# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
History for kids - Free history network for kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Hiroshima and Nagasaki - History for kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Atomic Bomb Background Before the war, many scientists had been investigating the possibility of generating energy and even weapons from the atom, the building block of the universe and everything that surrounds us. The famous scientist Albert Einstein represented these leading thinkers by writing to the American president Franklin Roosevelt in August 1939. He told

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kids learn about nuclear energy and fission in the science of physics including E=mc2, power plants, uses of nuclear power, and fusion.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kids learn about the history of the Atomic Bomb during World War II. Dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki of Japan to end WW2.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
On July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin climbed down from the Apollo 11 lander and planted their boots on the surface. The United States had beaten its rival, the Soviet Union, in the race to put humans on the moon.

Fifty years later, a new race is on. "Our team is excited to get back to the moon as quickly as possible," says Marshall Smith of NASA. But now, NASA has more competition. China's focusing on space travel, and private companies are building rockets, too.

Why go back? There are fortunes to be made in lunar exploration. Space-based businesses add $350 billion to the world . And new technologies are discovered along the way. GPS navigation came out of space research. Future space research may lead to advances in .

Plus, the moon holds riches of its own. Minerals found there could be used in electronics manufacturing. Lunar ice could be turned into oxygen for visiting astronauts. Combine that oxygen with hydrogen, and you get clean rocket fuel. Ships could fill their tanks on the moon before taking off for more distant places, such as Mars.

Competing Nations

In March, Vice President Mike Pence declared that NASA would send the next man and the first woman to the moon by 2024. "Urgency" is key, he says.

The rush is because of China. Since 2003, the country has flown multiple crewed missions and launched a mini space station. In January, it became the first nation to land an uncrewed base station and rover on the far side of the moon. "We are building China into a space giant," Wu Weiren, the rover's designer, said at the time.

But the U.S. leads in rocketry know-how. NASA is building its most powerful rocket ever, the Space Launch System. It will carry a craft called Orion to the Gateway orbiter (see sidebar, Space Base). From there, crews will take a lander on trips to the moon's surface.

NASA's budget is around $20 billion. The Trump administration has asked Congress to add another $1.6 billion. But according to NASA's Mark Kirasich, public support for funding lunar projects just isn't there. "We could fly more often with more funding if the nation wanted to fly more often," he says.

The Newcomers

There's no shortage of money at Blue Origin. The company's owner is the billionaire head of Amazon, Jeff Bezos. In May, he plans for Blue Origin's Blue Moon lunar lander. Its anticipated launch date is 2024. "It's time to go back to the moon," Bezos says.

MARK WILSON-GETTY IMAGES

Another company, SpaceX, expects to send people to the International Space Station next year. In 2021, it plans to launch Starship, a moon orbiter with room for 100 passengers. NASA's Orion can hold only six people.

Instead of just visiting the moon, SpaceX's founder, billionaire Elon Musk, imagines a permanent lunar base. Still, Musk knows he has big historical boots to fill. "Apollo 11 was one of the most inspiring things in all human history," he says. "I'm not sure SpaceX would exist if not for Apollo 11."

ROBERT DAEMMRICH PHOTOGRAPHY INC/CORBIS/GETTY IMAGES

Think of Gateway as a base camp for exploring the moon. Though it will serve as a home for several astronauts, it will be no bigger than a small apartment. It will travel in an egg-shaped orbit around the moon. Astronauts will position Gateway over the spot they want to explore, then take a lander down to the lunar surface.

NASA plans to send parts up to Gateway in uncrewed rockets over the next few years. The space agency is eager to get Gateway built by 2024. It will allow people to explore more of the moon than they ever could on the Apollo missions.

Looking for the cover quiz? After you sign in, click on the Resources tab to search Teaching Resources for printable versions of all our quizzes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin climbed down from the Apollo 11 lander and planted their boots on the lunar surface. The United States had beaten its rival, the Soviet Union, in the race to...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Years of being a NASA engineer have led Lindsay Aitchison to a surprising place: spending a lot of time thinking about dust. How to keep it out of the many folds of a spacesuit, where it can limit movement. How to prevent it from creeping into an astronaut's oxygen system, where it can start a fire. "So many issues come back to dust!" Aitchison told TFK.

Aitchison works on NASA's Advanced Spacesuit Project. She and her team are developing suits for space exploration. Dust is just one of many challenges they face as they create suits astronauts can wear on the surface of the moon, asteroids, and eventually Mars.

NASA plans to send astronauts to the Red Planet in the 2030s. Before then, engineers must come up with a spacesuit that will allow those astronauts to live in space in ways no one has done before.

Designed for Explorers

In the past, when astronauts spent time on the surface of the moon, they were outside their craft for only a few hours at a time. Mars will be different. "We're talking about stays of up to 500 days," Aitchison says. Spacesuits for such missions need to be sturdy and easy to repair. One solution is to design modular suits, so individual pieces can be swapped out easily.

BILL STAFFORD-NASA (2)

Another reason for the modular design? NASA employs an increasingly diverse group of explorers. Half of its 2013 class of astronauts are women-a first for the space agency. The new suits allow for more size-and-shape customization than older models. This will meet the needs of different body types.

The Z-2 is NASA's newest spacesuit, designed for exploring planets. It is more lightweight and flexible than previous suits. Unlike the International Space Station (ISS), Mars has gravity. The suits astronauts wear on the ISS weigh about 330 pounds. On Mars, astronauts will need to work without lugging around excess weight. The design team's goal is to get the Z-2 suit down to 250 pounds.

A Universe of Inspiration

Aitchison's background and education are in engineering. But to dream up innovative solutions for new types of spacesuits, she and her team look for inspiration outside their fields. "We pick up everything from computer-gaming magazines to fashion magazines," she says.

BILL STAFFORD-NASA

Aitchison and the team also use motion-capture technology-similar to what movie studios use-to study human movement. They have even been inspired by TV infomercials. Almost no idea is too wacky to try.

Being open to new, sometimes offbeat ideas helps Aitchison and her team in their ultimate goal: building for a new age of space exploration. She's confident in her team's ability to meet the challenges ahead, including the great goal of journeying to Mars. "We will definitely have spacesuits ready to do that job when they're ready to launch," she says.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
NASA engineers are designing spacesuits for exploring Mars and beyond. Years of being a NASA engineer have led Lindsay Aitchison to a surprising place: spending a lot of time thinking about dust. How to keep it out of the many...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Animals have long been on the front lines of scientific discovery. Time and again, they have been given the lead in exploring new frontiers. But those pioneers didn't volunteer for their missions. Take the thousands of monkeys and mice that were used as test subjects for Jonas Salk's first polio . They were forced to do the job. But that doesn't their important contribution to scientific knowledge. In fact, it enlarges it.

The same is true of the first animals that were sent to space. Sixty years ago, humans had visions of traveling above the atmosphere and out toward the moon and planets. But could anyone, or anything, survive such a journey?

On November 3, 1957, Laika began providing answers. She was an 11-pound, part-terrier mongrel, picked up on the streets of Moscow. The Soviet Union (now called Russia) launched her into orbit aboard Sputnik 2.

SOVFOTO/UIG/GETTY IMAGES

Space Dog

Less than a month earlier, the Soviets had shocked the world with the launch of Sputnik 1, the first human-made satellite to orbit Earth. People in the United States reacted with and fear. This technological started the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. But people loved Laika, especially members of the American press. They nicknamed her Muttnik.

The world worried about Laika. Many wondered if she would survive her journey. She didn't. In fact, she was never intended to survive it.

Sputnik 2 had no reentry system. There was enough food and water to last Laika for seven days, no more. As it turned out, she barely survived for six hours. Sometime during her fourth orbit, she died when her cabin overheated. Five months later, after 2,566 more orbits, Sputnik 2 reentered the atmosphere. It was burned to bits by the heat of reentry.

More animals would follow Laika into orbit-and survive. Just three years later, in April of 1961, so would Soviet Yuri Gagarin. He was the first human being in space.

RALPHY MORSE/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES

Happy Returns

Many critters survived a trip to the cosmos. In August 1960, two dogs named Belka and Strelka spent nearly a day in space, along with 40 mice and two rats. All made it home alive.

In the U.S., the first giant leap for mankind was made by a 4-year-old chimpanzee named Ham.

On January 31, 1961, Ham rocketed into space for a 16-minute suborbital flight. It was a test to see if an animal could survive a journey in the tiny Mercury spacecraft. Ham was trained to pull handles aboard the craft in response to a flashing light. His success with the task during his trip proved it was possible to work under the stress of spaceflight. Ham took the same trip astronauts Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom would later take.

These animals, and many more, helped make it possible for humans to fulfill their dreams of space exploration. They were the first to make the journey away from Earth. We owe these involuntary pioneers our thanks.

BETTMAN ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

Safe Landing

Upon returning from space, many animal astronauts went on to live happy and healthy lives.

Strelka became a grandmother. One of her puppies, named Pushinka, was given as a gift to U.S. president John F. Kennedy. Pushinka eventually gave birth to a litter of her own. President Kennedy called Strelka's grandchildren "pupniks."

Chimpanzee Ham went back to business as usual. After returning safely to Earth, he shook hands and played happily with lab workers. Ham would live a long life, firmly planted on Earth. He died on January 19, 1983, at the age of 26.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Animals have long been on the front lines of scientific discovery. Time and again, they have been given the lead in exploring new frontiers. But those pioneers didn't volunteer for their missions. Take the thousands of monkeys and mice that...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Chamber A is a historic landmark. It is located in the Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas. The chamber looks like a bank vault. But when the right machinery is turned on, it seems like a giant pocket of outer…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"We are training every day," Arnold told TFK, "and no days are alike." Although he has been to space before, his previous mission lasted only 12 days. "We are going to be up there for six months," he said. "And things can change rapidly up there. We need to be prepared."

A Unique Lab

Mission prep begins about two years before liftoff. It covers many subjects, from astronomy and geology to aviation and photography. "[Astronauts] also learn about all the science experiments they will be doing in space," says Tamara York, a training officer at NASA's Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas. "The experiments come from all over the U.S. and the world."

STANISLAV KRASLINIKOV-TASS/GETTY IMAGES

NASA currently relies on a Russian spacecraft to get crew to and from the ISS. Astronauts study the Russian language. They spend long periods of time at Russian facilities.

Space Conditions

One of the most difficult tasks astronauts aboard the ISS face is going outside the station to do repairs. Practicing for these spacewalks is a key part of training.

To prepare, astronauts spend time in NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Lab in Houston. It is the world's largest indoor pool. The conditions there are close to those in space. While diving, astronauts wear the space suit they would wear on a spacewalk.

Astronauts also spend time in a virtual-reality lab. They wear a headset while inside a space-like environment. "Technology has given us better training materials and methods," York says. "We have more robotics and 3D virtual training."

Safety First

Astronauts must relearn how to get dressed, go to the bathroom, and take care of their living areas in a weightless environment. They get tips from other astronauts.

"On my first mission, a guy who had flown before told me about the best way to set up my sleeping bag and toothbrush," Arnold says.

Arnold notes that a safe mission always involves teamwork. "You are part of an international team working together to make something spectacular happen," he says. "That sense of teamwork and purpose is the best part of the job."

A New Class

It's not easy to become a NASA astronaut. Earlier this year, 12 people were selected for NASA's new astronaut class. The seven men and five women were chosen from a field of more than 18,000 applicants. Candidates need a degree in engineering, biological science, physical science, computer science, or math.

"We look forward to the talent of these astronauts fueling our exciting future of discovery," Robert Lightfoot, NASA's administrator, said in June, when the class was announced.

The new astronauts have already begun a two-year training program at NASA's Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas. They will study spacecraft systems, aviation, spacewalking skills, team building, and the Russian language.

Assessment: Click for a printable quiz. Teacher subscribers can find the answer key in this week's Teacher's Guide.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Life can be very unpredictable for astronauts living and working on the International Space Station (ISS). There is no gravity. Parts of the station might stop working at any time. Space objects come flying at the station out of nowhere. ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Skip to main content

Now the space agency is planning a return trip. In December 2017, President Donald Trump signed a Space Policy Directive. It put manned lunar exploration back at the top of NASA's agenda.

NASA

SAUL LOEB-AFP/GETTY IMAGES

All Aboard

Former astronaut Ken Bowersox is chair of NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Committee. He says Gateway encourages more-ambitious missions. "It's like a base camp on a mountain. When you build that, people are tempted to go higher, and they do go higher."

NASA is inviting its international partners to pitch in. Russia may provide the air-lock module. Japan might contribute an additional module that will assist with propulsion and communications. Canada could build a robotic arm that would allow Gateway to do outdoor work.

The U.S. Congress will have to get on board too. It's up to them to provide the money to build Gateway. When President John F. Kennedy encouraged Americans to support the space program in 1962, he said in a speech, "We choose to go to the moon." The most powerful word in that line was choose. We chose then. We can choose again. It's entirely up to us.

NASA

On Deck: Mars

NASA sees Gateway as a base for staging missions beyond the moon. What's the next stop? Mars. The space agency plans to build a special craft for the trip. The Deep Space Transport will carry astronauts from Gateway to the Red Planet and back. This will reduce the enormous cost of shuttling supplies for a Mars mission all the way from Earth. The Mars transport could even expand its size by attaching one of Gateway's habitat modules.
Assessment: Click here for a printable quiz. Teacher subscribers can find the answer key in this week's Teacher's Guide.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
People first set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped from the Apollo 11 spacecraft and planted an American flag on the moon's rocky surface. Six NASA lunar missions followed over the...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
UNITED NATIONS, New York- It's 10 a.m. on Saturday, September 21. Five people are seated at the center of the Trusteeship Council Chamber. Four of them are youth climate activists. The fifth is United Nations (U.N.) secretary-general António Guterres. Typically, Guterres would be the one to welcome a room full of people to the U.N. But this morning, he isn't here to talk. He's here to listen.

Greta Thunberg speaks first. Many look up to the Swedish teen as the leader of the youth climate movement. To her left is Bruno Rodriguez, 16, from Argentina. He speaks next. "Our world leaders have the obligation to make change," he says. "Let's stop demanding world leaders listen to science and start demanding they act on science."

This call to action echoed throughout the first-ever United Nations Youth Climate Summit, which drew about a thousand attendees. The day before, many of them had joined about 250,000 people in New York, and millions more around the world, who marched in the Global Climate Strike. On both days, their demand was the same: for companies and governments to take urgent action against in order to protect Earth's future.

TETRA IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

International Gathering

The U.N. is an international organization. Each year in September, representatives from its 193 nations come together for a weeklong U.N. General Assembly to discuss world issues. The 2019 meeting focused on climate.

It was preceded by the Youth Climate Summit, where young activists presented ideas for a future. One session focused on STEM solutions, such as an app that helps people make shopping choices. Another session featured Olympic athletes, including gold medalist Hannah Mills of Great Britain. "We all need to be braver, bolder, and unafraid of the massive changes that are required to tackle this crisis," she said.

DREW WILLIS FOR TIME FOR KIDS

Much of the summit's excitement took place beyond its formal schedule. In U.N. hallways, activists who had known each other only through social media met for the first time. Outside, attendees discussed green energy solutions and interviewed one another for podcasts and videos.

"It's just been so inspiring, all the people coming together," said Laura Lock, 17, from England. "I've had goose bumps straight for two hours."

DREW WILLIS FOR TIME FOR KIDS

Hope Ahead

According to U.N. on youth Jayathma Wickramanayake, the summit was held to the voices of young activists. "We wanted to give the opportunity to young people to speak truth to power," she told TIME for Kids.

Isabel Pronto Breslin, 15, from Rhinebeck, New York, says that climate change is "certainly very scary," but that hearing from other young activists gives her hope. "More and more people are seeing how much of a problem we face," she says. "More and more people are committed to fighting it."

Making Waves

DREW WILLIS FOR TIME FOR KIDS

Zoë Trisha Prinsloo, 17, is from South Africa. After cleaning up plastic waste on beaches, she started a business called Save a Fishie! It sells eco-friendly products. "I have an online store, and I'm in one little gift shop back home," says Zoë. Her goal? "To go worldwide."

Forty-two activists under the age of 18 were picked through a nomination process to attend the U.N. summit. Zoë was one of them. Read about nine others in " Youth in Action."

Looking for the cover quiz? After you sign in, click on the Resources tab to search Teaching Resources for printable versions of all our quizzes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
UNITED NATIONS, New York- It's 10 a.m. on Saturday, September 21. Five people are seated at the center of the Trusteeship Council Chamber. Four of them are youth climate activists. The fifth is United Nations (U.N.) secretary-general António Guterres. Typically,...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Earth's climate is changing at an rate. As a result, storms and are becoming more intense. Temperatures are rising. Polar ice caps are melting. This is causing oceans to rise. Low coastal areas are flooding. Animals are losing their habitats. Scientists are sounding the alarm: If we don't make changes to halt global warming, the planet's climate will become increasingly unbearable.

Climate, unlike weather, describes long-term patterns in the conditions of the . Earth's climate as a whole has changed several times throughout history. In the past 650,000 years alone, there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat. Most of these changes are a natural part of Earth's 4.5 billion-year history. They are due to tiny variations in the Earth's orbit, which alter the amount of solar energy reaching the planet.

Scientists say that recent changes in Earth's climate are not due to natural causes. According to NASA, 97% of climate scientists agree there is a direct connection between human activity and the changes occurring on our planet.

TAYLOR WEIDMAN-BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES

The Human Impact

Over the past 150 years, humans have used more and more engines, vehicles, and other machines. These devices burn through fossil fuels like coal and oil. Fossil fuels emit carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases.

Normally, plants, trees, and the oceans absorb carbon dioxide and release it back into the atmosphere as oxygen. But an increase in fossil fuels has created more carbon dioxide than nature can take in. Adding to the problem are other human activities. Deforestation and the destruction of habitats also reduce the number of trees and plants. That makes it even harder to absorb all that carbon dioxide.

When too much carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere, it causes problems for Earth's climate. Sunlight can pass through those gases. But the heat the sun generates cannot escape back out into space. So the gases end up trapping that heat. This then turns the planet into a giant greenhouse.

This greenhouse effect leads to changes in the climate, like increased temperatures. Average temperatures across the planet have not been increasing uniformly. But scientists observe a clear upward trend. Sixteen of the 17 warmest years ever recorded have occurred since 2001.

Turning Up the Heat

Scientists believe that climate change will have an impact far greater than milder winters and warmer summers. A warmer planet melts glaciers and other large bodies of ice faster than usual. Earth's glaciers help cool the planet. This means that as ice melts, temperatures will continue to rise. Rising sea levels, flooding, and stronger weather events will occur. And as the planet gets hotter, some places will become uninhabitable for people and animals.

These effects are already being felt around the world. Melting polar ice caps are causing huge chunks of ice to fall into the oceans. The melting ice is causing sea levels to rise about an eighth of an inch per year. That's according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Many coastal areas are in danger of flooding. Some scientists predict that if sea levels continue to rise at current rates, entire cities may be submerged in the next 100 years.

In warm, dry regions, increased temperatures are causing severe drought. This leads to wildfires, food shortages, and water insecurity. Global warming has also led to coral bleaching of nearly two-thirds of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The corals provide a habitat for nearly 1,500 different species of fish. This loss of sea life also affects the hundreds of millions of humans who rely on marine creatures for food.

Climate change is also creating more extreme weather events. This puts people and in danger. Scientists believe that global warming is responsible for hurricanes of greater intensity. Other results of global warming include more frequent and severe heat waves, droughts, blizzards, and rainstorms.

CHRIS SEWARD-RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER/TNS/GETTY IMAGES

Taking Action

Governments, companies, and individuals are working to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. Countries are joining to fight climate change and its effects. Innovators are working to create Earth-friendly fuels and power sources. And more and more people are using electric and hybrid vehicles. They are also turning to wind and solar power for alternative energy sources.

But humans still need to deal with the large amount of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere. One solution being tested is called carbon sequestration. Through this process, carbon dioxide can be captured and stored underground before it goes into the atmosphere. Another proposal is to store carbon by planting more trees-nature's carbon trap.

Time will tell the true impact that climate change has on Earth. But how humans respond and adapt to a warming planet will set the course for years to come.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Earth's climate is changing at an unprecedented rate. As a result, storms and droughts are becoming more intense. Temperatures are rising. Polar ice caps are melting. This is causing oceans to rise. Low coastal areas are flooding. Animals are losing...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On Monday, millions of people in Ethiopia planted more than 350 million trees in 12 hours. The event was part of the country’s Green Legacy Initiative. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched the initiative in May. He hopes to reverse the…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Skip to main content

Monster hurricanes. Ferocious × ferocious MLORENZPHOTOGRAPHY/GETTY IMAGES extremely wild or violent (adjective) A black bear is a ferocious animal that can hurt or kill humans. wildfires. They helped make 2017 the costliest year ever for weather disasters in the United States. Last year, the nation was hit by 16 disasters that each topped $1 billion in damages. The total cost came to $306 billion, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The previous record of $215 billion was set in 2005.

"The U.S. experienced a historic year of weather and climate disasters," says Adam Smith. He is a scientist at NOAA. The 2017 events occurred in six of the seven categories NOAA tracks. They included "three tropical cyclones, eight severe storms, two inland floods, a crop freeze, drought, and wildfire." The only thing 2017 didn't have was a $1 billion winter storm.

Hurricanes caused the most ruin. Harvey hit Texas in August, causing $125 billion in damages. Then Irma struck Florida and Puerto Rico, and Maria struck Puerto Rico. They raised the hurricane toll × toll MIRGA GNTER/EYEEM/GETTY IMAGES a cost or amount (noun) The toll of people injured in the earthquake was over 100. to $265 billion.

Wildfires devastated the American West, totaling $18 billion in losses. In June, storms in Minnesota and the upper Midwest brought hail and high winds, causing more than $2 billion in damages.

Why are weather events causing so much destruction? Smith says one reason is a growing population. More people are living near areas prone to flooding and fires. "Climate change is also playing an increasing role in the frequency of some types of extreme weather," he says.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Monster hurricanes. Ferocious wildfires. They helped make 2017 the costliest year ever for weather disasters in the United States. Last year, the nation was hit by 16 disasters that each topped $1 billion in damages. The total cost came to...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Levi Draheim lives in Satellite Beach, Florida. It's warm year-round there, and Levi, 10, spends most of his time outside. He often walks from his house to the beach to go swimming and boogie boarding.

But when Levi grows up, his way of life might not be possible. Satellite Beach is on an island off the coast of Florida. At just 13 feet above sea level, it's threatened by rising oceans. Some projections show that Levi's home will be underwater in a few decades.

Experts say rising oceans are a result of climate change, which is caused by too much carbon dioxide, or CO2, in the Earth's atmosphere. The excess CO2 comes from the burning of fossil fuels, like coal and oil, which people use to power homes and cars.

In 2015, Levi and 20 other young people decided to take action against climate change by suing the federal government. They filed a lawsuit called Juliana v. United States.

The Juliana in the lawsuit is Kelsey Juliana. At 22, she's the oldest of the group. Levi is the youngest. Each plaintiff claims to be affected by the changing environment. He or she might live in a home that is vulnerable to wildfires, or on a mountain where the snow is melting, or have missed school due to hurricanes.

In the lawsuit, the youth argue that the government contributed to climate change because it didn't do enough to limit the burning of fossil fuels. The United States Constitution protects all citizens' fundamental rights, including life, liberty, and property. The young people say the government violated those rights for children who have to grow up with the effects of climate change.

"Greenhouse-gas emissions live in the atmosphere for a long time," Julia Olsen told TFK. She's one of the lawyers who filed the case, and the founder of a nonprofit called Our Children's Trust, which organized it. "Kids have to live for their whole lives with the consequences of what their government does today."

A Better Future

Levi and the other plaintiffs are asking courts to create a rule stating how much CO2 can safely be released into the atmosphere. The government would then be required to reduce CO2 emissions to that level. That might mean expanding renewable energy systems or making it costly or illegal to burn fossil fuels.

The U.S. government has tried to get the lawsuit dismissed. But so far, that hasn't happened. A court in Oregon ruled last month that the case can go to trial. It's expected to begin later this year.

Levi is hopeful. He thinks his generation can turn things around. "The grown-ups aren't taking action," he told TFK. "So we kids are going to step up and do something."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Levi Draheim lives in Satellite Beach, Florida. It's warm year-round there, and Levi, 10, spends most of his time outside. He often walks from his house to the beach to go swimming and boogie boarding. But when Levi grows up,...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Skip to main content

Climate change could soon drastically reduce the world's food supply. That's according to a report released Thursday by the United Nations. The report was created by a group of more than a hundred experts from 52 countries.

Climate change has made drought, floods, and forest fires more common. It has transformed fertile land into desert. It has also contributed to species loss.

According to the U.N. report, all these things will affect the food supply. They'll make it more difficult to produce food. "The threat of climate change affecting people's food on their dinner table is increasing," says Cynthia Rosenzweig. Rosenzweig is a NASA climate scientist. She's one of the report's authors.

Climate change has already caused the price of food to rise. And it has made some foods less nutritious. But Rosenzweig says there's still hope. "There are a lot of actions that we can take now," she says.

The report urges consumers to reduce food waste. As much as 30% of the food produced worldwide is wasted.

The report also urges consumers to eat less meat and more vegetables, seeds, and fruit. Producing those foods creates fewer of the harmful emissions that contribute to climate change.

"We don't want a message of despair," says Jim Skea. Skea's a U.N. science panel official. He's also a professor at Imperial College London. "We want to get across the message that every action makes a difference."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Climate change could soon drastically reduce the world's food supply. That's according to a report released Thursday by the United Nations. The report was created by a group of more than a hundred experts from 52 countries. Climate change has...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Skip to main content

On January 8, Astrobotic Technology's Vulcan Centaur rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It carried a lunar lander built for NASA by Astrobotic. This was the first U.S. lunar lander to go into space in more than 50 years. But not long after the launch, the mission was abandoned.

Astrobotic hoped to be the first private business to land on the moon. Hours after launch, though, it announced a fuel leak in the lander. The team had discovered "a failure in the propulsion system" and "a critical loss of fuel." This would make landing on the moon impossible.

"Given the situation, we have prioritized maximizing the science and data we can capture," the company said in a statement.

Astrobotic is one of two companies that each received nearly $80 million in funding from NASA. (The other is Intuitive Machines. Its launch is planned for next month.) NASA's Artemis program will put astronauts on the moon for the first time since 1972. The private companies will deliver tools to the moon ahead of the astronauts' planned arrival in 2026.

Despite this mission failure, NASA remains hopeful. "Each success and setback are opportunities to learn and grow," says Joel Kearns, a NASA deputy associate administrator.

ISAAC WATSON-NASA
Stop & Think! What makes this story newsworthy? Why is it important to know about the mission, even though it was not successful?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On January 8, Astrobotic Technology's Vulcan Centaur rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It carried a lunar lander built for NASA by Astrobotic. This was the first U.S. lunar lander to go into space in more than 50 years....

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In just one "unspeakable second," in early August, 1945, the world was changed forever. Since 1942, a secret U.S. weapons program, called the Manhattan Project, had been at work on two revolutionary bombs of such intense heat and explosive force that they would reduce the two target cities-Hiroshima and Nagasaki-to vast scorched wastelands. But it was their radioactivity, which remained deadly long after the debris settled and the smoke cleared, that changed our world forever.

The Hiroshima bomb was exploded at a height of 580 meters (1,870 ft.) for maximum effect. The bomb's explosive force then shot directly down to earth below (ground zero), spread swiftly out to surrounding hills, and then rebounded back into the city. A house-top weathervane was later found pointing toward the city center, a witness to the rebounding force.

I don't believe anyone ever expected to see a sight quite like that. Where we had seen a clear city two minutes before, we could no longer see the city at all.- Enola Gay co-pilot Bob Lewis, postwar interview.

The energy release of the Hiroshima bomb was the equivalent of 12.5 kilotons of TNT. At burst point, the temperature reached several million degrees Centigrade. This heat was 35% of the bomb's total energy release. Hiroshima's resident-plus-temporarily present population at that time, is estimated at 340,000-350,000.

Then a tremendous flash of light cut across the sky. It seemed like a massive sheet of sunlight.- Rev.Kiyoshi Tanimoto, in John Hersey's Hiroshima.

The Nagasaki bomb was exploded at a height of 503 meters (1,540 ft.) above a densely populated valley just north of the city's center. Here, too, the explosive force and heat instantly impacted ground zero, swept out to the hills and back. Its destructive heat and force exceeded that of Hiroshima. The combined resident-plus-temporarily present population total for Nagasaki on the bombing date is estimated at 260,000-270,000.

There was a blinding white flash of light, and the next moment-BOOM! CRACK! A huge impact like a gigantic blow smote down our bodies, our heads, our hospitals. - Dr. Tatsuichiro Akizuki, Franciscan Tuberculosis Hospital, Nagasaki

The initial burst of both bombs took only "an unspeakable second," and their explosive energy was fully spent in about 10 seconds, though the destructive effects were overpowering for days and weeks, and lingering damages to human bodies persisted for years.

Especially serious was the radioactive fallout that ranged over each city and many miles beyond. Radioactive elements (isotopes), besides direct damage to external tissues, were taken into human bodies by inhalation. The radioactivity also contaminated food and water supplies, thus affecting the people's blood and vital organs, as well as compounding injuries caused by burns, blast, and falling structures.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In just one "unspeakable second," in early August, 1945, the world was changed forever. Since 1942, a secret U.S. weapons program, called the Manhattan Project, had been at work on two revolutionary bombs of such intense heat and explosive force that they would reduce the two target cities-Hiroshima and Nagasaki-to vast scorched wastelands.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
How do you fly a SpaceX Crew Dragon? Climb aboard, strap yourself in, close the hatch, and fly into space. The Dragon takes care of everything, so relax and enjoy the ride. Unless something goes wrong. And in space, something always can.

How do you prepare for that? Spend months training. Master hundreds of pages of procedures. Learn the many systems aboard the spacecraft. And train for emergencies.

"In a multiday mission, there is a lot of time for a lot of things to go wrong," Jared Isaacman says. He's the CEO of the online payment service Shift4 Payments. Isaacman will be commanding the Inspiration4 mission. It is scheduled to launch on September 15. He and three other civilian, or nonprofessional, astronauts will spend three days in orbit.

PHILIP MONTGOMERY FOR TIME

Inspiration4 is the world's first all-civilian mission to orbit Earth. Isaacman will be joined by three others. They are Chris Sembroski, Sian Proctor, and Hayley Arceneaux. (See "Meet the Crew.") Isaacman hopes the Inspiration4 mission will raise money and awareness for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The hospital researches and treats childhood cancers and other life-threatening diseases.

A New Kind of Training

The astronauts have practiced for all the possibilities of what can happen in space. This takes a new kind of training. Older space capsules were designed differently. Their instrument panels had hundreds of buttons. Their simple onboard computers were controlled by a keyboard. The commander flew those ships similarly to how you'd fly a plane. He or she used a control stick. The Dragon 's designers replaced almost everything with three large touch screens. Even the control stick. Each screen can call up 10 sets of displays.

COURTESY SPACEX

Ideally, the spacecraft helps the astronauts so much that they have almost nothing to do. It runs on its own. "And if the automation doesn't take care of a problem, then the ground is your next layer of defense," Doug Hurley says. He was commander of the first crewed SpaceX mission. He's talking about the SpaceX ground controllers. They solve problems. And they issue commands to the spacecraft from mission control on Earth. Only if the Dragon fails to look after itself would the astronauts take over.

That's also the case when it comes to flying the craft. The manual × manual Dragon has a program that requires no help from the astronauts. On Hurley's flight, he took over near the International Space Station (ISS). But only to make sure the MIKE HARRINGTON-GETTY IMAGES by hand (adjective) I spent the summer doing manual labor on my family's farm. systems worked.

JOHN KRAUS-INSPIRATION4

Learning to fly the Dragon by hand can take some doing. Removing the control stick and replacing it with a touch screen might make for a more elegant spacecraft. But it also removes a physical connection a pilot has to his or her vehicle. "When you're flying off soft keys on a touch screen, it's a totally different feel," says Isaacman. "A lot of muscle memory is lost." Isaacman is a licensed jet pilot. So he knows what he's talking about. He says moving the stick creates an instant response. But with the touch screen, there's some delay.

Risks and Rewards

Some emergencies require in-person human action. And they need it right away. Fires can break out. Crew members on Russia's Mir space station had to battle a blaze in 1997. This can happen when a battery overheats. And there are a lot of batteries aboard the Dragon.

COURTESY SPACEX/NASA

There's also the risk of depressurization. This is when the air inside the craft changes. Some of it escapes into space. If this happens, crew members need to find the leak. They must seal it off while scrambling into their suits. A launch emergency might happen, too. And the Dragon 's guidance system could fail.

Finally, there are risks in the simple number of days the Inspiration4 crew will spend in orbit. Crews heading for the ISS fly there directly. They are usually aboard within a day or so of launching. The Inspiration4 crew will be in orbit for three days. But the passengers won't join the ISS. Their craft will orbit above it. Every day on their own will be another day when something can go wrong.

PHILIP MONTGOMERY FOR TIME

Ideally, no problems would occur on any mission. So far, SpaceX's Dragon has made three flights with crews. Nothing major has gone wrong on any of those flights. But space is a dangerous place. The Inspiration4 crew has to be as prepared as possible.

