Archive from August, 2007
Aug 30, 2007 - ..Teens    No Comments

Inter-JCs ASK Competition – The Weekly Winners

Selection process for the winning entries:

Each question is assessed by 3 YP librarians based on:

Originality: 40%
Creativity: 30%
Relevance: 30%
Total: 100%

The question with the highest average score is the winning question.

Congraluations to these winners – You’ve won yourself a $10 book voucher.

SRJC
Week 1: Bai Yan Ling
“How long did the person who wrote the first dictionary took? How many words were inside them.”

Week 2: Im Eun Bee
“How do I know the colour I see is the same colour as the colour someone else sees?(I might see the colour blue, but was taught that it is called green, but my friend might see green and call it green. In that case, the colours we see is not the same. How do we know that it is same?”

Week 3: Yu Min Liang
“Why do people clap when they appreciate something?”

Week 4: Nil entries

TJC
Week 1: Chan Sau Yee
“What is the difference between normal ice-cream and the so-called ‘Hokkaido ice-cream’?”

Week 2: Callista Hang
“Why do dead bodies rot/decompose but not living bodies?”

Week 3: Lew Yao Long
“What happens to the tides if the moon is removed from it’s orbit around the Earth?”

Week 4: Soo Yu Xiang Jaren
“So far, what is the most convincing piece of evidence that there are living beings in the outer space?”

Aug 30, 2007 - ..Teens    1 Comment

Inter-JCs ASK Competition – Questions from Temasek JC (3rd week entries)

This is a competition between JCs for the most challenging question. Each week, there will be a prize of $10 book vouchers. The most creative question will get an iPod shuffle as a grand prize.The complete listing of questions asked by the students and the Library’s answers will be passed to the school which will be posted up on their school’s noticeboard. In this ASK weblog, 5 entries will be hosted up selectively.

Liu Wan Ting asked: Why is tea called “tea”?
Librarian replies:
The origins of the English word for what we now call “tea” are not completely clear,The English, it seems, first acquired the term from the Dutch (thee) and/or the Malay “teh”, which is itself derived from “te”, which was the term used for tea by the Amoy dialect group in southeast China. “Te” was pronounced tay or tee, but the latter eventually won out.

- From the Bloomsbury Reference Dictionary of Word Origins, by John Ayto (Call No.: 422.03 AYT [DIC].

From another source, it reads,

“The word tea probably came via Malay from Chinese “te”; it is related to Mandarin “cha”.

- From the Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories, edited by Glynnis Chantrell (Call No.: 422.03 OXF [DIC].

Lew Yao Long asked: What happens to the tides if the moon is removed from it’s orbit around the Earth?
Librarian replies:
The moon’s gravitational force pulls on water in the oceans so that there are “bulges” in the ocean on both sides of the planet. The moon pulls water toward it, and this causes the bulge toward the moon. The bulge on the side of the Earth opposite the moon is caused by the moon “pulling the Earth away” from the water on that side.If you are on the coast and the moon is directly overhead, you should experience a high tide. If the moon is directly overhead on the opposite side of the planet, you should also experience a high tide.

During the day, the Earth rotates 180 degrees in 12 hours. The moon, meanwhile, rotates 6 degrees around the earth in 12 hours. The twin bulges and the moon’s rotation mean that any given coastal city experiences a high tide every 12 hours and 25 minutes or so.

[Source: www.howstuffworks.com - Last accessed 28 August 2007]

Thus, if there is no moon, there will not be any gravitational pull on the water. However, the sun still will exert a gravitational pull on the oceans.

“Although the Moon is the more important influence, the Sun also exerts a gravitational pull on the oceans, producing tidal bulges like those produced by the Moon but smaller. Sun and Moon do not always pull in the same direction, however. Sometimes the Sun pulls against the Moon and makes the tides smaller; sometimes both pull together to make them larger. Tides reach their maximum height at spring tides and their lowest height at neap tides.”

[Source: Allaby, Michael. "tides and floods." Floods, Revised Edition, Dangerous Weather. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2003. Science Online. Facts On File, Inc. www.fofweb.com/
activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE40&SID=5&
iPin= DWFRE0010&SingleRecord=True (accessed August 29, 2007).]

Michel Lim asked: What is the aesthetic experience and how has it changed over time? Like does the fundamental meaning to it change as time passed?
Librarian replies:
Aesthetics, strictly speaking, is a branch of philospophy, and it is the youngest branch of philosophy to be given its own name. (World Book, 2001 ed, Call No.: YR q031WOR).A definition of Aesthetics:

“Aesthetics, branch of philosophy concerned with the essence and perception of beauty and ugliness. Aesthetics also deals with the question of whether such qualities are objectively present in the things they appear to qualify, or whether they exist only in the mind of the individual; hence, whether objects are perceived by a particular mode, the aesthetic mode, or whether instead the objects have, in themselves, special qualities—aesthetic qualities. ”

To add to the complexity, “(c)riticism and the psychology of art, although independent disciplines, are related to aesthetics.”

