Who were Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell? They were the pseudonyms used by Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë. The Brontë sisters are known for some of the most famous novels in the English language. Charlotte Brontë wrote four novels, the most famous of which is Jane Eyre. Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights. Anne Brontë wrote […]
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What is tuberculosis? Tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious, airborne bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. If you have read any books set in Victorian London, you will have seen character after character die of “consumption.” It killed two of the famous Bronte sisters, as well as two of their other sisters and their brother. In
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Why is Mercury so difficult to visit? Mercury is difficult to visit because, among other things, it is moving so fast, it is very close to the Sun, and it doesn’t have an atmosphere. Out of all the planets in the solar system, Mercury has been visited the least. So far, Mars is the most
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What was the first police force? The first police force that we would recognize as similar to our own was most likely the Metropolitan Police, started by Robert Peel in 1829. It was the first full-time, professional, centrally organized police force for a major city, built around preventive patrols, with paid officers under a standardized
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What was the first mass-produced consumer product? Items have been produced in large numbers for thousands of years, but most were not everyday goods for ordinary people to buy. The first true mass-produced consumer products were most likely textiles in the late 18th century. There is evidence of large-scale production going back thousands of years.
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Why do we use feet and inches, and why do eggs come in dozens? Why do we use feet and inches, and why do eggs come in dozens? We basically use feet as measurements because everybody has feet, and eggs come in dozens because it is easier to divide them up. Imperial measurements are slowly
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Why do printers use CMYK not RGB? Printers use CMYK because paper reflects light rather than emitting it. CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. Black has the letter K because it stands for “key plate.” In old-style printing, the key plate was the plate that carried the most detail and definition. Because most
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Why do power stations have giant chimneys? The large conical towers that power stations usually have are giant cooling stacks, which are there to remove excess heat after the electricity generation process. When we see them in the distance, white clouds are belching out of them, but this is mostly water vapor that becomes visible
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Why do living things stop growing? Not all living things stop growing, but those that do stop for a number of different reasons. Mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, insects, and plants all follow different growth programs, and those programs reflect different body plans and different trade-offs. Not all living organisms stop growing. Plants and fungi often
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Why does an octopus have three hearts? An octopus has three hearts because getting oxygen from gills is hard work, and its copper-based blood does not carry oxygen as efficiently as human blood. Using three pumps keeps oxygen moving through the gills and around the body. The job of a heart is to keep blood
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