Another part of the ear is the Semicircular Canals.
On the outside of the inner ear are three tubes that go out like circles and then come back to the ear.
These are part of the bony labryinth, and they are what help the body tell which direction the head is moving.
Inside these tubes is some liquid, and at the opening of the tubes are some very tiny hairs.
When you move your head around, the liquid bumps into the hairs, which send signals to the brain telling it that you are moving.
The three semicircular canal tubes go in three different directions so that they can tell whether you are tilting your head, moving up or down, or side to side.
Let's learn a little about the country of United Arab Emirates, also called Emirates or UAE!
This is a small country in the middle east, bordering Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the Persian Gulf.
It is about 32,000 square miles, and has about 10 million people living there.
People in UAE speak Arabic.
The flag for the United Arab Emirates is has a red stripe on the left, and then sideways stripes of green, white and red.
The red is for courage, bravery, hardiness, strength, and unity.
The white is for cleanliness, honesty, peace, and purity.
The green is for prosperity, hope, joy, love, and optimism.
The black is for winning battles and strength of mind.
To eat in UAE you might have maqluba, which is cooked meat, rice and vegetables, cooked in a pot and then flipped upside down when served.
The name maquluba means "upside down".
Visiting UAE you might go to Dubai to see the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world at about half a mile high.
(from: wikipedia - burj khalifa)
In Abu Dhabi there is some man made land in the shape of a palm tree, called the Palm Jumeirah.
Also in Abu Dhabi is the fastest roller coaster in the world at 149 miles per hour, at the Formula Rossa at the Ferrari World park.
(from: wikipedia - palm jumeirah)
(from: wikipedia - formula rossa)
Another famous Christmas song is We Three Kings, also called Three Kings of Orient, or The Quest of the Magi.
It was written in 1857 in New York by John Henry Hopkins Jr.
Hopkins was working as a church leader in Pennsylvania, and wrote the song for a Christmas pageant, based on the story in the book of Matthew chapter 2.
In the pageant he had each wise man sing one verse, and then all three would sing the final verse.
The Bible doesn't actually say there were three kings, it just says there were three gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh.
It also doesn't say who the kings were, but later on in church history people think the wise men were named Gaspard, Melchior and Balthazar.
After the pageant it was just a song that his family and friends would sing together at Christmas time, but they all liked it so much he later decided to have it printed in a book of carols in 1916.
It then became famous all over the world, and was one of the first famous Christmas songs that was created in America.
Lyrics:
[Sung by All] We Three Kings of Orient are, Bearing gifts we traverse afar, Field and fountain, Moor and mountain, Following yonder Star.
CHORUS: O Star of Wonder, Star of Night, Star with Royal Beauty bright, Westward leading, Still proceeding, Guide us to Thy perfect Light.
[Sung by Gaspard] Born a King on Bethlehem plain, Gold I bring to crown Him again, King for ever, Ceasing never Over us all to reign.
[CHORUS]
[Sung by Melchior] Frankincense to offer have I, Incense owns a Deity nigh: Prayer and praising All men raising, Worship Him God on High.
[CHORUS]
[Sung by Balthazar] Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume Breathes a life of gathering gloom; Sorrowing, sighing, Bleeding, dying, Sealed in the stone-cold tomb.
[CHORUS]
[Sung by All] Glorious now behold Him arise, King, and God, and Sacrifice; Heav’n sings Hallelujah: Hallelujah the earth replies.
[CHORUS]
We just learned about Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Arundel.
Another famous book of inventions that Leonardo wrote was called the Paris Manuscripts.
These were writings of his thoughts on science and inventions he dreamed up between the years of 1488 and 1505.
They are called the Paris Manuscripts because after Leonardo died these writings were all collected and stored in a museum in Paris.
The Paris Manuscripts have over 2,500 pages of Leonardo's writings.
He wrote about helicopters, submarines, geometry, botany, engineering, physics, painting, water, flight, and astronomy.
One of the most famous of his drawings was of a design for a helicopter he called the Aerial Screw.
If you look on the side of a car tire, you will see some letters and numbers printed on it.
These are there to help tell you what kind of tire you have, and also helpful things like how much air you should put into it.
Most tires use something called the "ISO Metric tire code" which has rules for what letters and numbers go in what order.