The term itself “was introduced in 1753 by the German philosopher Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten”. However, the question of what is the nature of beauty has been the study of philosophers since antiquity.

As for the second part of your question, as to whether the asethetic experience changes over time, it might be more accurate to phrase it as whether our understanding and agreement as to what constitutes an aesthetic experience changes over time. The short answer to that is, yes, although it is a considerably more complex issue than that.

For example,

“Art in the Middle Ages was primarily an expression of religion, with an aesthetic principle based largely on Neoplatonism. During the Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries, art became more secular, and its aesthetics were classical rather than religious.

In traditional aesthetics it was also frequently assumed that art objects are useful as well as beautiful.(18th and 19th century). In the 19th century, however, avant-garde concepts of aesthetics began to challenge traditional views.

In the late 19th century, postimpressionists such as Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, and Vincent van Gogh were more concerned with the structure of a painting and with expressing their own psyche than with representing objects in the world of nature. In the early 20th century this structural interest was developed further by cubist painters such as Pablo Picasso, and the expressionist concern was reflected in the work of Henri Matisse and other fauves and by the German expressionists such as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The literary aspects of expressionism can be seen in the plays of August Strindberg, a Swede, and Frank Wedekind, a German.”

- Extracted from Aesthetics,” Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Eunice Chew asked: Which specific part of our brain causes us to have a sense of déjà vu?
Librarian replies:
“Brain mechanism explains sense of deja vu:-
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Most people have had deja vu — that eerie sense of having experienced something before — but U.S. researchers have identified the part of the brain responsible for this sensation, and they think it may lead to new treatments for memory-related problems.
They said neurons in a memory center of the brain called the hippocampus make a mental map of new places and experiences, then store them away for future use.But when two experiences begin to seem very much alike, these mental maps overlap and start to blur.
“Deja vu occurs when this ability is challenged,” said Susumu Tonegawa, a professor of biology and neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, whose work appears in the journal Science.
It is really just a malfunction in the brain’s ability to sort through new information, something called episodic memory.
“This is very important for an intelligent animal like human beings so you know what’s going on around you and you can recall it later,” said Tonegawa in a telephone interview.
He and colleagues studied mice that were genetically altered to lack a gene in a specific part of the hippocampus called the dentate gyrus, which they found to be critical in forming the ability to sort through similar experiences.
Mice who lacked this ability were moved from one cage to a second, similar cage and then back to the first cage. In one cage, they got a mild electrical shock to the foot. In the other, they did not.”

For the rest of the article, go to http://abcnews.go.com and search for “Déjà vu” under the section Health. [Last accessed 28 August 2007]
[abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=3256639]

You can check out this source too:

1. Déjà vu Experience / Alan Brown / R 153.7 BRO

Florencia asked: Why do canvas shoes turn yellow upon washing?
Librarian replies:
Yellowed White Canvas Shoes:-
The yellow you see on your white canvas shoes after washing them is likely caused from the glue holding your shoes together. The only way to prevent this is to have your shoes dry cleaned rather than washing in water. You cannot really remove the stains that are there, but you can cover them up with a white shoe polish.
(Source: http://www.lifetips.com – Last accessed – 28 August 2007)
cleaning.lifetips.com/ cat/ 7405/
stain-removal-from-clothes/ index.html Check out this source too:
Clothes care a manual on the care of fabrics / R 667.1 MOS

Found these questions 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.

Aug 30, 2007 - ..Teens    1 Comment

Inter-JCs ASK Competition – Questions from Serangoon JC (3rd week entries)

This is a competition between JCs for the most challenging question. Each week, there will be a prize of $10 book vouchers. The most creative question will get an iPod shuffle as a grand prize.The complete listing of questions asked by the students and the Library’s answers will be passed to the school which will be posted up on their school’s noticeboard. In this ASK weblog, 5 entries will be hosted up selectively.

Norlimah asked: How could you tell someone is lying from their body language?
Librarian replies:
Some possible clues to look out for are:
- talks quickly or changes the pitch of their voice.
- fidget
- avoids eye contact
- pupils dilate
- raise their brow
- Bite their lips
- Cross their arms
However, these are not foolproof methods.You can find similar questions about strange and curious facts, termed ‘imponderables’, in books with the DDC 031, DDC 032 and DDC 500.

