Domestic Cat

We just learned about the European Wildcat.

Another type of cat is the Domestic Cat, also called felis catus.

Domestic means being friendly in a house.
Cats have been friends and helpers to humans for thousands of years!

Scientists think cats and people first became friends because cats would help catch mice and rats that were pests in the house, and because they were friendly and liked to be petted and played with.

Just like there are a bunch of types of dogs out there, some people have named about 60 different types of cats.
Some types are like tabby, siamese or kinkalow!

There are are about 95 million pet cats in the USA.


(from: wikipedia - cat)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Mesoglea

Red Blood Cell

We just learned about the White Blood Cell.

Another type of blood cell is the Red Blood Cell, also called RBC, red cell, red blood corpuscle, haematid, erythroid cell, or erythrocyte.

Most of the weird science names come from other languages, like corpuscle comes from the Latin word "corpus" for body, haematid comes from the Greek word "hema" for blood, and erythrocyte comes from the Greek words "erythros" for red plus "kytos" for hollow vessel.

Remember there are three types of blood cells: White Blood Cells, Red Blood Cells, Platelets.

There are more red blood cells than the other two type of blood cells, with TRILLIONS of RBCs in the body.

The job of these blood cells is to take oxygen from the lungs to the body, going along the veins and arteries of the circulatory system.

They are shaped a little like a frisbee or a bowl, and they don't have a middle part called a nucleus like most other cells.
Just like the white blood cells, these are made in the bone marrow, and a grown up person makes over 2 million of these RBCs per second!
They go around the body and do their job for about 4 months, and then they get recycled back into the body and replaced by new ones.


(from: wikipedia - red blood cell)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Sclera

Piedmont Glacier

We just learned about what a Fjord is.

Another type of Glacier is a Piedmont Glacier.

Just like the other glaciers, when these melt the land around it can make them into a different shape.

If the valley where the glacier flows is a low flat plain, then it spreads out and looks sort of like a seashell or fan shape.


(from: wikipedia - glacier morphology)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Fujian Tulou

Wycliffe's Bible

We just learned about the Divine Comedy - Paradiso.

Another part of early Christianity is Wycliffe's Bible.

When people found the old writings and letters that make up the Bible, they were in different languages like Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic.

The church put all of these together and translated them into Latin, and some other languages like Greek or Cyrillic.

The first time the Bible was written in English was when a priest named John Wycliffe worked to translate the whole Bible into English in 1395.

Wycliffe believed that people needed to be able to read the Bible in their own language, and not many people could speak or read Latin to understand the Bible readings in church.


(from: wikipedia - wycliffe's bible)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Latin Vulgate Bible

Detroit Zoo Rackham Fountain - Parducci

We just learned about the National Shrine of the Little Flower by Chambellan.

Another famous American Sculputre is the Detroit Zoo Rackham Fountain by Corrado Parducci.

Corrado Parducci was born in Italy in 1900, and moved to the USA when he was 4 years old.

When he was young he went to art school, and at 17 he started working as an architectural sculptor.

There was a famous architect in Detroit named Albert Kahn who liked his art so much he asked him to come to Detroit, where he made some famous sculptures like the art on the Guardian Building in Detroit.

He also made other sculptures, like the Rackham Memorial Fountain in the Detroit Zoo.

When Parducci first came to Detroit, he only planned on staying for work for a little while, but because Detroit was so busy and successful he moved his whole family to Detroit and spent the rest of his life making sculptures all over hundreds of buildings in Michigan.


(from: wikipedia - detroit zoo)


(from: wikipedia - corrado parducci)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Aztec Sun Stone

Russian - Nine Hundred

We counted to 100 in Russian, let's keep going!

200 двести (dvesti) - sounds like d-veh-stee 文A

300 триста (trista) - sounds like t-dee-stah 文A

400 четыреста (chetyresta) - sounds like ch-eh-tee-dreh-stah 文A

500 пятьсот (pyat'sot) - sounds like pyat-soh-t 文A

600 Сшестьсотто (shest'sot) - sounds like sh-eh-st-soh-t 文A

700 семьсот (sem'sot) - sounds like sem-soh-t 文A

800 восемьсот (vosem'sot) - sounds like voh-sem-soh-t 文A

900 девятьсот (devyat'sot) - sounds like deh-v-yah-t-soh-t 文A


And here are some of the even bigger numbers!

And here are some of the even bigger numbers!

one thousand тысяча (tysyacha) - sounds like tee-s-yah-chah

one million один миллион (odin million) - sounds like oh-dee-n mee-lee-oh-n

one billion один миллиард (odin milliard) - sounds like oh-dee-n mee-lee-a-rd

one trillion один триллион (odin trillion) - sounds like oh-dee-n t-dee-lee-oh-n

one google один гугл (odin gugl) - sounds like oh-dee-n goo-ghel



(from: wikipedia - russian academy of sciences)

Norwegian: to hundre, tre hundre, fire hundre, fam hundre, seks hundre, syv hundre, åtte hundre, ni hundre

Greek: διακόσια (diakósia), τριακόσια (triakósia), τετρακόσια (tetrakósia), πεντακόσια (pentakósia), εξακόσια (exakósia), επτακόσια (eptakósia), οκτακόσια (oktakósia), εννιακόσια (enniakósia)

ASL: two hundred, three hundred, four hundred, five hundred, six hundred, seven hundred, eight hundred, nine hundred

Italian: duecento, trecento, quattrocento, cinquecento, seicento, settecento, ottocento, novecento

German: zweihundert, dreihundert, vierhundert, fünfhundert, sechshundert, siebenhundert, achthundert, neunhundert

Spanish: doscientos, trescientos, cuatrocientos, quinientos, seiscientos, sietecientos, ochocientos, novecientos

French: deux cent, trois cent, quatre cent, cinq cent, six cent, sept cent, huit cent, neuf cent

Trailing Wheel

We just learned about the Smokebox at the front of the engine.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Trailing Wheel.

Back behind all of the other big wheels that move the train is a smaller wheel.
This wheel has an axle bar going under the train that helps make the engine more stable especially where the fireman and engineer are standing.

Because it is not connected to any of the other gears that move the train along, this wheel is very strong and doesn't wiggle around so much.


(from: wikipedia - trailing wheel)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Windings