This code has these rules:
Use: One letter to tell how the tire will be used, like "P" for Passenger car, or T for a Temporary spare tire. Width: Numbers for the width of the tire in millimiters. / in between the numbers Height: Numbers for how tall the rubber part of the tire is. This is also called aspect ratio or profile. Type of tire: One letter tells the type of tire, like R for a radial tire. Rim width: The diameter of the metal rim that the tire is wrapped around. Load: A code that tells how much weight the tire can take. Speed ratimg: A code that tells how fast a tire can go.
So if a tire code says: P215/65R15 95H
That means it is a Passenger car, 215 milimeters wide, 65 millimeters profile height, Radial tire, 15 inch rims.
If you look up the 95H code, that means it can handle 1,520 pounds and go 130 miles per hour.
Another type of new world monkey is the Black-Capped Squirrel Monkey.
They can grow to be about 2 pounds, and about one foot long.
Their fur is mostly grey on the outside, their bellies are white, and their head is black with white around their eyes.
For food these monkeys eat mostly fruit, nuts and some bugs.
They live up in the trees, and can leap from one tree to another tree over 6 feet away.
Another part of the ear is the Eardrum also called the tympanic membrane or myringa.
This is a thin piece of skin and tissue that works almost like a drum.
When sound comes into the ear, the eardrum vibrates.
There are nerves connected to the eardrum, so when it moves it sends signals to the brain telling it that the ear is hearing sounds.
Let's learn a little about the country of East Timor, also called the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste!
This is a small country in Asia, that is just on the eastern half of the island of Timor.
The other half of the island is part of the country of Indonesia.
It is about 6,000 square miles, and has a little over 1 million people living there.
People in this country speak either Portuguese, Tetuma or English.
The flag of East Timor has a red background, with a yellow triangle covered by a black triangle, and a white star.
The yellow is for the country's history, the black is for truth, the red is for freedom, and the star is for peace.
Visiting East Timor you might go see the statue Cristo Rei of Dili, which means Christ the King of Dili.
It is an 88 foot tall sculpture of Jesus standing on a globe, on top of a hill.
Below the statue is a small church, and behind the statue is a beach called Jesus' Backside Beach.
We just learned about the Lift High the Cross, by Joseph Mohr and Franz Xaver Gruber in 1818 in Austria.
One of the most famous Christmas songs is Silent Night.
The German name for this song is "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht".
Mohr had written the song as a poem, and wanted Gruber to write the music to go with it for a Christmas church service.
A river had flooded the church and the organ didn't work anymore, so Gruber wrote music for the guitar.
It was later written in English in 1859 in New York City.
One time on a Christmas Eve in 1914 when British and German soldiers were at war, both sides stop fighting for one night and sang Silent Night in English or Stille Nacht in German, and went out to meet each other on the battlefield in peace.
It was called the Christmas Truce of 1914.
Another one of Leonardo da Vinci's famous books of inventions is the Codex Arundel, written around 1500 AD.
While da Vinci was working on his art, he also took a lot of notes about how the world works.
He was learning about how weights and pulleys worked, how mirrors worked, and even had ideas about the sun and moon.
One of his ideas was to use a curved mirror to take sunlight and use the solar power it to heat up cauldrons.
His book Codex Atlanticus is 283 pages of his writings about how things work.
This is the part that sticks out from the side of the tire, that you use to fill it up with air.
In the old days there used to be an inflatable tube inside called an inner tube, kind of like a pool floatie, and the valve stem would be part of that.
Now these days tires don't have an inner tube, so that is just part of the outside of the tire.
When you push down on the little metal post inside the tire it opens up the valve and lets air out, or lets you pump air in.
This type of valve is called a Schrader valve named after the person who invented it.
Another kind of New World Monkey is the Tufted Capuchin also called the brown capuchin, black-capped capuchin, pin monkey, or sapajus apella.
This monkey lisves in South America and the Caribbean islands.
They mostly live in the trees and eat fruits and bugs.
Most of these monkeys will grow to be about 10 pounds and 2 feet long.
Tufted Capuchins are very smart, and have learned how to use tools for food and water.
They know how to take a rock and bang it against a nut to open it, or how to find something like a cup they can use to drink water.
Not many animals know how to do anything like this, so these monkeys are really smart!
Another part of the inner ear is the Vestibule of the Ear.
The word vestibule means entrance, and this part of the ear has pathways going to the other parts of the inner ear.
It also has some walls that have tiny holes in them where very thin hairlike nerves go through to other parts of the ear.
Let's learn a little about the country of Tajikistan!
