Category: History

Dinosaurs 101: The Shifting Image of Dinosaurs – Facts, History, and Evolution

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Scientific discoveries reach the general public through schooling and news stories, though occasionally this kind of information gets filtered through the lens of pop culture. When it comes to dinosaurs, Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park is a prime example of this. Insights and ideas gleaned from science can inform new and creative plot elements or action set pieces, though the same is true of scientific distortions and misunderstandings. Rather than nitpicking elements of a single film, this article will briefly highlight the areas in which our understanding of dinosaurs has evolved over the past few decades.

Arthropods 101: Insects, Evolution, Classes, and Examples of Arthropods

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Making up around 75% of all animal species in the world, arthropods are are a vast phylum of the kingdom Animalia. The name comes from the Greek words “arthro”, meaning joint, and “podos”, meaning legs. While they all share segmented bodies with joined legs, members in this phylum vary wildly, from butterflies and millipedes, to scorpions and lobsters. They are also all invertebrates, which means that they do not have backbones. Instead, they use hard exoskeletons to protect themselves, which are made out of chitin. Because these exoskeletons are relatively inflexible, arthropods molt as they grow larger, which means they shed their exoskeletons.

Click! Introduction to Photography 101

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Photography is much more complex than taking photos on a camera. Photography in its most basic definition dates back to ancient China, where the use of a camera obscura was first documented by a Chinese philosopher in the fifth century B.C.  A camera obscura is the phenomenon where a small pinhole on a wall of a dark room allows light to come in. On the wall opposite to the pinhole, an upside-down image of the outside is illuminated. The science behind this strange phenomenon lies in the basic principles of optics, the study of light. Light travels in straight lines until it is blocked by a material, in which case the angle of the light changes. This concept of capturing light and forming an image was studied for hundreds of years, leading to the invention of microscopes to look at tiny living organisms, telescopes to look at the stars, and cameras to take pictures. 

Psychology 101: Crowd Psychology and The Theory of Gustave Le Bon

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Crowds are often overlooked as a segment of psychology. Most people would like to say that they are independent and trail away from what others do, however, much goes unnoticed when talking about the human behaviour of an individual when placed in a large mass of others. This type of psychology becomes a unique aspect of how one may think purely based off of the interests and situation of a crowd. There are several theories and the concept itself plays a large role in several real-world situations with effective consequences.

UNESCO World Heritage: 10 Travel Sites and How They Were Selected

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The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has several branches and initiatives aimed at promoting the subjects in its name across the globe. One of these is the World Heritage Committee which, among other things, decides what locations are worth preserving for various reasons. These reasons are grouped together in a list of ten selection criteria, each denoted by a Roman numeral. To explain the Committee’s selection criteria and World Heritage sites more broadly let us go through this list and examine an illustrative example for every criterion.

From Warrior Footwear to High Fashion: The Origin of Heels

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The earliest recorded instance of heeled shoes comes from tenth century Persia. Mounted soldiers wore shoes with heels to make it easier to keep their feet in their stirrups, as the heels would catch the back of the stirrup’s tread and stop their feet from sliding in and out. This same use can be seen to this day with cowboys and other jobs that involve riding horses. During this period heels went from being a masculine sign of strength and wealth to a non-gendered court fashion to a feminine fashion statement.

Art in Space: Moon Art vs Orbital Art

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When discussing space art, one can mean at least two different things. The term can refer to art made on Earth that is then sent into outer space, or art produced while in space. Going with the former definition, our exhibits come down to Earth’s closest neighbor in the Solar System and the rest of the cosmos.

Taxonomy: History, Definition, Classification, and Taxonomy Mnemonic

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Cougar. Mountain Lion. Puma. What do these animals all have in common? Believe it or not, they are actually all names for the same animal! Because this feline spans such a large area, different areas call it different names. As you might think, this could get confusing if scientists try to discuss the same animal, so what do they do? They use taxonomy.
Taxonomy is the science and process of organizing organisms into categories and naming them. Every species of animal has a unique taxonomic, or scientific, name. A species is a group of organisms that reproduce among itself and produce offspring. The scientific name is used by scientists all over the world for ease of communication. After all, it is very important to be specific in science. For example, the scientific name of the cougar/mountain lion/puma is Puma concolor. The name cougar/mountain lion/puma refers to the animal’s common name. Organisms can have many common names used by the public, but when scientists are referring to them, they use the scientific name. Domain Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species

Oceanic Forestry: Coral Farming and Biorocks

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Climate change affects the entirety of the earth’s surface, and nowhere more so than our oceans. While our seas cover about two-thirds of the earth’s surface they absorb over ninety percent of the additional heat attributable to global warming. Both land masses and bodies of water absorb and reflect solar radiation that rebounds off of the greenhouse gases trapped in our atmosphere, but the latter is generally more absorptive and holds on to heat longer due to differences in physical properties. This of course has led to increases in global seawater temperatures, which has and continues to endanger several aquatic species. This article will examine one of those species and go over human efforts to preserve it.

Loanwords and the Evolution of English

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For all its complexities, and thanks in part to them, English is a highly versatile language. Several other languages have government affiliated academies that dictate their proper usage, voting on things like the addition of new words. No such body exists for English, making its development less top-down and more of a dialogue between those at the top and the general masses. One area where this can easily be seen is with loanwords.

An Overview of Shorthand: History and Types of Shorthand

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Shorthand is the use of abbreviated spellings and or simplified symbols to record information in a quicker, more compact form. The opposite of this is longhand, which generally uses either block lettering or a cursive script. While it takes longer to fully write something out in longhand, all or most of those fluent in a given language will understand what is written down, as opposed to shorthand, which requires special training. In light of modern recording and word processing technologies, the decline in shorthand’s use seems inevitable, with newer inventions allowing those who only known longhand to reap the benefits of shorthand. And yet several shorthand systems thrive in a few niche industries. To fully appreciate shorthand and its resilience, one must go back to its origins.

Macroeconomics: The Definition of GDP and Its Implications

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GDP is the universal measure of income among different countries. We’ve heard of the term GDP multiple times, but what exactly is GDP, and how do we measure an entire country’s income? GDP, Gross Domestic Product, measures the total value of all final goods and services produced in the economy of a country during a given year. Important points that need special attention in the definition of GDP are ‘total,’ ‘final,’ ‘country,’ and ‘a given year.’

Elizabeth ‘Eliza’ Hamilton: The Most Underrated Woman in History

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The Founding Fathers of America are often spoken about in history books. They are credited with many of the occurrences in said books. However, there are people that are commonly passed over, but have made a huge impact on history. One of these women was Elizabeth ‘Eliza’ Schuyler Hamilton, the widow of the first Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, and the 2nd daughter of Philip Schuyler, a New York senator.

Learn more about the history of of Elizabeth Hamilton!

History of Pocahontas: The True Story

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What was the true story and history of Pocahontas? Many people have seen the famous Disney movie about Pocahontas a Native American princess and Captain John Smith, but to what extent was it true? In this lesson, we straighten out the facts from the myths to share you the true story and history behind Pocahontas.