Curiosity Aroused

What if human beings had the ability to heal themselves every time they spoke? It sounds like a superpower, but that’s what is happening every time your cat purrs. And that’s not all. Purring is a richly expressive felid vocalization, reflecting many of the most extreme moments of a cat’s life, both positive and negative. Photo credit: Wikimedia commons Why Cats Purr Why do cats purr? Most of the time, humans express pain or anxiety very differently from pleasure.

While others enthusiastically projected their divine myths onto the firmament, the Greeks focused on identifying meaningful patterns. To the ancient Greeks, the cyclical drama of the heavens contained objects that could be studied and measured. Observing the grinning silver disc of the moon in its many phases, ancient Greeks had a hunch it was a real celestial body located at a fixed distance from where they stood. The Greeks’ extraordinary insights laid the foundation for the science of lunar distance, or “LD.

**_Jamaica’s first international superstar, Bob Marley is credited with bringing reggae, rasta and a powerful message of peace and reconciliation to people around the world at a time of great social crisis. Following his death over three decades ago, “Nesta” left behind a legendary collection of music, but also a lingering sense of frustration at his refusal to save his own life. Bob Marley live in concert in Zurich, Switzerland, May 30, 1980 - less than a year before his death.

A lot of human beings are monogamous, but did you know that hardly any other animals practice any form of monogamy? In nature, monogamous pairing refers to mating systems where a pair of animals stick together to raise their offspring. That “family” structure is actually the main feature of the monogamy. This isn’t quite the same thing as sexual monogamy, though the two usually go hand in hand. According to the National Science Foundation, scientists currently estimate that only about 3-5% of the mammal species on Earth practice monogamy, whether for the short term or the long term.

The sinking of the Titanic was one of the great tragedies of the twentieth century. The tale has since evolved into a heady mix of fact and legend, a testimony to the enduring intrigue that surrounds this historic maritime disaster. When the Titanic sank, some 1,500 passengers and crew drowned overnight, mainly because there was a massive shortage of lifeboats on the most luxurious sea voyager ever built. Engraving by Willy Stower: Titanic sinking (Photo credit: Willy Stower) When Did Titanic Sink?

**_What is the largest organ in the human body? That’s easy to answer–the skin, also known as the epidermis – your body’s hairy, breathing, secreting, self-generating, shedding, swelling, permeable and adaptive outer envelope. Just a single square inch of skin contains 3 primary layers, 11 miles of blood vessels, 650 sweat glands, 60,000 melanin-maker cells, and over 1,000 nerve endings. Photo credit: Kerela Tourism The skin is the major organ in the integumentary system, one of eleven major human organ systems comprising 78 distinct organs.

An incredible amount of scholarship has been dedicated to reconstructing the historicity of biblical stories and the course of their composition. Yet, for the ancients, the stories themselves were the important part—not so much its author. Their understandable disregard for modern standards of authorship means that the age of the Bible cannot be deduced from the anthology itself; independent verification is necessary. And for that, we have archaeology. The Psalms scroll, part of the Dead Sea Scrolls dated to between 408 BCE to 318 CE (Photo credit: Library of Congress) So Just How old is the Bible?

The Civil War was the bloodiest conflict in United States history; by the end, some 620,000 Americans lay slain on domestic battlefields. The two-day Battle of Shiloh on the banks of the Tennessee River saw more American casualties than all previous wars combined. By the end of it all, everyone was exhausted and most were ready for the conflict to be over. When did the Civil War end? April 9, 1865 is the official date.

**People have been “keeping” time for just about five or six thousand years. They have been systematically measuring time by the hour for just about two centuries. All this amounts to less than 1% of human history. ** Photo credit: Oskay Before the modern era, there was no obvious reason to doubt the utility of the sun’s rough position in the sky for knowing the ’time’ of day. And yet here we all are, minding the clock in the interest of “saving time.

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between fascism and communism? Reading your 20th century history textbook, it may not be particularly obvious. In part, this is because the difference between fascism and communism is theoretical, whereas in practice, both are quite similar. Here is the breakdown of fascism vs. communism according to various criteria including central philosophy and political and social structure. Philosophy and Operating Principles In theory, communism’s operating principle is this: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.