
Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. Its average distance from the sun is approximately fifty-eight million km and it’s diameter is 4875 km, making it the second smallest planet in our solar system. Its volume and mass are about 1/18 that of the earth and its average density is approximately equal to that…
Gamma Rays are Waves on the electromagnetic spectrum that has a Wavelength of 10 or Higher and 11 down. Gamma Rays are produced in labs through the process of nuclear collision and also through the artificial Radioactivity that accompanies these interactions. The high-energy nuclei needed for the collisions are accelerated by such devices as the…
All black holes are formed from the gravitational collapse of a star, usually having a great, massive, core. A star is created when huge, gigantic, gas clouds bind together due to attractive forces and form a hot core, combined from all the energy of the two gas clouds. This energy produced is so great when…
Aquarius can be found in the SE sky in autumn, especially October. A dark night is especially helpful because many faint stars make up Aquarius. This will help to make the fainter stars stand out because it’s hard enough to see a shape in Aquarius. Up and to the west of aquarius, pegasus can be…
Houston, we have a problem. The Apollo 13 mission was launched at 2:13 p.m. EST, April 11, 1970 from launch complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. The space vehicle crew consisted of James A. Lovell, Jr. commander, John L. Swigert, Jr., command module pilot and Fred W. Haise, Jr. lunar module pilot. The Apollo 13…
In Greek mythology, Theseus can truly be thought of as the greatest Athenian hero. He was the son of Aegeus, king of Athens, and Aethra, princess of Troezen, and daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezen. Before Theseus was born his father Aegeus left Aethra in Troezen of Argolis and returned to Athens before he was…
The study of myths probably began in the 4th century. BC. when Euthemerus explained them as exaggerated adventures of historical individuals. The allegorical interpretation of myths , stemming from the 18th century study , says that at one time myths were invented by wise men to point out a truth, but after a time myths…