To find out more about the NLB databases, such as the Factiva article used as reference, visit http://dl.nlb.gov.sg/ask/2006/08/eresources_guide.html

To check out some interesting questions we have answered, explore our ASK! blog at http://dl.nlb.gov.sg/ask/ If you are interested in book reviews and recommendations instead, try out the HighBrowse Blog at http://dl.nlb.gov.sg/highbrowseonline/

References:
- Sympatic MSN Encarta, 2007, http://ca.encarta.msn.com/, ‘How Can You Tell If Someone Is Lying?’, Martha Brockenbrough, retrieved: 22 Aug 07, ca.encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/columns/?article=lyingtell
- Factiva Online, Democrat & Chronicle, Insider; I. . . ‘tell if someone is lying’, Kimberly Hampton, 11 June 2004, retrieved: 22 Aug 07, global.factiva.com/ha/default.aspx
- Factiva Online, The Charlotte Observer, ‘Who What When Where: Umm Er There’s no way to spot a liar’, Mark Price, 15 February 2004, retrieved: 22 Aug 07, global.factiva.com/ha/default.aspx

Dai Meng Wei asked: Can man live without sex in the world?
Librarian replies:
Biologically speaking, the aim of sexual inter-course is reproduction, to continue the existance of one’s species. Apart from science, there can be social and regligious influences to this question that prevents a straight-forward answer to be given. Below are some extracts of articles from the NLB databases (Factiva and CREDO Reference) for you to explore the topic:“Way of life involving voluntary abstinence from sexual intercourse. In some religions, such as Christianity and Buddhism, celibacy is sometimes a requirement for certain religious roles, such as the priesthood or a monastic life. Other religions, including Judaism, strongly discourage celibacy.”
Source: “celibacy.” The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia including Atlas. 2005. Available: CredoReference. 22 August 2007 www.credoreference.com/entry/6413907 celibacy. (2005).

“…millions of us are experiencing not having sex, on a daily basis, in our own homes. And we know we can live without it, because – well, here we all are – me and Ann Widdecombe and the Pope and countless others, and society has not yet collapsed around us. …I can live without sex because I can only imagine desiring a man I am in love with, and I am not in love at present. If I ever fall in love again – and I am sure I will, because living without love is far worse than living without the physical exchange of fluids”
Source: Kate Saunders, ‘Could you live without sex’, The Express on Sunday, 18 March 2001, Available: Factiva Onilne, retrieved: 22 aug 07, http://global.factiva.com/ha/default.aspx

“Can men and women live without sex? RICHARD YALLOP reports on the Catholic Church’s struggle with celibacy While some are eunuchs because they were born eunuchs and others because they have been made eunuchs by the cruelty of men, some make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.”
Source: Richard Yallop, ‘Celibacy In The Catholic Church – Thou Shalt Not, The Age, 8 January 1994, Available: Factiva Online, retrieved: 22 Aug 07, global.factiva.com/ha/default.aspx

“The Dalai Lama said as a celibate monk he sublimated physical desire through “training of the mind” and intense analytical meditation. True happiness, he said, came through peace of mind, altruism and compassion.”
Source: ‘Peace, not love, the key’, Herald Sun, 8 June 2007, Available: Factiva Online, retrieved: 22 Aug 07, global.factiva.com/ha/default.aspx

To find out more about the NLB databases, visit http://dl.nlb.gov.sg/ask/2006/
08/eresources_guide.html

To check out some interesting questions we have answered, explore our ASK! blog at http://dl.nlb.gov.sg/ask/ If you are interested in book reviews and recommendations instead, try out the HighBrowse Blog at http://dl.nlb.gov.sg/highbrowseonline/

More References:
- Sympatic MSN Encarta, 2007, http://ca.encarta.msn.com/, ‘Reproduction’, retrieved: 22 Aug 07, ca.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_
761572784/Reproduction.html

Yu min liang asked: Are all govt corrupted to any extent?
Librarian replies:
Corruption is existent anywhere. The government (Singapore and elsewhere) does take measures to curb this problem as a sound government is crucial in the effective ruling of its people and in determining a country’s prosperity.Below are some book recommendations that will give you greater insights on the topic:

Title: Corruption by design : building clean government in mainland China and Hong Kong / Melanie Manion.
Publisher: Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 2004.
Call no.: English 364.13230951 MAN

Title: The dilemma of corruption in Southeast Asia / Fethi Ben Jomma Ahmed.
Publisher: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia : University of Malaya Press, c2005.
Call no.: English 364.13230959 FET

Title: Corruption and good governance in Asia / edited by Nicholas Tarling.
Publisher: London ; New York : Routledge, 2005.
Call no.: English 320.95 COR

Yu Min Liang asked: Why do people clap when they appreciate something?
Librarian replies:
Clapping to express one’s appreciation is a widely accepted social behaviour. For more detailed information on how this comes about, please refer to the following links:The Help of Your Good Hands: Reports on Clapping

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/english/skc/clapping/

Yu min liang asked: Where did the gas from the sun come from?
Librarian replies:
The temperature of the Sun’s surface is very high so no solid or liquid can exist there; the constituent materials are predominantly gaseous atoms, with a very small number of molecules.Source of information:
Sun. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 23, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online Library Edition: http://library.eb.com.libproxy.nlb.gov.sg/eb/article-54138

The gas cloud out of which the sun formed was itself the ashes of earlier stars that had burned out. Local irregularities in the gas cloud formed the nuclei around which condensations began. After the condensations reached a certain critical density, they developed sufficient gravitational attraction to draw in ever-increasing amounts of matter from the surrounding volumes of the cloud. Eventually the proto-sun gathered in so much matter that its interior pressure and temperature became high enough for nuclear reactions to begin. Thus it became, in effect, a large hydrogen nuclear reactor, releasing energy in such quantities that condensation ceased.

