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Throughout history, man’s inventions have brought many benefits to us all. From the simple pencil to the modern mobile phone, inventions make our daily lives easier.

Many of us form images of learned scientists, wearing laboratory coats and going about their experiments whenever we think of inventions. The truth is, many inventions are created by people from all walks of life. In fact, the following innovations we enjoy today came from the great minds of children.

Popsicle^TM

Popsicle

There is nothing like a Popsicle^TM to cool us down on a hot and humid day. The Popsicle^TM was invented by an 11 year old boy named Frank Epperson. He accidentally left his cup of soft drink mixture with a stirring stick in it at the front porch of his house on a cold winter night. The next morning, the mixture was frozen. Frank Epperson did not think much of it until 18 years later, in 1923, when he decided to apply for a patent for his discovery.

Thanks to him, millions of Popsicle^TM are sold worldwide today and we can all enjoy these cool treats without messing up our fingers with melted ice.

Read more »

At the very basic level there is no real difference between solid soaps, liquid soaps, and shower gels with respect to the cleaning power. All types of true soap are composed of the same essential components — alkali salts of fatty acids and detergent properties. The detergent in soap, which is called a surfactant, allows oil and dirt to mix with and be washed away by water.

Liquid soaps usually contain moisturizers which is good for the skin compared to bar soaps. Which type of soaps to use depends on individual preference, skin condition and suitability.

Please refer to the following sites and books for more information about soaps.

WEBSITES

1.  Bar Soap versus Liquid Soap

http://www.drversus.com/science/bar-soap-versus-liquid-soap.html

2.  Dr Bronner’s Magic All-One FAQs on Soaps

http://www.drbronner.com/faqs_main.html

BOOKS

All Rights Reserved: Interweave Press, c1997.

1.  Soothing soaps for healthy skin

Author: Sandy Maine

Publisher: Loveland, Colo. : Interweave Press, c1997.

Call No.: 668.124 MAI

All Rights Reserved: Greenwood Press, 2005.

2. Chemical composition of everyday products

Author: John Toedt

Publisher: Westport, Conn. ; London : Greenwood Press, 2005.

Call No.: R 543 TOE

All Rights Reserved: Atlantic Pub. Group, c2011.

3.   The complete guide to creating oils, soaps, creams, and herbal gels for your mind and body : 101 natural body care recipes

Author: Marlene Jones

Publisher: Ocala, Fla. : Atlantic Pub. Group, c2011.

Call No.: 668.55 JON

To check the availability of the titles, please visit our online catalogue.

Posted by Mr Kweh Soon Huat, Adult and Young People’s Librarian.

According to Philip Ardagh’s book of absolutely useless lists for absolutely every day of the year:
1. The Titanic                 

On her first voyage on 14 April 1912, the White Star liner hit an iceberg which ripped a 75 m hole in her hull. 1503 people died as there weren’t enough lifeboats. The wreck of it was only discovered on 1 September 1985, 2.5 miles below the surface, 323 nautical miles off Newfoundland.

2. The Lusitania

The finest ship in the Cunard fleet, it sunk when sailing from New York to Liverpool on 7 May 1915 when a torpedo hit it. The torpedo was fired from a U-boat, a German submarine off Ireland. The ship sank in just 18 minutes, leaving 1201 dead. The site of the wreck was discovered in 1935 and one of it’s huge quadruple screws can be seen on the quayside at the Merseyside Maritime Museum today.

3. The Bismarck

The German navy and Britain’s wartime prime minister Winston Churchill, had admired the Bismarck greatly. However on the warship’s first voyage on May 1941, she sank. It was chased across the Atlantic in battle and the torpedo fires caused it to sink, leaving 2085 people dead and 115 survivors. The wreckage was found 380 miles south of Cork in Ireland. The site wreck has been officially transformed to a German war grave today.

4. The Belgrano

This Argentinian warship suffered two torpedos on 2 May 1982, fired from a British nuclear submarine during the Falklands War. 323 men were killed while the rescue operation saved 770 crew members. Despite a joint expedition done in 2003 by the Argentinian navy and the National Geographic Society to locate the wreck of Belgrano, the wreck is yet to be found.

5. The Mary Rose

Built between 1509 and 1511, Henry VIII described the Mary Rose’s unique design as ‘the fairest flower of all the ships that ever sailed’. On 19 July 1545, the Mary Rose set sail at Southsea in the king’s presence. The overladen ship capsized, its lower gun ports which are the open portholes that canons fire through, had taken in too much water. 660 men are thought to have drowned, with less than 40 survivors. The wreck was investigatd closely in 1960 and raised in 1882. The raising was broadcasted on televsion, with an estimated 60 million people watching live. Today the wreck is displayed behind glass screens at Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard, where it is constantly kept moist using a  special preservative spray.