Isaacman understands the risks. But he feels good about the progress that the Inspiration4 crew has made. "I think we've definitely arrived at the point where we're ready," he says. "This is going to be a well-executed mission."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How do you fly a SpaceX Crew Dragon? Climb aboard, strap yourself in, close the hatch, and fly into space. The Dragon takes care of everything, so relax and enjoy the ride. Unless something goes wrong. And in space, something...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Spring is here, and summer is on the way. But the COVID-19 pandemic isn't over yet. What can we do to get our lives back? When can we finally relax and take our masks off?

Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky has some answers. She's the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Walensky leads the agency's 21,000 employees, who work to protect Americans' health and safety. Before moving to CDC headquarters, in Georgia, Dr. Walensky worked at Massachusetts General Hospital and taught at Harvard Medical School. She has spent her life working to understand and battle diseases.

Recently, the CDC announced that kids ages 12 to 15 can get the COVID-19 vaccine. It also announced that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks in most situations. I had an opportunity to talk with Dr. Walensky about these important developments, and to ask her questions from TFK Kid Reporters.

I learned that vaccinating kids and adults will move us closer to life as we knew it. This is the first time I've ever been excited to get a shot!

TFK Kid Reporter Jeremy Liew:

This has been a really busy week for you. I'm excited to speak with you.

The CDC just surprised us by announcing that people who are fully vaccinated don't have to wear masks most of the time. Does that mean that if you're fully vaccinated, life can go back to normal?

Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky:

I think we should first define what fully vaccinated is, so everybody understands. For kids 12 to 18, fully vaccinated means that you got two doses of the Pfizer vaccine, and then you waited two weeks to make sure you were completely through getting your whole immune response.

We have now said that [fully vaccinated] individuals are safe and can take their mask off. I think it's going to take some time for us to get back to what we call "normal." And I think we're probably going to get back to perhaps even a new, better, safer normal. But I do think that this means that we are taking another giant step to getting back to the lives we once knew.

Jeremy:

What happens if someone who isn't fully vaccinated doesn't wear a mask?

Dr. Walensky:

It's really important to understand that the guidance we put out is about people who are fully vaccinated, and that they are protected. People who are not fully vaccinated continue to not be protected. So guidance for them would be, one, go get vaccinated; two, wear your mask until you're fully vaccinated. And if you decide not to get fully vaccinated, continue to wear your mask and practice all of the strategies-distancing, masking, handwashing-that we have been recommending for months now.

Jeremy:

You also recently announced that kids age 12 to 15 are able to get the COVID vaccine. I just turned 13, and a lot of my friends are eager to get it. Can you tell us more about that decision?

Dr. Walensky:

We have known that the Pfizer vaccine, when it was first authorized, went down to kids ages 16 and up. What they generally do in studies is first, they test them in the adult ages. And then they do different kinds of studies to make sure that they are also safe in kids, and that [kids] are getting the same immune response.

So we looked at the data, with the Food and Drug Administration [FDA], in over 2,200 kids. And they showed that the vaccine was safe and 100% protective. There were 16 cases of COVID in the kids who didn't get a vaccine, and none in the kids who did get the vaccine. And in that context, what generally happens is the [FDA] goes first. They authorize the vaccine for this age range. And then the CDC comes in with their Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and we approve that authorization.

Jeremy:

A lot of kids have questions. The other TIME for Kids Kid Reporters shared some with me. Rory from California wants to know: "What impact do you think expanding the vaccine eligibility to 12- to 15-year-olds will have on the pandemic? And how soon will we see that impact?"

Dr. Walensky:

I hope it will have a big impact. I hope teens and tweens will be eager to get the vaccine. I have a 16-year-old. I knew he was particularly eager to get the vaccine because he was then able to go back to seeing his friends again, to go out again, to feel safer going out again.

There are about 17 million kids [in the U.S.] between the ages of 12 to 15. And they are now all eligible to get the Pfizer vaccine.

Jeremy:

What if your parents don't really want you to get vaccinated?

Dr. Walensky:

That's certainly going to be a family discussion. What I would encourage teens and parents to do is to get more information. Talk to trusted advisers in your community: your pharmacist, your pediatrician, local health departments, your clergy. Go and talk to them about the benefits and risks of potential vaccination.

Jeremy:

Here's a question from Pranav from New York: "Do the current vaccines effectively protect kids from new and emerging variants of the coronavirus?"

Dr. Walensky:

Great question. We are watching these emerging variants very, very carefully. The data out there now demonstrate that all of our vaccines work to prevent against all the variants that we have here in the United States. And we have no reason to suspect that would be different for kids [than for] for adults.

Jeremy:

Many of the TFK Kid Reporters want to know about schools. Here's a two-part question. Sophia from New Jersey asks: "How will schools handle some students being vaccinated and some not?" And Victoria from Pennsylvania asks: "Do you think that eventually, students will be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine?"

Dr. Walensky:

Both of those are really important questions. Just as we've released guidance for what you can do if you're vaccinated, we now have to revise our guidance for how schools are going to handle kids who are vaccinated and [kids] who are not. There are going to be [schools with students] ranging [from] before the age of 12 [to] above the age of 12. And then there are going to be schools that are entirely eligible.

We don't have any vision right now that we, as a part of a federal government, will require vaccination. Each city and county will make those decisions. I also want to emphasize that we are not one uniform country in terms of how we are doing in a pandemic. Areas in the country have higher rates of vaccination. Other areas have lower rates of vaccination. Similarly, some areas have high rates of disease and low rates of disease. So as schools are making those individual decisions, they're going to have to look at how their county or city is doing.

Jeremy:

Talking about schools, here's another question. Bellen in Virginia asks: "Were there changes introduced in schools during the pandemic that you recommend keeping? What are some examples?"

Dr. Walensky:

As part of our guidance for opening schools, we've done a lot of work with the schools. We had distancing, masking, cleaning, ensuring hand sanitizers were around, and ensuring that people who had symptoms had access to testing. And we want to make sure that there's good ventilation in those schools.

Many of these things remain important. If students have symptoms, they should be out of school and go get a test. We should keep cleaning surfaces in the school because surfaces, in general, should be clean. Kids should keep their hands clean. They should hand-sanitize. That's not just good for COVID, but for all respiratory viruses. One of the things that we might be able to relax is, if you're vaccinated, you might not need to wear a mask. And you probably don't need to-well, you definitely don't need to distance if you're vaccinated. So some of those things are going to be able to be relaxed, depending on the age of [students in] the classroom. And some of them we'll have to maintain.

Jeremy:

Afton from Arizona wants to know: "If I get the vaccine, I'll be vaccinated this summer. But my three younger sisters won't. What can I do to help keep them safe?"

Dr. Walensky:

There are so many families who are going to face this challenge, where they have one student who's vaccinated and younger siblings who are not. That vaccinated student is safe to be out of the house without a mask. But . . . he or she is going to have to promote the safe mitigation strategies that we have been promoting for the last many months to make sure his or her siblings are safe. So continuing to mask, continuing to distance, not being in crowded places until those younger children are eligible for vaccination.

Jeremy:

Abby from Hawaii and Miguel from Texas are both 11. They want to know when they'll be able to get the vaccine.

Dr. Walensky:

We're waiting for data from the FDA. We started first with the 16-year-olds. Then we went down to 12. I think the next bracket is going to be down to 9, and then down to 6. We're really hoping that we'll see some of those data in the fall and that we'll be able to get that age range vaccinated soon.

Jeremy:

Bellen from Virginia has another question for you. She asks: "COVID-19 has been a disproportionate burden on some groups. Can you talk about how you are connecting with and serving people from these diverse communities?"

Dr. Walensky:

This is such an important question and one that we at the CDC are really focused on. Before I came to the CDC, I was a doctor in a hospital in Massachusetts. We saw how Hispanic communities, Black and brown communities, were hit hard by this pandemic. They had higher death rates. They had higher rates of hospitalization. What we need to do now is make sure that they have adequate resources [for] vaccination. We are doing an extraordinary amount of outreach. I'm really pleased to say that just this past week, we've put some more data on the CDC website that demonstrates that we're making enormous strides in getting vaccination to the most vulnerable communities.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Spring is here, and summer is on the way. But the COVID-19 pandemic isn't over yet. What can we do to get our lives back? When can we finally relax and take our masks off? Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky has...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
For many Americans, spring and summer mean more time outdoors­—and lots of bugs. In fact, diseases spread by insect bites have tripled in the United States in recent years. That’s according to a new report by the Centers for Disease…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Nana Kwabena was in and out of the hospital as a kid. He was born with sickle cell disease. It is a blood disorder that can be passed from parents to their children. Kwabena’s brother, Kwame Baffoe-Bonnie, died of the…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As the delivery truck snaked its way over Northern California's highways, analysts watched every aspect of its journey. They could see the stops the driver made. They knew the weather outside. Most important, they knew the condition of the precious cargo on board: thousands of doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

In the truck were boxes containing trays of the vaccine. Each tray held at least 975 doses, packed with sensors, tracking devices, and dry ice. In December, Pfizer became the first company to ship COVID-19 vaccine in the United States. The doses must remain frozen at between -112°F and -76°F. That's colder than normal freezer temperatures. (Your home freezer is probably about 0°F.)

SCOTTY PERRY-BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES

The analysts spotted a problem. A couple of the trays had gotten logistics × logistics too cold. A call was made to the truck driver, who was told not to deliver those trays. "They never left the truck," Gustave Perna told reporters on December 16. He's in charge of LUCY LAMBRIEX-GETTY IMAGES the details of a project, such as how things get from one place to another (noun) I handled the logistics of my friend's surprise party. for Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. vaccine program. "We returned them immediately."

Shipping COVID-19 vaccine is tricky. Transporting millions of vials to each corner of the country is tough on its own. But keeping the doses properly frozen is even harder. To ensure safe delivery, the U.S. government, drugmakers, and delivery companies have developed a network of monitoring devices and detection systems.

Helpful Technology

Every box of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine includes a GPS device, a temperature monitor, and a bar code that's scanned once it reaches its destination. If the doses end up in the wrong location, or if the vials get too hot or cold, officials are immediately alerted.

MICHAEL CLEVENGER-GETTY IMAGES/POOL

This information streams into the Vaccine Operations Center, in Washington, D.C. That's where officials watch over Operation Warp Speed. There, dozens of analysts work behind rows of computer monitors. Four large screens glow with data about the day's deliveries. The team there watched the temperature problem unfold in Northern California. Later, it saw the same issue in Mobile, Alabama. "Same anomaly × anomaly MUSTAFA MAKI/EYEEM-GETTY IMAGES something unusual (noun) A hurricane like that is an anomaly for this area. ," Perna says.

This was one of the first delivery problems that Perna and his team faced. It won't be the last. The trouble with the deliveries was an inconvenience. But officials were glad that the technology meant to detect it had worked. Replacement trays were sent to Alabama and California.

More On the Way

Another vaccine, made by the company Moderna, is now being distributed. It requires long-term storage and shipping at -4°F. That's far less cold than the Pfizer vaccine requires. And more vaccines are nearing approval.

PAUL SANCYA-GETTY IMAGES/POOL

To keep track of it all, the government developed new software. It's called Tiberius. It lets state and federal agencies see their orders and track their vaccines within the areas they serve. "They can dive in and really go into great detail on making decisions," says Operation Warp Speed's Deacon Maddox.

Each Thursday, vaccine producers tell Operation Warp Speed how much vaccine is available for the upcoming week. On Friday, Tiberius runs a program to determine how many doses are available to each state. On Saturday, states finalize their orders. Deliveries arrive on Monday.

JESSICA RINALDI-THE BOSTON GLOBE/GETTY IMAGES

Operation Warp Speed had hoped to vaccinate 20 million Americans against COVID-19 by the end of 2020. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 4.5 million people had gotten a dose by January 4. Former CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden told TIME that the country "should be focusing on getting the vaccine out as rapidly, as widely, and as equitably × equitably JOHN FEDELE-GETTY IMAGES in a fair way (adverb) The doctor made sure that his patients were treated equitably. as possible."

The first people to be vaccinated have been healthcare workers and the elderly. But even with technology lending a helping hand, a vaccine isn't expected to be available to most Americans until at least spring.

PATRICK SEMANSKY-GETTY IMAGES/POOL

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As the delivery truck snaked its way over Northern California's highways, analysts watched every aspect of its journey. They could see the stops the driver made. They knew the weather outside. Most important, they knew the condition of the precious...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Handwashing is one of the easiest ways to protect against disease, including COVID-19. But how do you wash your hands when you don't have running water?

Lack of running water and soap is a problem for 3 billion people in the world, according to the World Health Organization and UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund. Tippy taps are one solution. These low-cost handwashing stations are helping people stay healthy.

Clean Hands Around the World

In Uganda, Faridah Luanda has been teaching her neighbors how to make tippy taps. She lives at Kyaka II, a refugee × refugee JOEL CARILLET-GETTY IMAGES" a person who flees his or her home country for safety (noun) Many refugees from Syria now live in camps far from home. settlement. "Washing hands is very difficult in our community," she told TIME for Kids. "We don't have access to washing facilities." When the pandemic started and people were told to clean their hands frequently, "we needed to be creative," Luanda says.

There are different ways to build and use tippy taps. But the basic tools include a plastic water bottle, soap, and rope. Hang the bottle from a branch or pole. Press a foot pedal to tip the bottle and release water. Then wet your hands and scrub with soap for at least 20 seconds. Done!

In Guatemala, a group called Buenos Vecinos ("good neighbors") teamed up with the Rotary Club of Columbia Falls, Montana, to build tippy taps. "Sometimes, the little things make such a big difference," Rotary Club member and project leader Dave Renfrow says.

Kids from the Lake & Park School, in Seattle, Washington, heard about the project. They raised $4,000 to support it. At press time, Buenos Vecinos had worked with people in several Guatemalan villages to set up nearly 400 tippy taps. Each cost about $12 to make.

Tippy taps are also being used in the United States. In Tucson, Arizona, they're helping the homeless. Two were set up at a shelter called Sister José Women's Center. The pandemic forced the shelter to close temporarily × temporarily CAVAN IMAGES-GETTY IMAGES for a short or limited time and likely to change (adverb) The training wheels are only on my bike temporarily. . But workers continued to pass out food. "We needed a way to let people wash their hands" before eating, executive director Jean Fedigan says. "The tippy tap is such a simple solution."

Luanda agrees. When TFK spoke with her, she and her neighbors had set up 800 tippy taps in the refugee settlement. "We are helping ourselves," Luanda says. "Children, people with disabilities, other vulnerable people-they cannot be left behind."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Handwashing is one of the easiest ways to protect against disease, including COVID-19. But how do you wash your hands when you don't have running water? Lack of running water and soap is a problem for 3 billion people in...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The new coronavirus pandemic is historic. But this isn't the first time a virus has sickened people around the globe. Pandemics have happened throughout history.

The most recent pandemic started just over a decade ago, in 2009, with the outbreak of a new kind of H1N1 flu called the swine flu. The illness most likely started in North America, and it quickly spread around the world.

Swine flu wasn't nearly as deadly as the coronavirus. That made it much easier to control. Governments did not have to issue stay-at-home orders like we are seeing today. By late 2009, vaccines were available to prevent people from becoming sick.

Throughout History

Before the modern era of pandemics, the United States was hit hard by yellow fever, which arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1793. Yellow fever attacks a person's liver and kidneys. The disease got its name because it causes the skin to take on a yellow tint.

Back then, scientists didn't understand what caused yellow fever or how it spread, which made it difficult to stop the outbreak. But when the weather in Philadelphia cooled down in the fall, the outbreak let up. That's because yellow fever is spread by mosquitoes, which aren't active in cold weather-though scientists wouldn't learn that until a century later. Today, yellow fever can be prevented with a vaccine. The disease is no longer a concern in the U.S., but people traveling to parts of Africa and South America may be required to take precautions.

In 1918, a true pandemic hit, caused by a new kind of flu called the Spanish flu. (The disease didn't actually start in Spain, but newspapers there were among the first to report on it. So people started calling it the Spanish flu, and the name stuck.)

Experts believe that one third of the world's population was infected with the Spanish flu. Many historians have compared it to the new coronavirus. "They're similar in the way they infect people," historian John Barry told TIME for Kids. "They're similar in the way they spread." Both the coronavirus and Spanish flu can affect a person's lungs. And they both spread when a person coughs, sneezes, or talks.

Stopping the Spread

During the Spanish flu pandemic, the U.S. put in place restrictions similar to those we're seeing today. People were asked to wear face masks and encouraged to wash their hands. Officials limited large gatherings and ordered people to quarantine themselves.

"Quarantine is centuries and centuries old," says Katherine Foss. She's an author and professor who has studied pandemics throughout history. "It's the number-one practice that is used to stop an outbreak. And it works even when scientists don't know what is making people sick."

Science has come a long way since 1918. Back then, doctors didn't even have microscopes that were powerful enough to let them see the viruses that cause pandemics. Today, scientists and doctors have advanced technology to help them battle the new coronavirus. "But since we're dealing with a brand-new virus that nobody has ever seen before, it still takes time to develop vaccines and treatments using modern medicine," Barry says. "In the meantime, the only thing left to fight it with are public-health measures like quarantine."

Barry says that although there have been many pandemics throughout history, kids should understand that this one is unusually severe.

"This is something you're going to remember for the rest of your life," he says. "This is not ordinary. This is a special time that requires special courage. You have an opportunity to rise to greatness. Social distancing matters, and it saves lives."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The new coronavirus pandemic is historic. But this isn't the first time a virus has sickened people around the globe. Pandemics have happened throughout history. The most recent pandemic started just over a decade ago, in 2009, with the outbreak...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A November 1 report by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) lists 10 cases of salmonella across six states in recent months. Eight people have been hospitalized, and one has died. Symptoms of salmonella can include fever and stomach cramps.…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
People in Washington and Oregon are rushing to get a vaccine × vaccine CARL D. WALSH-PORTLAND PRESS HERALD/GETTY IMAGES a medicine given to protect against a disease (noun) He went to the doctor's office to get a vaccine. that can protect them from the measles virus. About 4,500 people in Clark County, Washington, were vaccinated between January 13 and February 2.

Why the concern? Washington and Oregon have seen a measles outbreak. More than 50 people were infected, most of them children.

Measles is a virus that lives in the nose and throat. Illness starts with cold-like symptoms, followed by a rash. The virus can spread to others through coughing and sneezing. This makes it highly contagious × contagious BLEND IMAGES-KIDSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES able to be passed from one person or animal to another (adjective) My sister can't come to school because her flu is still contagious. . If one person has measles, 90% of the people close by will become infected if they have not been immunized.

Outbreaks typically occur where groups of people are not vaccinated. In Clark County, only 78% of kids had received the measles vaccine. Health authorities say a community must have an immunization rate of 95% to be safe against the virus.

In 17 states, the law lets parents choose not to have a child vaccinated for an unspecified personal reason. Washington lawmakers are reviewing their state's law.

"There's no reason we should be having this outbreak," says Alan Melnick. He is director of public health for Clark County. "We have vaccines that are very cheap, very effective, and very, very safe."

Stop & Think! What facts and details does the author include in this story to help readers understand the issue? What other information could he have included to expand the story?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
People in Washington and Oregon are rushing to get a vaccine that can protect them from the measles virus. About 4,500 people in Clark County, Washington, were vaccinated between January 13 and February 2. Why the concern? Washington and Oregon...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Skip to main content

More than 6 million people in the United States have gotten the flu this season, according to a report released on January 11. The report is by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "Flu activity is widespread in many states," Dr. Alicia Fry told the New York Times. Fry works for the CDC's influenza division.

The flu is a disease caused by the influenza virus. It is contagious. Symptoms include fever, chills, and tiredness. Flu season typically runs from October to March in the U.S. Last year's flu season had the highest number of reported cases since 2009.

Washing your hands frequently with soap and water will lower your chances of getting the flu. But a flu shot is the most effective way to reduce the risk. "It's really not too late to get vaccinated," Fry says.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
More than 6 million people in the United States have gotten the flu this season, according to a report released on January 11. The report is by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "Flu activity is widespread...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Navajo code talkers joined the United States Marines during World War II. It was their job to develop a code. The code was based on their native language. Messages sent by code talkers could not be understood by the Japanese military.

"It was the hardest thing to learn," Thomas H. Begay says. He spoke yesterday at an event in Phoenix, Arizona. "But we were able to develop a code that couldn't be broken by the enemy of the United States."

The Navajo code talkers program began 80 years ago. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan established August 14 as Navajo Code Talkers Day.

The U.S. military recruited about 400 Navajo as code talkers. Begay, 98, is one of three who are alive today.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Navajo code talkers joined the United States Marines during World War II. It was their job to develop a code. The code was based on their native language. Messages sent by code talkers could not be understood by the Japanese...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The historic remains of the ship Endurance have been found nearly 10,000 feet beneath the Weddell Sea, in Antarctica. Explorer Ernest Shackleton led the ship’s 1914 expedition. Endurance set sail from England and got stuck in Antarctic ice for 10…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939.

The war ended in 1945. Germany surrendered in May and their ally, Japan, surrendered in September.

The war involved the world's major powers, including Britain, France, Russia, the USA, China and Japan. This guide looks at some of the key events of World War Two.

World War Two was a global conflict that involved most of the world's countries. These countries formed two opposing military , which fought against each other throughout the war. These alliances were known as the Allies and the Axis powers.

The main members of these alliances are listed in the table:

Allies

Axis

United Kingdom

Germany

USA

Italy

Soviet Union

Japan

Although Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, there was only a small amount of fighting. The SS Athenia, a British ship, was sunk by a German U-boat while transporting evacuees to Canada. France made a small-scale attempt to attack Germany through the Saar region, but this was soon abandoned. This period of time is often referred to as the 'Phoney War'.

The German army was sweeping through Europe. Their tactics were known as 'Blitzkrieg', which means 'lightning war'. They quickly overwhelmed the defences and armed forces of countries they invaded.

Britain had soldiers fighting from many different countries in its empire. For instance, Major Mohammad Akbar Khan, an Indian soldier, was in charge of 300 Indian soldiers and 23 British troops. He led them through Dunkirk's heavily bombed harbour. To find out more about the role of troops from across the British Empire during World War Two, read this guide.

The evacuation of Dunkirk also meant Britain was left to fight against Germany without France, one of its key allies. Churchill privately called Dunkirk 'a colossal military disaster', which showed his concern about the loss of men and equipment.

The German air force, the Luftwaffe, fought against the British RAF from July to October 1940, in the Battle of Britain. The RAF were victorious, meaning Germany had to change their tactics to try and invade Britain.

Despite signing the Nazi-Soviet Pact in 1939, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. This was codenamed Operation Barbarossa. This meant Germany was now fighting a war on two fronts, against Britain in the west and the Soviet Union in the east.

Operation Barbarossa failed. There were mistakes in planning and tactics which meant Germany couldn't take advantage of early successes. The winter in the Soviet Union also made it difficult. Fuel froze in German tanks and vehicles, and German soldiers froze to death as they weren't given enough winter clothing.

There were many casualties. Germany suffered over 1 million, while the Soviet Union had almost 5 million.

What happened at Pearl Harbor?

Show more Show less

The USA had officially remained neutral when World War Two broke out. However, American President Franklin Roosevelt was keen to provide support to Britain. On 7 December 1941, a Sunday morning, Japan carried out a surprise attack on the American Naval base at Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii.

The bombing followed several years of rising tension between Japan and the USA. The USA had imposed economic sanctions on Japan, which affected trade in goods such as oil and aircraft, and prevented Japan from becoming a bigger global power. Moreover, the USA did not expect Japan to attack them in Hawaii, which meant that they had relatively few defences in place at Pearl Harbor. Japan took advantage of this in the knowledge that, if they could destroy the base, it would mean that they could have control of the Pacific.

The attack killed 2,335 American troops and damaged or destroyed 21 US Navy ships. On 8 December, Roosevelt spoke to Congress and declared war on Japan and Germany. This was one of the turning points in the war, resulting in American troops and supplies joining the war in Europe to support Britain.

The support of American forces was crucial for Britain. By early 1944, plans were being made to return to France to try and push Germany back. British, American and Canadian troops planned to land on beaches in Normandy with the aim of liberating France from German occupation. To try and deceive Germany, hundreds of fake wooden planes were built and placed near Dover, to convince German pilots flying over Britain that an invasion was going to take place at Calais. This plan was effective in helping troops land at Normandy with less resistance.

The landings took place on 6 June 1944. This was known as D-Day. 160,000 troops landed on the Normandy beaches; over 4,000 lost their lives. The invasion was a success, and German forces were driven back. This was a key moment in the war and turned it in the Allies' favour.

Following the D-Day landings, Allied troops began to push Germany back from the west. At the same time, Soviet troops were advancing towards Germany from the east. By February 1945, the Allies were confident enough of victory that they met at Yalta to discuss how to rebuild Europe and recover from the effects of war.

In April 1945, Allied troops entered Berlin. Hitler, realising that defeat was now inevitable, died by suicide on 12 April. Germany surrendered on 8 May. This is known as VE Day (Victory in Europe Day).

While Germany had surrendered, the continued. One of the most significant events of World War Two happened in 1945. This was the dropping of on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by American forces.

The decision to drop the atom bomb was taken by President Harry S. Truman, who had replaced Franklin Roosevelt following his death in April 1945. On 6 August 1945, Truman ordered an atom bomb to be dropped on the city of Hiroshima. It was dropped by a bomber plane named the Enola Gay. It is thought that at least 140,000 people were killed, of a total population of around 350,000.

When the atom bomb was dropped:

It exploded with the force of 20,000 tons of TNTTNT An explosive material commonly used in bombs. .

The temperature at the centre of the explosion reached 3000ºC - 4000ºC - three times hotter than volcanic lava.

Everything within a mile of the centre of the blast was flattened.

Fires spread and around 67 per cent of Hiroshima's buildings were destroyed.

Three days after the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a second one was dropped on the city of Nagasaki by a bomber plane called Bockscar. A further 74,000 people, at least, were killed. The Japanese Emperor, Hirohito, announced that Japan would surrender on 15 August. They formally signed a surrender agreement on 2 September.

This brought World War Two to an end.

Why did President Truman decide to use the atom bomb?

Show more Show less

Historians believe that there were several reasons for Truman's decision to drop atom bombs on Japanese cities.

One of these was that the USA had been involved in a bombing campaign against Japan since 1942, which had not enabled them to achieve their military aims. In the last seven months of this campaign, American forces had tried 'fire bombing'. This involved causing damage to an area using fire, set off by highly flammable devices, rather than the blast effect of a bomb. This was instead of using precision bombing, which usually targeted more specific areas, such as a particular building. Fire bombing had killed up to 500,000 people, destroyed 67 Japanese cities and left 5 million people homeless.

In July 1945, the Pacific War had been moving very slowly. There was a lot of fighting between the Allies and Japan. Japan was preparing to fight an invasion from the Allies, and they were gathering millions of troops to do this. The USA was worried that invading Japan could result in millions of American casualties, and make the war last even longer. Truman said that dropping the atom bomb would bring the war to a quicker end, and therefore save the lives of American soldiers.

Some historians have also suggested that Truman was worried that the communist Soviet Union might want more influence in Japan and its surrounding countries. Others believe that Truman decided to drop the atom bombs as a big show of 'strength', to show the Soviet Union that the USA was very powerful.

The consequences of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were huge:

Hundreds of thousands of people were killed, while lots more suffered terrible injuries.

Many people who survived the dropping of the atom bombs suffered from poor health, caused by exposure to radiation in the aftermath of the bombs. In Japanese, the survivors of the atom bomb are known as 'hibakusha'.

By the 1950s, the USA and the Soviet Union had developed an even more powerful weapon, known as the hydrogen bombhydrogen bomb An extremely powerful nuclear weapon, capable of causing even more destruction than the atom bombs used during World War Two. It works by releasing a huge amount of energy, like an atom bomb. This explosion causes the heating of hydrogen, which starts a series of further nuclear reactions. . This could cause even more destruction than the atom bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The dropping of the atom bombs on Japan was a globally significant event. Many historians believe that it changed the world forever. This is because it led to the development of even more powerful weapons and because it had a huge impact on relationships between countries.

After World War Two, there was a lot of tension between the USA and the Soviet Union, but they did not start a war with one another because both countries had nuclear weapons. Both countries knew that, if they used nuclear weapons, entire countries could be destroyed, and millions of people would be killed. For many years, people lived with great fear that there could be a nuclear war. This period of tension was known as the Cold War.

More on World War Two and the Holocaust

Find out more by working through a topic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
World War Two: An Overview - World War Two and the Holocaust - KS3 History - homework help for year 7, 8 and 9. - BBC Bitesize

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Find out about World War Two with BBC Bitesize History. For students between the ages of 11 and 14.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Get the basics on how flu spreads and how to protect yourself.

# data[].attributes.headline
International Space Station Virtual Tour

# data[].attributes.subject
International Space Station Virtual Tour

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The first earthling to orbit our planet was just two years old, plucked from the streets of Moscow barely more than a week before her historic launch. Her name was Laika. She was a terrier mutt and by all accounts a good dog. Her 1957 flight paved the way for space exploration back when scientists didn't know if spaceflight was lethal for living things.

Humans are explorers. Since before the dawn of civilization, we've been lured over the horizon to find food or more space, to make a profit, or just to see what's beyond those trees or mountains or oceans. Our ability to explore reached new heights-literally-in the last hundred years. Airplanes shortened distances, simplified travel, and showed us Earth from a new perspective. By the middle of the last century, we aimed even higher.

Our first steps into space began as a race between the United States and the former Soviet Union, rivals in a global struggle for power. Laika was followed into orbit four years later by the first human, Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin. With Earth orbit achieved, we turned our sights on the moon. The United States landed two astronauts on its stark surface in 1969, and five more manned missions followed. The U.S.'s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched probes to study the solar system. Manned space stations began glittering in the sky. NASA developed reusable spacecraft-space shuttle orbiters-to ferry astronauts and satellites to orbit. Space-travel technology had advanced light-years in just three decades. Gagarin had to parachute from his spaceship after reentry from orbit. The space shuttle leaves orbit at 16,465 miles an hour (26,498 kilometers an hour) and glides to a stop on a runway without using an engine.

Space travel is nothing like in the movies. Getting from A to B requires complex calculations involving inertia and gravity-literally, rocket science-to "slingshot" from planet to planet (or moon) across the solar system. The Voyager mission of the 1970s took advantage of a rare alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune to shave off nearly 20 years of travel time. Space is also dangerous. More than 20 astronauts have died doing their job.

That hasn't stopped people from signing up and blasting off. NASA's shuttle program has ended, but private companies are readying their own space programs. A company called Planetary Resources plans to send robot astronauts to the Asteroid Belt to mine for precious metals. Another company named SpaceX is hoping to land civilian astronauts on Mars-the next human step into the solar system-in 20 years. NASA and other civilian companies are planning their own Mars missions. Maybe you'll be a member of one? Don't forget to bring your dog.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The first earthling to orbit our planet was just two years old, plucked from the streets of Moscow barely more than a week before her historic launch. Her name was Laika. She was a terrier mutt and by all accounts a good dog.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Demographics of the
TITANIC Passengers:
Deaths, Survivals,
Nationality,
and Lifeboat Occupancy

I hesitated before creating yet another Titanic Web site, but after I saw the movie Titanic [that tells you how long this page has been around], I was inspired to finish up some research I had started quite some time before. I was curious about the demographics of the passengers and crew of the Titanic -- who perished, who survived, and who occupied which lifeboats. How gravely was the tragedy enhanced by gender, class distinction, and prejudice?

On this site I have compiled numbers, comparing several different sources. The numbers make it all too clear that a rule of First Class First far outweighed the principle of Women and Children First. In addition to simply compiling numbers, however, I have included some notes and analysis and share the sources I used to compile the data.

Deaths and Survivals
Compared:
Women, Children, and Men

Breakdown of Passengers by Class

Women

Children

Men

Total

First Class
Women (Servants*)

First Class
Men (Servants*)

Second Class
Women (Servants*)

Second Class
Children

Total: 25
Died: 0
Survived: 25
% Survived: 100%

Second Class
Men (Servants*)

Further Steerage Breakdown

Breakdown of Passengers by Nationality

Nationality FIRST CLASS SECOND CLASS THIRD CLASS Total

Total

Survived

Died

Percent Survived

Total

Survived

Died

Percent Survived

Total

Survived

Died

Percent Survived

Total

Survived

Died

Percent Survived

Belgian

1

1

0

100%

1

0

1

0%

22

5

17

23%

24

6

18

25%

Bulgarian

0

0

33

0

33

0%

33

0

33

0%

FIRST CLASS SECOND CLASS THIRD CLASS Total

Total

Survived

Died

Percent Survived

Total

Survived

Died

Percent Survived

Total

Survived

Died

Percent Survived

Total

Survived

Died

Percent Survived

The nationality numbers were adapted from lists and raw data compiled by Hermann Söldner. Note: the numbers on this chart do not match the totals on the two tables above. Although I can account for some of the discrepancies (for example, I think he included the musicians among the British Second Class passengers, but I did not), I do not have enough information about his sources to be able to square his numbers with my own.

Breakdown of Officers and Crew
by Employment Category

Women

Men

Total

Total
Female Sailing Crew

None.

Total
Female Staff, non-White Star Employees

Total
Female Staff and Crew

Demographics
of the Lifeboats

Order launched

Time
launched

Number of boat, location

Approx. No. aboard / Capacity / Percentage

Class of
passengers

Men, other than crew, aboard?

5th or 6th

1:10

1
OFFICERS Deck,
Starboard

12/40
30%

only FIRST

10 of the 12 were men

15th

1:45

2
OFFICERS Deck,
Port

20/40
50%

FIRST & THIRD

men were removed from the boat before it was moved for launch. At least 1 aboard by the time of launch.