Source of information:
Athay, R. Grant. “Sun.” Encyclopedia Americana. 2007. Grolier Online. 23 Aug. 2007 (http://ea.grolier.com.libproxy.nlb.gov.sg/
cgi-bin/article?assetid=0374240-00)

For more readings on this topic, please refer to the following resources:

Nearest star : the surprising science of our sun / Leon Golub & Jay M. Pasachoff.
Call number: 523.7 GOL

The complete idiot’s guide to the sun / by Jay M. Pasachoff.
Call number: 523.7 PAS

Journey from the center of the sun / Jack B. Zirker.
Call number: 523.7 ZIR

Found these questions 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.

Aug 27, 2007 - ..Teens    No Comments

What books are there about feeling good that is suitable for teenagers?

ASK! about Teens

Title: The five feel-good factors : the key to true happiness / Jan Sadler ; index by Ann Griffiths.
Call Number: English 158.1 SAD

Title: The blueprint for my girls : how to build a life full of courage, determination, & self-love / Yasmin Shiraz.
Call Number: Y English 305.2352 SHI

Title: Can you relate? : real-world advice for teens on guys, girls, growing up, and getting along / by Annie Fox ; edited by Elizabeth Verdick.
Call Number: Y English 305.235 FOX

Contributed by Joycelyn Tay, Librarian, Public Library 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.

Aug 24, 2007 - ..Children, Science & Technology    1 Comment

Who created the solar system?

Kids ASK! about Science & Technology

“Our Solar System was created when a nebula, made up of mostly hydrogen, gradually collapsed and formed a spinning protostar. Gravitational contraction heated the protostar and a nuclear fission reaction was sparked in the hot, dense gas that condenced at its center. Our Sun was born. The planets were formed from the remaining disc of material still swirling around our new-born Sun. The largest four of our planets were composed of mainly hydrogen as well as helium. They and the Sun are relics of protostellar material that existed 4.6 billion years ago. The impurities went to form the terrestrial planets.”

Source : “Solar System” on evula.org. (The article is found at www.evula.org/solarsystem/index.html.)

If you want to find out more information on the “Solar System”, you may refer to the following books :

exploringplanets.jpg
Exploring the planets in our solar system by Rebecca Olien
Publisher : New York, N.Y. : PowerKids Press, 2007
Call No. : J 523.4 OLI

solarsystemchris.jpg
The solar system by Chris Oxlade
Publisher : London : Hodder Wayland, 2005
Call No. : J 523.2 OXL

Solar system by Steve Parker
Publisher : Tunbridge Wells, Kent : Ticktock Media, 2006
Call No. : J 523.2 PAR

All websites are last accessed on 24 August 2007. 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.

Answered by Ms Ong Tin Ling, Librarian, Children’s Services

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

Aug 22, 2007 - ..Teens, .Fiction    No Comments

“War Heroes” — Fiction titles suitable for Young Adults

ASK! about Fiction

Here are some fiction title recommendations where characters have braved through wars:

1) Title: Heroes don’t run: A novel of the Pacific War
Author: Harry Mazer
Call number:Y English MAZ

Abstract: “To honor his father who died during the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor, seventeen-year-old Adam eagerly enlists in the Marines in 1944, survives boot camp, and faces combat on the tiny island of Okinawa.”

2) Title: The Girls They Left Behind
Author: Bernice Thurman Hunter
Call number: Y English HUN

Abstract: “Drawn from the author’s memories of being a teenager in World War II, a novel of the life of a seventeen-year-old girl named Beryl tells of daily life in 1943 Toronto and the lonely world of the home front as the girls are left behind to do their part inthe war effort and wait for the boy’s return.”

3) Title: A Boy No More
Author: Harry Mazer
Call number: Y English MAZ

Abstract: “After his father is killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, Adam, his mother, and sister are evacuated from Hawaii to California, where he must deal with his feelings about the war, Japanese internment camps, his father, and his own identity.”

4) Title: Milkweed: A Novel
Author: Jerry Spinelli
Call number: Y English SPI

Abstract: “Captures the hardships and cruelty of life in the ghettos of Warsaw during the Nazi occupation of World War II, through the eyes of a Jewish orphan who must use all his wits and courage to survive unimaginable events and circumstances.”

5) Title: Tomorrow, When the War Began
Author: John Marsden
Call number: Y English MAR

Abstract: “Seven Australian teenagers return from a camping trip in the bush to discover that their country has been invaded and they must hide to stay alive.”

6) Title: Under a War-torn Sky
Author: L.M. Elliott
Call number: Y English ELL

Abstract: “After his plane is shot down by Hitler’s Luftwaffe, nineteen-year-old Henry Forester of Richmond, Virginia, strives to walk across occupied France, with the help of the French Resistance, in hopes of rejoining his unit.”

