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How is Coffee Made?
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What is a Fairy?
In folklore and in formal literature, fairies are inhabitants of the land of the fays, an underworld often localized under a hill and near a forest where the little people dance in fairy rings set off by mushrooms or by grass greener than the...
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What is Schizophrenia?
About one person in 100, in any culture for which figures are known, will develop the disorder of schizophrenia. The present-day upsurge of interest in it can be ascribed partly to the writings of R. D. Laing, who claimed that the schizophrenic...
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What is a Vegetarian?
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from flesh foods or from all foods of animal origin. Those who forgo all animal foods are called vegans, while those who eat eggs and dairy products are sometimes referred to as lacto-ovovegetarians. ...
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What Causes Hypertension?
Hypertension is a condition in which the blood pressure is abnormally high. Hypertension may be due to a variety of disorders, and it is present in about 10% of the adult population of the United States. In all individuals the pressure of the blood...
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What Causes Gout?
Gout is a metabolic disease characterized by the accumulation of excessive uric acid in the blood. Gout is associated with recurrent attacks of acute arthritis and in some cases with uric acid stones in the kidneys and large uric acid deposits in...
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Where Do Ideas Come From?
Idea in psychology and philosophy, the thought of, or conscious reference to, something not present at the moment in sensation. For the psychologist an idea is a mental event with a character or its own. For the philosopher concerned with...
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What is Hyperactivity?
Hyperactive children are unusually active; find it difficult to stay with tasks, particularly written schoolwork; are impulsive; and are easily excited or upset. They often are more aggressive and demand more attention than does the average child....
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What is Bartering?
Barter is the exchange of goods or services without the use of money. The earliest trade, before the invention of money, took the form of barter. Among non-literate peoples in many parts of the world, barter is still widely practiced; however, the...
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What is Telepathy
Telepathy the, is direct communication from mind to mind by some means other than the usual senses. Telepathy is considered one of the subclasses of extrasensory perception (ESP). Psychologists carry out research on telepathy by analyzing reports of...
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What causes Headaches?
A headache is any pain or discomfort in the upper part of the head. Like other pains, headache is not a disease but a symptom, and it is probably the most common of all medical symptoms. Most headaches, even severe, incapacitating ones, do not lead...
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Why do we Believe?
Belief is a commitment, either intellectual or emotional, or both, to something such as a proposition, a position, a procedure, or a person. In the scale of attitudes it is located above surmise or conjecture and below knowledge. On a scale in...
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What is a Ghost?
Ghosts, according to legend, a dead person's soul or spirit that assumes a physical appearance. Most scientists believe that reports of ghosts are caused by hallucinations or some other kind of optical illusion. The power of suggestion combined with...
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What is a Pencil?
A pencil is an instrument, containing graphite, that is used for writing and drawing. The most common type of pencil consists of a thin cylinder of graphite and clay contained in a sheath of wood. Another kind of pencil is the mechanical pencil,...
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What is a Weasel?
A weasel is is any small species of the genus Mustela of carnivorous mammals, to which the larger mink, ferret, and European polecat also belong. The British restrict the name to the species Mustela nivalis which in America is called "least...
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What is Lynching?
Lynching refers primarily to the mob violence flourishing in the United States from the Civil War to the 1930's in which many people, especially Negroes, were beaten, tortured, mutilated, or even hanged or burned alive, without trial or any legal...
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What is Introspection?
Introspection is the observation and analysis of one's own mental states and activities. Psychologists of the late 19th century defined the subject matter of psychology as the study of the content of the mind, and introspection was accordingly...
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What is Political Science?
Political Science is the systematic analysis of government, its processes, forms of organization, institutions, and purposes. It is the oldest social science and has many points of contact with history, law, economics, and philosophy. In its...
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What is Intuition?
Intuition is a term employed widely and variously in everyday speech and in philosophy and science to mean "a way of knowing." Although its range of meanings is large, there is a common element in all its uses: intuition is a way of "knowing...
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What was the Bay of Pigs Invasion?
A bay on the south of the island of Cuba about 156 km from Havana, the Bay of Pigs derives its name from the Spanish Bahia de Cochinos. On 16 April 1961 it was the scene of one of the great disasters of modern American foreign policy. In the late...
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What is an Earl?
A earl is the oldest English title of nobility, ranked in the modern peerage between marquess and viscount. The dignity is equivalent to the continental European "count." The wife of an earl bears the title of countess. The word "earl" is related...
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What is a Pen?
A pen is a pointed instrument used for writing in ink. The most common pens today are fountain pens and ball-point pens. In addition, there are many specialized pens for drawing. In ancient times, reed pens were used for writing on papyrus. Quill...
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What is Palmistry?
Palmistry is the practice of telling fortunes and describing personal character by examining the palm of the hand. Also known as chiromancy, the art of reading palms is based on a system in which special meanings are attached to certain features of...
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What is a Lycan?
Lycanthropy is a widespread folk belief that a human being may by magic take on the form and traits of a dangerous animal.
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What is Burlesque?
Burlesque in general refers to any literary or dramatic work which formally parodies a serious work, achieving its comic effect through the incongruity of subject and style. In the United States during the mid-19th century, the term "burlesque" came to be applied to a form of music hall...
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What is an Eisteddfod?
Eisteddfod is a Welsh musical and literary festival. The Welsh word eisteddfod means literally "a sitting of learned men," reflecting the fact that the early assemblies were devoted to the regulations of poetry and music and to the conferring of...
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What is Gynecology?
Gynecology is the branch of medicine that deals with diseases and disorders of the female reproductive system. Most gynecologists are obstetricians as well, but the specialty of obstetrics is limited to the care of pregnant women and the delivery of...
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What is a Fairy Tale?
A fairy tale is a story about supernatural beings or magical events. In addition to fairies, it may involve such creatures as witches or such talking animals as the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood. The term "fairy tale" is also applied to such...
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What are Snowshoes?
A snowshoe is a lightweight wooden frame interlaced with strips of animal hide. A snowshoe is attached to each foot to enable a person to travel over the surface of deep snow. The frame of a snowshoe is made by bending a piece of hardwood into an...
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Where is Angola?
Angola is a republic in West Africa, with a western coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. To the north is Zaire, to the east Zambia and to the south Namibia (South West Africa). The small enclave of Cabinda, north of the Congo (Zaire) River estuary, is...
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Who Invented Fireworks?
Fireworks, of a kind, preceded the invention of gunpowder. These were no more than patterned displays of fire, for which there is evidence both in the West and the Far East. Thus a Chinese poem of the seventh century A.D. says: Flames of fire move...