16th

34/65
52%

Primarily FIRST

none initially, but a few male passengers were hauled aboard; only First Class Deck lifeboat to haul up passengers.

17th

1:50

39/49
80+%

primarily THIRD,
some FIRST

at least 10, including J. Bruce Ismay, White Star director

18th

2:05

17/49
35%

all

at least 4, including those hauled out of water

not launched;
floated off
partially
submerged

2:20

unknown (only 13 reached the Carpathian alive)/49

all but 1 were men

2:20

unknown (only 28 reached the Carpathian alive)/49

all men, but few were passengers

NOTES ON THE TABLES ABOVE

1. There is no exact or definitive number for the people aboard the Titanic, nor for those who survived. Estimates you can find on the web range widely, and even among reputiable scholars, numbers differ by as many as 40 passengers. There are official documents, such as a Contract Ticket List, a Certificates of Clearance, lists of alien passengers prepared for the United States Immigration Service. There were two official lists of deceased passengers created in 1912. There are discrepancies, inaccuracies, inconsistences, omissions, and other mistakes with both names and numbers. Researchers, such as Michael A. Findlay, Philip Hind, and Lester J. Mitcham, have been able to correct many errors and solve many mysteries, but there will always be a few problems that will never be solved. Because of their research, however, even if an exact number will never be known, wild guesses and faulty estimates from the past can now be rejected.

2. In several cases the distinction between a passenger and a member of the crew is not clear. Some employees, such as musicians and employees of Harland and Wolff (the shipbuilder), were on board for work. So, even if they were given First or Second Class accommodations, I have included them among the crew, not among the passengers. Until recently, 1296 was my total for number of passengers in the first table. That figure was based on research done by Michael Findlay in the 1990s. With the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, I did some more tabulations, based on more recent estimates and revised it upward to 1300. The number of passengers in the first and second tables now agree. The total numbers in the table for nationalities do not agree, however, since they are based on calculations done by Hermann Söldner, who must have used different sources than I have.

3. Despite the discrepancies, I think the numbers are close enough to draw some legitimate conclusions. However, I urge you use caution and skepticism as you review them.

4. Figures for the crew are even less reliable than the numbers for passengers. No accurate crew list was compiled at the time.

DISCUSSION OF THE TABLES ABOVE

To me, a non-statistician, the tables above show significant indications of class discrimination. Evidence of numbers and testimony have proven that only on one side of the Titanic did the rule "Women and children first," apply. What becomes even more clear when looking at the numbers is that a more important concept of the day was "First Class first."

CLASS DISTINCTIONS

1. For some perspective, here is the price of tickets: First Class tickets ranged from £30 for a berth to £870 for a luxury suite with a private fifty-foot promenade and the only private lavatory and toilet facilities in all the ship. A Second Class ticket could be purchased for as little as £12. Steerage tickets ranged from £3 (for children) to £8, but family tickets were also available to make tickets even more affordable to large families. I have seen various estimates of how much that would be worth in current US dollars, so I think it makes more sense to make a different comparison. The cheapest ticket would have cost a clerk, typist, or shipyard worker a month's salary, and in many cases families would have had to use all their savings to afford the passage. The most expensive First Class ticket was similar in price to that of a very expensive luxury automobile.

2. The lifeboats were launched from the First Class decks first and the Second Class decks second. There were no decks or lifeboats dedicated to the Third Class.

3. First Class suites, berths, and social rooms were located principally on the center of the ship on decks A, B, and C (or more poetically the Boat Deck, Promenade Deck and Bridge Deck), with additional cabins on decks D and E. They had either immediate or easy access to the Boat Deck where all of the lifeboats were housed. Lifeboats numbered 1 through 8, which were the first to be launched, were located in the fore of the ship, the First Class Deck. The numbers indicate that First Class Passengers utilized any lifeboat available without compunction.

4. Second Class rooms were mostly located on decks D and E, with some on lower decks F and G. Where Second Class passengers were on the same deck as First Class passengers, the Second Class passengers were further aft. Some Second Class passengers would have had easy access through a stairway to the stern of the Boat Deck (Second Class Deck) where lifeboats numbered 9 through 16 were located. More by cultural than physcial barriers, the Second Class passengers would have been prohibited from entering the First Class section of the Boat Deck.

5. Steerage passengers had rooms on lower decks F and G, with some exceptions, and no direct or immediate access to lifeboats on the boat deck. Many steerage passengers who survived did so only by reaching the last of the lifeboats that were launched.

6. It is difficult for us now living more than a century later to realize and imagine how different people lived and thought. Bigotry of all sorts, especially classism and racism were commonplace and accepted or expected by both the privileged classes and races and the underprivileged.

7. By law, passed for public health reasons, gates separating steerage passengers from the other passengers had to be locked. Back then steerage passengers were equated with emigrants who were equated with disease and pestilence, and it was thought important to give passengers in more luxurious accommodations peace of mind that the ship would not breed contagion or other hazards to their well-being. The locked gates proved to be the most deadly, but there were other measures used on steerage passengers alone. Before boarding, steerage passengers had to submit to a health inspection, for at least obvious signs of infection, lice, or disease.As a public health measure, the public toilets in steerage had an automatic flushing feature.

8. Since adult male passengers were more likely to die than women and children, the sex of the passengers should probably by factored in when comparing the survival rate by class, but the percentages are not significantly different. More than 62% of the steerage passengers were adult males, compared to and 64% in Second Class, and 57% of the First Class passengers.

9. There is contradictory evidence about the degree of physical restraint used to keep steerage passengers from getting to the lifeboats. In addition to the reports that the locked gates remained locked, there were stories that passageways were blocked by armed guards. Testimony by at least one steerage passenger indicated there was no such restraint, which if true would indicate at least one crew member to unlock and free the passageways.

10. Annie Kelly, an Irish steerage passenger, said that the stewards not only did not wake the steerage passengers with an alarm but told alarmed third class passenger who came up to the deck to go back down as there was no danger. However, similar assurances were given to First and Second Class passengers.

11. Colonel Archibald Gracie testified at the American inquiry that a "mass of humanity" from steerage poured up onto the boat deck only after all the lifeboats had been launched.

12. According to several writers and historians, indifference toward steerage passengers and resignation by many steerage passengers may have been more responsible for the low percentages of steerage passenger survival than physical barriers.

13. Walter Lord, in A Night To Remember, indicates that the White Star Line always denied class distinction in filling the boats, and that both US Senate and British inquiries backed them up.

14. A contempt for "foreigners" was admitted by the crew in their own testimony, especially when telling stories of men who showed cowardice. The testimony of one officer at the U.S. Senate hearing so angered the Italian ambassador he demanded (and received) a retraction and an apology.

WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST?

1. In simple terms, almost all of the women and children in First and Second Class survived, while most of the women and children in steerage died. In contrast, most of the men in First, Second, and Third Class died.

2. The "Women and children only" rule was applied on the port side of the ship. It is not clear whether or not the "Women and children first" rule was applied on the starboard. Men comprised the majority of passengers aboard the First Class starboard deck lifeboats, but there was testimony that the men did wait until all the women present and willing had already boarded.

3. First Class women and children were about 6% of those aboard the Titanic, but constituted 20% of the survivors. In contrast, steerage passengers were a third of all aboard, but only one fourth of those saved.

4. At least three of the four women in First Class who perished had the opportunity to board a lifeboat but elected to stay with their husbands and/or family. When they initially made their decisions, most passengers still believed that the Titanic would and could not sink and may have been fearful for the safety of the lifeboats and the boarding process itself. There were several

5. Over half of the women in steerage perished.

6. All of the lifeboats launched from the starboard First Class Deck had more men than women aboard.

7. Who was a child was relative depending on class. For example, 14 year old Lucile Carter in First Class was considered a child, but a 14 year old Annie McGowan in Steerage was considered to be an adult. The only child in First Class to go down with the ship was Lorraine Allison. The Allison family was separated from their infant son. The Allisons refused to board a lifeboat until they could find their missing baby. Since the child's nurse had already been taken him on board a lifeboat, the rest of his family never found him and died together.

8. It may be statistically insignificant because of low numbers, but children from Second Class were the only members of a group to have a 100% survival rate.

9. Less than a third of the children from steerage survived.

10. Although half of the Irish women (defined as women boarding in Queenstown) survived, only one of the six Irish children survived (and I am including 14 year old Annie McGowan, whom some do not).

ADULT MALE PASSENGERS

1. Honor and shame ruled society in 1912 unlike they do a hundred years later. Gentlemen were expected to be honorable and feared being shamed. Men aboard the Titanic, especially those among the upper class, had to weigh their own survival with doing what society would deem the right thing. To survive but live in shame was a risk some men would not take. Different men, dispite which class they belonged to, made different decisions. Famously several of the wealthiest men, John Jacob Astor, George Widener, and Isodor Strauss, refused to board a lifeboat on grounds of honor, even after it was clear that the Titanic would sink.

2. Men in First Class had no better than a one in three chance of surviving, so compared to women, even women from steerage, they fared poorly. Compared to men from other classes, they did remarkably well. At the time when most of the lifeboats from the First Class decks were launching, it was not certain among the passengers that the Titanic was doomed, and many of the men from First Class who could have gone aboard a lifeboat (those on the starboard side) elected to remain behind.

3. Even though some men had no trouble boarding lifeboats, there was a report that the wealthiest man on the Titanic, John Jacob Astor, attempted to board the lifeboat with his wife, but was rebuffed by Second Officer Lightoller, who told him, "Women and children, only, sir." Other accounts are differ, however, including one that he was seated in a lifeboat, but gave up his seat at the last minute. Another is that Astor chose to stay behind to encourage William Carter to get on board, promising the boy that he would take care of his dog.

4. An adult male in Second Class had only an 8% chance of surviving. Even adult male steerage passengers had a better chance of surviving than that. Without supporting evidence, it is hard to say that the men from Second Class gave up their seats to women from steerage, but if it was true, they were more gallant by far than the men from First Class.

5. Men in Second Class had no physical barriers to pass, so honor and resignation may have reigned high. However, more compelling than a sense of good manners and gentlemanliness was probably the stigma of shame and cowardice that would be attached to many adult males who had the audacity to survive the sinking. As a result, adult male survivors had compelling reasons for their defensiveness and inventions of excuses for boarding a lifeboat.

6. Panic and confusion may have been an even greater consideration for the loss of life by many men. As Lawrence Beesley, a Second Class passenger, reported in his 1912 book, The Loss of the SS Titanic, a false rumor that men were allowed to board lifeboats on the port side caused many men to cross over to the side of the ship where they had a much smaller chance of being allowed on board a lifeboat.

7. A high percentage of the men in steerage who got to lifeboats reached them only by leaping onto them after they were launched or by scrambling aboard the two emergency lifeboats as they floated off moments before the Titanic finally went down.

1. The numbers used above are adapted from a list of country of origin created by researcher Hermann Soldner. His compilations were published in Switzerland in 2000 as a booklet, "RMS Titanic: Passenger and Crew List 10 April 1912-15 April 1912." His research was used as the primary source for the Country of Residence section of the Encyclopedia Titanica.

2. Most official lists provide no breakdown by nationality beyond British and Non-British.

3. If any stereotype can be read in the demographics, one might be tempted to cite those spunky Irish, almost all of whom were in steerage, but whom survived by greater precentage than the British, of whom only slightly more than half were in steerage. However, to put that premise in doubt, even more significant is that almost half of the Irish were women, and gender, not nationality, may have been a greater factor in determining likelihood of survival.

4. Passengers with Third Class tickets are usually billed as immigrants and refugees, and the image that that description can be bring is one of disreputable, disease-laden, dark complected foreigners. However, almost two thirds were English-tongued British, Americans, and Irish, or fair skinned Scandinavians. The British and Swedes had among the worse survival rates among nationalities in steerage.

5. By percentage, the Japanese did the best, with a 100% survival rate, but since there was only one Japanese passenger on board, that's a meaningless statistic. The Chinese, Spanish, and Swiss also had a very high survival rate, but there numbers were also all very small. The French survived as well as the Americans, but there were one tenth as many French as Americans.

6. Nationality is not equivalent to ethnicity. For example, although there is a designation for Finland, ethnic Finns living in Sweden were counted among the Swedes. As result, the number is imprecise. I have altered the number I orginally had based on figures determined by the Swedish Emigrant Institute. The majority from Austria-Hungary were neither German nor Magyar (Hungarian), but from the various Slavic ethnic groups. There were contemporary accounts of many Italians aboard the Titanic, but the statistics do not bear this out. It appears likely "Italian" was the label given most any foreigner with a dark complection.

7. Haiti is not listed, but one passenger who must have been listed as French was Joseph Philippe Lemercier Laroche, who had been born in Haiti. He had been living in France for more than a decade, and his wife and two children were all born in France. He has been called the only passenger aboard the Titanic of known African ancestry.

8. Countries, borders, and geopolitical understanding were quite different in 1912 than they are today. There were two Australians and five South Africans, but both nations were considered to be part of the British Commonwealth, so they were originally tallied as British. I have separated them out and subtracted the number from the British totals. There are probably many others from Commonwealth nations that should also be separated out. Turkey and Syria were both part of the Ottoman Empire, but researchers have discovered that most Middle Easterners aboard the Titanic were actually Lebanese Christians. Those listed as Syrians had one of the best survival rates of any nationality in steerage.

9. Because of the small sample sizes and inexact determination of ethnicity, it seems inappropriate to make any broad conclusions about the personalities of national groups based on survival rates. There was a controversy back in January 2009 that caused this site to get a huge number of hits. The controversy occurred after the BBC and other journalists reported on research that concluded that British passengers were more likely to perish than Americans because they were more polite. In any eyewitness accounts I've read, I've seen no evidence that British men failed to get on lifeboats because of a greater degree of gentlemanliness. Surely the stigma of shame and cowardice, as well as opportunity, fear, confusion, and panic, were greater factors than politeness in who boarded the lifeboats.

TITANIC CREW, EMPLOYEES, AND SERVANTS

1. The crew of the Titanic were divided into Deck Crew, Engineering Crew, and Victualling Crew. I have created my own employment category of Sailors to single out officers, able-bodied seamen, quartermasters, lookouts, and masters-at-arms from other members of the deck crew.

2. Seventy percent of the 60 sailors on board survived, many, but not all, because they had been commanded to take charge of lifeboats or to serve as rowers. It may have been the duty of the captain to go down with the ship, but that was not true for most other officers.

3. Other members of the deck crew were non-sailors. The non-sailing crew were 38% of those aboard the Titanic but only 25% of the survivors. Non-sailing crew members included trimmers, firemen, greasers, window cleaners, carpenters, messmen, engineers, stewards and stewardesses, bell boys, lift attendants, boots, baths, barbers, chefs, cooks, butchers, bakers, confectioners, platemen, scullions, medical staff, and a gymnasium instructor. Only a couple of the non-sailing crew, all firemen, were recruited as rowers on lifeboats.

4. All 30 engineer and electrical engineers perished. They were true heroes who stayed down below until almost the end trying to keep the ship afloat and the electrical system working.

5. Some members of the Titanic's crew were not employees of the White Star line. These included nine Guarantee Group members (employees of the shipbuilder, Harland and Wolff, who were on board to familiarize the crew with the ship), eight musicians, two Marconi operators, five postal clerks, and the nearly seventy members of the staff of the First Class a la carte restaurant. This group of non-White Star line crew members had the worst rate of survival.

6. The musicians, who traveled in Second Class, and the Guarantee Group, three of whom traveled in First Class and five of whom in Second Class, are included among passengers in some lists, as is Frans Olof Carlsson, who was the first mate on the liner St. Louis, but had been stranded by the coal strike and was traveling in First Class to return to his ship. I have included them with the crew. All were men; all perished.

7. Almost all of the a la carte restaurant workers were French. All but two were men. Both women, neither of whom were French, reached a lifeboat. Only one male restaurant worker survived.

8. As an indication of class distinction, the first official lists of Titanic passengers did not include the names of the maids and manservants who traveled with the First Class passengers. They were merely extensions of the passenger. For example, "Cardeza [sic], Mrs. J. W. M. and Maid."

9. The story quickly emerged that four maids died, trapped below deck, because they had been sent down to the purser's office to fetch their employers' valuables. In the first official lists, indeed, four maids are listed among those who perished, the maids of Mrs. Cardeza, Mrs. Douglas, Mrs. Hays, Mrs. Penasco y Castellana. Researcher Michael Findlay, however, has disproved the myth by documenting that all four of these women, Bertha LeRoy, Fermina Oliva y Ocana, Annie Perreault, and Anne Ward, survived. In fact, all female servants traveling in First and Second Class survived.

10. While maids, nurses, and valets traveled in First Class, three chauffeurs and a cook traveling with First Class passengers were given Second Class accommodations. The cook (a female) survived, but none of the chauffeurs (all male) did.

11. Only two menservants survived. One was Henry Sleeper Harper's Egyptian dragoman (an interpreter and guide) named Hamad Hassah, "whom he picked up in Cairo as a sort of a joke [according to Walter Lord]." The Harpers also brought on board the lifeboat their other "pet," a Pekingese, named Sun Yet-sen. The other surviving manservant was Gustave Lesueur, valet to Mr Thomas Cardeza. Cardeza was traveling with his mother, and there was a report that the mother, son, and two servants boarded Lifeboat 3 as an entourage.

LIFEBOATS

1. Lifeboats were the luxury of the First Class. The White Star Line staff was deferential to the First Class in all things, so it was natural that the launching of the lifeboats began on the First Class decks. Half the lifeboats, and all of the first six launched, contained only passengers from First Class, plus crew members to do the work. Although no one but First Class passengers could board a First Class deck lifeboat, First Class passengers were welcome to board First and Second Class deck lifeboats.

2. Lawrence Beesley, a surviving Second Class passenger, reported that several women in Second Class were turned away when they tried to enter the part of the deck reserved for First Class where half the lifeboats were located. Later, however, First Class passengers easily found their way to the lifeboats not located on the First Class deck.

3. The total capacity of the combined total of lifeboats was rated at 1,178, but the rating was not necessarily a practical number. According to testimony provided at the British inquiry, a more realistic capacity for a lifeboat rated for 65 was closer to 50, except on the most favorable conditions. On the night of the sinking of the Titanic, the sea was absolutely smooth and still -- "most favorable conditions."

4. All of these early launched "First Class" lifeboats were notorious for being launched at less than half capacity. The number of passengers was also far below what would have been a comfortable number.

5. All of the lifeboats launched from the starboard First Class Deck had more men than women aboard. Whether or not they boarded after all the women were given a chance is not certain.

6. The crew loading passengers on the port side were quite extreme in enforcing a "Women and Children Only" policy. They not only refused to allow men to board, but in at least one case, physcially removed men who had seated themselves.

7. According to testimony of Dr. Washington Dodge, a third of the lifeboats had been launched, including those furthest from capacity, before there was a general consensus among the passengers that the Titanic would or could sink.

8. Especially early on, when only the First Class passengers had the option to board, most believed that boarding a lifeboat was not wise or necessary. The crew was not well trained in lowering the boats, the pulleys did not function smoothly, so anyone watching the jerky, delayed, and hesitant lowering might easily conclude that the safer option would be to stay aboard the world's largest most luxurious lifeboat, the Titanic itself.

9. Although lifeboat 4 picked up six or eight passengers from the water and D hauled in at least one man before they distanced themselves from the ship, the only lifeboat to go back to try to rescue people after the Titanic went under was 14, not a "First Class" lifeboat. It was only able to pick up three or four passengers from the water.

10. Testimony has made it clear that Captain Smith and the chief officers of the Titanic knew before the first lifeboat was launched that the Titanic would sink, but no one among the crew took measures to ensure that all boats were adequately filled.

11. Naval traditions and social customs and some absence of knowledge did not give the crew doing the actual loading of the lifeboats any capacity for planning or making any but the most pressing reasoned judgments.

12. The decision to allow so many lifeboats to be launched at less than half capacity when it was known that the Titanic would sink in a matter of hours rested with Captain Smith. Some have charged that it was his indecision, rather than any overt decision by him, that cost so many lives.

RESOURCES WITH TITANIC FACTS AND STATISTICS

RESOURCES USED FOR CALCULATING THE TABLES:

My initial source for compiling passenger statistics was Titanic Passenger List, 10 April 1912, by Michael Findlay. Mr. Findlay is probably the world's leading authority, having spent years of research tracking down individuals from around the world to produce his list. It can be found in two print sources that I have seen. It is an appendix found inTitanic: Women and Children First, by Judith B. Geller (Norton, 1998) and Titanic: Triumph and Tragedy by John P. Eaton & Charles A. Haas (Patrick Stephens, 1994).

I have also extensively used Philip Hind's Encyclopedia Titanica, beginning when it was called R.M.S. Titanic: Her Passengers and Crew. Hind has also used Michael Findlay's list as a starting point and adapted and added to it, especially with biographical details. His is the best and almost only readily available source I know of for information about the Titanic's crew.

Hermann Soldner's booklet, "RMS Titanic: Passenger and Crew List 10 April 1912-15 April 1912," once available on the web, was my principle source for nationality information. His research data are still available in different and expanded formats on Encyclopedia Titanica.

Two researchers who have presented Titanic statistics online are Lester J. Mitcham and Chuck Anesi. Although I didn't discover their pages until after I had created my own tables, I have since compared my numbers with theirs, and though none of our statistics quite agree, their compilations were helpful as I tried to get my tables to mesh with each other.

Titanic: A Tragic Destiny, a site no longer maintained, featured a chronology and other information that I found helpful in putting together the the lifeboat table.

Titanic Inquiry Project provides the official transcripts of the inquiries made by both the British Board of Trade and the United States Senate. Thousands of pages are available and searchable.

There were earlier efforts attempted to compile passenger names and information, as well:

Walter Lord included as an appendix the passenger section of the White Star Line's final list of lost and saved, dated May 9, 1912 in his A Night To Remember (Henry Holt, 1955). The list was official, but it was full of errors.

Lists were also reported in the London Times in the days following the disaster. By April 20, the Times reproduced an official list supplied by the White Star Line. It differs in form and content from the list in A Night To Remember.

Colonel Archibald Gracie's The Truth about the Titanic (1913) was the first published attempt to compile information about who was on which lifeboats. It is incomplete and for the most part ignores steerage passengers.

All photographs used on this page are in the public domain. The animated illustration at the top of the page showing the sinking of the Titanic is based on the following six sketches of the sinking drawn by Jack Thayer, a 17-year old surviver, who also drew them while on board the Carpathian on April 15, probably not long after he came aboard. His sketches were first published to illustrate an account he wrote that was included as a chapter in Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters - As Told by First Hand Account of Survivors and Initial Investigations edited by Logan Marshall, was published in 1912 by several publishers, including The International Bible House, which was my source. Thayer controversially showed the Titanic breaking in two. This fact was not widely believed until after Robert Ballard's underwater team proved him to be right in 1985.

This page maintained by John R. Henderson (jrhenderson9 @ gmail.com).
I am a retired librarian who created this page when working at Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY.
First created on 6 June 1998. Links last checked on 26 January 2023.
URL: http://www.icyousee.org/titanic.html

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
icyousee titanic titanic unsinkable demographics sinking passengers crew lifeboat lifeboats

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
ICYouSee: discussion and analysis of the demographics of the passengers and crew of the Titanic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Discover the early development of Titanic and her sister ships, from her design and build by local shipyard workers to her launch in 1912. What was life like for passengers and crew? Feel the excitement of the crowds who gathered to see the world's largest vessel embark on its maiden voyage.

Harland & Wolff: The Beginning

In 1853 Hickson & Co was established as the first iron shipbuilders yard on Queen's Island. At the age of 23, Edward Harland was employed as the yard manager.

Such was his drive and ambition that five years later he bought the yard with the support of G.C Schwabe, a friend of his from Liverpool and the uncle of Gustav Wolff. Wolff had been working as Harland's private assistant and in 1861 the Harland & Wolff partnership was established.

Sir Edward Harland died on Christmas Eve in 1895 and many paid tribute to the contribution he had made to the success of shipbuilding in Belfast. The following year William J. Pirrie took over as chairman and a new phase in the development of the industry began.

Tools of the Trade

Workers used their own tools in the shipyard. This tool chest was owned by a Harland & Wolff shipwright who built lifeboats. It contains a caulking mallet and various caulking irons, used to drive fibres into the seams in wooden boats to make them watertight.

Here you can see a set of Harland & Wolff timekeeping boards. These were used by shipyard workers to 'clock in and out' and enabled the correct wages to be calculated for each day's work. The scale of the company meant organisation was essential. For example, when Titanic was under construction around 15,000 people were employed at Harland & Wolff.

Exceptional Workmanship

The chair, from the Second Class dining saloon on Olympic, is identical to ones that were on board Titanic. It is made from mahogany, carved in the Art Nouveau style and mounted on a cast iron base, which was screwed to the floor. The inset seat has been re-upholstered, however, the original furnishing would have been made by skilled women in workshops within Harland & Wolff.

This carved oak panel comes from a newel post on the Grand Staircase of Olympic, one of Titanic's sister ships. The beautiful design and craftsmanship was inspired by the work of seventeenth century master carver Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721). An identical panel, now in the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, in Nova Scotia, Canada, was retrieved from the water after Titanic sank.

Transatlantic Emigration

Emigration was the driving force behind the growth in demand for ocean transport in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Millions of people left Europe to seek new lives in America and transporting them across the Atlantic became an increasingly important business.

This map illustrates how the many steamship companies were operating on Atlantic routes. The White Star Line (the company that owned Titanic) had to compete against its rivals to attract passengers. An average of nearly 900,000 immigrants entered the United States each year between 1900 and 1914.

One-way Ticket to America

This is a White Star Line ticket receipt for a sailing from Queenstown to New York in 1879. The passengers are listed as Patrick and Catherine Foley and their children James and Mary. The young family were accompanied on their journey by Michael Murphy, although it was John Murphy who bought the ticket. The steerage was prepaid and for the three adults and two children cost $112 - that's about $2600 (£1620) in today's money.

The White Star Line helped emigrants with promotions such as special rates and through tickets to final destinations. Many emigrants entered the United States through the Ellis Island Immigration Station in New York.

Life on Board

This china pattern, known as English Rose, was specially designed for exclusive use in the restaurants on Olympic and Titanic. The interlocking green letters 'OSNC' stand for Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, the official title of the White Star Line. Afternoon tea was served from 4.00pm to 5.30pm in the restaurant and cost 2 shillings per person. A la carte restaurants were provided on Olympic Class ships and First Class passengers paid extra for this exclusive dining experience in beautiful, elegant surroundings. The à la carte restaurants were operated as private franchises, but remained under the White Star Line's overall management.

First Class Dining

This First Class silver plated fruit dish and grape scissors were designed and manufactured in 1909 by Elkington & Company, Birmingham. The same can be said for most of the silver-plated tableware used by White Star Line between 1871 and 1934.

The range of china and tableware in the exhibition can be seen to reflect the social hierarchy of the time. Not only did First, Second and Third Class passengers have specific sleeping, dining and public areas, but the items provided for their use were all designed according to where they were to be used on board. For passengers, this division simply mirrored everyday life on land.

Individual Requirements

The White Star Line catered for special categories of passengers, such as members of the Jewish faith who required Kosher food. In 1912 many Jewish emigrants to America came from central and eastern Europe.

China and silver-plated tableware was specially marked with either the words 'Meat' or 'Milk' in Yiddish and the food and tableware were prepared and washed in a separate part of the kitchen.

The servants and crew also had their own tableware specially marked for the officers' or engineers' mess. Often the worn or damaged silverware from First and Second Class was marked and reused in this way.

Duty and Responsibility

The White Star Line prided itself on the high level of service that it provided to its passengers. Stewards and stewardesses were assigned to serve First, Second and Third Class travellers, making sure that their journey was as pleasant as possible. The captain and his officers were in charge of operations on board ship.

Captain Edward J. Smith was in charge of Titanic the night it sank. He ordered the lifeboats to be filled with women and children. There were not enough lifeboats for everyone and many were not filled to capacity. When Titanic sank at 2.20 am on 15 April, over 1,500 lives were lost, including that of Captain Smith.

Survival and Loss

Rosa Abbott was a Third Class passenger on Titanic, travelling with her sons Rossmore, aged 16 and Eugene, aged 13.

The family ended up in the water when the ship sank and Rosa Abbott was pulled into collapsible lifeboat A. She was the only female passenger to be rescued from the water. She later transferred to collapsible lifeboat B, but suffered leg injuries from the cold water. Her sons did not survive.

The reverse of this photograph is inscribed 'To dear Mrs. Lessman, in remembrance of the S.S. Titanic. April 15th 1912 Rosa Abbott, Survivor.' Mrs Lessman was a passenger on board Carpathia when it rescued Titanic survivors.

Acts of Remembrance

Many different memorials have been created to those who died in the Titanic disaster. Those dedicated to named individuals are perhaps the most poignant and recall the very real sense of loss experienced by those who knew them.

This cello back plate pays tribute to the cellists on Titanic. The reverse documents their names and addresses, records that they were employed by C.W. & F.N. Black of Liverpool and refers to the memorial concert in London on 24 May 1912. All eight of the musicians on Titanic died in the disaster. They were reported to have played 'Nearer, My God, to Thee' as the ship sank.

Public in Mourning

Postcards were very popular in the Edwardian period. They were a cheap and easy way for people to communicate with each other at a time when telephone use was not widespread.

This is one of a series of postcards featuring symbols and inspirational text that are typical of this era. The images reflect the sense of loss and mourning after the Titanic disaster. Such cards were widely published and proved very collectable both at the time and more recently.

'A Night to Remember'

The dramatic story of Titanic has been interpreted many times on screen. The iconic 1958 film 'A Night to Remember' was an adaptation of Walter Lord's 1955 book. Lord had interviewed sixty-three Titanic survivors and both book and film were praised for their accuracy. The film was produced by Belfast-born William MacQuitty. At the age of six, his father had brought him to watch the launch of Titanic and he later recalled his emotion and pride in seeing the huge ship enter the water. His personal connection with Titanic fuelled his enthusiasm for the notable film which he produced over forty years later.

The film opened on 3 July 1958 at the Odeon Cinema, Leicester Square, London. Several Titanic survivors attended the event.