7) Title:The Power of One
Author: Bryce Courtenay
Call number: English COU

Abstract: “An outcast in pre-World War II South Africa, young Peekay learns the power of self-reliance through the pain of the loneliness he experiences.”

8) Title:Run, boy, Run
Author: Uri Orlev
Call number: J English ORL

Abstract: “Based on the true story of a nine-year-old boy who escapes the Warsaw Ghetto and must survive throughout the war in the Nazi-occupied Polish countryside.”

Source: Novelist, last accessed on 22/08/07.

Please use our online catalogue at www.nlb.gov.sg to check for availability in library holdings.

Contributed by Chan Wai Ling, Librarian, Public Library Services

If you need further fiction-related information or reading suggestions, drop us an email at ask@library.nlb.gov.sg.

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

Aug 22, 2007 - ..Teens, .Fiction    1 Comment

“War Heroes” — Fiction titles suitable for Young Adults

ASK! about Fiction

Here are some fiction title recommendations where characters have braved through wars:

1) Title: Heroes don’t run: A novel of the Pacific War
Author: Harry Mazer
Call number:Y English MAZ

Abstract: “To honor his father who died during the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor, seventeen-year-old Adam eagerly enlists in the Marines in 1944, survives boot camp, and faces combat on the tiny island of Okinawa.”

2) Title: The Girls They Left Behind
Author: Bernice Thurman Hunter
Call number: Y English HUN

Abstract: “Drawn from the author’s memories of being a teenager in World War II, a novel of the life of a seventeen-year-old girl named Beryl tells of daily life in 1943 Toronto and the lonely world of the home front as the girls are left behind to do their part inthe war effort and wait for the boy’s return.”

3) Title: A Boy No More
Author: Harry Mazer
Call number: Y English MAZ

Abstract: “After his father is killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, Adam, his mother, and sister are evacuated from Hawaii to California, where he must deal with his feelings about the war, Japanese internment camps, his father, and his own identity.”

4) Title: Milkweed: A Novel
Author: Jerry Spinelli
Call number: Y English SPI

Abstract: “Captures the hardships and cruelty of life in the ghettos of Warsaw during the Nazi occupation of World War II, through the eyes of a Jewish orphan who must use all his wits and courage to survive unimaginable events and circumstances.”

5) Title: Tomorrow, When the War Began
Author: John Marsden
Call number: Y English MAR

Abstract: “Seven Australian teenagers return from a camping trip in the bush to discover that their country has been invaded and they must hide to stay alive.”

6) Title: Under a War-torn Sky
Author: L.M. Elliott
Call number: Y English ELL

Abstract: “After his plane is shot down by Hitler’s Luftwaffe, nineteen-year-old Henry Forester of Richmond, Virginia, strives to walk across occupied France, with the help of the French Resistance, in hopes of rejoining his unit.”

7) Title:The Power of One
Author: Bryce Courtenay
Call number: English COU

Abstract: “An outcast in pre-World War II South Africa, young Peekay learns the power of self-reliance through the pain of the loneliness he experiences.”

8) Title:Run, boy, Run
Author: Uri Orlev
Call number: J English ORL

Abstract: “Based on the true story of a nine-year-old boy who escapes the Warsaw Ghetto and must survive throughout the war in the Nazi-occupied Polish countryside.”

Source: Novelist, last accessed on 22/08/07.

Please use our online catalogue at www.nlb.gov.sg to check for availability in library holdings.

Contributed by Chan Wai Ling, Librarian, Public Library Services

If you need further fiction-related information or reading suggestions, drop us an email at ask@library.nlb.gov.sg.

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

Aug 22, 2007 - ..Children, Anything & Everything    No Comments

Which came first, the egg or the chicken?

Kids ASK! about Anything & Everything

This is a question that has been debated many times. However, many scientists have come to adopt the theory that it is the egg that appears first. And the reasoning is that “Genetic material does not change during an animal’s life. Therefore, the first bird that evolved into what we would call a chicken, probably in prehistoric times, must first have existed as an embryo inside an egg.”

Source : “How two philosophers and a farmer cracked an age-old conundrum” on Times Online. (Article is found at: www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article726081.ece.)

Another illustration that can help you in your understanding can be found on the article “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” on HowStuffWorks. “Prior to that first true chicken zygote, there were only non-chickens. The zygote cell is the only place where DNA mutations could produce a new animal, and the zygote cell is housed in the chicken’s egg. So, the egg must have come first.” (The article can be found at science.howstuffworks.com/question85.htm.)

If you want to find out more information on the topic, you may refer to the following books and website:

charlesdarwin.jpg
Charles Darwin by David C. King
Publisher : London ; New York : DK, 2007
Call No. : J English 576.8 KIN

darwinevolution.jpg
Darwin and the theory of evolution by Robert Greenberger
Publisher : New York : Rosen Central Primary Source, 2005
Call No. : J English 576.8 GRE

Article “Chicken and egg question answered” on Guardian Unlimited. The article can be found at www.guardian.co.uk/science/2006/may/26/uknews.

