In the past, people had an excellent knowledge of the night sky. They were able to tell when to plant and when to harvest, and later they navigated the seas with the stars’ help. Characters of myth and legend were used to name and tell the stories of the stars. Here are a few. The group of stars that looked like a man with a sword was named Orion, for the famous hunter in Greek mythology....

The leaders of the states wanted a strong and fair federal government. But they also wanted to protect individual freedoms and prevent the U.S. government from abusing its power. They believed they could do this by having three branches of government: the executive, the legislative and the judicial. This separation of powers is described in the first three articles, or sections, of the U.S. Constitution. Legislative Branch The Capitol Building in Washington D....

Ambassador Eugenie Anderson (1910-1997), the first U.S. woman ambassador and the first woman to sign a treaty on behalf of the United States, served as ambassador to Denmark from 1949 to 1953. Architect When she was 21, Maya Lin (b. 1960) won a national competition to design and build the now-famous Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Astronaut Doctor, astronaut, and Peace Corps veteran Mae Jemison (b. 1956) became the first African-American woman to enter space when she served on the crew of the Space Shuttle Endeavor in September 1992....

The digestive system is made up of organs that break down food into protein, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, and fats, which the body needs for energy, growth, and repair. After food is chewed and swallowed, it goes down the esophagus and enters the stomach, where it is further broken down by powerful stomach acids. From the stomach the food travels into the small intestine. This is where your food is broken down into nutrients that can enter the bloodstream through tiny hair-like projections....

Information Please® Database, © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Information Please® Database, © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

More from Buildings and Structures

The Parasaurolophus had a bony tubular crest that extended back from the top of its head. Many scientists believed the crest, containing a labyrinth of air cavities and shaped like a trombone, might have been used to produce distinctive sounds. Once a 3-D model of the crest was created, the computer was able to simulate blowing air through it to amplify the tones it was capable of making. As expected, the dinosaur apparently emitted a resonating low-frequency rumbling sound that could change in pitch....

The first official U.S. census (1880) reported a total of 33,426 Alaskans, all but 430 being of aboriginal stock. The Gold Rush of 1898 resulted in a mass influx of more than 30,000 people to the new state. Since then, Alaska has contributed billions of dollars’ worth of products to the U.S. economy. Alaska Day, also known as Alaska’s birthday, is celebrated annually on 18 October in Sitka, Alaska, commemorating the date Alaska joined the United States....

Related Links Profile of the World’s Oceans and Seas Sea Life Sharks The oceans are salty, which makes them unsuitable for drinking. Most of the salt comes from minerals from rocks and soil that have been washed from the land and carried into the oceans by rivers. The minerals are mostly chloride and sodium, which combine to make salt. Most of our table salt comes from the oceans. The salinity, the amount of salt, varies in the oceans....

1. Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, California Designed by Minoru Yamasaki, the architect who later designed the Twin Towers in New York City, this bow-shaped hotel opened in Los Angeles in 1966. The Century Plaza Hotel is in excellent condition after undergoing $36 million in renovations. According to the National Trust, the energy represented in the Century Plaza equals 167,000 barrels of oil. Those resources could be totally wasted if this landmark is razed by its new owners, who plan to replace it with two “environmentally sensitive” towers....

It was on this day that astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin (“Buzz”) Aldrin, Jr. bounced among lunar craters and Armstrong uttered the oft-quoted line, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” But did you know that the total lunar rock samples from the Apollo missions weighed nearly 900 lbs.? Or that the Apollo spacecraft itself weighed 44 tons and stood nearly 60 ft. high? The famous Apollo 11 landing was only one mission in several decades of space exploration....