Behind the Glass: Corncob Pipe

Join guest curator, Alex, as she as she examines a unique object recovered from the Titanic wreck in 1987.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Discover the early development of Titanic and her sister ships, from her design and build by local shipyard workers to her launch in 1912.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1770-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities external link and the Library of Congress. Learn more

> Second Sec ndPart Part PartPages I THE T HE WASHINGTON HERALD i SeconlPait SeconlPaitPages Second Part PartPages PartPages
Pages 1 to 8 Pages 1 1 to toS toSWASHINGTON to 8 8WASHINGTON 8WASHINGTON
f
WASHINGTON D C SUNDAY JANUARY 23 1910
n
LONDON PAGEANT PAGEANTTO PAGEANTTO PAGEATTO T
TO AWE A WE WORLD WORLDGigantic WORLDGigantic WORLDGigantic
Gigantic Plans Under Way Wayfor Wayfor
for Historical Event EventAT EventAT EventAT
AT FESTIVAL OF THE EMPIRE EMPIREil EMPIRECrHtnl ENYIRECrystal
Crystal il Palace Pnlno Scenes to < o Over Overshadow Oersl1nIIou Overalladow ¬
shadow Any Au of Previous Years and andthe nnelthe andthe
the Trend of the Times Is to Be BeDelineated DeDellnented BeDelineated
Delineated In Glittering and Fascinating Fas Fascinating ns nsclllntlng ¬
cinating Productions ProductionsLondon IrodnctlonnLo roductlonaLoon
London Loon Lo on Jan 22 220ne One of the most pic picturesque picturesque picturosque ¬
turesque events of the year ea will bo the thehistorical thellstorlcal thelistorical
historical pageant of London which ie ieto ieto leto
to be the central featura of the t e Festival Festivalof FesU1of
of Empire at the Crystal Palace in the thesummer theSUmmer theSummer
SummerAfter SUmmerAtter summer summerAfter
After months of careful research by a acommittee acommittee acommittee
committee over which Mr G Lawrence LawrenceGomme LawrenceGomme LawrenceGomme
Gomme the clerk of the London county countycouncil countycouncil countycouncil
council and himself a a distinguished an antiquary antlqu8rp aniiquary ¬
tiquary presides the full list of scenes sceneshas scenoshas sceneshas
has now been completed These have havebeen havebeen havebeen
been handed over In rough form to Mr MrFrank MrFrank MrFrank
Frank Lascelles Las eJle6 the master of the pa pageant pageant pageant ¬
geant who will be responsible for their theirarrangement theirarrangement theirarrangement
arrangement having hvln two historians to toguldo toguide toguide
guide him in the details Mr Lascelles Lascellesit
it will be recalled produced most sue successfully SUQtssrully suecrssfully ¬
cessfully the Canadian pageant for the theQuebec theQuebec theQuebec
Quebec tercentenary celebrations The Thechairman Thechairman Thechairman
chairman of the general council of the thepageant thepageant thepageant
pageant is the Earl of Plymouth and andassociated andsoclted andAssociated
associated soclted with him are the Duke of ofFife ofFife ofFife
Fife the Duke of Devonshire Lord LordStrathcona LordStrathcona LordStrathcona
Strathcona and others othersMore othersore othersMore
More ore than an idea that will contribute contributeto
to the success of the undertaking has hasbeen hasbeen hasbeen
been borrowed from Wagnerian Wa nerilln opera operaThe operaThe operaThe
The pageant to be produced at the Crys Crystal Crstal Crystal ¬
tal Palace is to be in twentjfour scenesarranged scenes scenesarranged seonesarran
arranged arran ed in a cycle of three series after afterthe afterthf afterthe
the > Wagnerian method A steam cloud cloudcurtain cloudurtaln cloudcurtain
curtain will be used to close each sceneIn scene sceneIn SeneIn
In all no fewer than 15609 persons par participate particIpate participate ¬
ticipate in the display displayResins displaTne displayBegins
Resins ne hH with i Earliest Date DateOpening DateOpenift DateOpening
Opening with the dawn of history hlstor the thepageant thopageant thepageant
pageant first presents a a scene of prehistorh pre prehistoric prehitorlc ¬
historic London with the great forest forestto forestto forestto
to the north ICing Led the legendary legendaryfounder l legendaryfounder endar endarfounder
founder of the city ell is the only character characterstaged characterFtaged characterstaged
staged for whose hose authenticity authenticlt no respon responsibility responsibiUh responsibility ¬
sibility is taken Afterward come the theRomans theRomans theRomans
Romans who lay the true foundations foundationsof foun < < latlons latlonsof
of Londinium It is shown under two twophases twopha twophasesby
phases pha phasesby > > by the sacrifice offered to Diana Dianaand Dianain Dianaand
and in < l then bjLa bg u picture of the fater later ater Roman Romanage Romanage Romanage
age when Christianity had been intro introduced Introducfd introduced ¬
duced and the strategic importance of ofthe ofthf ofthe
the capital came to be realized and Its itssfortifications Itsfortifications Itsfortiftcatlon
fortifications undertaken undertakenSaxon undertakenaxon undertakenSaxon
Saxon axon London is to be reconstructed a aft 8 8H at
ft t iking incident being bein the meeting of the thecitizens theitlzpn8 thecitizens
citizens in the FolkmooL Folkmo l The Danish Danishinvasion Danlahima Danishinvasion
invasion ima lon provides perhaps the most mostdramatic moetdramatic mostdramatic
dramatic scene in lathe the pageant The river riverup riverup riverup
up which the Vikings sailed cannot be bebrought bebrought bebrought
brought to th t the Crystal Cry Ll PaWe but th thlakes the thelakes thelakes
lakes in the grounds ound will m be utilized and amtspectators andspectators aIMIpfctator
spectators pfctator will witness London Bridge Bridgebreak Bridgebreak Bridgebreak
break in the middle and the defenders defendershurled defendershurled defendershurled
hurled into the water waterThe waterThe waterThe
The scene lICenecloses close with the passing pu lng of the thedead theI
I dead Olaf up the river King Harold Haroldmarches Haroldmarchell Haroldmarches
marches out toward the south to meet meetWilliam meetWilliam meetWilliam
William of Normandy Normand after which the theconqueror theonqueror theconqueror
conqueror enters with his army Medieval Medievalsports Medievalforts Medievalsports
sports and a brilliant scene depicting a atournament at atournament
tournament t in Cheapekle before Edward EdwardIII EdwanIIII EdwardIII
III and Queen Philippa are later stages stagesof stagesot stagesof
of London life with which hleh Part I closes closesThe closesThe closesThe
The Pilgrims PiJ rhn Ride RideVery IUcleYery RideVery
Very picturesque will b be th t the ride of ofChaucers ofChaucers ofChaucers
Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims with withwhich withwhich ith ithwhich
which the succeeding part opens For a aciif a ahle acivic
civic hle > pageant typical of the
o most ex extravagant extrayagant extravagant ¬
travagant and luxurious period of Eng English EngHsh English ¬
lish history Charles Ricketts has been beeninvited beeninvited beeninvited
invited to design de tgn the costumes Wat WatTylers 1YatTyltrs WatTylers
Tylers rebellion furnished some stirring stirringscenes stirringscenes stirringscenes
scenes then King Henrik V returns returnsfrom returnsfom returnsfom
fom Agincourt with all the opportunities opportunitiesfor
for military display which such an event eventaffords eventaffords eventaffords
affords affordsThe affordsThe affordsThe
The close of the wars of the Roses is isBhovn Ishown Isshown
shown by the return of King Henry VII VIIafter YIIafttr VIIafter
after the defeat and death of Richard at atBosworth atBosworth atEasworth
Bosworth Field Then the dawn of the theera thera theera
Eng era ra of great discoveries the Merrle Eng England EngIan ¬
land Ian of the early years etlrs of Henry VIIIsreign VIIIs VIIIsreign VIIIsrellP1
reign and the spacious days of GreatEliabeth Great GreatElizabeth GreatEHzabeth
Elizabeth which hleh follow are all to be pre prefer prefented prerented ¬
rented fer ted in turn turnIn turnIn turnIn
In its later history London becomes becomesmore becomesMort becomesr7ore
more drab but there is yet 3 et a Ii strong strongappeal stron stronappeal strongappeal
appeal to be made through the eye The Thethird Thethird Thethird
third and concluding eoneludln part of the pageant pageantleaving pageantIpaving pageantleaving
leaving Shakespeare Shake petlre and his players at atthe atthe t tthf
the Globe Theater Theaterto to be accurately rep represented represlntedwlll representedwill ¬
resented reslntedwlll will indicate the foundation fOQndaU n of ofthe ofthe ofthe
the East India Company with tae return returnofCapL returnoCapL returnof
ofCapL of Capt LancasterScenes Lancaster LancasterScenes LancuterScencll
Scenes from VirginiaThe Virginia VirginiaThe IrflnlnThe
The central episode in the subsequent subsequentbeginnings sub subsequentbeginnings equent equenthpglnnlngs
beginnings of the empire yill be found foundin foundIn foundin
in the connection of Virginia and the thenfw thenfW thenew
nfw colony with the city exemplified by bythe bythe bythe
the masque given in honor of PrincessPocahontas Princess PrincessPooahontas PrincessPocahontat
Pocahontas the famous Red Indian Indian prin princess prlnSS princess ¬
cess SS who was married to an English Englishman Englishman Englishpan ¬
man manPlague manPlague panPlague
Plague and fire depict the naming of ofold ofoM ofold
old London and with closing eJo ing scenes of ofthe oftt oftle
the capture of Quebec and the death of ofWolfe ofolfe ofWolfe
Wolfe olfe and Montcalm of Capt Cook leav leaving lelLving leaving ¬
ing Deptford on an expedition to the theSouth theSouth theSouth
South Seas and of the nagging of Na Napoleon NIQlffin Napoleon ¬
poleon Qlffin the pageant comes to o an end with withan withnn withan
an allegorical tableau depicting < < the thegathering thegathering thegathering
gathering of the colonies around the themother themother themother
mother countryNULLS country countryNULLS countryNULIS
NULLS POWER OF EXPLOSIVE EXPLOSIVEParis
a
Paris Jan 22 22An 2 An n Important invention inventionaffecting inventionatrNting inventionaffecting
affecting warfare Is recorded to the credit creditof creditIf creditof
of If Prof Turpin the Inventor nv6ntor of melinite melinitethe mellnltethe melinitethe
the explosive mainly used by the French Frencharmy French2rm Frenchsrmy
army 2rm and ant navy navyBy navyBy navyBy
By his method floating mines may ma be beautomatically beautomatically beautomatically
automatically rendered harmless whey wheytiiey wheyt wheythey
they t 1e accidentally aceldentall break away from their theirmoorings theirmoorings theirmoorings
moorings mooringsThe mooringsThe
The invention im entiori I is likely to be of the theprotest thogratest thegrratest
protest value In preventing disasters to toiwrchant toIHf tomerchant
merchant IHf rhant vessels ves ols in the time of war The Theidea ThehIta TheIdea
idea is also applicable to torpedoes which whichould whichtould whichWould
Would ould be rendered incapable IlKap ble of doing dam damage damage damage ¬
age after two hours immersion In the thewater thewater thep
p water
Classified < < l by Bye and Ear EarRome EnrRome EarRome
Rome Jan 22 Prof Ugo Plzzoll an anItalian anItalian anItalian
Italian pedagogue has discovered that thatschool thatfIhool thatschool
school children may be divided into two twopsychological twopsychological twopsychological
psychological classes oIas S which he calls the theoptical theoptical theoptical
optical and the auricular The first class classembraces classembraces classembraces
embraces those who gain their strongest strongestimpressions strongestfmpr strongestimpressions
fmpr impressions lons by sight and the other by the theea theear
ea ear
1 1U
U Ui u uIN
IN NO MANS i LAND LANDThe LANDThe LANDThe
The man who hit Bill Patterson from his lookout on on high re remarked remarked remarked ¬
marked Some stranger coming here methinks I do descry descrycome descrycome escry escrycome
come hither Mistress RIistressGunness Gunness your eyes are clear and bright brightlike brightlike i i1ike
like hawks I Iswowwhat swow what thinkest thou of this approaching approachingwight approachingwight approachingw
wight w lght lghthis She gazed for many minutes minutes and cried Im 1 at a loss losshis losshis
his likeness to determine determinecome come hither Charlie Ross I I Then ThenCharlies ThenCharlies ThenCharlies
Charlies eagle vision took in the distant plains I fear me its an anagent anagent anagent
agent what think you Thornton Hains He beareth many bun bundles bundles bundies ¬
dles and grips and other traps he may be selling razors or atlases at atlases atlases ¬
lases on qrmaps maps Meanwhile the weary weary eary stranger pressed on his hisrocky hislocky hisrocky
rocky Way ay his eyes were full of sorrow his face was stern and andgray andgray andgray
gray and as the shadows gathered he came to No Mans Inn InnWhat InnI innWhat
What would you quoth Dame D me Gunness with most forbidding forbiddinggrin forbiddinggrin forbiddinggrin
I grin I need n ed no patent mousetrap I would not buy a beok Fear Fearnot FearI FearnQt Fear11Qt
I
not replied the stranger for I am Dr DrCook Cook Im weary wear from frommy frommy frommy
my journey where perils did abound here with me are the rec records records records ¬
ords of lands I havent found and photographs of mountains that thatI
I have never seen and poles and parallaxes that dont exist I Iween Iween Iween
ween We Ve have a reputation we must m st maintain old hoss 1 And Andshoo Andshoo Andshoo
shoo cried Mrs Gunness and shoo cried Charlie Ross RossCfcpyrijfc RossCopjJilh Rosscopmaht
Cfcpyrijfc 1918 br Geoore Matthew Adam VALT MASON 1IAsoxU
U U
SHIPS TO BE LARGEST LARGESTVessels LARGESTV LARGESTVessels
Vessels V e sels Under Construction Constructionin
in Belfast l e1fast to Surpass All AllFOE AllFOR AllFOR
FOR TRANSATLANTIC SERVICE SEEVICEOlympic SERVICEOlnplc SERVICEOlympic
Olympic and Titanic Will Have Ton Tonnnsre TGDnn Tonnnge
nnsre nn e Twice as Great an the Maure Maureiania Mauretania Iaureinnln
tania and Lnnitanla and Former FormerWill FormerWill
Will 111 He Ready Rend for Launching In InAnjfimt InAngulltOther inAugustOther
Anjfimt AngulltOther Other Year Later LaterLondon LaterLondon LaterLondon
London Jan 22Whl1e 22 While the navy 1Ml departments de departments deJHlrtments ¬
partments of various governments are aretrying aretrying aretrying
trying to outdo each eachot other In the building buildingof
of mammoth battle ships the transAt transAtlantic transAtlanUc transAtlantic ¬
lantic companies are not IdltS IdltSGreat Idl IdlGreat idit iditGreat
Great strides are being made at Harland Har Harland Harland
land Wolffs shipyards in Belfast in intKe InUie intire
tire construction of the two White Star Starleviathans Starleviathans Starleviathans
leviathans Olympic and Titanic which whichare whichare whichare
are to surpass in tonnage and size the theMauretania therauretanla titeMauretania
Mauretania and her sister ship the Lust Lusitania Lusltanla Lusttania
tania taniaThe tanlaThe taniaThe
The Olympic will be ready for launch launching launching launching
ing In August and the Titanic at the end endof endof endof
of next year eftr The following are the thedimensions thedimensions thedimensions
dimensions of each vessel compared with withother withother
other gigantic liners
Length LengthTonmzB Le1IgtllTG9Me LeiiethTonsaa
TonmzB in feet feetOtjMpie feetObpic feetotnaic
OtjMpie 6000 601 + 18 HO 140narie 0 0TUufe
TUufe 11 6009 SO SO1MInICaI 110alurecsak 40 40MmtroUwbi
MmtroUwbi 1MInICaI a 31933 n9J ltd ltdLsMtaela TECLmtaMfe 7eeLMta
LmtaMfe LMta < v 31I60 7C 7CAdriatic 7S 7Se TicAdriatic
Adriatic e 4J5U I 1511 l J09 J09Iteitie i iBut 709liskie < <
Iteitie c 236 m mBut 8 8But
But it is in the appointments of the new newvessels newvessels
vessels v els that the greatest interest centers centersThey centersThey
They are not to be built for speed but butJfor buttor butfor
for the comfort and convenience of passengers pas passengers p5seng ¬
sengers seng sengers rs
sengersFive
Five Thousand Passenger PassengerThere IasscngersThere
There will bee greater deck and cabin cabinspace cabinspace cabinspace
space Each ship will be able to carry carry5k
5000 persons and the crew of each will willnumber willnumber 111 111number
number 600 600The 600The O0The
The ships will be floating hotels hotelsThey hotelsThe hotelsThey
They The are the first liners to afford their theirpatrons theirpatrons theirpetronsthe
patrons petronsthe the luxuries of a a swimming bath bathsufficiently bathsufficiently bathsufficiently
sufficiently deep to permit of diving divingCabins divingCabins divingCabins
Cabins aro to be constructed with private privateshower privateshower privateshower
shower and slipper baths bathsA bathsA bathsA
A commodious and wellappointed gym gymnasium gmna gymnasium ¬
nasium na tum is to give voyagers an opportu opportunity opportunity opportunity ¬
nity for daily exercise while spacious spaciousplayrooms spacIousplrooms spaciousplayrooms
playrooms decorated with panels repre representing representing represeating ¬
senting fairy fa I rJ tales and popular fables fableswill fableswill fableswill
will be provided for the children childrenDrawingrooms chUdronDrawlngrooms childrenDrawingrooms
Drawingrooms smokingrooms and a alibrary 2 2lIbrnry alibrary
library are to be at the disposal of the thevoyagers theotagers thevoyagers
voyagers One of the decks will be de devoted devoted devoted ¬
voted to an extensive ballroom and andaltould andIIhould andshould
should the fashion prevail a large skat skatIng skatIng skating
Ing rink will tys provided providedIn
In a sentence passengers may skate skatedance skatedance skatedance
dance smoke swim and dive and prac practice prnctice practice ¬
tice the arts of physical culture at their theirwill theirwill theirwill
will willThere
There are of course to be many din diningrooms dInIngrooms diningrooms ¬
ingrooms The principal one which is isto Isto isto
to be elaborately decorated will seat no nofewer nofewer nofewer
fewer than 800 00 This is to be the most mostcommodious mostcommodious mostcommodious
commodious apartment on the ship shipCOMING shipCOMING shipCOMING
COMING WITH YSOBEL YSOBELMnAcnfrnlN YSOBELcognl YSOBELMascagnis
MnAcnfrnlN cognl New Play PIn to Be Produced Producedin
in America AmericaHomo AnH AmericaRome rlca rlcaRonlO
Homo Jan 21 A new opera op ra by Mas Masc Mascagni 8S 8Scagnl
c cagnl gni is to be produced next n t December D ember in inAmerica InAmorlca inAmerica
America Mascagni who has just signed signeda
a contract with Liebler Co will him himself hlmsel himself ¬
self sel go to the United States to superin superintend superintend superintend ¬
tend rehearsals and conduct performances performancesThe
The title of the new opera is Ysobel uYsobelthe Ysobelthe Ysobelthe
the story being founded on Tennysons Tennysonspoem Tennysonspoem Tennysonspoem
poem Godiva adapted by b Librettist LibrettistLuigi LibrettistLuigi LibrettistLuigi
Luigi Illica IllicaIt IlUcaIt IllicaIt
It Is said the contract Mascagni has hassigned hassigned hassigned
signed involves the largest fee ever paid paidas paids paidas
as s royalty for a musical work and the thelargest thelargest thelargest
largest salary ever paid to a composer composerto
to act as musical director directorKAISER directorKAISER directorKAISER
KAISER SHOWS DISFAVORBerlin DISFAVOR DISFAVORBerlin DISFAVORBerlin
Berlin Jan 22Tho 21 Tho Kaiser did not at attend attend attend ¬
tend the recent marriage of the reigning reigningGrand reigningGrond reigningGrand
Grand Duke of SaxeWeimar Sa eVelmar with Ilh thePrincess the thePrincess thePrlnce
Princess Prlnce of SaxeMelningen His absence absencewas absencewas absencewas
was due it is said to the circumstance circumstancethat circumstancethat circumstancethat
that the brides father Duke George II IIof IIor IIof
of SaxeMeinlngen s xe Ieinlngen has a morganatic morganaticwife morganaticwife morganaticwife
wife Helene Franz who was once an anactress anactress anactress
actress and was born of commoners al although although although ¬
though she was made Baroness von on Held Heldburg Heldburg Heldburg
burg on the day she married the duke dukeNow dukeNow dukeNow
Now the Kaisers own sister Princess PrincessCharlotte PrincessCharlotte PrincessCharlotte
Charlotte married Prince Bernard the theeldest theeldest theeldest
eldest son of Duke George and she meets meetsthe meetsthe meetsthe
the baroness as the wife of her fatherin fatherinlaw fatherInlaw fatherinlaw
law Duke George who Is eightyfour eightyfourhas elght tour tourhas
has been unable to secure full recogni recognition recognition recognition ¬
tion of his morganatic wifes position so sothat sothat sothat
that the baroness at tho wedding walked walkedalone walkedalone walkedalone
alone In the rear of the royal procession processionInto processioninto processioninto
Into the chapel following many young youngprinces youngprinces youngprInces
princes and princesses princes es instead of walk walking walkIng walking ¬
ing at the head of the procession beside besideher besideher besideher
her husband to whom she had been mar married married married ¬
ried nearly thirtyseven years yearsThe yearsThe yearsThe
The duke was so so annoyed anno ed at the Kais Kaisers Kalsers Kaisers ¬
ers absence that when the newspapers newspapersannounced newspapersannounced newspapersannounced
announced that the Emperor would not notattend notatte notattend
attend atte d the wedding an official communi communication communication communication ¬
cation was Issued to the press from the theducal theducal theducal
ducal palace stating that the Emperor Emperorhad Emperorhad Emperorbad
had not been invited
VIOLIN PLAYING IS BLAMED BLAMEDvnture BLAMEDPhyaieian BLAMEDPbT
PbT Phyaieian iclan Declare It Leads to Cnrvatnre Cnr Cnrntnre
vnture of the Spine SpineLondon SpineLondon SpineLondon
London Jan 22Vlolln 21 Violin playing accord according accordIng according ¬
ing to a lecture l ture by b Dr Alfred H HTubby HTubbyof Tubby Tubbyof Tubbyor
of the Westminster Hospital Ho pUal Is largely largelyresponsible largelyrosponslblo largelyresponsible
responsible for curvature of tho spine spineA spineuA spineA
uA A large number of girls about the age ageof ageof ageof
of fourteen develop curvature of the spine spineof spineot spineof
of vary varying varyingextent Ing extent says the doctor Some Someof Someof Someof
of these curvatures are due to bad posi positions positions positions ¬
tions in sitting and standing others to tothe tothe tothe
the fact that the muscular system is not notsufficient notsufficient notsufficient
sufficient to keep the spine upright during duringthe duringthe duringthe
the fatigues incidental Incidental to school life but butI butI butI
I am convinced from what I have s Men Menthat menthat en enthat
that of all the pernicious positions in inmany Inmant inmany
many girls that assumed umed in playing the theviolin theiolin theiolin
iolin Is the worst worstThe worstThe worstThe
The doctor also blames hockey playing playingby pIa playingby ring ringby
by girls and the position generally adopt adopted adopted adopted ¬
ed in learning to write writsTALKS writeTALKS writeTALKS
TALKS WITH SULTAN EXILE EXILEEnglish EXILEEnglish EXILEEnglish
English Journalist Finds Abdul AbdulHamid AbdulHamid AbdulHalnid
Hamid Care Free PreeLooks FreeLoolu FreeLooks
Looks Younger and Liven Eni Easy y in inHis InJIb Inills
His Villa ilia Prison I hlon nt Snloniki Snlonikithe Slllonlklthe Setlonikithr
the Writer rlter Says SaysLondon SnysLondon SaysLondon
London Jan 22 2An An English corre correspondent correispondent correspondent
spondent who has bean allowed the un unusual unusual unusual ¬
usual privilege of visiting exSultan Ab Abdul Abdul Abdul ¬
dul Hamid in his villa 1I1a prison at Saloniki Saloniktwrites Salonikiwrites SaJonlklwrites
writes that he found the former ruler of ofthe of ofthe ofI
the faithful looking ten years younger youngerthan youngerthan oungerthan
I
than his latest photographs and evidently evidentlyIn
In splendid health His former nervous nervousness nervousne nervousnoes ¬
ness ne s and fear fear of assassination have dis disappeared dlsappeared disappeared ¬
appeared entirely but he still dreams of ofreturning ofreturning ofreturning
returning to his old power Ho sleeps sleepswell sleePilweU sleepswell
well takes walks in the beautifulpark beautifulparkaccompanied beeuUfulpnrkaccompanied beautifulparkaccompanied
accompanied by his two sons and for forsome torsome forsome
some hours every day works as an amateur ama amateur amateur ¬
teur carpenter carpenterHe carpenterHo carpenterHo
Ho likes to have tales told him after afterthe afterthl afterthe
the thl manner of or the Arabian Nights Xf hts and andshows andshows andshows
shows a 8 preference for the adventures of ofHovja ofHoja ofHovja
Hovja VassrEddin Vassr Eddin whilo now and then thenho thenhe thenho
ho reads a Turkish newspaper newspaperIn
In the same villa ma with him are living livinghis livinghis livinghis
his two sons son two daughters d ughter5 and eleven elevenof elee eleeof elevenof
of thewomen of his former harem The Thehousehold Thehousehold Thehousehold
household Is waited upon by thirteen serv servants senants servants ¬
ants For housekeeping the Sultan is isallowed isaJlowed isallowed
allowed 1000 Turkish a a month but butpart butpart butpart
part of it Is kept back for some of ofhis ofhis ofhis
his former harem ladies who have re remained remained remained ¬
mained at Constantinople ConstantinopleThe
The villa Is closely guarded Inside and andout andout andout
out by a detachment of infantry infantr and one oneof oneor oneof
of gendarmes besides a number of po policemen policemen policemen ¬
licemen all commanded by officers who whoare whoarc whoare
are being constantly changed There is isa Isa isa
a a telephone from the villa to the nearest nearestpolice nearestpolice nearestpolice
police station and to the headquarters of ofthe orthe ofthe
the third army arm corps Thus it may be beassumed beassumed beassumed
assumed that the exSultans life now nowpasses nowpasses nowpasses
passes monotonously monotonousl and quietly enough enoughThe enoughThe enoughThe
The reports of his attempts a at night flightwere nightwere lght lghtwere
were unfounded and though It t Is likely likelyenough likelyenough likelyenough
enough that he would like to escape e ape It is isImpossible IsImpossible IsImpossible
Impossible for him to do so without the theassistance theassistance theassistance
assistance of his guards who are far too toonumerous toonumerous toonumerous
numerous and carefully selected to make makeit makeIt makeit
it possible possibleGERMANY possibleGERrrrANY possibleGERMANY
GERMANY MOKE PROSPEROUS PROSPEROUSAlmost PROSPEROUSAlmoxt PROSPEROUSAlmost
Almost Every Set of Figures Shows ShowsIncrease ShowIncreoe ShowsIncrease
Increase of Wealth WealthBerlin WealthBerlin enlth enlthBerHn
Berlin Jan 22 22Almost Almost every set of fig figures figures figures ¬
ures published In Germany bears testis testismony testimony tesUmony ¬
mony to the growth owth of wealth in Berlin Berlinif
if not In all parts of the German Empire EmpireA
A few years ago the number of million millionaires milllonl millionaires ¬
aires l res in the capital could be told off on onthe onthe onthe
the fingers of both hands today the theofficial theofficial theofficial
official income tax report shows that thatthere thatthere thatthere
there are betty between en 1200 and 1300 It Is Istrue Istru istrue
betWjen
true tru that the themillion million m 11Ion In Germany always alwaysrefers alwa alwaysrefers s sreters
refers to marks and a mark Is only equal equalto equalto equalto
to 20 cents but the evidence of advance advancein adance adanceIn
in wealth is the same whether shown in inmarks Inmarks inmarks
marks or dollars dollarsThe dollarsThe dollarsThe
The income tax authorities are too toodiscreet toodl toodiscreet
discreet dl creet to mention names but they theydescribe theydescribe theydescribe
describe the richest man in Berlin as asbeing asbeing asbeing
being possessed of a fortune of over over8o JS S 8o
500000 oooo after all deductions permitted by bylaw b blaw bylaw
law have been made Two men with withfortunes wlt11fortunes withfortunes
fortunes of 8250000 and 8000000 800 84Oo000 OOO come comenext com comnext come comenext
next A curious thing is the fact that thatowing thatowing thatowing
owing to a system of C estimating e liability liabilitypeculiar llabUitypeculiar liabilitypeculiar
peculiar to the German Income tax law lawtwo lawtwo lawtwo
two of the poorest millionaires if the theadjective theadjective theadjective
adjective may be used are returned returnedexempt returnedexemPt returnedexempt
exempt as not having the minimum minimumtaxable minimumta minimumtaxable
taxable ta able Income of
3000 marks and are areonly areonly areonly
only required to pay a sum of about J40 J40yearly y40yearly 40 40earb
yearly earb taxation under another heading headingthan headingthan headingthan
than Income IncomePaper incomePnper incomePaper
Paper Free to Employe EmployeBerlin EmployeBerlin
a
Berlin Jan 22 22A A new weekly paper paperwith paperwith paperwith
with an assured circulation circulation of 30000 3OO Q has hasmade hasmade hasmade
made its appearance at Esson Germany GermanyIt
It Is called the Kruppsche Mitteilungen Mitteilungenand
and Is distributed gratis among the em employes employas employes ¬
ployes of the great stefel ste l firm It Is Isprinted Isprinted isprinted
printed on the companysfown companys own press and andIs andIs andis
Is mainly malnl designed to be a substitute for forthe forthe forthe
the notices which used to be posted postedperiodically postedperiodically postedperiodically
periodically at various points ins IIJ the theKrupp theKruP1 theKrupp
Krupp > workshops
BIRTHS BIRTH OF F GENIUS GENIUSCALLED GENIUSCALLED GEMUSCALLED
CALLED ACCIDENT ACCIDENTNobel
Nobel Prize Winner Dissects DissectsLives DissectsLives Dissectsof
Lives LivesTALENT of Great Men MenTALENT MenTALENT
TALENT IS NOT HEREDITARY HEREDITARYProf
Prof Owt ONhnld vnld Argues that Neither Neitherthe Neitherthc Neitherthe
the Parent Nor Brother Nor Children Chil Children Children ¬
dren of Famous Scientist POMCHK POMCHKExtraordinary PoellilExtrDOrdlnnrT PosaenaExtraordinary
Extraordinary Geninn GenlultShoU Shovr Bent Bentat Dentnt Bentat
at at an Early Ale in Mont Coxes CoxesBerlin Crue CrueBerlin CasesBerlin
Berlin Jan 22How 22 How and why the world worldgets worldgets worldgets
gets Its geniuses Is the subject of a treat treatise treatise ¬
ise 1 lie entitled Great Men which Prof ProfWilhelm ProtoWilhelm ProfWilholm
Wilhelm OstwAld winner of this years yearsNobel yearsNobel yearsNobel
Nobel prize for chemistry has Just pub published published published ¬
lished It deals mainly with the underly underlying underlyIng underlying ¬
ing biological and psychological psy hologfcal prin principles principles principles ¬
ciples of research researchDr researchDr researchDr
Dr Ostwald dissects the lives and fam family tamIl family ¬
ily Il histories of all the great men of ofscience otscience ofscience
science of modern times and tries to lay laydown laydown laydown
down the general laws under which they theyattained th theyattained > y yattained
attained greatness and by which they theycarried theycarried
carried on their work The Th first question questionho questionhe questionhe
he deals with is What are the parental parentalracial par parentalracial < < ntal ntalracial
racial social and other influences under underwhich underwhich
I
which great men of science are born bornWhile bornWhile
While affirming emphatically that thatgeniuses thatgeniuses thatgeniuses I
geniuses are born Dr Ostwald denies deniesthat j jthat ithat
that genius or great talenj talel Is hereditary her dltary j jand i iand iand
and argues that neither the parents nor northe northe northe
the brothers and sisters nor the children childrenof
of famous scientists possessed genius geniusThe geniusThe geniusThe I
The birth of a genius is an accident of ofnature otnature ofnature
nature
Most from Middle Class ClassNearly Cln ClnNoorh s sNearly
Nearly all great men of science says saysProf sarsProf saysProf
Prof Cstwalu O twe spring from the middle middleclasses middlecl middleclasses
classes cl ses the three notable exceptions exceptionsCavendish excepUomCavendish exceptionsCavendish
Cavendish Boyle and Lord RaYleigh Rayielghbeing RaYleighbeing Rayleighbeing
being Englishmen They very rarely rarelyspring rarelyspring rarelyspring
spring from the working classes and andfrom andtrom andfrom
from this Dr Ostwald concludes that It Itis ItIs itle
is necessary neco sary for a great man of o research researchto
to stat sta t from a Ii certain cultured level levelotherwise levelotherlse levelotherwise
otherwise he would have to waste too toomuch toomuch toomuch
much energy enorg in the attainment of pre preliminary preUmlnary preliminary ¬
liminary knowledge knowledgeThe knowledgeThe knowledgeThe
The parents of great scientists are aretherefore arethcroore aretherefore
therefore often men who without being beinggenlue beinggenluHS beinggeniuses
genlue geniuses s have taken an interest In sci science eclenee science ¬
ence while not pursuing it as a career careerAs careerAs careerAs
As regards race Dr Ostwald holds that thata
a scientific genius can arise only in a ahighly ahighly ahighly
highly civilized race but he does not notthink notthink
think that the age of the civilization civilizationmakes cllUzationmakes civilizationmakes j
makes any difference and points out outthat outthat 1 1that
that science has been lately showing showingmore showIngmore showingmore
more vigor in Scandinavia Scandlna Ia than in inFrance InFrance inFrance
France and Italy with their much older olderculture olderculture olderculture
culture
Show Bent nt Early Age AJeThe AgeThe i iThe
The argument that great men of re rpsearch research
search are born not made is supported supportedby upportfdbr
by the fact that most great scientists scientistssbowed scientistsshowed
showed their particular bent at an early earlyage earhage earlyage
age and that many man made their most Im Important 1mportant important ¬
portant discoveries i while quite young youngNewton youngNewton youngNewton
Newton Linnaeue Helmholtz are re remarkable remarkable remarkable ¬
markable instance Accompanying this thisphenomenon thisphenomonon thisphenomenon
phenomenon Is often the premature de decline decline dedine ¬
cline of scientific genius so S that many manymen manJmen manymen
men of C research who ho made great dis discoveries drscoerie discoveries ¬
coveries before the age of thirty thlrt did didlittle didlittle didlittle
little or nothing afterward afterwardProf aCtenardProf afterwardProf
Prof Ostwald divides all men of sci science science science ¬
ence into classicists and romanticists romanticistsThe romanticistsThe romanticistsThe
The classicist works orks with the greatest greatestpains greatestp greatestpains
pains p lns at the completion of and proof of ofeach otMch ofeach
each discovery before making use of orIt ofit i iit
it whereas the romanticist impelled by b btoo bytoo I Itoo
too groat r08t a rush of ideas is inclined to topublish topublish topublish
publish his ideas too soon The best bestteachers bestteachers bestteachers
teachers of science always belonged to tothe tothe tothe
the romantic school schoolDr schoolDr schoolDr
Dr Ostwald concludes by considering consideringthe
the relation of women to science His Hisattitude Hisattitude Hisattitude
attitude is unfavorable He holds that thatduring thatduring thatduring
during the past twenty or thirty years yearsenough yearsenough cars carsnough
enough women have studied science scienceat scienceat
at universities and high schools to make makeIt
It a fair test whether they the are capable capableof capableor
of firstclass achievements In the do domain domain domain ¬
main of pure science fence and he holds that thatthe thatthe thatthe
the answer is negative negativeAMERICANISM negativcAMERICANISM negativeAMERIGANISI
AMERICANISM OR DEATH DEATHAged DEATHAged DEATHAged
I
Aged Japanese Prefers Latter and andCommits andCommits andCommits
Commits Harakiri HarakiriLeaven HarakiriLenH HarakiriLeaves
Leaven Letter Declaring Decl rluJ that West Western Western Yeatern ¬
ern Vices Arc re DemoralizingIliK Demoralizing DemornIbln DemornIblnIIIH
IliK Countrymen CountrymenTokyo CountrmenTok CountrymenTokyo
Tokyo Tok o Jan 21 21Sulclde Suicide as a a protest protestagainst protestOlinmliit protestabamat
against the Westernization of Japan was wasthe wasthE wasthe
the characteristically characrerlstcaUY Japanese end of ofHanji otHanjl ofHanji
Hanji Shimadzu an aged Samurai of ofOita ofOHa ofOita
Oita Befcre committing harakiri i in inthe Inthe inthe
the traditional tra lonal style st le the old Samurai Samuraiwrote Samuraiwrote Samuraiwrote
wrote a letter complaining that Western Westernvices Westernvices estern esternvices
vices were demoralizing his countrymen countrymenHe countr rnen rnenHe
He had ha recently received bad news newsThree newsThree newsThree
Three of hs nephews had been en arrested arrestedaccused arrest arrestedaccused 1 1accused
accused of attempting to bunko a pro provincial provincial ¬ I I1neial
vincial fish merchant by bt the American Americanfiold Americanuhold Americangold
uhold gold brick swindle Then a a valued valuedfriend yaluedfriend valuedfriend
friend of his lost his income and tried triedto triedto triedto
to commit suicide by bJ hanging to a tre trein treIn tree treein
in Shiba Park ParkHe ParkHe ParkHe
He decided that he had lived long longenough longenoJgh longenough
enough and to commit harakiri i with withhis withhis withhis
his trusty sword according to the ancient ancientlaws ancientlaws ancientlaws
laws He carried out the ceremony ceremon after afterpurifying afterpuritlng afterpurifying
purifying himself with cold water for fo fobornt fosome j jborne
borne > days daysPREDICTIONS dllsPREDICTIONS daysPREDICTIONS
PREDICTIONS FOR 1911 1911BnddhaH 1911DnddhnA 1911Buddhas
BnddhaH Relies Relic to He Found and andXevr lindXew andNew
New Vision laloni Drawn DrawnLondon DrawnLondon DrawnLondon
London Jan 22 22To To the string of predic predictions predictions predictions ¬
tions for the near future already recorded recordedIn
In these columns must be added one more morethis morethis morethis
this time from India An article in the theCalcutta theCalcutta theCalcutta
Calcutta Mirror says that momentous momentousevents momentousevents momentousevents
events will take place upon the advent of ofthe ofthe ofthe
the new cycle c c1e to be marked by b the 2500th 2500thanniversary 2500thannlversar 504th 504thanniversary
anniversary of Maha Pari Nirvana of ofthe orthe ofthe
the Lord Gautama Buddha in 1911 Is IsIt Isit Isit
It not curious the writer asks Uthat Uthatthe that thatthe thatthe
the discovery of Lord Buddhas relics relicsshould reUcsshould relicsshould
should be followed almost Immediately Immediatelyby Immediatel Immediatelby
by the discovery of the north pole But Buteven Buteven Buteven
even this event will pale Into insig insignificance Insignificance insignificance ¬
nificance nificanceEarthquakes nificanceErthquakcs nificanceEarthquakes
Earthquakes will continue in quick quicksuccession quicksuccession quicksuccession
succession and will throw out from the thebowels thebowels thebowels
bowels of the earth numerous numeroUs strange strangerelics strangerelics strangerelics
relics of the past age Many historical historicaland historicaland historicaland
and scientific theories will be demon demonstrated demOnstrated demonstrated ¬
strated thereby thereb and altogether allogethera a new newage newage newage
age of knowledge and vision vi ion will dawn dawnupon dawnupon dawnupon
upon th the world
WHEN IN H oerr DfJVlrlVY Dm lT BUY llYOF llYOFouse OF OFouse DFouse
ouse edlerrmann edlerrmannCOR HerrmaiiEYBI Herrmaii
1 COR 7f EYBI EYE Y r D STX TltEET3NW TREET3 TSMW N W I
I
R
F
I i 1
1 1 1i
i I II
i
I
I
ta
I
i
I IS It Isfr
S
t
sfr 5
LOW LOWPRICE LOWPRICES LOWPRICES
PRICEPREVAIL PRICES PRICESPREY PRICESPREVAIL
PREVAIL PREVAILEconomy PREY AIL AILEconomy
Economy in inW Buying Furniture FurniturerE FurnitureWE
rE E want to keep bus busy during the socalled dull dullseason dunseason dullseason
WE W season Thats the reason for these tempt temptingly temptingly temptingly ¬
ingly low prices It would take a page to toquote toquote toquote
quote all the Clearance Sale Prices and other extra extraattractions extraattractions extraattractions
attractions Many odd pieces in parlor furnishings furnishingsare
are among the striking bargains for tomorrow tomorrowSTORE tomorrowSTORE tomorrowSTORE
STORE SERVICE SERVICEThis SERVICEThis SERVICEThis
This is a safe store in which to buy furniture furnitureWe furnitureVe furnitureVe
We Ve make truthful statements and treat each cus customer customer customer ¬
tomer fairly Our guarantee insures your invest investments investments investments ¬
ments here
I Odd Pieces r of Furniture at Clearance Prices PricesPARLOR pricesPARLOR PricesPARLOR I I
PARLOR TABLES REDUCED I PARLOR SUITES REDUCED
Marked RedUCEd to toMahogany I
Mahogany Parlor Table TableMahogany S6o 650 500 540Mahogany
Mahogany Parlor Table TableMahogany 700 525 525Iahogany 525Mahogany I
Mahogany Parlor Table TableMahogany 800 625 625fahogan 625Mahogany
Mahogany fahogan Parlor Table TablqMahogany Tabl 1350 1025Mahogany 1025 1025lahogan
Mahogany lahogan Parlor Table TableMahogany 1400 1075Mahogany 1075 1075Iahogany
Mahogany Parlor Table TableMahoganyfinish 1800 1400Mahoganyfinish 1400 1400Iahoganyfinisl1
Mahoganyfinish Parlor Table TableToona Soo 500 375 375Toona 75 75Toona
Toona Mahogany Parlor Table TableBirch 800 o0 625 025Birch 625Birch
Birch Parlor Table TableGolden 400 300 300Golden 300Golden
Golden Oak Parlor Table 600 450 450
Dining Chairs ChairsA
A Bargain Bar alD at atWeve
185 185fYO 185Weve
Weve fYO never neverhad nEIa neverlad
had a < l a better betterIMning betterlUning betterDining
Dining Chair to toffer tooffer toffer
offer > ffer for so lit litlf UttI littIe
lf tI money The Thechair Thehair Thechair
chair hair is exactly exactlylike exactlyIjkp exactlylike
like cut in inIid inol1d Inlid
ol1d > lid oak with withshapcd withshaped ith ithi
shaped i 1ap > d wood woodHt woo d dat
< at good finish finishri ftnt5htrill
trill j ri i construc construction construction construction ¬
tion Select 8f tCt one oneor oneIII onenr
or more of these theserhalrs theMrhaJrs theserhajrs
rhaJrs tomor tomorrow tomorrow tometrow ¬
row at each eachAJS
186 AJS
Marked Reduced to toMahoganyfinish toMahoganyfinish
Mahoganyfinish 3piece Damask DamaskSuite DamaskSuite DamaskSuite I
Suite 4000 4000 3250 3250Mahogany 3250Mahogany 250 250Iahogany
Mahogany MahoganyPlush finish 3piece 3 piece Silk SilkPlush S ilk ilkPlush i 1 k
Plush Suite 4800 3650 3650Mahoganyfinish 3650Mahoganyfinish 50 50llahoganyfinish
Mahoganyfinish a aSuite 3piece Verona VeronaSuite VeronaSuite
Suite 4800 8oo 3900 3900Mahogany 3900lIahogany 3900Mahogany
Mahogany finish 3 piece Silk SilkPlush S ilk ilkPlush i l k kPlush
Plush Suite 5200 4100 4100Mahoganyfinish 4100rahogaf1yfiriish 4100Mahoganyfinish
Mahoganyfinish 3piece 3piece Tapestry TapestrySuite TapestrySuite TapestrySuite
Suite 5400 100 4200
Rolltop Desk DeskBuilt
16 16Built
Built of good quality oak has haslarge haslarge haslarge
large and roomy roomy drawers drawers pigeon pigeonholes pigeonholes pigeonholes ¬
holes and compartments and the theprice theprice theprice
price for a good desk 15 1 particu particularly t > articu larticularly articularty ¬
larly larty low See this desk tomor tomorrow tomorrow
row
aeiiit a I
I
I WHEN IN DOUBT BUY OF OF7th OFHOUSE i iHOUSE
HOUSE ci HERRMANN HERRMANN7th
7th t and I Eye Streets N W Wt
> t j > a ifar CtS > wr v gfe gfev Ii
r
r
r
4 v v vr vv r V v Mvur 1 6
4r > S Si
r > > V v rr JlwB a
PgvMe JancH Ixphae jyiafiir p7 ionni 4f m
i f r 1 1r
r < e v fe f e a rt e 0 1 1l 1s
ffe
fe
s y ytki feiirpg iirpg l Vein Seorgej Crtfek BifuniinoiCotr BifuniinoiCotrP
tki r ad Y Yty
ty x 1IJf 1IJfnXt
nXt y J Ji
i I I I Iltd
V 1 1 1 1I
ltd I I I I SS
I i 1 1j
j 3t
P F
rJd
+ fjJ tY Jv a 1 N11as f 4 4t t 4A 1
l I n
TWO PASS CENTURY MARK MARKj MARKPlnln MARKPlain
j Plain Food Accredited for LonLife Lons LonsLife Lon LonLife
Life of Noted Englishmen EnglishmenLondon EngUhmenLondon EnglishmenLondon
London Jan 22 zTo Two remarkable cen centenarians centenarians centenarlans ¬
tenarians have achieved prominence in inthe Inthe inthe
the newspapers recently The first first Rich Richard Rlckard Rickard ¬
ard Smith S fth died at Lincoln aged 100 years yearsand yearss yearssand I Iand
and six months Until ten days before his hisdeath hisdeath hisdeath
death he had never needed the attention attentionof
of a doctor nor ever tasted medicine medicine He Hehad He Hehad Hehad
had spent sp nt most of his Ion long life re at the thequiet thequiet thequiet
quiet village 111 ge of Heckington His recipe recipefor recIpefor recipefor
for longevity was plain food foodThe foodThe foodThe
The other centenarian Henry John Johnson Johnson Johnson ¬
son is still alive On Christmas Day he hecelebrated hecelebr hecelebrated
celebrated celebr ted his it IMd 1 d l birthday In his youth youthJohnson JouthJohnson youthJohnson
Johnson was a notable acrobat and was wasknown wasknown wasknown
known as Tumble Johnson traveling travelingthe travelingthe travelingthe
the country with a a circus About seventy seven seventy seventt ¬
ty tt years ago Johnson was w In China Chinawhere Chinawhere Chinawhere
where het he entered into partnership with witha withnotea
a noted Chinese acrobat Later in Eng England England England ¬
land he appeared appe re < 1 before King William WilliamIV WIlliamIV WilliamIv
IV and Queen Victoria whenshe when she was w is a ayoung a ayoung ayoung
young girl Unlike Smith Johnson TQhnsonsays says saysI
I eat what I can get Ho keeps well wellnd welt4Ind wellqnd
4Ind nd alive he says sa Uby by doing doln nothing
DOG WILL DRAW PENSION PENSIONCollie PENSIONConle PENSIONCollie
Collie Collector for Orphan Fnnd FnndHurt FnndHurt FundHurt
Hurt In Accident AccidentLondon AccidentLondon
London Jan 22 22The The first official dog dogto dogto dogto
to draw lra a pension In England is Brum Brumthe Brumthe Brumthe
the collie collector for the Widows and andOrphans andOrphans andOrphans
Orphans Fund on the London and North Northwestern Korthwestern Northwestern ¬
western Railroad It Is not age that has haslaid haslaid hasIaid
laid Brum B m by It is the sequel to an anaccident anaccldontln anaccident
accident accldontln in which hlchhe Jie was involved 1 olved during duringthe duringthe duringthe
the performance of his duty dutyWhile dut dutWhile dutyWhile
While Brum was collecting he would wouldtravel wouldtra wouldtravel
travel tra el all over the country countr walking down downthe downthe downthe
the corridor carriages and wagging his histail histail
tail joyfully J YfullY whenever a coin was dropped droppedIn
In his box The cost of his keep was wasdefrayed wasdefrayed wasdefrayed
defrayed by the fund He loved his work workand workand workand
and seemed to realize lie was an impor important Import important ¬
tant t tant nt factor on the London and North Northwestern Korthwestern Northwestern ¬
western road roadHis roadHis roadHis
His place will be taken by Jack a acompanion ac acompanion
companion c mpanion collie whom the men have havebeen haebaen havebeen
been training to follo Brum He too If Ifan lran isan
an intelligent animal ani mill uiut but ut he wilMmve will have le a ahard ah abard
hard h nl time supplanting old Brum in the thehearts thehearts thehearts
hearts of the suburban passengers who whotraveled whotravoled whotraveled
traveled twice a a day with his prede predecessor predecessor predecessor ¬
cessor
1
RADIUM IS FOR SALE SALESecond SALESecond SALESecond
Second Gram Heady Ue2d for Shipment Shipmentfrom Shlpnt Shipmentfrom nt ntfrom
from Bohemia BohemiaVienna UohemlnYlenna BohemiaVienna
Vienna Jan 22 2Tho Tho second gram of ofradium orl3dlum ofradium
radium about one twentyeighth part HLrt of ofan oCgn ofan
an ounce has just been produced at atJoachimsthal atJoachlmsthal atJoachimsthal
Joachimsthal Bohemia and word has hasbeen hasbeen hasbeen
been sent to the Austrian state bureau bureaufor bureauOr bureaufor
for Or the sale of the commodity commodityIt If one may maycall maycall maycall
call It so without Irreverence Irreverencethat that the thequantity th4quantity thequantity
quantity named is now available for forshipment torshipment forshipment
shipment By B every eveI gram of radium pro produced produced produced ¬
duced the Austrian exchequer benefits benefitsas
as its value alue is fixed for valuation pur purposes purposes purposes ¬
poses at 2375600 2316 OO an ounce and the de demand demand demand ¬
mand far exceeds the supply supplyPure supilyPuro supplyPure
Pure radium has so far farnot not been sent sentabroad sontabroad sentabroad
abroad by the Austrian monopoly as no nosatisfactory nosaUsfacton nosatisfactory
satisfactory way 1 of packing the precious preciousmineral preciousmineral preciousmineral
mineral has yet been devised A new newmethod ne nemethod newmethod
method is being tested by which it is ishoped Ishoped Ishoped
hoped all dangerous emanations will be beprevented beprevcntec1 beprevented
prevented Men Ien of science are dally en engaged engaged engaged ¬
gaged in investigating the mysterious mysteriousproperties mysteriousproperties mysteriousproperties
properties of o the mineral at the new Ra Radium Radium Radlum ¬
dium Institute in Vienna which had to tobe tobe tobe
be built and arranged armn d in a peculiar manner man manner manner ¬
ner so as is to prevent the delicate < < electri electrical electrical electrical ¬
cal measuring apparatus from being beln die disturbed dlsurbed dieturbed ¬
turbed urbed by the radium
I