This is a small country in Asia bordering Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China.
It is about 55,000 square miles, and about 9.5 million people live there.
People in this country usually speak either the Tajik language or Russian.
(from: wikipedia - tajikistan)
The flag of Tajikistan is sideways stripes of red, white and green, with a yellow crown and stars in the white.
Red is for victory, white is for purity, and green is for nature.
The crown is for the Tajik people and the stars are for perfection and happiness.
Another famous work of Leonardo's is Codex Atlanticus.
During his time as an artist, Leonardo also was famous for making drawings of inventions.
The book Codex Atlanticus is a big book of over 2,000 pages of his inventions.
It has drawings of things like giant crossbows, machines, parachutes, pumps, and gears.
This is the rubber on the outside of the tire that is in different shapes and patterns.
When there are lines in the tires, those are supposed to help the tire push water out of the way so the car doesn't slide around on the road.
Some tires made for the snow have bigger gaps in the tire treads so the snow can pack in there, and sometimes they even have hard bumps on the outside to help keep the car from slipping.
Tires that are used for racing are called racing slicks, and they have no marks on the tread at all.
After driving for a while, the rubber tread on the outside of the tire will wear out, and the tread will get smooth.
When this happens the tires need to be replaced.
Another type of New World Monkey is the Wedge-Capped Capuchin, also called weeper capuchin or Cebus olivaceus.
These small monkeys grow to be about 6 pounds, and can grow to be over 30 years old.
They live in the forests of South America, jumping through the trees to get around.
Wedge-Capped Capuchins get their name from the dark fur on their head that makes it look like they are wearing a little hat or a cap.
For food these monkeys eat small animals like bugs or snails, and fruits or nuts.
One funny thing scientists saw is that sometimes these monkeys will rub themselves with millipedes on their fur, and people think the millipedes let out a chemical that works like bug spray for the monkeys.
(from: wikipedia - wedge-capped capuchin)
One part of the inner ear is the Bony Labyrinth, also called the osseous labyrinth or otic capsule.
We learned a while ago that the part of the skull bone on the side of the head is called the Temporal Bone
Inside the temporal bone is the Bony Labyrinth, which is where the inner ear is.
Let's learn a little about the country of Singapore!
This country is a small island that is just south of the country of Malaysia.
There is a river between Malaysia and Singapore, and bridges between the two countries.
It is a very small country, only 281 square miles, but it has over 5 million people living there.
The flag of Singapore is a red stripe over a white stripe, with a white moon and stars in the red part.
Red is for equality, white is for purity, the moon is for the growing nation, and the five stars are for democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality.
Visiting Singapore, you might go see the Botanical Gardens, which has over 200 acres of plants.
(from: wikipedia - singapore botanical gardens)
The name of Singapore means "lion city", so the city came up with a mascot called a "merlion" kind of like a mermaid but with the head of a lion.
There are many merlion statues all over Singapore.
Another famous hymn is In Christ Alone My Hope Is Found written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend in Ireland in 2001.
The writers Getty and Townend both grew up in Ireland. Both of their fathers were church leaders, and they both grew up learning music.
They met in 2000 and decided to work together to write a song with a new sound that helped tell the story of Jesus.
With their song they wanted to write something that people liked to sing, so that in church people would worship together and help them grow as a congregation of Christians.
We just learned about the lost painting by Leonardo da Vinci called The Battle of Angiari.
Another famous painting by Leonard da Vinci is Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, painted in Florence in 1503 AD.
This is a painting of the baby Jesus holding a lamb, while his mother Mary is looking at him.
In some Bibles the mother of Mary is called Anne, and so the woman behind Mary is supposed to be Jesus' grandmother Anne.
Jesus holding the lamb was important Because Jesus was called the lamb of God, and he is also supposed to be the shepherd for his people the sheep.
The painting shows the family of Jesus, with grandmother Anne looking at Mary, Mother Mary looking at Jesus, and Jesus has the lamb.
We know these are the things on the car that touch the road and spin around and make the car go.
Even though tires seem really simple, there is a lot of work that goes into making a tire that doesn't pop or slip all over, and that makes a car ride feel smooth.
When people first started making carts to sit in and be pulled by horses, they were mostly just made of wood, metal and leather so they were a very bumpy ride.
Now cars use rubber tires, that are smooth or bumpy on the outside depending on if you are driving in snow or on a race track.
There are even giant rubber tires that are made with no air in them so they can't pop.
