(What is there more of the less you see? ———————> Darkness! -[1] )

Image is retrieved from: http://prosportsonline.net/2010/02/beneath-brown-bags-saints-had-loyal-fans/

According to Odyssey’s article, Night Vision: Why you can see in the dark?:
“Eyes work by converting light energy into nerve impulses. These nerve impulses are sent to the brain, where we “make sense” of them. A certain pattern of light is a “tree,” another pattern is “my dad,” and so on.

An eye functions a lot like a camera. Light passes through the pupil — the part of the eye that appears black, but is really an opening. It is then focused by a lens, before it lands on the light-sensitive retina -a delicate membrane lining the inner eyeball and connected by the optic nerve to the brain.

Two kinds of cells share space on the retina: short, wide “cones” (7 million of them) and long, narrow “rods” (120 million of these). Each kind has its special uses.
Cones require a lot of light to work. Each one is connected to its own nerve fiber, so they help us to see fine detail. They are also sensitive to small differences in light wavelengths, which we call colors.

Rods work well even in low light. They do not sense colors or fine detail — though they are very sensitive to movement! The retinas of true nocturnal animals are packed with many more rods than ours have.

When your eyes are adapting to low light, several things happen. First, your pupil opens wide to let in as much light as possible. Then the rod cells turn off — there is not enough light for them to work at all. So at night we don’t see colors or fine detail. But we are more sensitive to tiny movements, which makes us jump even when leaves are just moving in the wind. Because there are more rods on the edges of your retina than In the middle, you often see best at night “out of the corner of your eye.” You learn to look slightly to one side of what you see.

True night vision develops slowly — it takes about 30 minutes for It to peak. Over a period of time in low light, your rod cells develop a reddish pigment called rhodopsin. This pigment increases the rods’ sensitivity enormously! But you still see differently than you do during daylight. Seeing at night is a lot like looking at a black and white TV with poor reception instead of a color set with cable.

If your dark-adapted eyes are exposed to bright light, the rhodopsin will instantly bleach white and you will lose your night vision until it has time to develop again.”

The article was retrieved from EBSCOhost Kids Search.

In order to gain access to our eResources such as the one I have shared with you above, simply visit our eResources page and register: http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/index.aspx

Reference:
K-S, D., & , Initials. (2007). Night vision: why you can see in the dark?. Odyssey, 16(5), 11-11

[1] – Http://www.kidsjokes.co.uk/jokes/other/night_jokes_5.html. (1998). Retrieved from kidsjokes.co.uk: night jokes

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

All Rights Reserved,  Picture Window Books, c2005.

Look! A Book About Sight by Dana Meachen Rau

Publisher: Minneapolis, Minn. : Picture Window Books, c2005.

Call No.: J 612.8 RAU

Click here to check for item availability

All Rights Reserved, PowerKids Press, 2008.

Exploring Light by Carol Ballard

Publisher: New York : PowerKids Press, 2008.
Call No.: J 535 BAL

Click here to check for item availability

All Rights Reserved, VT : Healing Arts Press, c2004.

How to improve your child’s eyesight naturally : a thoughtful parent’s guide by Janet Goodrich.
Publisher: Rochester, VT : Healing Arts Press, c2004.
Call No: English q617.70083 GOO -[HEA]

Click here to check for item availability

All websites are last accessed on 20 Mar 2010. 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.

Ms Sharifah A. Latif
Assoc. Librarian, Children’s Services

EBSCOHost Kids Search combines all three features in its search engine & has a colourful & friendly layout that makes doing research fun! There are many topics to choose from and it can be used to help you with your schoolwork or gather information about the subjects of your interest.

There are lots of exciting features on EBSCOHost Kids Search & one of my favourites would be the Folder feature. I can add my search results, images or links to a personal Folder which makes gathering information easier. As a visual learner, I also appreciate how there are many pictures and cartoon images to look at on this search engine. Besides articles, I can also search for videos as well as photos, maps & flags to store or print.

Find out what else you can do on EBSCOHost Kids Search by clicking on the user guide link below:
microsoft-powerpoint-ebscohost-kids-search.pdf

Please feel free to download it, but do note that the materials and their copyrights belong to NLB, and the downloads are for personal use only. Drop us an email at ask@nlb.gov.sg for further enquiries on the Guide.

Don’t forget to visit NLB eResources webpage to access other eDatabases as well as eBooks, eJournals, eNewspapers and eMagazines.

Posted by Ms Sharifah
Associate Librarian, Children’s Services

ASK! about eResources

Are you looking for more information to complete your school projects? Instead of scratching your head and wondering where to start, why don’t you access “The New Book of Knowledge”? It is an encyclopedia with articles and pictures on many topics. Refer to this user guide and discover how easy it is to access “The New Book of Knowledge”:

new-book-of-knowledge.pdf 

Please feel free to download it, but do note that the materials and their copyrights belong to NLB, and the downloads are for personal use only. Drop us an email at ask@nlb.gov.sg for further enquiries on the Guide.