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, January 23, 1910, Second Part, Image 14

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, January 23, 1910, Second Part, Image 14, brought to you by Library of Congress, Washington, DC, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Read about the tragic shipwreck in the frigid North Atlantic Ocean.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Detailed RMS Titanic deckplans. Explore the design of the Titanic in high resolution deckplans.

# data[].attributes.headline
Dr. Anthony Fauci Talks with TIME for Kids

# data[].attributes.subject
Dr. Anthony Fauci Talks with TIME for Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Kids 12 and older are now able to get the COVID-19 vaccine. What does this mean for summer plans? What does it mean for returning to school in the fall? Should we continue to wear masks?

As the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci is the nation's top infectious-disease expert. He also serves as the chief medical advisor to the president of the United States.

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Fauci. I had questions about how to stay safe this summer and going back to school in person this fall. Dr. Fauci helped me understand what I can do safely.

TFK Kid Reporter Afton Campbell:

Let's jump right into our questions.

Kids 12 and over can now get vaccinated. Can they safely attend overnight camp this summer? And can they safely sleep in a tent or cabin with someone who is not vaccinated?

Dr. Anthony Fauci:

You know, from the individual standpoint of your safety, the fact that you're vaccinated and fully vaccinated means the likelihood of you getting infected is extraordinarily low. So you could safely do that.

But one of the things that could be confusing is that the CDC is trying to get guidelines for camps to keep everyone safe. But as an individual yourself, could you feel comfortable both indoors and outdoors while you're vaccinated? The answer is yes.

Afton:

That's such a relief to hear.

Many school districts have announced they won't have a distance-learning option for the fall. If not all kids are able to be vaccinated by then, how can they stay safe and protect their families from getting sick?

Dr. Fauci:

It's going to depend very much, Afton, on what the level of infection in the community is. That's always a factor that influences the CDC guidelines. So if, in fact, there's a degree of infection dynamic in the community, then kids who are not vaccinated, for one reason or another, might prompt the CDC to say, "Yes, we will go to school, everyone will be in person, no more virtual, it will be in-person class-but you'll have to wear a mask.

But for you, when you go back to school, what would likely happen if the level of infection is so low in the community, the CDC might make the option and the recommendation that they will not necessarily require masks. If we still have a lot of activity, of virus, the CDC may still require some children to be wearing masks depending on the level of virus in the community and the degree of vaccination.

Afton:

Do you recommend wearing masks even if other people aren't at school?

Dr. Fauci:

You know, that's going to be a CDC recommendation, as I mentioned, that will in fact depend on the level of vaccination and the level of infection in the community.

So the problem, Afton, that the CDC is struggling with is how to make everyone feel safe and protected when you have mixed groups. If you have nobody vaccinated, it's easy. If you have everybody vaccinated, it's easy. But when you have mixed groups of people vaccinated and not, there will be the concern that there will be some spread of infection in the school.

And therefore the CDC might, depending on the level of infection in the community, say that in this particular community, with very low or virtually no infection at all, you shouldn't have to wear a mask. Whereas someplace else, we have a dynamic of infection. And even though some of the kids are vaccinated, you might still have to wear a mask. So we leave that up to the CDC to make that determination based on the factors that I just mentioned.

But the one thing that's interesting is that you, as a vaccinated person, should feel absolutely safe, that you're going to be okay. That's the thing. Whether or not what's surrounding you is going to dictate you wearing a mask, you should feel that you are going to be safe from getting infected.

Afton:

My last question is, what was the first thing you did after you got vaccinated?

Dr. Fauci:

The first thing I did after I was fully vaccinated was to get our friends and neighbors-who we like very much and who, because we wanted to be outdoors in order to decrease the risk of infection before we were vaccinated-to finally, since the weather was so cool at the time, to sit down with friends and a meal without a mask, since everybody in the room was vaccinated.

But before everybody got vaccinated, we did it outside. And boy, was it cold out there.

Afton:

Well, that sounds wonderful. Thank you so much for answering my questions.

Dr. Fauci:

It's my pleasure. It's good to have been with you. Take care of yourself, now.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Dr. Anthony Fauci Talks with TIME for Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kids 12 and older are now able to get the COVID-19 vaccine. What does this mean for summer plans? What does it mean for returning to school in the fall? Should we continue to wear masks? As the director of...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The U.S. had been at war with Japan since the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the day Japan also bombed Manila and took control of the Philippines. By mid-1942, Japanese forces had gained control of all East Asia, most of Southeast Asia, and half…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The major explosive energy forms that dominate research and reports on the atomic bombings are three:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Major population groupings

1. Persons present in Hiroshima or Nagasaki at bombing time. Of the regular resident population, many children and older persons had been previously evacuated, while certain outsiders were working in the cities on their specific bombing days. Overall, the estimated "physically present" population of Hiroshima on August 6 was 340,000-350,000. Nagasaki's estimated "physically present" population on August 9 was 90,000-120,000.

2. Early entrants into both cities following the bombings, mainly soldiers, firefighters, medical workers, and other helping personnel.

3. Persons who suffered radiation injuries in the areas surrounding the two bombed cities.

Almost all persons in the above groupings, young or old, also fell into one of the following groups: (1) broken families; (2) A-bomb orphans; (3) orphaned elderly.

Hiroshima

Of the city's 298 medical doctors, 270 (90%) became A-bomb victims. Casualty rates among pharmacists, nurses, and other medical professionals ranged between 80% and 93%. Eighteen emergency hospitals and 32 first-aid clinics were destroyed, and most of the workers needed to restore these health facilities were killed or injured. Nearby army medical facilities were also mostly destroyed.

In sum, approximately 90% of all medical personnel were dead or disabled, and remaining medical facilities were thrown into great disrepair and confusion.
All citizens faced desperate conditions; the young and old, all the more so.

Nagasaki

In the 2-km zone of total destruction around ground zero in Nagasaki's Urakami valley, the city's chief medical facilities were destroyed. These included Nagasaki Medical University and its related hospital, the Urakami branch of Mitsubishi Hospital, Urakami First Hospital, and some other smaller health care institutions.

Of the 70 or so doctors in private practice in the city, twenty were dead and twenty more seriously wounded; only 30 were available to help the mass of A-bomb victims.

As a major port city, Nagasaki was surrounded by various naval installations. Medical personnel from several naval hospitals (Isahaya, Sasebo, Omura, and other places) came with support personnel to give assistance, making the overall situation somewhat better than in Hiroshima.

Even so, food, clothing, medicine, and other relief supplies in Nagasaki were, as in Hiroshima, extremely scarce. Moreover, heavy rains hit both cities in September, making the struggle to survive desperately difficult and miserable.

Local ability to mobilize health care personnel and restore medical facilities was severely hampered by the overall loss of non-military economic wealth (65 billion yen nationwide). Of this total, Hiroshima (884 million yen) and Nagasaki (380 million yen) together suffered over 2% of the national total.

Political restraints on recovery

On top of the enormous physical, medical, and social damages imposed on Japan by the two atomic bombings, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Occupation (SCAP) imposed another onerous handicap: censorship. Formally termed the Press Code, officially issued by the Occupation GHQ on September 19, 1945, it prohibited the publication of all reports and studies of A-bomb damages, including medical and scientific studies of all injuries and losses suffered by A-bomb victims in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, whether in newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, books, or other public means. Thus the A-bombed citizens struggled with ignorance of the many medical and social aspects of the decimated lives.

There were minor exceptions. The Hiroshima-based magazine, Chugoku Bunka, devoted its initial issue (March 10, 1946) to A-bomb damages. A Manhattan Project team published its report, The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on June 29, 1946. And the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey Team completed its report, The Effects of the Air Attack on the Cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki the following day. These official documents, however, were printed in English and, in any case, did not touch deeply on the sufferings of the two A-bombed cities.

Most importantly, serious research on the extent and gravity of A-bomb damages and injuries could not be publicly printed and distributed by any Japanese persons or organizations, thus handicapping the surviving medical personnel trying to heal and assuage the thousands of A-bomb victims. The most revealing item, perhaps, is that the Japanese characters for "atomic bomb" ( genshi bakudan, or the short form, genbaku) could not even be used in public print. This applied to all forms: newspapers, magazines, books, public bulletins, and of course, movies.

Cameramen of the Japanese movie firm Nippon Eiga-sha were arrested by American MPs in Nagasaki on October 17, 1945, and two days later the photographing of A-bomb scenes was prohibited. A formal prohibition was issued by GHQ on December 12. It would be almost seven years later until, after the Occupation ended, the weekly magazine Asahi Gurafu ( Asahi Graph) filled an entire issue with heretofore unpublicized photographs of A-bomb damages and victims-the first A-bomb-related photos to be published in the postwar era.

One of the most moving instances of resistance to the Press Code was a small volume of tanka (a Japanese verse form of 31 syllables), penned by a hibakusha poet named Shinoe Shoda in Hiroshima. Titled Sange, it decried the cruelty of the bomb. As publication of all A-bomb-related materials was strictly banned, she took her manuscript to Tadao Nakamura, a clerk in the printing shop of a Hiroshima prison, who mimeographed 150 copies in December 1947. Shoda distributed copies to other hibakusha, all at her own expense and, of course, without SCAP permission. A hand-written copy of Sange was later donated to the Hiroshima Peace Cultural Foundation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Persons present in Hiroshima or Nagasaki at bombing time. Of the regular resident population, many children and older persons had been previously evacuated, while certain outsiders were working in the cities on their specific bombing days. Overall, the estimated "physically present" population of Hiroshima on August 6 was 340,000-350,000.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The postwar Japanese experience has been a counterpoint struggle between the persistent advocacy of a peaceful world, as evident in huge public rallies and in the many levels of personal involvement in peace studies and promotion, on the one hand, and the reckless increase in nations making and stockpiling nuclear weapons in Europe and Asia. Foremost among players in this mounting nuclear crisis is the very nation that first opened the nuclear pandora's box, the United States. Yet, significant change has recently taken place in U.S. nuclear policy.

The Road to Reduction

From 1945 to 1990, the United States produced some 70,000 nuclear weapons of approximately 70 types for more than 120 weapon systems. In 1967 the operational stockpile reached a peak of about 32,000 warheads. A dramatic expansion occurred from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s because each military branch wanted a special nuclear weapon for practically every conceivable mission. In the peak production years of 1959 and 1960, warheads came off the assembly lines at a rate of 27 per day-about 600 a month.

The many categories of "need" included various anti-submarine weapons (launched from ships and subs as well as dropped from helicopters), atomic land mines, artillery shells, surface-to-surface missiles in all ranges, air-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles, every size of gravity bomb for dozens of different nuclear-capable bombers, and three-dozen nuclear-capable tactical aircraft.

The historic high for megatonnage was reached in 1960 with almost 20,500 megatons (20 billion tons, or 40 trillion tons of TNT), the equivalent of about 1,400,000 Hiroshimas. By 2004, however, the total was down to about one-tenth the 1960 level, or some 2,000 megatons, or "only" 140,000 Hiroshimas. From the 1970s, the military's appetite for nuclear weapons had slackened, as many nuclear-based operations reverted to use of conventional weapons.

The United States has since dismantled approximately 60,000 warheads. For four decades there was a steady rhythm: old warheads were retired and new ones built. The trend ended in 1989, when the Rocky Flats plant in Colorado-where the explosive pits were made-was shut down for safety and environmental reasons. Since then, no new warheads have been produced. The remaining stockpile included warheads for well-known weapons such as the MX and Minuteman III missiles (ICBMs), Trident submarine-launched missiles, cruise missiles, and new or modified bombs.

Many of the nuclear weapons had been deployed abroad. The peak deployment of U.S. nuclear weapons in NATO countries in Europe was in 1971, with some 7,300 weapons dispersed in seven countries. In the Far East, the U.S. stored some 3,250 weapons in Okinawa, South Korea, Guam and the Philippines. In 1975, some 7,400 nuclear warheads were aboard various surface and submarine craft in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and the Mediterranean Sea.

When the Cold War ended, the U.S. stockpile had about 21,500 nuclear warheads. Of these, more than 11,000 were disassembled and disposed of during the 1990s, leaving about 10,400 in the stockpile as of early 2004. Of these, only a few hundred more are slated for dismantling, which is essentially the reverse of the assembly process, except that high explosives used for detonating the nuclear "pits" are disposed of by burning (from 1981 the amount burned annually averaged about 227,000 pounds).

Various bomb parts and nuclear supplies have been returned to the primary production facilities (e.g., Honeywell Plant in Kansas City, Pinellas Plant in Clearwater, Florida, Mound Plant near Daytona, Ohio, and the Y-12 plant in Oak Ridge Tennessee). Overall, some 11,751 warheads were dismantled in the decade 1990-1999.

The current Bush administration, however, harbors more ambitious plans. Plans for producing new "pits" (the explosive core of nuclear weapons) are underway at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and there are ambitious plans for a new facility capable of producing 250-900 pits annually by the year 2018.

"Mastery of Space"

The downsizing of traditional nuclear weapons programs outlined above was not due to a devaluing of nuclear power for military use. Quite the opposite: U.S. nuclear operations were shifted to a new theater-nuclear weapons in space.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was developed around a core of German space scientists smuggled into the United States at the end of World War II. The head of this group was Werner von Braun, who had led the development of the V-2 rocket that Nazi Germany used to destroy much of London, Paris, and Brussels. The "core group" consisted of 100 top scientists, though the entire group from the "master race" numbered some 1,500. It hardly seems an accident that the banner over NASA headquarters today reads "Master of Space." This involves, of course, placement of space weapons so as to have mastery over the earth below.

The key to space mastery is a whole new program called Theater Missile Defense (TMD), which uses space stations capable of destroying others' missiles in their boost phase, that is, before they get up into space. The TMD system has, then, space weapons (including space laser guns) deployed strategically above the earth, with control stations located at strategic places on the earth. The overall system requires naval control ships circling the globe, as well the cooperation of friendly nations for stationing U.S. bases, as in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan for the Far East, as well as various locations in Europe and Central Asia.

The long-range goal is control of the entire earth, which includes control of who gets "on" or "off" planet earth with their own space ships. Beyond mastery of earth is a long-range goal of exploration and eventual mining for vital resources on other planets. Of course, trips to other planets take a long time (a year to Mars), though such times can be cut by half if nuclear propellants are used.

The drawback, of course, is that expanding the use of nuclear energy in space increases the already dangerous levels of "space junk" adrift in space. It is reported that the "first 1,000 kilometers" of space is already filled with so much "space junk" that adding to it will make future space trips more difficult. There are reportedly some 110,000 pieces of such junk already swimming in space-enough to make 34 plutonium reactor cores. And in the fabricating plants on earth, nuclear radiation has induced many cases of disease and death.

A further difficulty is that the space weapons program relies on many satellites that can be easily knocked out. Its operations depend heavily on computerized systems that can go wrong (some already have). On the ground, one serious accident at, say, Cape Canaveral would require removing everything-all exposed buildings, soil, personnel, vegetation, and so on. On the other end of this spectrum, extending the militarization into deep space would require even greater use of nuclear power because it is beyond the range of the solar system.

While NASA began as a civil administration, its alliance with military programs has caused its expenses to escalate. So it has turned to the Pentagon for funds, and its operations are now "dual use." Thus, so much of its funding is now top secret that it operates on a "black budget," a new seedbed for restricting civil liberties, including citizen rights to protest its program and products.

And protest is inevitable if for no other reason than NASA's program are so costly that all other government programs such as health, education, and public welfare may eventually lose much of their government support.. Thus could a "defense against threats from the outside" trigger an eventual civil collapse within the world's richest nation.

So, Are We Safe?

While no world-threatening accidents involving nuclear weapons have yet occurred, there have been hundreds of accidents of varying seriousness. But the U.S. government's record on public disclosure has been less than forthcoming.

When in 1958 a U.S. Air Force B-47 in England experienced trouble on takeoff and jettisoned two full 1,700-gallon wingtip fuel tanks at 8,000 feet, the tanks missed a "safe impact area" and exploded behind a parked B-47 loaded with nuclear weapons. The resulting fire burned for 16 hours, destroying the parked bomber and causing release of finely powdered uranium and plutonium oxides. People in the town of Newbury, the closest downwind village, later reported "a cluster of leukemia cases."

Other NATO allies in Europe have been put at risk by nuclear accidents involving U.S. nuclear warheads. On at least four occasions between mid-October 1961 and August 1962, Jupiter missiles carrying 1.4 megaton thermonuclear warheads were struck by lightening; thermal batteries were activated, and in two cases, tritium-deuterium "boost" gas was injected into the warhead pits, partially arming them.

These are just a few of the many incidents found in the U.S. Defense Department's compilation, "Narrative Summaries of Accidents Involving U.S. Nuclear Weapons, 1950-1980," which listed only 32 "Broken Arrow"-type nuclear accidents and incidents for the 30-year period. "Broken Arrow" cases include lost weapons, burned weapons, dropped weapons, ruptured weapons, and weapons in which high explosives were inadvertently detonated. They are the most severe incidents; others include "Bent Spears," "Dull Swords," and "Empty Quivers."

The 1981 list, however, included only cases that had been publicly disclosed and those when radioactive fallout spread beyond the limits of military bases in the U.S. or in a foreign country. Seven of the cases were not reported when they happened, and only 14 were revealed at times when nuclear weapons were involved.

Other privately generated reports, along with some official government reports, put the total of nuclear weapons accidents/incidents well above 32. A 1985 General Accounting Office study noted that the navy reported 233 incidents involving nuclear weapons between 1965 and 1983. A 1989 Greenpeace publication lists a total of 383 nuclear weapons involved in navy incidents between 1965 and 1977. A 1973 Sandia Laboratories report cited a then-classified army report of 1,250 nuclear weapons accidents between 1950 and 1968, including 272 cases (22 percent) that caused detonation of the weapons' conventional high explosives. (See following table for a breakdown of these cases.)

Why the Defense Department has yet to acknowledge so many incidents beyond the 32 disclosed in 1981 is a mystery. "Continued and unnecessary secrecy about past accidents only increases suspicion, both within and outside the United States, that other serious accidents have occurred and that there has been undisclosed radiological contamination in one or more of the other countries that hosted U.S. nuclear forces during the Cold War," wrote Chuck Hansen in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists issue (Nov.-Dec., 2000) from which the above, and the following table, are taken.

So now, as the planned placement of nuclear weapons in space is reported, citizens at home and abroad are naturally concerned about the need and wisdom of placing "star wars" directly above our heads. Nothing remotely resembling democratic process has been involved in this exceedingly dangerous scheme. How will "incidents" and "accidents" be dealt with, resolved, or removed from the high heavens? The costs are reportedly so high, that many government services which the public has voted into place, and on which we depend for health, education, and an effective economy, may well be sacrificed. Is "mastery of space" worth losing mastery of our own lives?

Breakdown of the 272 weapons accidentes in the 1973 Sandia report

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
AtomicBombMuseum.org - The Pursuit of Peace

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The postwar Japanese experience has been a counterpoint struggle between the persistent advocacy of a peaceful world, as evident in huge public rallies and in the many levels of personal involvement in peace studies and promotion, on the one hand, and the reckless increase in nations making and stockpiling nuclear weapons in Europe and Asia.

