ASK!

It is no secret that it is important to eat fruits and vegetables every day to be healthy and fresh fruits and vegetables are rich in nutrients and vitamins that are important to our bodies.

Image from Microsoft Office Clip art

However, researchers have found that at the supermarket, the frozen fruits and vegetables that you buy may actually be more nutritious than the fresh ones.

Why is this so? Read more »

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 »

Pluto has been “demoted” to the status of a dwarf planet as it does not meet the following criteria for being a planet: – it must be in orbit around the Sun – its orbit must be large enough that it takes on a nearly round shape – however, Pluto’s orbit around the sun is elliptical) – it has cleared its orbit of other objects. However, Pluto resides in an area of space populated by other celestial objects) Sources: Http://nasm.si.edu. National Air and Space Museum

Please refer to the posting entitled,”What Is A Planet?” www.nasm.si.edu/research/ceps/etp/pluto/pluto_planet.html (Last accessed on 2nd July 2011)

Books Recommendation on Pluto:

Title: Pluto : a dwarf planet

Author: Vogt, Gregory.

Publisher: Minneapolis, Minn. : Lerner Publications, c2010.

Call number: J 523.49 VOG

Title: When is a planet not a planet? : the story of Pluto

Author: Scott, Elaine, 1940-

Publisher: New York, N.Y. : Clarion Books, c2007.

Call number: J 523.48 SCO

Title: The dwarf planet Pluto Author: Lew, Kristi.

Publisher: Tarrytown, N.Y. : Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, c2010 Call number: J 523.49 LEW

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

Advances in reproductive medicine and techniques have made it possible, at least in theory, for a man to carry and give birth to a child. In fact, researcher Dr Cecil Jacobson, claims to have impregnated a male baboon using this method in the 1960s, although the pregnancy was not allowed to go to term. However, such a procedure is highly risky and would endanger both the man and the unborn child. Furthermore, it raises uncomfortable social and ethical questions that society may not be ready to grapple with. For these reasons, the world is still waiting to witness the first true male pregnancy.

To ‘impregnate’ a man, eggs taken from a female are first artificially inseminated in a test-tube. The fertilized egg, or embryo, would then be implanted into the man’s omemtum, a part of the abdomen made up of fatty tissue and blood vessels, located in front of the intestines. This situation is somewhat similar to an ectopic pregnancy: a situation where the embryo is fertilized and develops outside of the womb. Although ectopic pregnancies often fail, they can sometimes result in perfectly healthy babies.

Upon implantation, the embryo would form its own placenta – the organ responsible for creating the necessary hormonal conditions to enable pregnancy. It does not have to be inside a woman, although that is where it is usually found. The pregnancy would then proceed until the baby is ready to be delivered – by Caesarean section.

However, there are numerous problems associated with this procedure. According to obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr. Rebecca Shaw, an abdominal pregnancy is unlikely to succeed, as, unlike the uterus, the area is not designed to stretch to accommodate the growth of a foetus. The abdominal cavity is also not equipped to release a placenta easily, leading possibly to uncontrolled bleeding during delivery. The male would also need to be exposed to high levels of hormones which might be carcinogenic or have other yet-undiscovered long term effects.

You may be interested in the following articles, which were obtained using the database Factiva, one of the library’s e-resources. Visit the library’s e-resource portal, browse our resources by A-Z, and look under “F” for Factive

 Do note that you will need to use the version that with unlimited archival access, which is available in all our public libraries. You will also need to register as a digital library member before you can use our e-resource.

 Sources:

L.A.Life
Mr Mom: Male Pregnancy isn’t around the corner, but it’s possible
Daily News Staff Writer
12 February 1990
Los Angeles Daily News

 Hard to Stomach Science: Medically, it’s do-able. Morally, it’s debatable. But on a purely emotional level, the very idea of a male pregnancy is difficult to accept. Why would a man want to be pregnant? And is the world’s first pregnant man all that he seems?
By William Leith
13 April 2008
The Sunday Telegraph

Posted by Lynnette Kang,  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

Image is retrieved from:

http://www.myplacetoo.com/index7.html

According to National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA), and eHow’s April Sanders, not all kites require a tail to stablilise them when suspended in midair. Kites fly because of their resistance to the wind and how they force the air to move around them. However, a kite tail stabilises the flight of a kite because it creates drag, lifting the front of a kite and exposing that side to the wind so that the kite moves upwards and less so sideways.

