Month: November 2010

News

Oxford’s Save the Words project

Saving words from “extinction.” What would you do if someone called you a “snollygoster”? Would you feel flattered or insulted? “Snollygoster” isn’t a word you hear every day. In fact, almost no one uses it anymore. And that’s the problem, […]

Politics

Ireland facing bankruptcy

A PROUD NATION FORCED TO ASK FOR MONEY Ireland is a proud, independent nation. Historically, it suffered a long and painful struggle for independence from Britain. This week, however, Ireland’s government had to admit that it’s going broke. Its banks […]

News

A Royal Wedding

He’s second in line to the British throne. She works for a children’s party-supplies store. They recently got engaged, and it’s likely that one day he will be King of England and she will be his Queen. Prince William proposed […]

Technology

Intelligent billboards

You’re standing in front of a billboard. Suddenly, it changes and the screen displays an advertisement for fruit roll-ups, then one for the new Harry Potter movie, and then one for Monopoly. It’s almost as if the billboard knows what […]

Health

New discovery about asthma

Everyone knows that you taste with your mouth. Recently, scientists found out something really surprising. We can also taste bitter tastes with our lungs and airways. These muscles relax when we taste something bitter. That’s the opposite of what scientists […]

News

Manchester Police use Twitter

UK POLICE FORCE TWITTERS FOR ATTENTION The police force in Manchester, UK works really hard. In fact, they get hundreds of emergency calls every hour. Even so, the city councillors wanted to cut the police budget. As many as one […]

Arts

Check out this guy!

ON NOV. 3, YOU’LL BE ABLE TO CHECK THIS GUY OUT. LITERALLY. His name is Dr. Anthony Hutchison, and he’s part of the Toronto Public Library’s “human library event.” Hutchison is one of 60 “human books” you can check out, […]