I Learned This Today

#479 Why are university degrees called a bachelor’s, a master’s and a doctorate?

January 25, 2023

Why are university degrees called a bachelor’s, a master’s and a doctorate? They were named after the people who were trying to get those degrees. Universities have been around since the 9th century. The University of Al-Karaouine in Morocco is considered to be the first university in the world. Some people say that this university […]

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#478 How wild was the Wild West?

January 24, 2023

How wild was the Wild West? Not as wild as Hollywood would like us to believe. The Wild West was the American frontier. It wasn’t called the Wild West until after the American Civil War. The general consensus is that the period of the Wild West lasted from the end of the Civil War to

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#477 How can planes fly upside down?

January 23, 2023

How can planes fly upside down? Because of the shape of their wings and the angle that they fly at. Planes fly because of lift. Air is not an empty substance. It has molecules in the same way as a table or a chair. The air is made up of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, neon,

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#476 Why is hypothermia dangerous?

January 22, 2023

Why is hypothermia dangerous? It is dangerous because it is a fatal condition. Hypothermia is often confused with hyperthermia. Hypothermia is when the human body temperature drops below 35 °C and hyperthermia is when the body temperature is above 37.5 °C. “Hypo” comes from Greek and means “under”. “Hyper” also comes from Greek and means

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#475 How does aspirin work?

January 21, 2023

How does aspirin work? Aspirin works by stopping an enzyme called cyclooxygenase. When our tissue or organs are damaged or infected, they produce prostaglandins. These are fatty acids that act like hormones. Prostaglandins do many different jobs in the body. They are similar to hormones but they are not hormones. Hormones are produced in glands,

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#474 What was the first insurance company?

January 20, 2023

What was the first insurance company? Hamburger Feuerkasses in 1676, followed closely by Nicholas Barbon’s Insurance Office in 1680, was the first insurance company. Insurance goes back to the point where early humans stopped being hunter-gatherers and settled down. Once people started to farm a barter system arose because it makes more sense for people

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#473 How many dimensions are there?

January 19, 2023

How many dimensions are there? There are either 4, 10, 11, or infinite dimensions, depending on what theory you read. What is a dimension? A dimension is the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify a point within that dimension. We can experience four dimensions. The first dimension is length. A straight line exists in

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#472 How did Galileo realize that the Earth orbits the sun?

January 18, 2023

How did Galileo realize that the Earth orbits the sun? He realized it when he observed the orbit of Venus. Galileo was born in 1564 in Pisa, Italy. Galileo is famous for saying that the Earth orbits the sun rather than the sun orbits the Earth, but he was not the first person to come

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#471 How was the Great Pyramid at Giza built?

January 17, 2023

How was the Great Pyramid at Giza built? There are several theories, but no one knows for definite. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest of the three pyramids in Giza and it was the first to be built. It was the oldest of the original seven wonders of the world and the only

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#470 When was the first subway built?

January 16, 2023

When was the first subway built? The first subway was the Metropolitan Railway line in London, opened on January 10, 1863. The city of London mostly sprung up when the Romans settled it in about 43 AD. They made their capital city in Colchester (Camulodunum), and London (Londinium) was a convenient place for them to

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