In the modern world we occupy, tech company names like Google, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, and others have become a major part of our daily life and conversations. Some of them, like Google, become synonymous with the act itself. If you need to search something, you “just Google it,” which is much like what happened with Xerox when copiers came into vogue. But have you ever stopped …
One of the easiest and most fun learning activities to do while distance learning is to take a virtual field trip. During the Covid-19 pandemic, educational spaces like museums, national parks, and even NASA are opening their doors for virtual tours. For kids who love learning about animals and the environment, one recommended stop is Georgia Aquarium. Even if you don’t live anywhere near Atlanta, …
Terms and concepts to understand coronavirus antibody testing by John Kelly, Senior Research Editor at Dictionary.com Testing continues to be a major story—and concern—amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes diagnostic testing to determine if one is infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. It also includes serological tests to determine if a person has antibodies that can signal immunity to COVID-19. But what does serological …
No one truly needs a watch these days. We all have clocks in our pockets—our smartphones. Another benefit of this technology? The clock on our smartphone automatically changes when we enter a new time zone. Amazing! But, even though we don’t need to pay as much attention to time zones these days, that doesn’t mean they don’t still impact our lives. Let’s synchronize our watches …
Mars, the fourth planet from the sun, is our neighbor, and it has long captivated the human mind and spirit. Think of Martians, a go-to word for extraterrestrial life since science-fiction imagined inhabitants there in the late 19th century. But, how did Mars it get its name? Who is the mythological Mars? The planet Mars is named after the Roman god of war, Mars, considered …
Is it possible to see a taste? Or taste a word? The answer is yes, sort of. What is synesthesia? An involuntary neurological condition called synesthesia, which is also spelled synaesthesia, describes a version of this experience.Synesthesia is “a sensation produced in one modality when a stimulus is applied to another modality, as when the hearing of a certain sound induces the visualization of a certain …
Some of us get squeamish at the sight of them. Some of us shoot studs into them. And, no two are exactly alike, even for identical twins. We’re here to talk about belly buttons, folks. What actually is a belly button? The belly button is an informal term for the navel. It refers to the scar on the abdomen that is caused when the umbilical …
In 2011, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) recognized the discovery of two new chemical elements: flerovium and livermorium. With the chemical symbols of Fl and Lv, these names became official in 2012. Until the discovery of these predicted elements occurred, they were known as ununquadium and ununhexium, which is scientific Latin for 114 and 116, respectively. These numbers correspond to their atomic …
What is Betelgeuse? No, it’s not the lovably creepy character played by Michael Keaton in the 1988 Tim Burton movie Beetlejuice, though many folks pronounce them roughly the same way. We’re talking about the red supergiant star in the constellation Orion. That Betelgeuse, and its 20 times more massive than the Sun and nearly 650 light-years away. That’s almost 4 quadrillion miles away. So, how did the …