All websites are last accessed on 22 August 2007. 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.

Answered by Ms Loh Yuexia, Librarian, Children’s Services

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

Aug 21, 2007 - ..Teens    No Comments

Inter-JCs ASK Competition – Questions from Temasek JC (2nd week entries)

This is a competition between JCs for the most challenging question. Each week, there will be a prize of $10 book vouchers. The most creative question will get an iPod shuffle as a grand prize.The complete listing of questions asked by the students and the Library’s answers will be passed to the school which will be posted up on their school’s noticeboard. In this ASK weblog, 5 entries will be hosted up selectively.Wendy Tan Ying Li asked: How many stars are there in the sky?
Librarian replies:
The number of stars in the sky is only an estimate. According to an article “Number of visible stars put at 70 sextillion”, dated 25 Jul 2003, 70 thousand million million million stars are detected. It is the largest estimate announced at the 25th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union in Sydney.In 1999, NASA astronomers calculated 125 billion galaxies and in 2002, the University of New South Wales in Sydney estimated 300 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy.
Source: www.abc.net.au/science/news/
stories/s910295.htm, last accessed 22 Aug 2007.

Callista Hang asked: Why is it that the product if 2 negative numbers gives a positive number (eg -1 x -1 = 1)?
Librarian replies:
What you have highlighted is actually the multiplication rule of negative numbers.I have appended the explanation here for your reference:“The product of two negative numbers is a positive quantity. For instance, (-1) x (-1) = 1. This can be justified by making use of the DISTRIBUTIVE PROPERTY and the fact that the product of any quantity with zero is zero. Specifically, we have:

(-1) x 0 = 0
(-1) x (1+(-1)) = 0
(-1) x 1 + (-1) x (-1) = 0
-1 + (-1) x (-1) = 0
(-1) x (-1) = 1″

Source:
Title: Encyclopedia of mathematics / James Tanton.
Author: Tanton, James Stuart, 1966-
Publisher: New York : Facts On File, c2005.
Call no. : YR English q510.3 TAN (Pg. 348)

Here are some related definitions appended for your reference:
Negative number:
A number less than 0; a minus (-) sign is always written before the numeral to indicate it is to the left of 0 on a number line.

Source:
Title: Math & mathematicians : the history of math discoveries around the world / Leonard C. Bruno ; Lawrence W. Baker, editor.
Author: Bruno, Leonard C.
Publisher: Detroit, MI : U X L, c1999- ( c2003 ) .
Call no.: YR English 510.922 BRU v. 2 (Pg. 209)

Positive number:
A number greater than 0 (and to the right of 0 on a number line).

Source:
Title: Math & mathematicians : the history of math discoveries around the world / Leonard C. Bruno ; Lawrence W. Baker, editor.
Author: Bruno, Leonard C.
Publisher: Detroit, MI : U X L, c1999- ( c2003 ) .
Call no.: YR English 510.922 BRU v. 2 (Pg. 211)

You might also wish to refer to some of these information sources in the NLB libraries which might be of your reading interests.
You can check the availability of the book at http://www.nlb.gov.sg.

Books
Title: The universal book of mathematics : from Abracadabra to Zeno’s paradoxes / David Darling.
Author: Darling, David J.
Publisher: Hoboken, N.J. : Wiley, c2004.
Call no.: English 510.3 DAR

Title: Real-life math / K. Lee Lerner & Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, editors.
Publisher: Detroit : Thomson/Gale, c2006.
Call no.: English 510.3 REA v. 1 & 2

Title: Mathematical mysteries : the beauty and magic of numbers / Calvin C. Clawson.
Author: Clawson, Calvin C.
Publisher: Cambridge, Massachusets : Perseus Books, 1999.
Call no.: English 512.7 CLA

I have also listed some interesting articles from the electronic database for your further reading.

Electronic Database – EBSCOHost (Last accessed on 21/08/2007)

1) Title: Mathematics Scrapbook.
Authors: Prochazka, Helen
Source: Australian Mathematics Teacher; Mar2004, Vol. 60 Issue 1, p32-33, 2p, 2 diagrams, 1 cartoon, 2bw
Abstract:
“Presents activities and views about mathematics. Creation of a polygon and a hexagon using a strip of paper; Statement issued by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill about mathematics; History of the use of negative numbers by mathematicians.”

2) Title: Positives About Negatives: A Case Study of an Intermediate Model for Signed Numbers.
Authors: Schwarz, Baruch B.
Kohn, Amy S.
Resnick, Lauren B.
Source:Journal of the Learning Sciences; 1993/1994, Vol. 3 Issue 1, p37, 56p
Abstract:
“In this article, we present a study using an intermediate abstraction as a model for the acquisition of the concept of negative numbers. The intermediate abstraction is a computerized environment based on a detailed epistemological analysis of negative numbers. Four children participated in activities with the intermediate abstraction during eleven 30-min training sessions. This article outlines the development of the children’s representations of negative numbers during the experiment. We analyzed how students used their representations as problem models in transfer tasks with several different referents. The results obtained in the experiment support the use of certain environments for the acquisition of higher level mathematical concepts that cannot be learned informally..”