In turbulent airflow, the tail functions as a stabilising force because it adds resistance or drag. In the face of strong winds, the kite is balanced by the forces acting on it, such as from the wind, the size and shape of the kite, its tail and the person flying it. The drag is also dependent on the density of the air which is lower when the elevation is high. There is a formula behind this and if you are interested, you can read more from the website below.

Reference:
NASA. (2008). Kite Drag Equations. Retrieved Aug 18, 2010, from NASA, http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/kitedrag.html

Sanders, A. How Does a Kite Work? Retrieved Aug 18, 2010, from eHow.com, http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4586488_a-kite-work.html

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

All Rights Reserved, Firefly Books, c2007.

Kites : flying skills and techniques, from basic toys to sport kites by Rosanne Cobb
Publisher: Richmond Hill, Ont. : Firefly Books, c2007.
Call No.: English 796.158 COB -[REC]
Click here to check for item availability

All Rights Reserved, David & Charles, 2004.

The kite making handbook compiled by Rossella Guerra, Giuseppe Ferlenga
Publisher: Newton Abbot : David & Charles, 2004.
Call No.: English q629.13332 KIT
Click here to check for item availability

All Rights Reserved, Konemann, c1999.

The magnificent book of kites : explorations in design, construction, enjoyment & flight by Maxwell Eden
Publisher: Cologne : Konemann, c1999.
Call No: English 629.13332 EDE
Click here to check for item availability

All websites are last accessed on 20 Aug 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.

Originally answered by Ms Felicia Chan
Librarian, Children’s Services

With the recent influx of 3-D animated movies like Shrek Forever After, Toy Story and the most recent Despicable Me, have you ever wondered how does a 3D movie work?

While watching 3-D movies, you are actually looking at two still images that appear to be nearly identical simultaneously. It is set up in such a way that your left eye sees one of the images and the right eye sees the other. These images are not identical as they were shot using two cameras. Your brain is able to combine the 2 different images and form a 3-D image that looks incredibly realistic.

In the early days, to view 3-D movies, we used the red/blue glasses. Both left and right images appear on the screen at once but one is tinted red and the other is tinted blue. The problem with this is that it disrupts the colour of the images. Thus, to handle this, we now use polarized light.

This technique makes use of a property of light called polarization. The film is still recorded using two camera lenses placed side by side. However, in the cinema, the two film reels are projected through different polarized filters. Thus, images for the viewers’ left eyes are polarized on a horizontal plane while images for the right eyes are polarized on a vertical plane. Our glasses use the same polarizing filters to separate out the two images again and our brain will put these two separate images together and create the 3D effect.

(Reference: How do 3D films work? | Explore | physics.org
www.physics.org/article-questions.asp?id=56
Last accessed: 20 July 2010)

Originally answered by Aslin Harminah
Associate Librarian
Children’s Services

(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

[Stargazing is one of my favourite things to do but I only get to do it overseas! The stars look like a veil of twinkling diamonds covering the regal sky. Instead of sleeping early, I would stay up and stare at them while dreaming awake. Even though Singapore has many lights at night which makes it hard to see the stars, there are still a few good places for stargazing such as the Singapore Science Centre's Observatory [1] or Pulau Ubin. What stargazing spots have you been to in Singapore?]

Image is retrieved from: http://www.clarkplanetarium.com/blog/cosmic-quiz-lets-talk-about-star-colors

Yes, many stars shine in different colours and the colours vary depending on the outer layer of the star’s temperature.  The hottest stars are usually blue-white.

According to ‘Explore: One encyclopedia, a world of knowledge’:  ”All stars look white to us because their distance makes them dim. Stars a little cooler than the Sun are yellow and even cooler ones are orange or red. Some stars also look red because their light shines through dust clouds.”

Reference:
Callery, S, Gifford, C, & Goldsmith, Dr M. (2008). Stars and Star dust. (2008). Explore: one encyclopedia, a world of knowledge. London N1 9XW Basingstoke & Oxford: Kingfisher: Macmillan Children’s Books: Macmillan Publishers Limited.