# data[].attributes.headline
Keeping Space Missions From Infecting Earth and Other Missions

# data[].attributes.subject
Keeping Space Missions From Infecting Earth and Other Missions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
BOSTON, Mass. - In the new movie , astronauts engage in an epic battle to protect Earth. The team is studying an organism from a sample of Martian soil. But this creature isn't as cute as it first appears. It is strong and smart and eventually threatens to destroy the space station and take over Earth.

This is science fiction. But there may be some nugget of truth to the situation. "We don't know what we don't know," explains Norine Noonan. She's a biologist at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg. Robots or astronauts may one day encounter organisms on other worlds. If they do, they might also bring them home to Earth - maybe not even on purpose. Like an infection or microbial weed, those alien species could have the potential to flourish on Earth. They might even displace one or more of Earth's own species.

Noonan described what's at stake, here, at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting on February 17.

NASA is planning for sample-return missions in the not-so-distant future. These missions would retrieve dirt, dust or other bits of a planet or moon and bring them to Earth for study. If that happens, the space agency will need a range of experts to advise it on how to handle the samples safely. For instance, they would have to look into preventing any life that may be brought back from infecting species on Earth. And because Earthly life would be aliens on Mars, NASA can't risk infecting the Red Planet or any other worlds that its missions visit.

The issue has become a growing concern as biologists have uncovered species on our planet able to survive extreme environments. These organisms are called extremophiles (Ex-TREE-moh-fyles). Some live deep underground in caves. Others make their homes on volcanoes or in the hot waters of Yellowstone's geyser pools.

"We know so little about extremophiles on Earth," Noonan says. In fact, she points out, scientists have yet to identify most bacteria on our planet. So if the experts don't know much about what is here, how can they hope to know what might be living on distant worlds or their moons? Some alien critter might be barely surviving at home - but poised to grow like gangbusters in Earth's environment. So bringing it home could prove quite risky.

An old and increasingly costly worry

Scientists first started considering what Earth-life they might be sending into space following the 1957 launch of Russia's Sputnik - the world's first satellite. As missions became more advanced, scientists started calculating just how many microbes might stow away on spacecraft. The idea was to keep the numbers low so that few of these terrestrials would be available to make themselves at home on any extraterrestrial site.

In the 1970s, NASA sent two sets of orbiters and landers to Mars. These Viking missions were to search for life on the Red Planet. But NASA didn't want to risk traveling all that way just to later "detect" some Earthly germ it had accidentally launched into space, notes Cassie Conley. She is a planetary protection officer at NASA's headquarters in Washington D.C. Before each spacecraft launched, it was baked in an oven. The hope was that this heat would kill most germs on board.

NASA

The goal, she explains, was to keep the total to fewer than 30 viable organisms on the entire outside surfaces of the spacecraft.

It's now Conley's job to think about how to keep Earth's microbes from infecting Mars and beyond. That includes places like Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus.

For now, though, she is focusing on keeping Mars "clean." After the Viking landers failed to find hints of life on Mars, NASA relaxed its requirements about sterilizing spacecraft prior to launch. But in the past few decades, there's been growing evidence of water on Mars. And where there's water, there could be life. Concern has been building, Conley says, that spacecraft cleanliness requirements may have been "relaxed a little too far."

That's led to a lot of discussion about how to clean the next round of spacecraft headed to the Red Planet. And that disinfection is no small deal. Ten percent of the total cost of a mission can be spent just to remove germs, Conley says. Justifying anything that costly "leads to tension," she adds.

Scientists want as many instruments as possible on a spacecraft. But at 10 percent of the cost of a billion-dollar mission, germ removal alone might run to millions of dollars. That can be as much as a major science instrument. So there can be a tug-of-war between doing science and keeping the spacecraft clean, she says.

There's also a lot of talk about what to do when astronauts go to Mars. Humans spew lots of microbes into the air around them. Figuring out how to keep those germs from infecting the Martian environment will be important, too.

Spending the money to keep extraterrestrial worlds clean is essential. "We don't understand all of the consequences of moving organisms around," Conley says. "We want to put protections in place before we have the chance to make mistakes."

Some scientists might argue that missions to Mars have already polluted the planet, so why worry about doing better now, she notes. But her response: "That's like stopping brushing your teeth after you've eaten your first candy bar." It doesn't happen. You just brush again, she says - and maybe better - "because it's a good idea."

Planetary protection, she adds, requires the same constant attention to germ-control.

Power Words
More About Power Words

alien A non-native organism. (in astronomy) Life on or from a distant world.

annual Adjective for something that happens in every year.

astronaut Someone trained to travel into space for research and exploration.

constant Continuous or uninterrupted.

Enceladus The sixth largest of Saturn's more than 50 moons. Enceladus is bright white and covered with a thick shell of ice. Deep beneath that ice sits what appears to be a global ocean of salty liquid water. Enceladus is a round sphere, 500 kilometers (310 miles) across. It is a little less than one-third the width of Earth's moon.

environment The sum of all of the things that exist around some organism or some device and the condition those things create for that organism or device. Environment may refer to the weather and ecosystem in which some animal lives, or, perhaps, the temperature, humidity and placement of components in some electronics system or product.

Europa One of the moons of Jupiter and the sixth-closest satellite to the planet. Europa, 1,951 miles across, has a network of dark lines on a bright, icy surface.

extraterrestrial (ET) Anything of or from regions beyond Earth.

extremophile A microorganism that lives in conditions of extreme temperature, acidity, alkalinity or concentrations of chemicals.

germ Any one-celled microorganism, such as a bacterium, fungal species or virus particle. Some germs cause disease. Others can promote the health of higher-order organisms, including birds and mammals. The health effects of most germs, however, remain unknown.

geyser A vent (opening) in Earth's surface that intermittently sends up a tall spray of steam or hot water. The sometimes explosive discharge of water and steam is propelled by the geothermal heating of water below ground.

Jupiter (in astronomy) The solar system's largest planet, it has the shortest day length (10 hours). A gas giant, its low density indicates that this planet is composed of light elements, such as hydrogen and helium. This planet also releases more heat than it receives from the sun as gravity compresses its mass (and slowly shrinks the planet).

lander A special, small vehicle designed to ferry humans or scientific equipment between a spacecraft and the celestial body they will explore.

Mars The fourth planet from the sun, just one planet out from Earth. Like Earth, it has seasons and moisture. But its diameter is only about half as big as Earth's.

microbe Short for microorganism. A living thing that is too small to see with the unaided eye, including bacteria, some fungi and many other organisms such as amoebas. Most consist of a single cell.

NASA Short for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Created in 1958, this U.S. agency has become a leader in space research and in stimulating public interest in space exploration. It was through NASA that the United States sent people into orbit and ultimately to the moon. It also has sent research craft to study planets and other celestial objects in our solar system.

orbiter A spacecraft designed to go into orbit, especially one not intended to land.

organism Any living thing, from elephants and plants to bacteria and other types of single-celled life.

planet A celestial object that orbits a star, is big enough for gravity to have squashed it into a roundish ball and has cleared other objects out of the way in its orbital neighborhood. To accomplish the third feat, the object must be big enough to have pulled neighboring objects into the planet itself or to have slung them around the planet and off into outer space. Astronomers of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) created this three-part scientific definition of a planet in August 2006 to determine Pluto's status. Based on that definition, IAU ruled that Pluto did not qualify. The solar system now includes eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

robot A machine that can sense its environment, process information and respond with specific actions. Some robots can act without any human input, while others are guided by a human.

satellite A moon orbiting a planet or a vehicle or other manufactured object that orbits some celestial body in space.

Saturn The sixth planet out from the sun in our solar system. One of the four gas giants, this planet takes 10.7 hours to rotate (completing a day) and 29 Earth years to complete one orbit of the sun. It has at least 53 known moons and 9 more candidates awaiting confirmation. But what most distinguishes this planet is the broad and flat plane of seven rings that orbit it.

science fiction A field of literary or filmed stories that take place against a backdrop of fantasy, usually based on speculations about how science and engineering will direct developments in the distant future. The plots in many of these stories focus on space travel, exaggerated changes attributed to evolution or life in (or on) alien worlds.

terrestrial Having to do with planet Earth, especially its land. Terra is Latin for Earth.

viable Able to live and survive. (in biology) Able to survive and/or live a normal lifespan.

weed (in botany) A plant growing wild in, around - and sometimes smothering over - valued plants, such as crops or landscape species (including lawn grasses, flowers and shrubs). Often a plant becomes such a botanical bully when it enters a new environment with no natural predators or controlling conditions, such as hard frosts. (in biology, generally) Any organism may be referred to as a "weed" if it enters an environment and begins to overwhelm the local ecosystem.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Keeping space missions from infecting Earth and other worlds

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
BOSTON, Mass. - In the new movie , astronauts engage in an epic battle to protect Earth. The team is studying an organism from a sample of Martian soil. But this creature isn't as cute as it first appears. It is strong and smart and eventually threatens to destroy the space station and take over Earth.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kids learn about infectious diseases including pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungi as well as transmission and other types of diseases.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Bacteria and other microbes can make us sick. But there's a lurking danger with some germs that's far more frightening than a bout of food poisoning or an infected wound. Today, drugs exist to fight most of these germs. They're called antibiotics. Before these medicines came along, common infections frequently killed people. And that's where the danger lies: What will happen if antibiotics no longer kill germs?

Already some antibiotics have lost their superpowers. Many others are beginning to lose theirs. Biologists describe this problem as resistance. Across the globe, germs are becoming resistant to antibiotic medicines. In a sense, these "superbugs" have begun to laugh at those former wonder drugs.

But resistance is no laughing matter. As germs toughen up against drugs that are supposed to slay them, treatable conditions such as TB - tuberculosis - can spread. And surgeries that rely on antibiotics could turn from life-saving to life-threatening.

The threat is huge

"Alarming levels" of drug-resistant bacteria already exist in many parts of the world. That's the conclusion of a 257-page report published in April. It was issued by the World Health Organization (WHO).

This United Nations agency, based in Geneva, Switzerland, recently reviewed how well these germ slayers perform in 114 countries. In some places, it found, antibiotics no longer work for half of all people being treated against common diseases. Those diseases include pneumonia and gonorrhea.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), based in Atlanta, Ga., also has been investigating the problem . It estimates that in the United States alone, antibiotic-resistant infections now sicken some two million people each year. At least 23,000 of them die.

But even antibiotic-resistant germs that don't kill can be a problem. Their infections become harder to treat - and more expensive. Consider one estimate - $233 million - published May 20 in the journal Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control. That's how much researchers calculated that it costs the United States each year to deal with just one resistant superbug. That germ causes a lung disease known as pneumonia.

Drug-immune bugs that flourish in the human gut can enter the environment with every flush of the toilet. Researchers discovered how big this problem is when they analyzed wastewater from 11 sites in one French city. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria tainted 96 percent of their samples. A May 1 paper in Clinical Infectious Diseases describes the disturbing details.

Some scientists have scouted for such germs in the environment. They collected superbugs at hospitals. Then they probed the germs, identifying parts of their genes that appear to make them resistant to antibiotics. Next, the researchers looked in the outdoor environment for that same genetic fingerprint of superbugs. And they turned up that superbug DNA in 71 places - from the soil and sea water to human wastes. The researchers reported their findings May 8 in Current Biology.

Why it's happening

Drug designers have created antibiotics to kill bacteria, as well as some fungi and other germs. But sometimes, a few treated germs survive. They survive because they're stronger. Or they may have certain genetic mutations that allow them to break down the drug. They might even have evolved a way to keep the drugs from harming their operational machinery. Over time, all germs susceptible to a drug will die off. That will leave behind only superbugs - those microbes that medicines can't kill.

This is not surprising. In fact, it's quite natural. Part of evolution, it's known as survival of the fittest.

Scientists stumbled onto the first antibiotic, penicillin, around 1930. Since then, research has produced a medicine cabinet full of additional ones. It appeared that these would make many of the worst bacterial infections ever more manageable. So, during the 1970s, drug developers began focusing on noninfectious health problems, such as cancer and heart disease. As a result, in the past 30 years, no new types of antibiotics have been developed.

Right now, bacteria are outsmarting antibiotics faster than developers can make new ones. And there are no signs things will change, says Stewart Cole. He directs the Global Health Institute at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland.

Writing in the May 12 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, he argues that the "golden age" of antibiotic development "is a distant memory, and the likelihood of there being another seems slim." This lack of new types of germ killers, he says, has been allowing superbugs to morph and thrive.

One of the most famous of them is known as MRSA (pronounced MER-sah). The letters stand for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus . Methicillin is a widely used antibiotic. And Staph aureus is a germ that can cause boils, food poisoning, toxic-shock syndrome and more. These bacteria sicken (and sometimes kill) by releasing potent natural poisons - called toxins - into the body.

Despite its name, MRSA is resistant to far more antibiotics than just methicillin. That makes this superbug particularly nasty in hospitals and prisons. These are places where people often have open wounds or weak immune systems. Both increase a person's chance of picking up an infection.

Too much of a good thing

Drug resistance can develop at any time. But its likelihood climbs as the use of an antibiotic increases. And this is especially true when an antibiotic is overused. That's when a doctor prescribes it for infections it has no hope of curing.

For instance, doctors sometimes prescribe antibiotics to treat an infection before they learn if the disease is caused by bacteria. If viruses are responsible, then antibiotics will be useless. The reason: Antibiotic medicines do not kill viruses. Yet by giving an antibiotic to someone with a viral infection, that drug will reach good bacteria living in our bodies. And over time, some of these bacteria will become resistant to the drug.

Last year, the CDC reported that up to half of the antibiotics that U.S. doctors prescribed went to people who didn't actually need them.

Take, for example, someone who visits a doctor for a lingering cough. Viral infections cause most coughs. So a viral cough won't be helped by drugs and will tend to go away on its own. Yet 71 percent of the time, doctors will still prescribe antibiotics for patients coming in with a common cough, a May 21 study finds.

"I think there's this perception among both doctors and patients that coughs don't go away without antibiotic treatment," Jeffrey Linder told Science News for Students . Linder, who coauthored the new report, is a doctor at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass. He and Michael Barnett, also from the hospital, tracked the drugs that doctors prescribed during more than 3,000 U.S. clinic visits between 1996 and 2010. They reported their findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association .

A small number of people who visit a doctor with a cough turn out to have bacterial pneumonia. These cases do require antibiotic treatment. But Linder says doctors should easily be able to recognize these few from the hordes of people coming in with a routine, viral cough.

Perilous profit

Antibiotic overuse also has become a problem on farms. In the United States, animals - not people - receive about 80 percent of all antibiotics. Sometimes the drugs are used to save an infected animal or prevent disease from spreading through a herd. More often, though, feed suppliers put small amounts of these drugs into the food that will be given to healthy animals. These antibiotics help speed the animals' growth. And this has boosted farmers' profits.

But using antibiotics just to beef up livestock is "a direct threat to human health," argues Kellogg Schwab. He's an environmental microbiologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. Earlier, he and his coworkers detected bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics in the exhaust air blowing out of farm buildings. That suggests these superbugs can spread through the air from animals to people.

SteveOehlenschlager / iStockphoto

Germs that are immune to antibiotics also can hitch a ride into your body through ground beef or the chicken breast on your cutting board. Biologists have found that much of the fresh beef, pork and poultry sold in grocery stores contains bacteria resistant to antibiotics.

Even if those germs don't sicken us or cause other immediate harm, they can offload their resistance genes into other bacteria that normally live inside our bodies. Sometimes, like with the MRSA superbug, resistance is carried on circular pieces of DNA called plasmids. These plasmids can slip easily from one bacterial cell into another.

In this way, our gut microbes can become "a reservoir of resistance," says Sharon Peacock. She's a microbiologist at the University of Cambridge in England. Later, "when we actually get sick and need an antibiotic, we may already carry a resistance gene" that may keep that drug from working, she says.

In the United States, farmers have fought against banning antibiotics as growth promoters. They say it will reduce their profits because more animals will get sick, slowing their growth. But that's not been the experience in other countries.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, has proposed banning antibiotic use in healthy animals. But for more than 30 years, the livestock industry and Congress have fought such action. Recently, the FDA stepped up its efforts to end this practice.

In December 2013, FDA laid out a plan to phase out within three years the use of antibiotics on farms to boost livestock growth. Its stated reason: concern that farm use of these drugs has made more germs immune to the antibiotics needed to fight life-threatening infections in people. And that's a worry because the same germs that sicken animals often sicken people.

Antibiotic resistance is a complex and growing problem. Many microbiologists worry that the time when antibacterial medicines no longer work could be coming. Thankfully, doctors and many patients are becoming more aware of the problem. Researchers also are hard at work creating new tools to keep superbugs from taking over.
Next: How scientists are trying to tackle the problem
Power Words

antibiotic A germ-killing substance prescribed as a medicine (or sometimes as a feed additive to promote the growth of livestock). It does not work against viruses.

bacterium (plural bacteria) A single-celled organism forming one of the three domains of life. These dwell nearly everywhere on Earth, from the bottom of the sea to inside animals.

boils (in medicine) A skin infection that starts as a hard, red, painful lump. Eventually, it gets bigger, softens and fills with pus. A common source of these is a bacterium known as Staphylococcus aureus.

bioengineer A researcher who applies technology for the beneficial manipulation of living things. Bioengineers use the principles of biology and the techniques of engineering to design organisms or products that can mimic, replace or augment the chemical or physical processes present in existing organisms. This field includes researchers who genetically modify organisms, including microbes. It also includes researchers who design medical devices such as artificial hearts and artificial limbs.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC An agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CDC is charged with protecting public health and safety by working to control and prevent disease, injury and disabilities. It does this by investigating disease outbreaks, tracking exposures by Americans to infections and toxic chemicals, and regularly surveying diet and other habits among a representative cross-section of all Americans.

cholera A bacterial disease that infects the small intestine, causing sever diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration. It is spread by germs from feces that contaminate water or food.

DNA (short for deoxyribonucleic acid) A long, spiral-shaped molecule inside most living cells that carries genetic instructions. In all living things, from plants and animals to microbes, these instructions tell cells which molecules to make.

evolution A process by which species undergo changes over time, usually through genetic variation and natural selection, that leave a new type of organism better suited for its environment than the earlier type. The newer type is not necessarily more "advanced," just better adapted to the conditions in which it developed.

fungus (plural: fungi) Any of a group of unicellular or multicellular, spore-producing organisms that feed on organic matter, both living and decaying. Molds, yeast and mushrooms are all types of fungi.

gene A segment of DNA that codes, or holds instructions, for producing a protein. Offspring inherit genes from their parents. Genes influence how an organism looks and behaves.

germ Any one-celled microorganism, such as a bacterium, fungal species or virus particle. Some germs cause disease. Others can promote the health of higher-order organisms, including birds and mammals. The health effects of most germs, however, remain unknown.

gonorrhea A serious disease that can infect the genitals, rectum and throat. This sexually transmitted disease is very common, especially among people between the ages of 15 and 24. Untreated, it can cause infertility or death. "Untreated gonorrhea may also increase your chances of getting or giving HIV - the virus that causes AIDS," according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

growth promoter (in livestock agriculture) A medicine, usually an antibiotic, added in small doses to the feed given to animals raised for meat. Used as a preventive medicine, it can reduce the risk that animals will become sick, which would slow their growth. And that would decrease a farmer's profits.

immune system The collection of cells and their responses that help the body fight off infection.

infection A disease that can be transmitted between organisms.

influenza (or flu) A highly contagious viral infection of the respiratory passages causing fever and severe aching. It often occurs as an epidemic.

livestock Animals raised for meat or dairy products, including cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens and geese.

microbe Short formicroorganism. A living thing that is too small to see with the unaided eye, including bacteria, some fungi and many other organisms such as amoebas. Most consist of a single cell.

microbiology The study of microorganisms, principally bacteria, fungi and viruses. Scientists who study microbes and the infections they can cause or ways that they can interact with their environment are known as microbiologists.

mutation Some change that occurs to a gene in an organism's DNA. Some mutations occur naturally. Others can be triggered by outside factors, such as pollution, radiation, medicines or something in the diet. A gene with this change is referred to as a mutant.

plasmid A small circular loop of DNA that is separate from the main chromosomal DNA of bacteria.

pneumonia A lung disease in which infection by a virus or bacterium causes inflammation and tissue damage. Sometimes the lungs fill with fluid or mucus. Symptoms include fever, chills, cough and trouble breathing.

resistance (as in drug resistance) The reduction in the effectiveness of a drug to cure a disease, usually a microbial infection. (as in disease resistance) The ability of an organism to fight off disease.

superbug A popular term for a disease-causing germ that can withstand medicines.

toxic shock syndrome A rare and potentially deadly bacterial infection caused by Staphylococcus aureus. This bacterium release toxins - natural poisons - into the body of its host. Symptoms include a sudden high fever, muscle aches, vomiting, diarrhea, a rash and sometimes seizures.

toxin A poison produced by living organisms, such as germs, bees, spiders, poison ivy and snakes.

tuberculosis A bacterial disease that causes unusual growths in the lungs or other tissues. Untreated, it can kill. The infection usually spreads when a sick individual coughs (or talks, sings or sneezes), spewing germs into the air.

virus Tiny infectious particles consisting of RNA or DNA surrounded by protein. Viruses can reproduce only by injecting their genetic material into the cells of living creatures. Although scientists frequently refer to viruses as live or dead, in fact no virus is truly alive. It doesn't eat like animals do, or make its own food the way plants do. It must hijack the cellular machinery of a living cell in order to survive.

World Health Organization An agency of the United Nations, established in 1948, to promote health and to control communicable diseases. It is based in Geneva, Switzerland. The United Nations relies on the WHO for providing international leadership on global health matters. This organization also helps shape the research agenda for health issues and sets standards for pollutants and other things that could pose a risk to health. WHO also regularly reviews data to set policies for maintaining health and a healthy environment.

Citations

E. Landhuis. " The war on superbugs." Science News for Students. July 16, 2014.

B. Harder. " Joining the Resistance: Drug-immune microbes waft over hogs." Science News. Jan. 1, 2005.

A.L. Mascarelli. " Infectious animals." Science News for Students. April 17, 2013.

J. Raloff. " Antibiotics afield." Science News. Nov. 26, 2005.

J. Raloff. " Growth-promoting antibiotics: On the way out?" Science News. March 23, 2012.

J. Raloff. " Retail meats host drug-resistant bacteria." Science News. Oct. 20, 2001.

N. Seppa. " Danes keeping drugs out of livestock." Science News. April 8, 2003.

Original Journal Source: M. Barnett and J. Linder. Antibiotic prescribing for adults with acute bronchitis in the United States, 1996-2010. Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Published May 21, 2014. doi: 10.1001/jama.2013.286141.

Original Journal Source: J. Nesme et al. Large-scale metagenomic-based study of antibiotic resistance in the environment. Current Biology. Published May 8, 2014. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.03.036.

Original Journal Source: S. Peacock. Health care: Bring microbial sequencing to hospitals. Nature. Published May 29, 2014. doi:10.1038/509557a.

Original Journal Source: B. Spellberg, J. Bartlett and D. Gilbert. The future of antibiotics and resistance. New England Journal of Medicine. Published Jan. 24, 2013. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1215093.

Original Journal Source: S. Cole. Who will develop new antibacterial agents? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Published May 12, 2014. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2013.0430.

Original Journal Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Antibiotic-resistant threats in the United States, 2013.

Original Report Source: World Health Organization. Antimicrobial resistance global report on surveillance, 2014.

Teachers' questions: Superbugs: A silent health emergency

Esther Landhuis is a freelance journalist in the San Francisco Bay Area. She worked on her high school newspaper and spent a decade studying biology before discovering a career that combines writing and science.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Bacteria and other microbes can make us sick. But there's a lurking danger with some germs that's far more frightening than a bout of food poisoning or an infected wound. Today, drugs exist to fight most of these germs. They're called antibiotics. Before these medicines came along, common infections frequently killed people.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Starting around 1,500 years ago, bouts of plague swept through Europe and Asia, killing millions of people. But previously unknown variants of the plague germ had begun infecting people in both places much, much earlier. That's the conclusion of a new study.

Eske Willerslev works at the University of Copenhagen, in Denmark. As an evolutionary geneticist, he studies how the genes in DNA change over very long periods of time. He and his colleagues now report finding DNA from the bacteria that cause plague (PLAYG) in teeth from people who lived during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age. That was between 4,800 and 3,000 years ago!

The plague germ is called Yersinia pestis. Initially, this bacterium would have spread from person to person. This might have happened when a sick person coughed, for instance. If the germ triggered a lung infection, the disease would be called pneumonic (Nu-MON-ik) plague. But if the blood became infected, the symptoms would change and the illness would be called septicemic (Sep-tih-SEEM-ik) plague.

"It's surprising that the plague was widespread 3,000 years before written records of plagues and well before large-scale urbanization," Willerslev says. Evidence suggests that Bronze Age herders migrated across Europe and Asia. Those travelers "likely caused the spread of early Y. pestis strains," he now suspects.

Willerslev's group described its findings October 22 in Cell.

The new data suggest that different forms of the plague germ "survived in Eurasia for a lot longer than previously expected," says Hendrik Poinar. An evolutionary geneticist, he works at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. Early forms of the germ, however, likely did not set off major epidemics, he notes.

But it certainly did in later times. There was one epidemic in the sixth century A.D. This was during Europe's Byzantine Empire. But best known is the infamous Black Plague. It wiped out up to half of everyone living in Europe during the mid-1300s. Some 500 years later, a worldwide plague pandemic appeared to get its start in China.

Such mass deaths traced to a form of the disease where a victim's lymph nodes become infected. Called bubonic plague, this form of the disease likely became possible only sometime within the past 3,700 years, Willerslev's group now proposes. At that time, a single genetic change, or mutation, suddenly allowed the germ to infect lymph nodes and blood. Once that happened, all it would take for the disease to spread was the bite of an infected flea.

Teeth allow a look back in time

Researchers have been unable to extract the DNA of plague germs from bones that are more than 1,500 years old. But plague DNA has just been retrieved from teeth far more ancient than that.

Rasmussen et al./Cell 2015

Willerslev's team screened about 89 billion pieces of DNA from teeth. They came from 101 Bronze Age and Iron Age individuals. Yersinia pestis DNA showed up in seven of these people. Two had lived roughly 4,800 years ago in what is now Siberia, a part of Russia. Another lived roughly 4,500 years ago in North Central Europe. This was at a site that is now part of Estonia. One infected person in West Asia lived almost 4,200 years ago. Three more teeth from Siberia and Poland were 3,700 to 4,000 years old. The final sample was found in the Eastern European country of Armenia. It came from an Iron Age individual who died nearly 3,000 years ago.

The researchers looked at the entire genome - all genes - in the Bronze Age DNA samples. This analysis showed that the early germ lacked an important gene. That gene, which was present in the Iron Age individual, would allow the bacterium to survive inside a flea's gut. So the plague germ's ability to spread via flea bites evolved at some point between 3,700 and 3,000 years ago, the researchers now conclude.

The biologists also compared the DNA of modern plague bacteria to that in the ancient teeth. From this information, Willerslev's group now calculates that the most recent common ancestor of all known strains of Y. pestis existed no earlier than 7,022 years ago, and possibly no later than 5,021 years ago. The previous best estimate for that common ancestor had ranged from 1,505 to 6,409 years ago.

Early strains of the plague germ appear to have evolved and died out too quickly to calculate the age of an ancestral strain with any precision, Poinar says.

Plague DNA in one of the oldest Bronze Age individuals and in the most recent Bronze Age person showed another distinctive feature. Both samples lacked a form of one plague gene that keeps an infected person's immune system from attacking the disease. That suggests that those earlier forms of the plague germ should have been vulnerable to attacks by the immune system.

The researchers now suspect that the ability to evade the immune system evolved at different times in Bronze Age plague germs.

Power Words

bacterium (plural bacteria) A single-celled organism. These dwell nearly everywhere on Earth, from the bottom of the sea to inside animals.

Bronze Age An archeological period that followed the Old and New Stone Ages. It was the first period in which ancient peoples started using metal. When this occurred varied around the world. In China and Greece, it happened at least 5,000 years ago. In Britain it occurred closer to 3,900 years ago. In the early stages, ancient peoples formed copper into useful tools. True bronze, a metal alloy formed from a mix of copper and tin, came later. Tin deposits in southern England led this region to become a major center of Bronze Age culture.

bubonic plague A disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. It's transmitted by the bite of a flea that had previously bitten some rodent infected with the germ. This form of plague causes fever, vomiting and diarrhea. It also inflames the lymph nodes, causing them to swell. Those swollen tissues, called buboes, give this form of the disease its name. Known as the Black Death, bubonic plague killed millions of people in Europe during a series of outbreaks during the Middle Ages.

DNA (short for deoxyribonucleic acid) A long, double-stranded and spiral-shaped molecule inside most living cells that carries genetic instructions. In all living things, from plants and animals to microbes, these instructions tell cells which molecules to make.

epidemic A widespread outbreak of an infectious disease that sickens many people (or other organisms) in a community at the same time.

evolutionary genetics A field of biology that focuses on how genes - and the traits they lead to - change over long periods of time (potentially over millennia or more). People who work in this field are known as evolutionary geneticists.

extract To separate one chemical (or component of something) from a complex mix. Or, a substance, often in concentrated form, that has been removed from its natural source. Extracts are often taken from plants (such as spearmint or lavender), flowers and buds (such as roses and cloves), fruit (such as lemons and oranges) or seeds and nuts (such as almonds and pistachios). Such extracts, sometimes used in cooking, often have very strong scents or flavors.

gene (adj. genetic) A segment of DNA that codes, or holds instructions, for producing a protein. Offspring inherit genes from their parents. Genes influence how an organism looks and behaves.

germ Any one-celled microorganism, such as a bacterium, fungal species or virus particle. Some germs cause disease. Others can promote the health of higher-order organisms, including birds and mammals. The health effects of most germs, however, remain unknown.

immune system The collection of cells and their responses that help the body fight off infections and deal with foreign substances that may provoke allergies.

infection A disease that can spread from one organism to another.

Iron Age A term for ancient human societies that made great use of iron throughout their culture. This period followed directly after the Bronze Age, and is typically described as starting around the 12 th century B.C. in Greece, India, Iran, and the Middle East. It started later in other parts of Europe and what is now Turkey. This period continued on throughout all of these regions for many, many hundreds of years.

lymph nodes (or lymph glands) Small nodules located in the armpits, groin and stomach, these organs are part of the lymph system. They secrete lymph and also serve as a storage place for some cells in the immune system.

microbe Short formicroorganism. A living thing that is too small to see with the unaided eye, including bacteria, some fungi and many other organisms such as amoebas. Most consist of a single cell.

mutation Some change that occurs to a gene in an organism's DNA. Some mutations occur naturally. Others can be triggered by outside factors, such as pollution, radiation, medicines or something in the diet. A gene with this change is referred to as a mutant.

pandemic An epidemic that affects a large proportion of the population across a country or the world.

plague A term for any horrific infection that spreads easily and kills many people, usually quickly. Best known are the infections caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Indeed, they are commonly referred to simply as the plague. In one form, people pick up the germ from the bite of infected fleas. This inflames the lymph nodes, causing them to swell. Those swollen tissues, called buboes, give this form of the disease its name: bubonic plague. When the disease is instead transmitted by inhaling the bacteria, people develop what's known as pneumonic plague. This form of the disease can be spread when sick people cough. Pneumonic plague is the most deadly form, often killing its victims within 24 hours.

sepsis (also called septicemia) Complications of an infection that can prove life-threatening. It occurs when an inflammatory reaction gets out of control and risks affecting the entire body. Immune chemicals released into the bloodstream start damaging tissues throughout the body. Tissues affected by this runaway inflammation are called septic.

strain (in biology) Organisms that belong to the same species that share some small but definable characteristics. For example, biologists breed certain strains of mice that may have a particular susceptibility to disease. Certain bacteria or viruses may develop one or more mutations that turn them into a strain that is immune to the ordinarily lethal effect of one or more drugs.

urban Of or related to cities, especially densely populated ones or regions where lots of traffic and industrial activity occurs. The development or buildup of urban areas is a phenomenon known as urbanization.

variant A version of something that may come in different forms. (in biology) Members of a species that possess some feature (size, coloration or lifespan, for example) that make them distinct. (in genetics) A gene having a slight mutation that may have left its host species somewhat better adapted for its environment.

Bruce Bower has written about the behavioral sciences for Science News since 1984. He writes about psychology, anthropology, archaeology and mental health issues.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Plague is best known as the killer disease that wiped out nearly half of Europe during the 1300s. But the germ infected people up to 3,000 years earlier than that, DNA from ancient teeth now show.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
*The Rüppell's griffon vulture is believed to be the world's highest-flying bird, with confirmed sightings at more than 35,000 feet (10,668 meters).

* Turkey vultures have such a good sense of smell that they've helped natural gas companies detect gas leaks. The gas contains the same chemical found in a dead animal, which attracts the vultures to the leak.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Vultures may be gross, but they play an important role in the ecosystem.

# data[].attributes.headline
Show Me the Science: How to Wash Your Hands

# data[].attributes.subject
Show Me the Science: How to Wash Your Hands

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Wash Your Hands – Read the Science Behind the Recommendations

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
CDC recommends washing your hands in a specific way to avoid getting sick and spreading germs. Learn why each of the 5 handwashing steps – wet, lather, scrub, rinse, and dry – is important.