Chua Mei Yee asked: How do you write a good written report for project work?
Librarian replies:
With reference to your request for resources on how to prepare written reports for school projects, the following titles maybe of interest to you.How to write successfully in high school and college / Barbara Lenmark Ellis
Call No.: q808.02 LENHow to write themes & essays / John McCall.
Call No.: 808.042 MAC

No sweat : guide to good English and greater knowledge /
[a project by the Straits Times Newsdesk ; supervised by Bertha Henson ; compiled by Jane Ng and Kelvin Wong].
Call No.: Y Sing q428.2 NO

The easy essay handbook : a writing guide for today’s students / Jane E. Lee, Lindy A. Ferguson
Call No.: q808.042 LEE

How to write themes & essays / John McCall
Call No.: 808.042 MAC

You may visit our catalogue for location and availability at http://vistaweb.nlb.gov.sg

Chua Mei Yee asked: Who invented blogs?
Librarian replies:
The origins of blogging go further back than the Internet to the days of personal diaries, chronicles and other written forms of personal musings.
Today, a blog is considered to be a Web page that serves as a publicly accessible personal journal for an individual or company. Blogs are typically written in chronological order and displayed in reverse chronological order to the reader. Online media, such as discussion forums and e-mail lists are also considered to be predecessors to the blog.The word blog itself is a play on the words Weblog, as most blogs will be displayed in a journal or log entry format, where most are updated daily or more frequently than most Web sites would be. Blogs often reflect the personality of the author or the company employees they represent.
To this end the most accurate and fitting evolution of today’s blog comes from online diaries where the diarist would keep an online journal of themselves.Other popular forms of blogging in business have included updates published by using the finger protocol. This was a widely popular delivery method for online journals in the mid 1990′s — made popular by 3D game developers, such as id Software and 3DRealms, who used the finger protocol to provide news and interesting details about in-development games to their fans.

The Origins of the Word Blog:
The Blog Herald cites the origins of the term weblog to G. Raikundalia & M. Rees, two lecturers from Bond University on the Gold Coast. The term was first used in a paper titled “Exploiting the World-Wide Web for Electronic Meeting Document Analysis and Management.” Popular use of the term Weblog as we know it today is from Jorn Barger of the Weblog Robot Wisdom (robotwisdom.com) in December 1997. Barger coined the term weblog meaning logging the Web. In 1999 programmer Peter Merholz shortened the term weblog to blog.

Find out more about events associated with blogs at
Timeline: Notable Blogging Events
http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/
history_of_blogging.asp
Last accessed on 21/08/07

Chua Mei Yee asked: Why is plastic non-biodegradable?
Librarian replies:
“The term biodegradable means that a substance is able to be broken down into simpler substances by the activities of living organisms, and therefore is unlikely to persist in the environment. There are many different standards used to measure biodegradability, with each country having its own. The requirements range from 90 per cent to 60 per cent decomposition of the product within 60 to 180 days of being placed in a standard composting environment.The reason traditional plastics are not biodegradable is because their long polymer molecules are too large and too tightly bonded together to be broken apart and assimilated by decomposer organisms.”
(Source: http://www.science.org.au/nova/061/061key.htm)It may interest you to know that there are biodegradable plastics.

“Almost all biodegradable plastics are based on polar polymers such as polyesters, polyketones and polyalcohols. In each case, oxygen-containing functional groups are present in the polymer to provide sites for microbial attack.”
(Source: http://www.environment.gov.au/settlements/
publications/waste/degradables/biodegradable/
chapter8.html)

All websites were last accessed on 24 Aug 07.

Found these questions 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.

Aug 21, 2007 - ..Teens    No Comments

Inter-JCs ASK Competition – Questions from Serangoon JC (2nd week entries)

This is a competition between JCs for the most challenging question. Each week, there will be a prize of $10 book vouchers. The most creative question will get an iPod shuffle as a grand prize.The complete listing of questions asked by the students and the Library’s answers will be passed to the school which will be posted up on their school’s noticeboard. In this ASK weblog, 5 entries will be hosted up selectively.

Zhang Ying asked: How are pyramids built? and why is it a tourist attraction?
Librarian replies:
With regards to your question on how the pyramid was built, please refer to the article below retrieved from Encyclopedia Brittanica Online,“The question of how the pyramids were built has not received a wholly satisfactory answer. The most plausible one is that the Egyptians employed a sloping and encircling embankment of brick, earth, and sand, which was increased in height and in length as the pyramid rose; stone blocks were hauled up the ramp by means of sledges, rollers, and levers.