Please also visit NLB eResources webpage to access other eDatabases as well as eBooks, eJournals, eNewspapers and eMagazines.

Posted by Adeline Tan
Librarian
Children’s Services

Hey Kids! Reading has never been made so fun and cool with TumbleBooks Library!

Tumblebooks Library is an online treasure trove of e-books for kids!

Not only can you select books to read online, you can hear the books being read aloud as well! You control what you want to read and how you want your book to be read.

TumbleBooks Library has a wide range of audio books, ranging from popular picture books like “The Paperbag Princess” and “Bugs! Bugs! Bugs” to well loved tales like “Pinnochio” and “House at Pooh Corner”.

Of course for the advanced readers, there is a variety of audio and e-books for you as well! To make it easier for you to access your favourite books, you can add what you like to read on a customized playlist.

TumbleBooks Library also comes with online games, quizzes and a tool for you to create interesting and beautiful books reports for school!

Now, with all these amazing add-ons, reading will never be a chore again! All you need to do is go to NLB’s e-resources http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/index.aspx and look for Tumblebook Library. There, how you want to utilize this fantastic e-resource is left to your imagination.

Here’s a guide on how to use Tumblebook Library!
microsoft-powerpoint-how-to-use-tumblebooks.pdf

Posted by
Chen Wanying
Children’s Librarian

ASK! about eResources

World eBook Library is the world’s largest eBook provider. It has a collection of over 500000 eBooks and eDocuments that include children’s classics like Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland and Tales of Peter Rabbit.

Here’s a guide on how to use World eBook Library:

ebook.pdf

Please feel free to download it, but do note that the materials and their copyrights belong to NLB, and the downloads are for personal use only. Drop us an email at ask@nlb.gov.sg for further enquiries on the Guide.

Please also visit NLB eResources webpage to access other eDatabases as well as eBooks, eJournals, eNewspapers and eMagazines.

Posted by Rosjihanah Mon
Associate Librarian, Children’s Services

ASK! about eResources 

EBSCO Host is one of the tools widely used and recommended by librarians here. Why? Because of the wide range of publications it contains, and the various topics it covers. It contains not just journals, but media like magazines as well. Hence, when you do a search, you can be assured that your results will cover a diverse perspective.  Here’s a guide on how to use EBSCO Host databases:

ebscohost-guide.pdf

Please feel free to download it, but do note that the materials and their copyrights belong to NLB, and the downloads are for personal use only. Drop us an email at ask@nlb.gov.sg for further enquiries on the Guide.

Please also visit NLB eResources webpage to access other eDatabases as well as eBooks, eJournals, eNewspapers and eMagazines.

Posted by Ang Mei Jun,

Associate Librarian, Adult & 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.

This is the latest in our series of e-resources guides. Previously, guides on Factiva and World Who’s Who has been introduced. Euromonitor International GMID is a useful resource on emerging industries, analyses and country reports.

gmid-guide.pdf

Please feel free to download it, but do note that the materials and their copyrights belong to NLB, and the downloads are for personal use only. Drop us an email at ask@nlb.gov.sg for further enquiries on the Guide.

Please also visit NLB e-resources webpage to access other eDatabases as well as eBooks, eJournals, eNewspapers and eMagazines..

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

The online database World Who’s Who is a good starting point.  It is an online database where you can search for information on famous and maybe not so famous personalities in the world.  Try it and see whether a person is famous enough to be found here.

Click below on how to navigate the World Who’s Who database:

World Who’s Who – a guide

Please feel free to download it, but do note that the materials and their copyrights belong to NLB, and the downloads are for personal use only. Drop us an email at ask@nlb.gov.sg for further enquiries on the Guide.

Please also visit NLB eResources webpage to access other eDatabases as well as eBooks, eJournals, eNewspapers and eMagazines.

 
Posted by
Mr Kweh Soon Huat
Librarian,  Adults and Young People’s Services

Yes fret not, help is on the way now… Realising that Factiva is one of the popular eDatabases patrons use in NLB to access for newspaper article retrievals, we Librarians have specially prepared this user guide:

factiva-guide.pdf

Please feel free to download it, but do note that the materials and their copyrights belong to NLB, and the downloads are for personal use only. Drop us an email at ask@nlb.gov.sg for further enquiries on the Guide.

Please also visit NLB eResources webpage to access other eDatabases as well as eBooks, eJournals, eNewspapers and eMagazines.

Posted by Mr Justin Tan
Librarian
Adult & Young People’s Services