Reference:
1. Ardagh, P. (2008). Philip ardagh’s book of absolutely useless lists for absolutely every day of the year. . London : Macmillan Children’s:

If you want to read more on the topic, here are books that you can check out at our library.

 All Rights Reserved,Random House, 2002.

Titanic : a nonfiction companion to Tonight on the Titanic  by Will Osborne and Mary Pope Osborne       
Publisher: New York : Random House, 2002..
Call No.: J 910 OSB  
Click here to check for item availability

All Rights Reserved,Minn. : Capstone Press, c2010.

Exploring Titanic : an Isabel Soto history adventure by Agnieszka Biskup 
Publisher: Mankato, Minn. : Capstone Press, c2010.
Call No.: J 910.91 BIS
Click here to check for item availability

All Rights Reserved,Scholastic, c2010.

The sinking of the Titanic, 1912 by Lauren Tarshis 
Publisher: New York : Scholastic, c2010.
Call No.: JS TAR
Click here to check for item availability

All websites are last accessed on June 2011. Please refer to the terms and conditions on the homepages for use.
For the availability of the above book titles, please check the library catalogue.

Originally Answered by Ms Judy Kong Siew Choo
Children’s Librarian
Children’s Services

Books Come Alive !

Hello everyone!
The public libraries are embarking on a new nationwide reading programme, Books Come Alive! (BCA), for children aged 7 to 12 years old. This year’s theme for BCA is Mystery and we have arranged a wide variety of interesting and exciting programmes happening at the libraries. Do check out for more details on NLB’s public libraries’ website at www.pl.sg .

Similar to boats and ships, submarines use the concept of upthrust to sink or float. Upthrust is created by water that is pushed out of the way (displaced) by an object. Submarines change their weights depending on whether they wish to dive under the water or rise to the surface.

If a submarine is about to dive, its weight is increased by pumping water into large tanks. When the weight of the submarine is greater than the upthrust it creates by displacing water, it begins to sink. The more water that is pumped into the tanks, the heavier the submarine, and the faster it sinks.

When the submarine has reached the required depth, some of the water is pumped out of these tanks to decrease its weight. When the upthrust and weight are equal, the submarine will neither rise nor sink. It will remain at that depth. If the submarine is to surface, more water is pumped from the tanks so that the upthrust is now greater than the weight.

Source: Floating and Sinking. (2010). In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather guide. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/heliconhe/floating_and_sinking
(Last accessed: 26 March 2011)

Originally answered by Rosjihanah Mon
Associate Librarian, Children’s Services

Event details:
Date: Saturday, 16 April 2011
Time: 8.30am to 6.00pm
Venue: The Plaza, National Library Building, 100 Victoria Street

Recycle your books at the Book Exchange! Drop off your used books* at any Public Library from 2 to 15 April, 11.00am to 8.00pm and get a coupon for every book** accepted. Present your coupon at the Book Exchange for a one-for-one exchange of books.

*We accept adults’ and children’s fiction and non-fiction books (eg. cookbooks, travel guides and romance novels) in the four official languages. We also accept used library books bought from previous Library Book Sales. Used books for exchange should be in relatively good physical condition. Textbooks, magazines and audio-visual materials are not accepted.

**Each person can exchange up to a maximum of 50 used books. For enquiries, please call NLB Helpdesk at 6332 3255 or email: helpdesk@nlb.gov.sg.

Note: NLB reserves the right to change the terms and conditions without prior notice

Posted by Yen Yen Toh, Librarian, Adult and Young People’s Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to ask@nlb.gov.sg instead of sending a comment

The newest public library opened its doors to the public on 11th Mar 2011. Serangoon Public Library (SRPL) is located on the rooftop of Nex Mall at Serangoon Central. Click on the map below to see the location of SRPL.

With a floor area of 1,635 square metres, SRPL has a startup collection of approximately 150,000 items, which include books, magazines and audio-visual materials in the four official languages. The first public library in Singapore to have a dedicated area for gaming, SRPL aims to promote learning and a reading culture by tapping on the educational effects of games.

To celebrate the opening of SRPL, an exhibition titled “Serangoon: A place like no other” will be on display at the library. This exhibition showcases the heritage of the Serangoon area, as well as winning entries of the recently held “People, Places & Recollections” photo contest, where the community was invited to share photographs on the Serangoon area.

