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3D movies have gone in and out of fashion for over a hundred years. Ever since the Lumière brothers first shocked an 1895 audience with The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat, filmmakers have tried to trick audiences into believing that the images on screen are real. This past year has seen a resurgence of interest in 3D movies from blockbuster hits like Avatar; to newly debuted 3DTVs for personal home use; and even — plans for 3D cell phones. It appears that 3D may be here to stay — but, what is 3D and how do 3D movies work?

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The world of paleontology was recently shaken by the discovery of a giant sperm whale fossil in Peru. Quickly called the “Leviathan” whale in honor of Moby Dick’s author Herman Melville, its size is staggering. The whale’s head was larger than a human being (see image 3 below). This whale is said to have been up to 58 feet wide, much like the modern sperm whale that descended from it. But whereas the modern sperm whale does not have teeth on the top of its gums, this ancient whale had teeth that were over 14 inches long! They are the largest teeth ever found in a whale fossil. Scientists speculate that the whale fed on other whales, as shown in the illustration above.

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Was pizza invented in the United States? Many people seem to think so, given its popularity across the fifty states. America has its own forms of pizza, but pizza’s clearest origins are in Italy, in one city in particular. Like many foods however, its deepest origins lie across many cultures. After all, the idea of baking flour and adding toppings to it is pretty straightforward. Some of the early recorded evidence for this comes from 6th century BCE Persian soldiers in the army of Darius the Great who mixed cheese and dates on baked flat bread. There are traces of Stone Age residents in the Italian peninsula baking bread beneath a fire, and then using it as a plate - something also common in ancient Greece. Certainly the close proximity and cross-conquests of people in the larger Mediterranean region meant that there was ample opportunity for the sharing of food ideas. The word “pizza” is said to have come from the word “pita” which describes a flat bread in many cultures around the Mediterranean.

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Coffee is one of the most pervasive drinks on earth, found nearly everywhere from Tucson to Timbuktu, from Beijing to Burundi. There is hardly a culture where it is not entrenched, one of the first things billions of hands reach for every morning. Like its main competitor, tea, it is said to have health benefits. Both have an active ingredient, caffeine, which helps to wake us up and keep us going. Coffee drinking, however, is a comparatively recent activity, far younger than tea or alcohol consumption.

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How old are passports? Who invented them? As some of us prepare to travel abroad this summer and are searching for our passports or applying for our first ones, it is worth considering where these all-important pieces of paper originated. They are both much older than we might think, and much younger in their present form.

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We use money everyday to purchase our food, pay for the roof over our head, and purchase various good and services. But have you ever wondered how the concept of money began or where it first originated? Or even why it works? These are actually very profound questions and the answers have as much to do with history, economics and technology as with human psychology. The story of money represents the many bonds between different people, cultures and individual human beings.

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We think of postcards as part of modern life, whether in their printed or electronic versions. Surprisingly, they have not been around that long! It has been just over a hundred years since the so-called “postcard revolution” hit the world. Before then postcards, or paper cards with a picture or drawing on one side and message or address on the back were largely unknown to the world. How they came to be is a fascinating historical story.

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On June 11th, the 19th World Soccer Cup will open in South Africa. It will be the first World Cup ever held in an African nation. FIFA World soccer cups, held every four years (except during World War II) began in 1930 with the tournament in Uruguay. Since then they have grown to become by far the world’s most popular single sporting event, with billions watching each tournament. Some 735 million people are said to have seen the 2006 final match, making it the most watched single sporting event ever. This was seven times as many people as watch the annual Superbowl in the US! There is no more international sport than soccer, which is known as football everywhere in the world except the US.

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Every since human beings have been gazing up at the stars, we have wondered whether there are other living creatures out there. Ancient humans often believed that the gods resided above us, and the stars and constellations they formed became part of a living, divine cosmos of which earth was an integral part. Specific beliefs varied from culture to culture. The Mongolians had one of the simplest names - they called it the “Great Blue Sky.” When Genghis Khan needed to win a battle, or the lowliest nomad had to find his herd, it was to the “Great Blue Sky” over the Mongolian countryside that they turned to for help.

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Few things are as fascinating to astronomers or the general public as black holes. Can you imagine something so dense that light cannot escape from it? That sucks in everything that comes its way? If the earth were as compact as a black hole, it would be a ball about a half-inch across! Few things in the universe completely boggle the human mind as black holes.

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Have you ever heard of Pilates? Do you know who invented this exercise method? Well, you are about to find out!

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What did people do before there were cinemas? Well, there was (and still is) theater. But artificial moving images? Believe it or not, there was a compelling option, and it helped lead the way to the moving picture. It was called the magic lantern.

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