[1] – Singapore science centre- omni theatre- the observatory. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.sci-ctr.edu.sg/ssc/otmovie.jsp?type=8&root=82&parent=82&cat=110

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

All Rights Reserved, N.Y. : Weigl Publishers, c2010

Stars by Edward Willett

Publisher: New York, N.Y. : Weigl Publishers, c2010.

Call No.: J 520 WIL

Click here to check for item availability

All Rights Reserved, Disney Press, c2009.

Wonderful world of space by Andrew Fraknoi

Publisher: New York : Disney Press, c2009.
Call No.: J 520 FRA
Click here to check for item availability

All Rights Reserved, Weigl Publishers, c2007

Constellations by Frances Purslow
Publisher: New York, N.Y. : Weigl Publishers, c2007.
Call No: J 523.8 PUR

Click here to check for item availability

All websites are last accessed on 27 Feb 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

 
Mark I: Image courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica

Long before the net books, desktops and laptops were introduced, the machines used to process information and data were huge and chunky.

How did this essential tool that is part of our everyday life come about?

The origin of the computer can be traced to the English mathematician, Charles Babbage (1792-1871) who made attempts to design a mechanical calculating machine that stores, retrieves and processes data.

It was only in 1944 that the first working digital binary computer known as Mark I was built by Howard Aiken. These computers were huge and sometimes filled an entire room. That was because thousands of switches were needed to compute his binary number system.

It was also this time that the first effective computer programs was written. Grace Murray Hopper (1906-1992) created a program for Mark I Computer . She came up with the computer programming language, COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language) and coined the word “bug” to refer to computer program errors. This word came about when her computer broke down and she discovered a dead moth in it

Much credit also goes to Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak who founded Apple Computer Inc, and created affordable, personal modern computers. Their personal computer Apple II, came with a keyboard and became an instant hit with the public. And in 1984, the Macintosh computer was then introduced. These personal computers were used to play games and to do simple word processing.

Resources:

BABBAGE, Charles. [serial online]. n.d.;Available from: Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, Ipswich, MA. Accessed January 11, 2010.

JOBS, Steve. [serial online]. n.d.;Available from: Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, Ipswich, MA. Accessed January 11, 2010

HOPPER, Grace Brewster. [serial online]. n.d.;Available from: Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, Ipswich, MA. Accessed January 11, 2010.

The Wonder Workers, Available from : Boys’ Life; Aug95, Vol. 85 Issue 8.
Accessed January 11, 2010.

These encyclopedias can be found at the e-databases available at all NLB libraries

Posted By:

Ms Chen Wanying
Children’s Librarian
Children’s Services

Have you heard the expression “once in a blue moon”? Ever wondered why the moon is blue in the phrase, and not any other colour?

We all know that the phrase “once in a blue moon” stands for something that doesn’t happen very often. However, a blue moon actually happens in real life. It is the name given to the second full moon of a month. Usually we see only one full moon in a given month, but every three years or so, we are treated to a second full moon.

The second full moon doesn’t necessarily look blue, but it can! In 1950, forest fires in Canada produced so much smoke in the atmosphere that the moon appeared to have a bluish tint. In 1883 and 1884, both the sun and moon appeared blue after the violent eruption of Mt. Krakatau!

(Source: THE MONTH OF THE BLUE MOON! By: Grice, Noreen, Odyssey, 01630946, Mar99, Vol. 8, Issue 3)

To find out more about the moon, check out the following books:

(All Rights Reserved, PowerKids Press, 2009)

The Lunar Cycle: Phases of the Moon
By Genevieve O’Mara
Call No: J English 523.3 OMA
Click here to check for item details.

(All Rights Reserved, Raintree, 2007)

The Moon Exposed
By Allison Lassieur
Call No: J English 523.3 LAS
Click here to check for item details.

(All Rights Reserved, PowerKids Press, 2010)

Destination the Moon
By Giles Sparrow
Call No: J English 523.3 SPA
Click here to check for item details.

(All Rights Reserved, Dorling Kindersley, 2009)

Moon
By Jacqueline Mitton
Call No: J English 523.3 MIT
Click here to check for item details.

Originally answered by Raihana Hussain
Associate Librarian, Children’s Services