The library has also teamed up with community and grassroots organisations to organise thematic programmes that engage both the young and old through interactive learning. Library users can look forward to programmes on heritage and green living as well as storytelling sessions for children. For more information on upcoming programmes at SRPL, you may visit NLB’s
Go Library website.

And if you are on Facebook, you can visit SRPL‘s Facebook page. Go Like it today!

Posted by Yen Yen Toh, Librarian, Adult and Young People’s Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to ask@nlb.gov.sg instead of sending a comment

Well, that depends on the type of pandas!

The giant panda, otherwise scientifically known as the Ailuropoda melanoleuca, is a bear! Physically, the giant panda does resemble a bear, with its stubby tail and bulky physique. It has “black and white fur and feeds on bamboo forests at high altitudes in western China”. Also, it can be found in the Himalayas as well.

However, the other type of panda, known as the red or lesser panda, the Ailurus fulgens , has “thick reddish brown fur”, “white face markings and a long ringed tail.” The lesser panda belongs to the raccoon family and unlike the giant panda which is a solitary animal, the lesser panda prefers to “live in pairs or small groups in bamboo forests.”

Sources:
1) Brittancia Online Reference Center: Giant Panda-Ailuropoda melanoleuca
2) Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia:Panda
3) Kids Infobits: Pandas

For more information on pandas, do check out these books!

All Rights Reserved, Mankato, Minn. : Capstone Press
Giant Pandas by Lyn A. Sirota
Cal Number: JP English 599.789 SIR
Check item availability here

All Rights Reserved, Minneapolis, Minn. : Lerner Publications Co
Giant Pandas by Michelle Levine
Call Number: JP English 599.789 LEV
Check item availability here

All Rights Reserved, New York : PowerKids Press, 2009
Save The Panda by Sarah Eason
Call Number: J English 599.789 EAS
Check item availability here

Posted By:

Ms Chen Wanying
Children’s Librarian
Children’s Services

Clouds may appear to us in various shapes, but most of the time, the clouds we see are white because their water droplets or ice crystals are large enough to scatter the light of the seven wavelengths (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet), which combine to produce white light.

Clouds will appear dark or gray when they are in the shadow of another cloud or when the top of a cloud casts a shadow upon its own base.

The darkness of a cloud also depends on the sky in the background. A cloud will look darker when it is surrounded by a bright sky and lighter when it is in front of darker sky. A dark cloud does not always mean that it will rain.

More often, the reason why we experience dark rainy days is because clouds are blocking the sunlight. Some of the brightest and purest light can be observed when dark clouds “break apart” and sunlight filters through.

Source:http://sci.odu.edu/sci 

For more information on clouds, you can refer to these books!

 
All Rights Reserved, Tarrytown, N.Y. : Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, c2010
Cloudy Days by Trudi Strain Trueit
Call Number: JP English 551.57 TRU
Publisher: Tarrytown, N.Y. : Marshall Cavendish Benchmark
View item availability here

All Rights Reserved, Minneapolis, Minn. : Lerner Publications Co., c2010
It’s Cloudy Today by Kristin Sterling
Call Number: JP English 551.57 STE
Publisher: Minneapolis, Minn. : Lerner Publications Co
View item availability here

All Rights Reserved, Mankato, MN : Creative Education, 2011
Clouds by Bill McAuliffe
Call Number: Y English 551.576 MAC
Publisher: Mankato, MN : Creative Education
View item availability here

Posted By:

Ms Chen Wanying
Children’s Librarian
Children’s Services

[Editor's note: It is the final day of the year again. Time to reflect on what we have accomplished in 2010 and new resolutions for 2011. ]

Calendars have varied from ancient to modern times caused by the inaccuracy of the earliest determinations of the duration of the year, together with the fact that a year cannot be divided evenly by any of the other time units: days, weeks, or months.

The Greeks were the first to intercalate extra months into the calendar on a scientific basis, adding months at specific intervals in a cycle of solar years.
In 45 BC Julius Caesar decided to use a purely solar calendar. This calendar, known as the Julian calendar, fixed the normal year at 365 days, and the leap year (every fourth year) at 366 days but the Julian year was 11 min and 14 sec longer than the solar year. This discrepancy accumulated until by 1582 the vernal equinox occurred 10 days early and church holidays did not occur in the appropriate seasons.

To prevent further displacement Pope Gregory XIII introduced a calendar, known as the Gregorian calendar or New Style calendar. It was slowly adopted throughout Europe and today, it is used throughout most of the Western world and in parts of Asia.

(Source: Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia
Last accessed: 31/12/10)

Originally answered by Rosjihanah Mon
Associate Librarian, Children’s Services