According to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, the Great Pyramid took 20 years to construct and demanded the labour of 100,000 men. This figure is believable given the assumption that these men, who were agricultural labourers, worked on the pyramids only (or primarily) while there was little work to be done in the fields—i.e., when the Nile River was in flood. By the late 20th century, however, archaeologists found evidence that a more limited workforce may have occupied the site on a permanent rather than a seasonal basis. It was suggested that as few as 20,000 workers, with accompanying support personnel (bakers, physicians, priests, etc.), would have been adequate to the task.”

Full texts are available via Encyclopedia Brittanica Online accessible from the multimedia stations in NLB libraries. Usage of the multimedia stations is charged at 3 cents per minute (or $1.80 per hour), payment is done via cashcard.

Here is an interesting article on a new theory of how pyramids could have been built : http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-05-16-pyramid-theory_N.htm

The following are some of the resoruces on pyramids available at any of NLB libraries
1.Technology of ancient Egypt / Leslie C. Kaplan.
Call No: J 609 KAP

2.Exploring pyramids around the world : making models of geometric solids / Orli Zuravicky
Call No: J 28-01-07 English 516 ZUR

3.The world of pyramids / Anne Millard.
Call No: J 932 MIL

4.Egyptian pyramids / Gillian Clements
Call No: J 932 CLE

5 Into the great pyramid [videorecording] / produced by the National Geographic Society ; produced and directed by Cynthia Page;
written by John Bredar
Call No: AV 932.01 INT

6. Building the Great Pyramid [videorecording] / a BBC/Discovery Channel co-production ; written and directed by Jonathan Stamp.
Call No: AV 932.012 BUI
Only at Jurong Regional Library

Jovine Han Qi asked: When water bottle (with water) drops on the floor, is it true that we cannot drink it, since air bubbles had entered and we will got stomachache if we drink it?
Librarian replies:
Based on a lead from an article taken from this website : http://www.oznet.ksu.edu, we could deduce that drinking water with air bubbles could result in stomach upset, which is similar to drinking carbonated water mentioned in the article. (Source article: www.oznet.ksu.edu/humannutrition/
spotlight/mayjun99.htm)It is therefore advisable if you could allow the bubbles to escape and clear before drinking.

Siew Li Fang asked: What is E=mc²?
Librarian replies:
It reflects the relationship between mass (m) and energy (E) in the special theory of relativity of Albert Einstein, embodied by the formula E = mc², where c equals 300,000 kilometres (186,000 miles) per second-i.e., the speed of light.
(Source: Encyclopedia Britannica Online)

Warren Tan asked: Apart from English, what is the 2nd most commonly used language in the world?
Librarian replies:
There is no definite answer to your question as it varies between different sources and also depends on the how the parameters are defined. However based on various findings, English, Chinese, Spanish and Hindi are among the top 4 most “spoken” languages, in no particular order.
(See: http://www2.ignatius.edu/, in www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm)

Siew Li Fang asked: What is the Milky Way?
Librarian replies:
The following information found from the databases available at the library:Faint band of light crossing the night sky, consisting of stars in the plane of our Galaxy. The name Milky Way is often used for the Galaxy itself. It is a spiral galaxy, 100,000 light years in diameter and 2,000 light years thick, containing at least 100 billion stars. The Sun is in one of its spiral arms, about 25,000 light years from the centre, not far from its central plane.

The densest parts of the Milky Way, towards the Galaxy’s centre, lie in the constellation Sagittarius. In places, the Milky Way is interrupted by lanes of dark dust that obscure light from the stars beyond, such as the Coalsack nebula in Crux (the Southern Cross). It is because of these that the Milky Way is irregular in width and appears to be divided into two between Centaurus and Cygnus.

The Milky Way passes through the constellations of Cassiopeia, Perseus, Auriga, Orion, Canis Major, Puppis, Vela, Carina, Crux, Centaurus, Norma, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Scutum, Aquila, and Cygnus.
Milky Way. The Hutchinson Encyclopedia, Helicon (2001). Retrieved 27 October 2006, from xreferplus.

Large spiral system consisting of several billion stars, one of which is the Sun. It takes its name from the Milky Way, the irregular luminous band of stars and gas clouds that stretches across the sky. Although the Earth lies well within the Galaxy, astronomers do not have as clear an understanding of its nature as they do of some external star systems. A thick layer of interstellar dust obscures much of the Galaxy from scrutiny by optical telescopes, and astronomers can determine its large-scale structure only with the aid of radio and infrared telescopes, which can detect the forms of radiation that penetrate the obscuring matter.
Milky Way Galaxy.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 27 Oct. 2006

You can also consult the following titles that are available at the library for more information. Please use our online catalogue at (vistaweb.nlb.gov.sg) to check for item availability and location.

Stars and galaxies / Ron Miller.
Call No.: Y English 523.8 MIL

Our vast home : the Milky Way and other galaxies / by Isaac Asimov ; with revisions and updating by Greg Walz-Chojnacki
Call no.: J English 523.1 ASI

The guide to the galaxy / Nigel Henbest and Heather Couper
Call no.: English 523.113 HEN

Found these questions 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.

Pages:12»