# data[].attributes.headline
Zika Can Damage the Brains of Even Adults

# data[].attributes.subject
Zika Can Damage the Brains of Even Adults

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Zika can damage the brains of even adults

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Zika virus can damage a developing baby’s brain. The infection can also kill off an important type of cells in adult brains, a new mouse study finds.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Life aboard the Titanic - source 5 - The National Archives

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Telegram received by the Russian liner Birma (MT 9/920c)

# data[].attributes.headline
Infographic: Why and How the Titanic Sank

# data[].attributes.subject
Infographic: Why and How the Titanic Sank

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Titanic, the so-called ‘unsinkable ship,’ struck an iceberg on April 15, 1912, and sunk to the bottom of the ocean, claiming the lives of more than 1,500 of the 2,220 people onboard.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Suddenly a queer quivering ran under me, apparently the whole length of the ship. Startled by the very strangeness of the shivering motion, I sprang to the floor. With too perfect a trust in that mighty vessel I again lay down. Some one knocked at my door, and the voice of a friend said: 'Come quickly to my cabin; an iceberg has just passed our window; I know we have just struck one.'

On April 10, 1912, the Titanic, largest ship afloat, left Southampton, England on her maiden voyage to New York City. The White Star Line had spared no expense in assuring her luxury. A legend even before she sailed, her passengers were a mixture of the world's wealthiest basking in the elegance of first class accommodations and immigrants packed into steerage.

She was touted as the safest ship ever built, so safe that she carried only 20 lifeboats - enough to provide accommodation for only half her 2,200 passengers and crew. This discrepancy rested on the belief that since the ship's construction made her "unsinkable," her lifeboats were necessary only to rescue survivors of other sinking ships. Additionally, lifeboats took up valuable deck space.
Four days into her journey, at 11:40 P.M. on the night of April 14, she struck an iceberg. Her fireman compared the sound of the impact to "the tearing of calico, nothing more." However, the collision was fatal and the icy water soon poured through the ship.

It became obvious that many would not find safety in a lifeboat. Each passenger was issued a life jacket but life expectancy would be short when exposed to water four degrees below freezing. As the forward portion of the ship sank deeper, passengers scrambled to the stern. John Thayer witnessed the sinking from a lifeboat. "We could see groups of the almost fifteen hundred people still aboard, clinging in clusters or bunches, like swarming bees; only to fall in masses, pairs or singly, as the great after part of the ship, two hundred and fifty feet of it, rose into the sky, till it reached a sixty-five or seventy degree angle." The great ship slowly slid beneath the waters two hours and forty minutes after the collision

The next morning, the liner Carpathia rescued 705 survivors. One thousand five hundred twenty-two passengers and crew were lost. Subsequent inquiries attributed the high loss of life to an insufficient number of lifeboats and inadequate training in their use.

Elizabeth Shutes, aged 40, was governess to nineteen-year-old Margaret Graham who was traveling with her parents. As Shutes and her charge sit in their First Class cabin they feel a shudder travel through the ship. At first comforted by her belief in the safety of the ship, Elizabeth's composure is soon shattered by the realization of the imminent tragedy:

No confusion, no noise of any kind, one could believe no danger imminent. Our stewardess came and said she could learn nothing. Looking out into the companionway I saw heads appearing asking questions from half-closed doors. All sepulchrally still, no excitement. I sat down again. My friend was by this time dressed; still her daughter and I talked on, Margaret pretending to eat a sandwich. Her hand shook so that the bread kept parting company from the chicken. Then I saw she was frightened, and for the first time I was too, but why get dressed, as no one had given the slightest hint of any possible danger? An officer's cap passed the door. I asked: 'Is there an accident or danger of any kind? 'None, so far as I know', was his courteous answer, spoken quietly and most kindly. This same officer then entered a cabin a little distance down the companionway and, by this time distrustful of everything, I listened intently, and distinctly heard, 'We can keep the water out for a while.' Then, and not until then, did I realize the horror of an accident at sea. Now it was too late to dress; no time for a waist, but a coat and skirt were soon on; slippers were quicker than shoes; the stewardess put on our life-preservers, and we were just ready when Mr Roebling came to tell us he would take us to our friend's mother, who was waiting above ...

No laughing throng, but on either side [of the staircases] stand quietly, bravely, the stewards, all equipped with the white, ghostly life-preservers. Always the thing one tries not to see even crossing a ferry. Now only pale faces, each form strapped about with those white bars. So gruesome a scene. We passed on. The awful good-byes. The quiet look of hope in the brave men's eyes as the wives were put into the lifeboats. Nothing escaped one at this fearful moment. We left from the sun deck, seventy-five feet above the water. Mr Case and Mr Roebling, brave American men, saw us to the lifeboat, made no effort to save themselves, but stepped back on deck. Later they went to an honoured grave.
Our lifeboat, with thirty-six in it, began lowering to the sea. This was done amid the greatest confusion. Rough seamen all giving different orders. No officer aboard. As only one side of the ropes worked, the lifeboat at one time was in such a position that it seemed we must capsize in mid-air. At last the ropes worked together, and we drew nearer and nearer the black, oily water. The first touch of our lifeboat on that black sea came to me as a last good-bye to life, and so we put off - a tiny boat on a great sea - rowed away from what had been a safe home for five days.

The first wish on the part of all was to stay near the Titanic. We all felt so much safer near the ship. Surely such a vessel could not sink. I thought the danger must be exaggerated, and we could all be taken aboard again. But surely the outline of that great, good ship was growing less. The bow of the boat was getting black. Light after light was disappearing, and now those rough seamen put to their oars and we were told to hunt under seats, any place, anywhere, for a lantern, a light of any kind. Every place was empty. There was no water - no stimulant of any kind. Not a biscuit - nothing to keep us alive had we drifted long...

Sitting by me in the lifeboat were a mother and daughter. The mother had left a husband on the Titanic, and the daughter a father

and husband, and while we were near the other boats those two stricken women would call out a name and ask, 'Are you there?' 'No,'would come back the awful answer, but these brave women never lost courage, forgot their own sorrow, telling me to sit close to them to keep warm... The life-preservers helped to keep us warm, but the night was bitter cold, and it grew colder and colder, and just before dawn, the coldest, darkest hour of all, no help seemed possible...
...The stars slowly disappeared, and in their place came the faint pink glow of another day. Then I heard, 'A light, a ship.' I could not, would not, look while there was a bit of doubt, but kept my eyes away. All night long I had heard, 'A light!' Each time it proved to be one of our other lifeboats, someone lighting a piece of paper, anything they could find to burn, and now I could not believe. Someone found a newspaper; it was lighted and held up. Then I looked and saw a ship. A ship bright with lights; strong and steady she waited, and we were to be saved. A straw hat was offered it would burn longer. That same ship that had come to save us might run us down. But no; she is still. The two, the ship and the dawn, came together, a living painting."

References:
Elizabeth Shutes' account first appeared in: Gracie, Archibold, The Truth About the Titanic (1913), reprinted in: Foster, John Wilson (editor), The Titanic Reader (1999); Lord, Walter, A Night to Remember (1955); Davie, Michael, Titanic: The Death and Life of a Legend (1986).

How To Cite This Article:
"The Sinking of the Titanic, 1912," EyeWitness to History www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2000).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Without the sinking, the fame of Titanic is greatly diminished. It would be merely a footnote in the engineering history of the early twentieth century.

The sinking of the "unsinkable" ship leading to an "unthinkable" fate for those aboard caused by an "unimaginable" bad fortune and bad management is the reason we are still captivated by this tale a century later.

In this section, we will be explaining in simple terms how? Why? When? and where? Titanic sank.

How did the Titanic Sink?

There were many elements contributing to the sinking of Titanic, but the striking of an Iceberg rupturing her steel hull on April 14th 1912 was the fatal blow that crippled the ship and caused it to sink just over two hours later. Read on to explore the events of this evening in far greater detail.

"Deeply regret to advise you TITANIC sank this morning after collision with an iceberg, resulting in a serious loss of life. Full particulars later."
J. Bruce Ismay, Director of the White Star Line upon his return to New York.

WHEN DID TITANIC SINK?

The Titanic sunk on Monday, April 15, 1912, at 2:20 am. Only two hours and forty minutes after she struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean. The iceberg collision ripped open Titanic's hull in several places, including her five watertight compartments. The rate at which Titanic sank was quite rapid for a ship of such size.

Titanic carried 2224 people of all age, gender and social class that fateful night and only 710 escaped in lifeboats who the RMS Carpathia later rescued. 1514 people died in the icy waters. The dead mainly consisted of men who offered their limited lifeboat spaces to the many women children on board. The bulk of those men who perished primarily came from the ship's second class passengers with ninety percent of these men perishing in the icy waters.

Although this was a completely avoidable and unnecessary tragedy, the Titanic disaster brought about widespread innovation and regulation in ship-building, materials manufacturing, and sailing vessel standards and practices on both sides of the Atlantic to ensure a disaster of this scale could not be replicated.

It has also been speculated that all forms of trade were profoundly affected by the tragedy's ramifications. The Titanic gave us a grim picture of the reality of maritime disasters at the very birth of the international travel industry.

The sinking of the titanic was a mixture of bad luck and terrible management. This page outlines the timeline of events that led to the Titanic's sinking on April 14, 1912.

RMS TITANIC SINKING JOURNAL: THE FINAL HOURS OF TITANIC

Sunday, April 14: Afternoon to Evening

The conditions in which Titanic sailed towards New York were almost too good to be true. She was making good time in perfect conditions. Second Officer Charles Lightoller would later state "the sea was like glass."

Most passengers and crew enjoyed Sunday Luncheon except for the Titanic's two wireless operators Jack Phillips and his assistant Harold Bride. They were capitalizing on the many personal telegraphs being sent from Titanic's well-heeled passengers about the grand time they were having onboard the world's largest ocean liner.

Titanic boasted the most powerful radio telegraph system of any ship in the world in 1912, and it was put to great use by Bride and Philips during Titanic's maiden voyage. This was even more, so the case on Sunday afternoon as a backlog of telegraphs existed from the previous evening. The radio was out of action for several hours due to a malfunction that was fixed around 5:00 am Sunday morning.

The weight of telegraphs going out from Titanic seemed to dominate the six messages received from nearby ships about iceberg sightings in the area. They did not seem of major concern to many, including Captain Smith, who shared this information with the ship's owner Bruce Ismay and posted one on the bridge for the crew to see.

Both Ismay and Smith decided that the ship should not be slowed in such optimal conditions; however, Captain Smith ordered the boat to head some ten miles south from its direct line and this should bring her into warmer and safer waters.

At 6:00 p.m. that evening, Second Officer James Lightoller took control of Titanic until 10:00 p.m. During this time, many passengers refused to brave the icy and cold conditions on board the Titanic deck in which she now found herself.

At 7:15 that evening Harold Bride decided to give the stressed wireless radio system a well-deserved break and cool down to take stock of the many inbound messages for passengers.

"The sea was like glass"
Second officer Charles Lightoller

Captain Smith dined with some of the more prestigious passengers under a moonless yet starry sky whilst Lightoller was at the helm.

By 8:55 pm Captain Smith had returned to the bridge in which he and Lightoller had a discussion about the weather conditions. "Yes, it is very cold, sir" Lightoller agreed. "In fact, it is only one degree above freezing. I have sent word down to the carpenter and rung up the engine room and told them it will be freezing during the night." Charles Lightoller

Captain Smith had decided to retire for the evening but did remind Lightoller to slow the ship if conditions became hazy and inform the crow's nest on the lookout for bergs.

By 9:30 p.m. the radio room had contacted mainland America and had a mass of telegraphs to communicate to the United States. At this point, Bride made a fateful decision not to pass on an ice warning from the nearby steamer Mesaba warning the titanic of pack ice and large bergs.

Telegraph operator Jack Phillips had now taken over from Harold Bride felt too busy with unsent messages and confident that he had previously sent all other ice-warnings to the bridge as a precaution.

At 10:00 pm, the lights in the public rooms of the second and third class were put out to encourage passengers to head to bed whilst the drinks, cigars, and conversations continued in first class.

Lightoller handed over the helm of Titanic to First officer Murdoch. The pair discussed the conditions and the wishes of Captain Smith if visibility changed. Lightoller went to bed following a quick inspection of the decks.

Jack Phillips was still working furiously in the telegraph room when at around 10:40 pm he received a very loud message from the liner Californian. "Say, Old man, we are stopped and surrounded by ice." The stressed and tired Phillips replied "Shut up! Shut Up! I am busy.

With no moon or waves and to assist the lookout in detecting icebergs that were already without binoculars, in hindsight it seemed beyond belief that Titanic would steam full-powered to into a well-warned area of icebergs and pack ice.

This berg is believed to be the one that Sank Titanic as it had some red paint marks across it and was in the location of Titanic's distress calls.

Titanic Strikes an ICEBERG

11:40 Pm "Iceberg right ahead."

were the fateful words that would signal the demise of the grandest ship ever built.

Frederick Fleet was the lookout who raised the alarm first verbally, then immediately sounded the ship's bell three times and telephoned the bridge to warn them of what they now already could see themselves.

Over 48,000 tonnes of steel ploughed towards a rogue iceberg which was more than likely at least ten times the mass of Titanic.

Approximately 37 seconds later the berg would penetrate Titanic's Hull. And the decision of what occurred next time fell upon First Officer William Murdoch. The accounts of exactly what happened are both varied and still debated to this day.

The most commonly accepted story is that Murdoch ordered: "Hard a Starboard" driving Titanic's rudder hard right and hence fully exposed her starboard bow to absorb the blow of the iceberg.

Did speed play a factor in the Sinking of Titanic?

As Titanic embraced the sharp, strong, and jagged crust of the berg, immediate thoughts from the lookout and bridge were that the situation might have been worse had the ship hit directly. And that may be the 'unsinkable' ship might live up to her title. Those who lived to tell the story would recall the impact as a mild unexpected vibration of no major significance at the time.

"Just before going to my state room, A11, there was a bump. As I turned the handle of my room [door] there was another bump. As I got into my room, there was a third bump. One of these bumps... like little pushes, nothing violent. I slipped on a coat over my white satin evening dress, and went right out from my own state room because my state room had a door leading to the promenade deck. As I got out onto the promenade deck, I saw a large grey, what looked to me like a building, floating by. But that "building" kept bumping along the rail, and as it bumped it sliced off bits of ice [which] fell all over the deck. We just picked up the ice and started playing snow balls. We thought it was fun. We asked the officers if there was any danger, and they said, "Oh, no, nothing at all, nothing at all, nothing at all. Just a mere nothing. We just hit an iceberg."
First Class Passenger Edith Louise Rosenbaum Russell, would later recount the immediate aftermath of the collision

The mass of water pouring into Titanic's lower decks immediately after the impact would tell a very different story which would be confirmed by the ship's carpenter J. Hutchinson and Titanic's designer Thomas Andrews.

The collision had forced the metal to buckle inwards and popped rivets below the waterline, opening the first five compartments (the forward peak tank, the three forward holds, and Boiler Room 6) to the sea.

As the forward compartments filled, the watertight doors closed. Any sailors still in these compartments drowned quickly. Titanic could stay afloat with the first four compartments flooded, but it had already taken on water in five compartments, and a sixth was beginning to flood. Captain Smith, alerted by the jolt of the impact, ordered "all-stop" once he arrived on the bridge.

The death of a Titan.

It became very apparent that the Titanic would sink. Thomas Andrews estimated the ship had an hour to an hour and a half and believed that the pumps would only keep Titanic afloat for a few extra minutes at best. The pumps could only cope with 2,000 tons of water per hour, but that quantity was flooding into Titanic every five minutes.

"Women and children first!" - The Deployment of the lifeboats.

At 12:05 - 25 minutes after the collision, Captain Smith ordered that lifeboats be deployed some twenty minutes after that he decreed that women and children shall take precedence. The first lifeboat was actually lowered until 12:45 a.m.

Many passengers had not immediately sought lifeboats as a means of survival on the 'unsinkable' Titanic. The boat decks had become an incredibly noisy and unwelcome area of Titanic as she began to founder.

The reason for this was due to the enormous build-up of steam in the ship's boilers that had to be released from her whistles and funnels located on the lifeboat decks. Less than an hour ago, Titanic's boilers were running nearly full capacity and were now completely stopped. This steam had to be released to avoid an explosion in the boiler rooms.

Lifeboat #7 was lowered first, on the starboard side, with a mere 28 people on board (26 of who were first-class passengers) on a boat with a maximum capacity of 65. Titanic was built to hold 32 lifeboats but carried only 20: Their total capacity was 1,178, only 53 % of the ship's total complement of passengers and crew of 2,222.

This paltry number of boats was still more boats than required by the board of trade. The organization that oversaw maritime safety in 1912. At this time, the number of lifeboats required was determined by a ship's gross tonnage rather than its human capacity. The regulations concerning lifeboat capacity had last been updated in 1894, when the largest ships afloat weighed approximately 10,000 tons, while the Titanic had 46,328.

One positive aspect of the Titanic's sinking would be the complete overhaul of maritime safety laws around the world for the betterment of the industry.

First and second-class passengers had easy access to the lifeboats with staircases that led right up to the boat deck, but third-class passengers found it much harder. Many found the corridors leading from the lower sections of the ship difficult to navigate and had trouble making their way up to the lifeboats. Some gates separating the third-class section of the ship from the other areas, like the one leading from the aft well deck to the second-class section, are known to have been locked.

While most first and second-class women and children survived the sinking, more third-class women and children were lost than saved. The locked third-class gates were the result of miscommunication between the boat deck and F-G decks. Lifeboats were supposed to be lowered with women and children from the boat deck and then subsequently to pick up F-G Deck women and children from open gangways. Unfortunately, with no boat drill or training for the seamen, the boats were simply lowered into the water without stopping. As a result of the segregation of third class, only one of the 29 children travelling in first and second-class (Lorraine Allison, a two-year-old Canadian girl) perished in the disaster, compared to 53 of the 76 travellings in third.

By 1:25 a. the situation on the lifeboat decks had become chaotic. By now most passengers had concluded there were far more people on Titanic than a position on lifeboats.

The boarding of lifeboats had become increasingly rushed and disorganized as lifeboats were now entering the water overloaded and in a very rushed manner.

As this was Titanic's maiden voyage, the crew had little understanding or training on expelling her lifeboats and were increasingly losing control of the situation at hand. When Lifeboat #14 was lowered on the port side, with Fifth Officer Harold Lowe in charge. He was forced to fire three shots from his gun into the air along the side of the ship to deter passengers on the boat deck from jumping in as they descended into the water.

In another instance, lifeboat number 11 was nearly lowered directly into the path of one of Titanic's pumps. Had it not been for some quick thinking of those on board which used the oar to prod the boat away from the pump, there may have been a further 70 fatalities added to Titanic's lengthy toll.

By 01:35, as Lifeboats #15 and #16 abandoned the ship, all of the boats in the second-class portion of the boat deck were gone. Six lifeboats remained on the ship, all in first-class, with a combined capacity of 293 for the estimated 1,800 people who remained on the ship. Lifeboats collapsible C and D were the last ones to leave the ship.

A major turning point came at 01:40 when the holes for the bow anchors dipped underwater. This allowed the frigid water to flood the rest of the bow until that time dry. Shortly afterwards the ship's bow suddenly lurched several feet downwards. This was most likely caused by the collapse of the watertight bulkhead between boiler rooms 6 and 5, which a smouldering coal bunker fire had weakened during the voyage. The sudden movement was noticeable to those on board, and the increased angle of tilt further alerted them to the impending danger, leading to outbreaks of panic.

Collapsible C left around 02:00, Collapsible D five minutes later. These boats were the closest to the ship as it foundered. Lifeboat #4 (the boat launched before Collapsible C) picked up those who were caught in the freezing ocean

The Titanic reported its position as 41°46′N 50°14′W. The wreck was found at 41°44′N 49°57′W.

WHERE DID TITANIC SINK?

Wireless operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride were busy sending out distress signals. The message was initially "CQD-MGY, sinking, need immediate assistance," later interspersed with the newer "SOS" at the suggestion of Bride (CQD was still a widely understood distress signal at the time, and MGY was the Titanic's call sign). Several ships responded, including the Mount Temple, Frankfurt, and the Titanic's sister ship, Olympic, but none were close enough to make it in time. The Olympic was over 500 nautical miles (930 km) away. The closest ship to respond was the Cunard Line's RMS Carpathia, and at 58 nautical miles (107 km) away it would arrive in about four hours, still too late to get to the Titanic in time. Two land-based locations received the Titanic distress call: the wireless station at Cape Race, Newfoundland, and a Marconi telegraph station on top of the Wanamaker's department store in New York City. Shortly after the distress signal was sent, a radio drama ensued as the signals were transmitted from ship to ship, through Halifax to New York, throughout the country. People began to show up at White Star Line offices in New York almost immediately.

02:00 - Waterline reaches forward boat deck

At first, passengers were reluctant to leave the warm, well-lit, and ostensibly safe Titanic, which showed no outward signs of being in imminent danger, and board small, unlit, open lifeboats. This was one reason most of the boats were launched partially empty: it was perhaps hoped that many people would jump into the water and swim to the boats. Also important was an uncertainty regarding the boats' structural integrity; it was also feared that the boats might collapse if they were fully loaded before being set in the water, despite being tested with a weight of 70 men.[citation needed] Captain Smith ordered the lifeboats be lowered half-empty in the hope the boats would come back to save people in the water, and some boats were given orders to do just that. Boat #1, meant to hold 40 people, left the Titanic with only 12 people on board. It was rumoured that Sir Cosmo and Lady Duff Gordon bribed the two able seamen and five firefighters to take them and their three companions off the ship. This rumour was later proven false. J. Bruce Ismay, managing director of the White Star Line, left on Lifeboat Collapsible C and was criticized by both the American and British Inquiries for not going down with the ship. Other passengers, including Father Thomas Byles and Margaret Brown, helped the women and children into lifeboats.[18][19] Brown was finally forced into a boat, and she survived. Byles did not.

As the ship's tilt became more apparent, people became nervous, and some lifeboats began leaving with more passengers. "Women and children first" remained the imperative (see the origin of phrase) for loading the boats. The order "women and children first" was given by Captain Smith. It was intended that women and children would be loaded into lifeboats first, and any remaining positions, if available, be allocated to men. In certain circumstances, particularly in the lifeboats overseen by Second Officer Lightoller, this order was translated as women and children only. It should also be noted that over half of the third-class women perished, even though nearly all of the women in first and second class survived.

At 02:05, the waterline reached the bottom of the bridge rail. All the lifeboats, save for the awkwardly located Collapsible A and B, had been lowered. With 3 seats to spare, Collapsible B was the last lifeboat to be lowered from the davits. The total number of vacancies was 466.

02:05 - Propellers exposed

The sheer volume of water in Titanic's bow would drag her propellers upwards. Passengers either scampered to higher ground or took a leap of faith into the water around one degree above freezing as lifeboats' positions became increasingly scarce.

At this point, Titanic's bronze propellers began to rise above the water line in front of Lifeboat #2, which was just off the stern. Water was beginning to flood the forward boat deck by entering through the crew hatches on the bridge. At this time, Captain Smith released wireless operators Harold Bride and Jack Phillips from their duties; Smith then quietly wandered off into the bridge, making no attempt to save himself. Bride went to their adjoining quarters to gather up their spare money, as Phillips continued working. When Bride returned, he found a fireman unfastening Phillips' life belt, attempting to steal it without Phillips noticing him. Bride grabbed the fireman, and then the three of them wrestled around in the small room for a few seconds. At one point, Bride grabbed the man by the waist, while Phillips punched him until he finally fell to the floor unconscious. Seeing water now entering the room, Phillips and Bride grabbed their caps and dashed out on the deck, where Bride helped with Collapsible B, and Phillips ran aft.

The lifeboats feared being sucked under when the Titanic sunk like a vacuum and was under instruction to move well away from it until it sunk. Only one boat would return afterwards to an eery silence.

The last two lifeboats floated right off the deck as the icy Atlantic reached them: Collapsible A half-filled with water and Collapsible B upside down with at least 30 men clinging to it. Shortly afterwards the forward expansion joint, located aft of the first funnel, was pulled apart by the rising stern's weight. This placed an unbearable strain on two of the funnel's cable stays which were anchored to the boat deck aft of the joint. The cables snapped, and the funnel fell forward, crushing part of the starboard bridge wing. On deck, people scrambled towards the stern or jumped overboard in hopes of reaching a lifeboat.

With the order for women and children first into the lifeboats, plus the knowledge that there were not enough lifeboats for everyone on board the Titanic to be saved, it is a bit surprising that two dogs made it into the lifeboats. Of the nine dogs on board the Titanic, the rescued two were a Pomeranian and a Pekinese.

Father Byles spent his final moments alive reciting the rosary and other prayers, hearing confessions, and giving absolutions to the dozens of people who huddled around him.[21] The ship's stern rose to about 15 to 35 degrees, until 02:18 when the electrical system failed and the lights, which had burned brightly throughout the whole time, went out permanently. The Titanic's second funnel then broke off and fell into the water. (Although the second funnel has often been presumed and depicted as staying on the ship until it goes underwater, this would be impossible because none of the funnels would have been able to stand the pressure the water had on the ship. About a quarter of the second funnel was underwater with the other three quarters above the surface at the breaking point. The first funnel was in the same position at the time of its detaching.)

02:20 - Titanic's final plunge

"And it wasn't until we were in the lifeboat and rowing away, it wasn't until then I realized that ship's going to sink. It hits me there."
Eva Hart, Titanic Survivor

At approximately 02:18, a few seconds after all electrical power failed on the ship, the superstructure underneath the third funnel completely split, splitting Titanic in half and crushing hundreds of people. The split was between the third and fourth funnels near the aft expansion joint, and the bow section went completely under. The third funnel collapsed shortly after the breakup as the bow sank, and the fourth funnel fell soon after as the stern sank. The stern section was pulled up again by the sinking bow and heavy engines. The stern reached a high angle and surfaced from the water. The stern was reported to have tipped far on its port side as it began to sink, even turning around on the spot. Some reported cries from lifeboats that the ship had returned (shouting, "Look! The men are saved!"). However, after a few moments, the stern section also slid under the North Atlantic's icy waters, two hours and 40 minutes after the collision with the iceberg.

The White Star Line attempted to persuade surviving crewmen not to state that the hull broke in half, believing that this information would cast doubts upon the company's vessels' integrity. However, many believe the stresses inflicted on the hull when it was at 12 degrees to the sea line (bow down and stern in the air) were beyond the structure's design limits, and 45 degrees proved to be the breaking point. No legitimate engineer could have fairly criticized the work of the shipbuilders in that regard.

The bow and stern took only a few minutes to fall 3,795 meters (12,451 ft.) to land about 600 meters (2,000 ft.) apart on a gently undulating area of the seabed. The streamlined bow section struck the seabed at a speed of about 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) - 30 miles per hour (48 km/h). It skidded along the bottom and gouged out a trench before coming to a halt abruptly, causing the bow to jack-knife and the decks at the rear end to collapse one atop another. Nonetheless, it remained relatively intact. The stern, by contrast, suffered catastrophic damage as it descended. The hull disintegrated as air escaped and bulkheads imploded. When the stern hit the seabed, the decks collapsed on top of each other, causing the remainder of the hull to burst outwards, littering the seabed with huge slabs of crumpled steel. For several more hours, debris rained down on the seabed, dispersed over several square miles through the action of water currents.

TITANIC'S TOLL: SURVIVAL BY THE NUMBERS
Children, First Class Children, Second Class Children, Third Class Women, First Class Women, Second Class Women, Third Class Women, Crew Men, First Class Men, Second Class Men, Third Class Men, Crew
6

24

79

144

93

165

23

175

168

462

885

83%

100%

34%

97%

86%

46%

87%

33%

8%

16%

22%

17%

0%

66%

3%

14%

54%

13%

67%

92%

84%

78%

Of a total of 2,223 people, only 711 survived the initial sinking, i. e. just under a third. One passenger, William F. Hoyt, died from exposure during the night in lifeboat 14 after being pulled from the water. Five others died aboard the Carpathia, leaving 706 total survivors. 1,589 passengers and crew perished. Of the first-class, 201 were saved (60%), and 123 died. Of the second-class, 118 (44%) were saved, and 167 were lost. Of the third-class, 181 were saved (25%), and 527 perished. Of the crew, 212 were saved (24%), and 679 perished (Captain Smith, as per naval tradition, went down with his ship). First-class men were four times as likely to survive as second-class men and twice as likely to survive as third-class men. Nearly every first-class woman survived, compared to 86 percent of those in second class and less than half of those in third class.

Also notable is that even third-class women were significantly more likely to survive than first-class men, with 46 percent of third-class women saved compared to 33 percent of first-class men, a result of the order to save women and children first.

Of particular note, the 35-member Engineering Staff (25 engineers, 6 electricians, two boilermakers, one plumber, and one writer/engineer's clerk) was lost. The entire ship's orchestra was also lost. Led by violinist Wallace Hartley, they played music on the Titanic boat deck that night to calm the passengers. There is a widespread story that they selected as their last piece "Nearer, My God, to Thee" while others say it was "Autumn." The majority of deaths were caused by hypothermia in the 28 °F (−2 °C) water. It has been suggested that the fact that only 705 people survived when the lifeboats had a capacity of 1,178 people (54% of those onboard) could largely be attributed to the women and children first policy, where the psychological effects and resulting loss of efficiency caused the number of people saved to be only 32% of those on board. Had the lifeboats been filled, all 534 women and children could have been saved, with enough room left over for an additional 644 men.

03:00 - Lifeboat rescues

Only one lifeboat came back to the scene of the sinking to attempt to rescue survivors. Another boat, Lifeboat #4, did not return to the site but was close by and picked up eight crewmen, two of whom died aboard the Carpathia. Nearly an hour after the whole of the ship went under, after tying four lifeboats together on the open sea (a difficult task), Lifeboat #14, under the command of Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, went back looking for survivors and rescued four people, one of whom, first-class passenger William Hoyt, died later. Collapsible B floated upside-down all night and began with 30 people. By the time the Carpathia arrived the next morning, 27 remained. Included on this boat were the highest-ranking officer to survive, Charles Lightoller, wireless operator Harold Bride and the chief baker, Charles Joughin. There were some arguments in some of the other lifeboats about going back. Still, many survivors were afraid of being swamped by people trying to climb into the lifeboat or being pulled down by the anticipated suction from the sinking ship, though this turned out not to be severe. Only 10 survivors were pulled from the water into lifeboats.

This image would be on the front page of nearly every newspaper in the world at the time. A collapsible canvas lifeboat is just about to be collected by Carpathia to bring some sense of joy to a horrific event.

04:10 - Carpathia picks up the first lifeboat

Almost two and a half hours after the Titanic sank, RMS Carpathia, commanded by Captain Arthur Henry Rostron, arrived first on the scene to find the area scattered with icebergs. They started to pick up Titanic's first lifeboat at 04:10. Over the next few hours, the remainder of the survivors were rescued. Onboard the Carpathia, a short prayer service for the rescued and a memorial for the people who lost their lives were held, and at 08:50, Carpathia left for New York, arriving on 18 April. Among the survivors were two dogs brought aboard in the hands of the first-class passengers.

On April 17, 1912, the day before survivors of the Titanic disaster reached New York; the Mackay-Bennett was sent off from Halifax, Nova Scotia to search for bodies. Onboard the Mackay-Bennett were embalming supplies, 40 embalmers, tons of ice, and 100 coffins. Although the Mackay-Bennett found 306 bodies, 116 were too badly damaged to take all the way back to shore. Attempts were made to identify each body found. Additional ships were also sent out to look for bodies. In all, 328 bodies were found, but 119 were badly damaged and thus were buried at sea.

JAMES CAMERON EXPLAINS EXACTLY HOW TITANIC SANK IN THIS VIDEO

Did poor quality steel lead to the sinking of the Titanic?

In recent times there has been much made about the fact that Titanic was constructed from inferior steel particularly brittle in cold waters.

Titanic's steel was produced in acid-lined open-hearth furnaces, which allowed for impurities (such as sulphur and phosphorous) in the steel. These impurities led to low fracture resistance, especially in cold water conditions that reduced the steel's ability to deform without fracturing.

However, much factual information we have discovered about metallurgy in the last century it is unfair to bring this into the equation as a crucial part of her demise.

Titanic was built from the best-known steel of the day, and there were thousands of ships built in the same era from the exact same process who never had any faults with their steel.

Titanic's sister ship Olympic had her steel made from the exact same process using the exact same equipment, and she sailed for over another three decades before being scrapped.

Olympic even had two major collisions in her lifespan one with the battleship Hawke and another famous collision with German U-Boat U-103 in which she rammed it and sunk it. Neither of these collisions would prove particularly damaging to her hull.

So yes, Titanic would be made from better steel today, but when a 50,000-ton ship ploughs into an iceberg that dwarfs it at high speed the outcome is almost certainly going to be similar. The steel 'myth' is purely another small part of a very large sequence of unfortunate events.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Titanic Sinking: A Complete Guide | Ultimate Titanic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Without the Titanic sinking, the fame of Titanic is greatly diminished. It would be merely a footnote in the engineering history of the early twentieth century.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Titanic was one of three Olympic-class ocean liners built by the White Star Line in the early 20th Century.

# data[].attributes.headline
 Titanic: Captain Went Down with the Ship

# data[].attributes.subject
 Titanic: Captain Went Down with the Ship

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Titanic: Captain Went Down with the Ship

The Titanic had eight officers, including Captain Edward Smith.

Smith was a veteran, decorated sailor, having been with the White Star Line since 1880. He was captain of the Majestic for nine years, including a stint transporting British troops to the Boer War.

Beginning in 1904, he was the captain on all of White Star Line's new ships. He was captain of the Baltic when it sailed from Liverpool to New York in June 1904 and of the Adriatic when it made a similar voyage three years later.

Smith was captain of the Olympic, a ship as big as the Titanic, in September 1911, when the Olympic collided with another ship, the Hawke, resulting in the Hawke's losing its prow and the Olympic's losing one of its giant propeller shafts. Smith and the Olympic got the blame for this incident.

Despite this incident, the White Star Line appointed Smith captain of its newest ship, the Titanic, for its maiden voyage. His first major action was to ensure that the Titanic didn't collide with the New York, a ship that broke free from its moorings because of the huge amount of water displaced when Titanic initially sailed.

Smith did not survive the sinking of the Titanic. Various accounts of his last actions have him jumping into the sea at the last second, standing in the wheelhouse as the ship went down, and even rescuing a child as his final act.

His body was not recovered. He left behind a wife and daughter. A statue of him stands in Beacon Park in Lichfield, Staffordshire, in England.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Titanic: Captain Went Down with the Ship

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Titanic captain was experienced in the extreme.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Central Press / Getty

In his book, Titanic's Last Secrets, Brad Matsen tells the story of wreck divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler and their search for the truth about the Titanic's sinking in 1912. More than just a tragic iceberg crash, the story the divers uncovered is one of bad management, shoddy construction and an ocean liner that sank so quickly that most passengers didn't know what was happening until it was too late. Chatterton and Kohler talk to TIME about deep sea diving, investigating shipwrecks, and the allure of the Titanic.
What draws you to shipwrecks? Why them and not other underwater dives?
John Chatterton: You mean, why aren't we fish guys?

Richie Kohler: We both started out as fish people.

Chatterton: But if we stuck to that, we would have lost interest a long time ago. Wreck diving is so complex. You've got all the equipment, you have the hyperbarics, the challenging environment. You have to be able to physically deal with it all. Intellectually, you need knowledge about diving medicine, decompression, about gas mixtures, about equipment. You also have to know about the wrecks themselves, the ship's construction, the peripheral events related to the sinking, and at the same time when you're talking about diving deep using life support equipment. There is a high intimidation factor. With the Titanic, you're 2.5 hours away from the surface.

Kohler: There's also the concept of going somewhere no one has ever been, that has been lost to mankind from the moment it slipped beneath the waves. You're constantly immersed — mind the pun — in this alien marine environment and you really never know what's going to quite literally come over your shoulder.
What is it like to go diving that deep?
Kohler: When I grew up as a little kid, the space program was in full force. I sat in front of a black and white television and watched Neil Armstrong take those first steps on the moon. As a kid I wanted to be an astronaut. I made my mom buy me Tang and TV dinners. I even dressed up my G.I. Joe figure in aluminum foil 'cause it looked like a space suit. That's part of why I think I'm a diver. You are, in a way, going into inner space. You're standing on the deck of the boat, ready to go down. There's hundreds of different people dressed in different colored uniforms, each with an important task, working so that six people can go down in two MIR submersibles. As you're climbing up the ladder into the MIR, everyone is on the deck and there's a hush. And you're in your suit with an American flag on your shoulder, and you know, my heart is full.

Why do you think people are so fascinated with the Titanic?

Kohler: There's something about the whole story, something about "The Ship of Dreams," — quite literally the most opulent passenger liner — that sank on its maiden voyage. Everything about this wreck was big including the passenger list. It had the elite societies, the richest of the rich. And conversely, it had the poorest of the poor. People who left everything behind, looking for a new life. And when that ship sank, the heavy hand of the sea cut right across them all. The poorest of the poor drowned and died the same as the richest of the rich. And although history will have us believe that many people acted with the most noble intent —

Chatterton: They called it a heroic ship.

Kohler: — the reality is probably something much more different. People thought they had hours when they literally had minutes. It came down to making a decision. Do you get off the big steel ship and climb into the little wooden lifeboat hanging over the side five stories up off the water. Or do you take your chances and stay?
How did the movie Titanic change the business of investigating the ship?
Chatterton: Jim Cameron's movie was a great movie and sometimes people have trouble differentiating fact from fiction and think Jack was really on the Titanic. But before that movie there was A Night to Remember. The Unsinkable Molly Brown was a Broadway play. The Titanic has woven itself into modern culture. When Bob Ballard found it 20 years ago, it was front page news. When we left the dock, we believed mostly what we saw in the film because it was the conventional wisdom of the day. We didn't know any better.
On this dive, you discovered that the Titanic wasn't built properly. What was your reaction when you learned this?
Kohler: These White Star Line men took gambles that today would be unthinkable. Imagine they built an airliner and it just plummets from the sky. Can you imagine if the federal government worked with the airliners that flew it and the company that built it to cover up the fact that they built a weak plane?
How come no one had made this discovery before?
Kohler: Imagine your living room. And in your living room, you drop an earring. But now you want to find it in the middle of the living room. And the way you have to do it is with all the lights out, and you can only use one eye and a small penlight.

Chatterton: Put it this way: you break a ship up, spread on the bottom in 12,500 feet of water. There's a lot to see.
Are there any mysteries about the Titanic that are still left to be solved?
Kohler: One of the questions that bothers me is how, after nearly an hour, water starts coming from a boiler room way back from any of the damage that had occurred with the collision with the iceberg. What happened there? Other questions that John and I have are things like the crew. The crew was brand new to the ship. Did they know how to operate the pumps? There's the possibility that they actually hastened the ship's demise because of their inefficiency. In trying to get the water out, what if they actually pumped water IN?
What's your favorite dive?
Kohler: The next one. John and I would go back to the Titanic in a heartbeat. But that's not the end of it all. The sea has many different mysteries and John and I have dedicated our lives to going out there in search of them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In his book, Titanic's Last Secrets, Brad Matsen tells the story of wreck divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler and their search for the truth about the Titanic's sinking in 1912.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Extraordinary Story of the White Star Liner Titanic

# data[].attributes.subject
The Extraordinary Story of the White Star Liner Titanic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Extraordinary Story of the White Star Liner Titanic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The great steamship sank 100 years ago, but its legendary drama, heroes and villains remain as unforgettable as ever

# data[].attributes.headline
The Titanic Construction & Design Information

# data[].attributes.subject
The Titanic Construction & Design Information

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Why was the Titanic built?

Titanic was purpose-built by White Star Shipping to be the pride of its fleet of commercial shipping liners to meet the demand of travel from Europe to the United States.

Many ships already offered passage across the Atlantic regularly. Still, White Star was determined to capture the hearts, minds, and wallets of travellers by building the grandest liner of them all.

Where was Titanic Built?

Titanic construction occurred in Belfast, Ireland. This location was selected due to the close allegiance between Belfast shipbuilders, Harland and Wolff and the White Star Line. An exclusive contract existed whereby White Star could only go to Harland's to have their ships built, and Harland and Wolff would not build rival ships.

A Complete Titanic TEACHING UNIT

The shipyard chairman from 1895 was William Pirrie, later Viscount Pirrie of Belfast. These two men concocted the idea for the Olympic class liners to compete with their rivals, Cunard.

In the early 1900's White Star were perceived as the poor cousins to its main rival in British based Cunard Lines had a dream of dominating the lucrative route between the well cultured and wealthy European ports and the opportunity and expansion of a burgeoning United States.

In 1907 Cunard's Lusitania ruled the Atlantic Ocean as the largest and fastest liner in the world which did not sit well with J. Bruce Ismay - head of White Star Lines who commissioned the building of not one but three ships which would all dwarf the Lusitania and her larger and unfinished sister ship the Mauretania.

"Titanic, name and thing, will stand as a monument and warning to human presumption."
The Bishop of Winchester, preaching in Southampton, 1912.

How long was Titanic?

Titanic was 882 feet (269 meters) long, she measured in at over 100 feet longer and over fifty percent heavier than their nearest rival. The R.M.S (Royal Mail Ship) Titanic and Olympic were to be built in Belfast, Ireland by the Harland, and Wolff shipping to offer passengers the most luxurious passage across the Atlantic. To learn more physical statistics and facts about RMS Titanic read our article here.

Drafting Titanic was done at a large scale

1911 Newspaper excerpt

Speed was deliberately compromised on Titanic to provide passengers with a smoother ride without its competitors' vibration caused by outdated propeller design and the desire to push them as fast as possible. Titanic was by no means slow and could complete Southampton's journey to New York in just under a week.

The Titanic would be the largest moving object man had ever built and a project so mammoth it would cause a revolution in shipbuilding that would continue for the next two centuries. The project was so ambitious there was no dry-dock in the world to build the Titanic, so Harland and Wolff had to convert its existing three dockyard layout to two to accommodate the massive dimensions of the two ships. The massive gantries required to lift materials into a position were again the world's largest.

Ismay and Pirrie were not content with just building the most giant ship on earth, demanding it also be the most luxurious. Titanic would deliver upon this promise providing unimaginable luxury to her socially elite wealthy passengers.

The pre (1900's) great war elite of and wealthy of society coveted luxury at any expense.

Thomas Andrews, an experienced shipwright, and head of Harland & Wolff design were given the task as the man to oversee the design and construction of Titanic.

To build a safe ship 882.5 feet (268.8 meters) long and 92.5 feet (28.2 meters) wide with a gross weight of nearly 45,000 tons (40,824 metric tons), some innovative shipbuilding techniques and materials were required.

The design submission for Olympic and Titanic was approved in Belfast on July 29, 1908, by Bruce Ismay and other White Star directors. Andrew's drawings show that Titanic incorporated several cutting-edge naval features, including the hull's division into a series of virtually watertight compartments. This innovation would lead to the media branding Titanic as "unsinkable." A tag that would haunt it forever.

"Control your Irish passions, Thomas. Your uncle here tells me you proposed 64 lifeboats and he had to pull your arm to get you down to 32. Now, I will remind you just as I reminded him these are my ships. And, according to our contract, I have final say on the design. I'll not have so many little boats, as you call them, cluttering up my decks and putting fear into my passengers."
J. Bruce Ismay, Director of the White Star Line

The dream of the "unsinkable" RMS Titanic.

The revolutionary "unsinkable" hull was divided up into 16 watertight compartments. The ship was built to stay afloat even if two of the middle compartments or four front compartments flooded. It cannot be overstated that this was an ingenious stroke of engineering and design fatally let down by poor budgeting and execution.

These watertight compartments offered potential passengers a genuine sense of security in travelling the high seas and were a brilliant marketing tool for White Star Lines to sell tickets. The Titanic was actively marketed as the world's first and last "Unsinkable Ship."

Titanic infamously had too few lifeboats to evacuate all those on board; the 20 lifeboats that she carried could only take 1,178 people, even though she had about 2,223 on board at the time of her sinking and could carry up to about 3,300 people. This was not of major concern in this era of highly unregulated transport, and shipping design were shipping companies made the rules up as they liked with little interference from government bodies.

Unfortunately, some elements of Thomas Andrew's original design ideas were altered or removed as Titanic went over the construction budget. This included removing some of the more extravagant luxury features such as extra swimming pools, more electric lifts, and amazingly completing its sixteen watertight hulls. This decision was obviously not well-publicized at the time.

Original Titanic Design Blueprints and Technical Drawings

Titanic's construction begins

Construction of the Titanic began on March 31, 1909, when designer Thomas Andrews laid the first keel plate in the Harland & Wolff Shipyards Belfast, Ireland. Titanic's sister ship The Olympic had begun some three months earlier, and the two ships were essentially constructed simultaneously by over 15,000 workers. This project would cost 8 employees their life working on such a mammoth and often dangerous construction site.

When Titanic was designed, no facilities existed to build or berth such a large ship. Harland & Wolff set about building the two new slipways required, demolishing three smaller ones to make room. They constructed two huge gantries, with moving cranes and lifts, called the Arrol gantries. They also purchased a massive 200-ton floating crane to lift the huge boilers and other mechanical items into place on the ships.

The Gantries

A gantry is a crane system that manoeuvres over the top of a ship in the dockyard carrying materials and workers to the heights and depths. Titanic's 220-foot Gantries were custom built to meet the needs of such a monstrous vessel.

The huge Olympic and Titanic structural silhouettes could be seen across most of Belfast City, shrouded by the even larger gantries in which they were constructed.

Titanic's Boilers:

To power, the largest movable structure ever made would require an enormous power source, and in the early 1900s that source was coal-powered steam. There were twenty-four double-ended Scotch class boilers and a further five single-ended boilers housed in six boiler rooms. The double-ended boilers measured 20 feet long, with a diameter of 15 feet 9 inches, and contained six coal-burning furnaces. The single-ended boilers were 11 feet 9 inches long with the same diameter. With all boilers firing the Titanic produced around 46,000 horsepower.

Titanic's Funnels:

Thomas Andrew's original Titanic design was so efficient that it was originally conceived with only three funnels to service the massive boilers some 150 feet below. White Star thought it a necessity a ship of such grandeur must possess four funnels. As a result, only three of the funnels were functional, and the fourth was to serve as an aesthetic element and provide fresh air to the engine rooms. The Funnels were constructed off-site and attached after the Titanic had left Dry-dock.

The Propellers (or Screws) of Titanic:

Titanic was equipped with a steam-powered triple screw propulsion system ensuring it moved across the ocean at a respectable pace of approximately 22 knots, but the blades were deliberately pitched at such an angle that the ship would not vibrate, discomfort, or distract the passengers from the more elegant points of Titanic's voyage on board when enjoying the smoking and dining rooms.

As a result, the Titanic ran slightly slower than it could have, but there were alternatives if you wanted sheer speed. If it was unrestricted elegance and dominance of the ocean, then the Titanic was the ticket you sought.

The Hull of Titanic:

Constructed from over 3 million rivets to connect the 1-inch-thick iron plates the hull had over 2000 portholes in it for the wealthier guests to view the waves rolling by. After the Titanic sinking inquiry some would blame the quality of the rivet installation and metalworking on the Titanic for succumbing to an iceberg so quickly.

Overall, both Titanic and Olympic's construction was relatively unspectacular compared to others, albeit larger and grander. Their sheer presence each day at the drydock drew attention from the media who lapped up any ounce of news on these two behemoths of the industrial era to build hype and ensure both ships would be entirely sold out for years to come.

The Hull would measure 882.9 ft in length and 92 feet wide requiring 59 feet of water to float unobstructed. (See the Facts and Statistics Section for all Titanic Data. )

On May 31, the 26,000 Ton hull of the Titanic still smelt of fresh black enamel as it descended down the slipway assisted by 25 tons grease and soap into a fitting basin for internal fitting and completion. Large crowds, press and dignitaries came to witness this auspicious event with some members of the audience doubting that such a mass of steel would actually float.

"Not even God himself could sink this ship."
White Star Employee

Titanic Engineering Facts Video

Was Titanic's steel to blame for her sinking?

Many combining factors led to the magnitude of Titanic's disaster at sea, including lack of lifeboats, flaws in the design of the ship and negligence of the crew. One factor that we can accurately evaluate with today's technology is the quality of steel that was used for the Titanic, and if any shortcuts were taken during construction that may have contributed to the disastrous event.

According to a study conducted in 1998 and published in 2008 by Dr. Phil Leighly, a professor emeritus of metallurgical engineering at the University of Minnesota Rochester, the steel used for the Titanic did in fact play a role in the sinking of the Titanic. Using a recovered piece of steel from the ship's hull and bulkhead that was larger than any others previously found, they were able to determine why the steel cracked on the hull.
The Composition
After doing a series of impact tests based on their steel sample, the team was able to determine that the steel used to build the ship was much more inferior to modern steel. About 10 times more brittle in fact compared to the steel used to make today's ships. Test results showed high concentrations of sulfur, oxygen, and phosphorous, and low concentrations of manganese, nitrogen, and silicon. This was mainly a result of producing the steel using open-health furnaces. Pieces of steel from the hull have also appeared almost shattered, with no evidence of bending or deformation.
The Temperature
The frigid waters in which the Titanic struck the iceberg most likely had a big impact on the time it took the Titanic to sink, which was about 2 hours and 40 minutes. The below-freezing temperature water made the steel abnormally brittle and less impact-resistant and contributed to the size of the hole and the rapid sinking of the ship. Passengers on the Titanic recalled hearing loud cracking noises coming from the ship's structure while it was sinking. Leighly noted that you would expect groaning instead of cracking sounds when steel breaks unless the steel is brittle.
The Design
Because steel welding was still in its infancy, the colossal steel plate structure of the Titanic needed to be held together by over three million iron and steel rivets, which were hammered into place by hand. However, there were many additional flaws in the design of the ship that had little to do with the quality of the steel used, including compartments that were meant to be watertight, and lack of welding technology.

The steel used for the Titanic was far inferior to the steel typically used today, and was much more brittle and not nearly as impact resistant. However, it was certainly the best steel that could be produced at the time. Leighly concluded that flaws in the design of the ship were a much bigger factor of the sinking of the Titanic than the actual steel used in production. - Thanks to Capital Steel for the information about Titanic's steel.

TITANIC'S TURBINE ROTOR

Titanic's three screw propulsion system

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Titanic Construction & Design Information | Ultimate Titanic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Titanic construction occurred in Belfast, Ireland. This location was selected due to the close allegiance between Belfast shipbuilders, Harland and Wolff and

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Survivors

My mother had a premonition from the very word 'GO.' She knew there was something to be afraid of and the only thing that she felt strongly about was that to say a ship was unsinkable was flying in the face of God. Those were her words."

- Eva Hart, - Titanic survivor

Being a survivor of the most famous maritime disaster of all time was in many ways a tough legacy for some to live with and in some cases, some simply couldn't, and later took their own life. The Titanic survivors carried the burden of explaining the tragedy to the world and justifying why their life was spared above others.

The great injustice of the story of survival on the Titanic was that the wealthy survived and the poor perished. Even to the point that many second and third-class women and children were sacrificed at the expense of notable and wealthy men.

"I can never understand why God would have spared a poor Finnish girl when all those rich people drowned."

- Anna Turja Lundi, Titanic survivor.

J. Bruce Ismay would survive the Titanic but was murdered by the press for his decision to place his life above those of passengers. This was exemplified at the highest manner by J. Bruce Ismay - The owner of Titanic and a man who should have accepted much responsibility for the lack of lifeboats and other cost-cutting measures that inevitably lead to the sinking of Titanic. Ismay managed to find a spot on a lifeboat and watched hundreds of paying passengers die on the morning of April 15, 1912.

J. Ismay Retired as planned from the International Mercantile Marine in June 1913. Still, the position of managing director of the White Star Lines that he hoped to retain was denied him, surviving the Titanic Disaster had made him far too unpopular with the public.

He spent his remaining years alternating between his homes in London and Ireland. Because Ismay had never had many close friends, and subsequently had few business contacts, it was mistakenly easy to assume that he had become a recluse, he did enjoy being kept informed of shipping news, but those around him were forbidden to speak of the Titanic. He died in 1937.

A Complete Titanic TEACHING UNIT

For a complete list of Titanic Survivors click here. For a great demographic breakdown of survivors of the Titanic click here.

View full-size
Madeline Astor, Aged 19, was the maiden of the richest man on board.
Madeline Astor

Madeline Astor

The maiden of multi-millionaire Jacob Astor, Madeline inherited from her husband the income from a five million dollar trust fund and the use of his home on Fifth Ave and in the Newport so long as she did not marry. In August 1912, she gave birth to a son with whom she was pregnant on the Titanic, and she named him after her husband, John Jacob Astor. She relinquished the Astor income and mansions during WWI to marry William K. Dick of New York. She had two more sons; she divorced Dick in Reno, Nevada, in 1933 to Marry Italian Prize Fighter Enzo Firemonte. Five Years later, this marriage also ended in divorce. She died in Palm Beach, Florida in 1940 at age 47.

"As I was put into the boat, he cried to me, 'It's all right, little girl. You go. I will stay.' As our boat shoved off he threw me a kiss, and that was the last I saw of him."

- Mrs Daniel Warner Marvin - On her honeymoon

The unsinkable Molly Brown

The 'Unsinkable' Molly Brown

Molly's life took a surprising turn after the sinking. Previously, her efforts to be accepted by Denver society had been unsuccessful, the Selflessness and heroism she had shown on the Titanic prompted her neighbours, for a short time, to open their doors to her.

In 1924 she was named a potential candidate for Congress. As time passed on, however, she grew increasingly eccentric. Her husband died without leaving a final will and testament, and she found herself at odds with her children over his money.

In 1932, at the age of 65, she died suddenly in New York City after a stroke. It was only after her death when she became the subject of the hit Broadway musical and film, "The unsinkable Molly Brown" That she gained some of the fame she would have so enjoyed in life.

"Not until the last five minutes did the awful realization come that the end was at hand. The lights became dim and went out, but we could see. Slowly, ever so slowly, the surface of the water seemed to come towards us. So gradual was it that even after I had adjusted the life jacket about my body it seemed a dream. Deck after deck was submerged. There was no lurching or grinding or crunching. The Titanic simply settled. I was far up on one of the top decks when I jumped. About me were others in the water. My bathrobe floated away, and it was icily cold. I struck out at once. I turned my head, and my first glance took in the people swarming on the Titanic's deck. Hundreds were standing there helpless to ward off approaching death. I saw Captain Smith on the bridge. My eyes seemingly clung to him. The deck from which I had leapt was immersed. The water had risen slowly, and was now to the floor of the bridge. Then it was to Captain Smith's waist. I saw him no more. He died a hero. The bows of the ship were far beneath the surface and to me only the four monster funnels and the two masts were now visible. It was all over in an instant. The Titanic's stern rose completely out of the water and went up 30, 40, 60 feet into the air. Then, with her body slanting at an angle of 45 degrees, slowly the Titanic slipped out of sight."

- Robert W. Daniel - Philadelphia Banker

This infographic visually represents the survival rates of each class and gender on Titanic.

"I was on the whale deck in the bow calling the watch that was to relieve when the ice first came aboard. The collision opened the seams below the water-line but did not even scratch the paint above the line. I know that because I was one of those who helped to make an examination over the side with a lantern. I went down into the engine-room at 12:40am. We even made coffee, so there was not much thought of danger. An hour later I was still working at the light engines. I heard the chief engineer tell one of his subordinates that number six bulkhead had given way. At that time things began to look bad... I was told to go up and see how things were, and made my way up a dummy funnel to the bridge deck. By that time all the boats had left the ship, yet everyone in the engine-room was at his post. I was near the captain and heard him say, 'Well boys, it's every man for himself now.'"

- Alfred White - a greaser in the engine-room

"When the Titanic struck the iceberg, I was in bed. However, for whatever reason I was awake and remember the jolt and cessation of motion. A steward knocked on the stateroom door and directed us to get dressed, put on life preservers and go to the boat deck, which we did... The steward as we passed was trying to arouse passengers who had locked themselves in for the night. Elevators were not running. We walked up to the boat deck. Al was calm and orderly. An officer was in charge. 'Women and children first,' he said, as he directed lifeboat number 11 to be filled. There were many tearful farewells. We and Uncle Jim said good-bye... The lowering of the lifeboat 70 feet to the sea was perilous. Davits, ropes, nothing worked properly, so that first one end of the lifeboat was tilted up and then far down. I think it was the only time I was scared. Lifeboats pulled some distance away from the sinking Titanic, afraid of what suction might do... As row by row of the porthole lights of the Titanic sank into the sea this was about all one could see. When the Titanic upended to sink, all was blacked out until the tons of machinery crashed to the bow... As this happened hundreds and hundreds of people were thrown into the sea. It isn't likely I shall ever forget the screams of these people as they perished in water said to be 28 degrees... At this point in my life I was being brought up as a typical British kid. You were not allowed to cry. You were a 'little man.' So as a cool kid I lay down in the bottom of the lifeboat and went to sleep. When I awoke it was broad daylight as we approached the Carpathia. Looking around over the gunwale it seemed to me like the Arctic. Icebergs of huge size ringed the horizon for 360 degrees."

- Marshall Drew Eight-year-old travelling with his Aunt and Uncle

Paul Chevre - French Sculptor & Titanic Survivor

"When our boat had rowed about half a mile from the vessel the spectacle was quite fairylike, The Titanic, which was fully illuminated, was stationary, like some fantastic piece of stage scenery. The night was clear and the sea smooth, but it was intensely cold. Presently the gigantic ship began to sink by the bows, and then those who had remained on board realized the horror of their situation. Suddenly the lights went out and an immense clamor filled the air in one supreme cry for help. Little by little the Titanic settled down, and for three hours cries of anguish were heard. As moments the cries of terror were lulled and we thought it was all over, but the next instant they were renewed in still keener accents. As for is we did nothing but row, row, row to escape from the death cries. In our little boat we were frozen with cold, having left the ship without overcoats or rugs. We shouted from time to time to attract attention, but obtained no reply. A German baron who was with us fired off all the cartridges in his revolver. This agonizing suspense lasted for many hours until at last the Carpathia appeared. We shouted 'Hurrah!' and all the boats scattered on the sea made towards her."

- Paul Chevre - French Sculpture

"As I dressed, I heard the order shouted, 'All the passengers on deck with life belts on.' We all walked up slowly with the life belts tied on over our clothing, but even then we presumed that this was merely a wise precaution the captain was taking. The ship was absolutely still, and except for the gentle, almost unnoticeable, tilt downwards, there were no visible signs of the approaching disaster. But, in a few moments, we saw the covers being lifted from the boats and the covers being lifted from the boats and the crews allotted to them standing by and uncoiling the ropes, which were to lower them. We then began to realize that it was a more serious matter than we had at first supposed. Presently we heard the order, 'All men stand back away from the boats. All ladies retire to the next deck below.' The men all stood away and waited in absolute silence, some leaning against the end railings of the deck, others pacing slowly up and down. The boats were level with the deck where all the women were collected, the women got in quietly, with the exception of some, who refused to leave their husbands. In some cases they were torn from their husbands and pushed into the boats, but in many instances they were allowed to remain, since there was no-one to insist that they should go."

- Lawrence Beesley - English Schoolmaster

"After sinking with the ship, it appeared to me as if I was propelled by some great force through the water. This might have been occasioned by explosions under the water, and I remembered fearful stories of people being boiled to death. Again and again I prayed for deliverance, although I felt sure that the end had come. I had the greatest difficulty in holding my breath until I came to the surface. I knew that once I inhaled, the water would suffocate me. When I got under water I struck out with all my strength for the surface. I got to air again after a time, which seemed to me to be unending. There was nothing in sight save the ocean, dotted with ice and strewn with large masses of wreckage. Dying men and women all about me were groaning and crying piteously. By moving from one piece of wreckage to another, at last I reached a cork raft. Soon the raft became so full that it seemed as if she would sink if more came on board her. The crew for self-preservation had therefore to refuse to permit any others to climb aboard. This was the most pathetic and horrible scene of all. The piteous cries of those around us still ring in my ears, and I will remember them to my dying day. 'Hold on to what you have, old boy!' we shouted to each man who tried to get on board. 'One more of you would sink us all!' Many of those whom we refused answered as they went to their death, 'Good luck - God bless you!'"

- Colonel Archibald Gracie Jumped from the top deck and was sucked down with her

"A number of us who were enjoyed the crisp air were promenading about the deck. Captain Smith was on the bridge when the first cry from the lookout came that there was an iceberg ahead. It may have been 30 feet high when I saw it. It was possibly 200 yards away and dead ahead. Captain Smith shouted some orders... A number of us promenaders rushed to the bow of the ship. When we saw he could no fail to hit it, we rushed to the stern. Then came a crash, and the passengers were panic-stricken."

- George Brayton - First Class Passenger

"I saw the way she was carrying herself and the quiet, determined manner in which she spoke, and I knew she was more of a man than most aboard, so I put her in command at the tiller. There was another woman in the boat who helped, and was every minute rowing. It was she who suggested we should sing, and we sang as we rowed, starting with 'Pull for the Shore.' We were still singing when we saw the lights of the Carpathia, and then we stopped singing and prayed."

- Seaman Thomas Jones praised the courage of the Countess of Rothes in lifeboat number eight.

"I was in my bunk when I felt a bump. One man said, "Hello! She has been struck." I went on deck and saw a great pile of ice on the well deck before the forecastle, but we all thought the ship would last some time, and we went back to our bunks. Then one of the firemen came running down and yelled, "All muster for the lifeboats." I ran on deck, and the Captain said, "All firemen keep down on the well deck. If a man comes up I'll shoot him." Then I saw the first lifeboat lowered. Thirteen people were on board, eleven men and two women. Three were millionaires one was Ismay [J. Bruce Ismay, Managing Director of the White Star Line; a survivor]. Then I ran up on to the hurricane deck and helped to throw one of the collapsible boats on to the lower deck. I saw an Italian woman holding two babies. I took one of them, and woman jump overboard with the baby, while I did the same the other. When I came to the surface the baby in my arms was dead. I saw the woman strike out in good style, but a boiler burst on the Titanic and started a big wave. When the woman saw that wave, she gave
up. Then, as the child was dead, I let it sink too.
I swam around for about half an hour, and was swimming on my back when the Titanic went down. I tried to get aboard a boat, but some chap hit me over the head with an oar. There were too many in her. I got around to the other side of the boat and climbed in."

- Harry Senior - Fireman

"We did not begin to understand the situation till we were perhaps a mile or more away from the Titanic. Then we could see the rows of lights along the decks begin to slant gradually upward from the bow. Very slowly the lines of light began to point downward at a greater and greater angle. The sinking was so slow that you could not
perceive the lights of the deck changing their position. The slant seemed to be greater about every quarter of an hour.That was the only difference.

In a couple of hours, though, she began to go down more rapidly. Then the fearful sight began. The people in the ship were just beginning to realize how great their danger was. When the forward part of the ship dropped suddenly at a faster rate, so that the upward slope became marked, there was a sudden rush of passengers on all the decks towards the stern. It was like a wave. We could see the great black mass of people in the steerage sweeping to the rear part of the boat and breaking through into the upper decks. At the distance of about a mile we could
distinguish everything through the night, which was perfectly clear. We could make out the increasing excitement on board the boat as the people, rushing to and fro, caused the deck lights to disappear and reappear as they passed in
front of them.

This panic went on, it seemed, for an hour. Then suddenly the ship seemed to shoot up out of the water and stand there perpendicularly. It seemed to us that it stood upright in the water for four full minutes.

Then it began to slide gently downwards. Its speed increased as it went down head first, so that the stern shot down with a rush. The lights continued to burn till it sank. We could see the people packed densely in the stern till it was gone
. . .
As the ship sank we could hear the screaming a mile away. Gradually it became fainter and fainter and died away. Some of the lifeboats that had room for more might have gone to their rescue, but it would have meant that those who were in the water would have swarmed aboard and sunk her. "

- Mrs D. H. Bishop - Eyewitness account from Lifeboat

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Being a survivor of the most famous maritime disaster of all time was in many ways a tough legacy for some to live with and in some cases, some simply

# data[].attributes.headline
The Real Story Behind the Discovery of Titanic's Watery Grave

# data[].attributes.subject
The Real Story Behind the Discovery of Titanic's Watery Grave

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Dr. Robert Ballard couldn't sleep. It was the early morning of September 1, 1985, and the 43-year-old oceanographer was lying in his bunk aboard the research vessel Knorr. Ballard had led the ship to the North Atlantic in search of the long-lost wreck of Titanic, but despite combing the seafloor for more than a week, his team's camera-outfitted robot had yet to find anything other than miles of sand and sediment. With only a few days left before the mission ended, he was beginning to worry the iconic "Ship of Dreams" might never be found.

The Discovery of the Titanic Wreck

As Ballard tried to distract himself with a book, the Knorr's cook appeared and said the on-duty watch team had called for him. Ballard pulled a jumpsuit over his pajamas and dashed to the ship's control van. When he arrived, his colleagues replayed what had just appeared on their robot's live video feed of the seafloor. The footage was dim and grainy, but the metal object it showed was unmistakable: one of Titanic's boilers. Ballard and his crew erupted with cheers and applause. Someone opened a bottle of champagne for a toast, but the mood suddenly darkened after they noticed that it was nearly 2:20 a.m.-the exact time the ocean liner had sunk and taken more than 1,500 passengers and crew to their deaths. The thought of it hit Ballard like a shock. "We were embarrassed we were celebrating," he later told 60 Minutes. "And all of a sudden we realized that we should not be dancing on someone's grave."

By the time of the crew's discovery, 73 years had passed since the Titanic left on its doomed maiden voyage to New York. After the liner sank, would-be treasure hunters had proposed using everything from electromagnets to nylon balloons to raise it from the depths. The only problem was that no one knew where it was. Titanic had continued to drift after last reporting its location in a distress call, leaving explorers with a search area that spanned hundreds of miles. Several missions had set off to look for its watery grave. All of them-including a 1977 expedition led by Ballard-had come home empty-handed.

Ballard's second search attempt had been in the works since the early 1980s, when he asked the U.S. Navy to fund the development of the Argo, an unmanned camera sled that could be towed behind a surface ship at depths of up to 20,000 feet. The Navy balked at footing the bill for a Titanic search, but they were interested in using Ballard's new robot to survey the wrecks of the U.S.S. Thresher and Scorpion, two nuclear submarines that had been lost in the Atlantic in the 1960s. The two parties eventually came to a compromise: if Ballard could successfully locate and map the two sunken subs, he could use whatever time he had left to look for Titanic.

A Top-Secret Expedition

Since the United States was still embroiled in the Cold War, the operation was kept top-secret. Ballard was given special instructions and put on active duty as a Naval officer, but as far as the rest of the world was concerned, he was simply an oceanographer on a search for Titanic. It wasn't until the 2000s that the mission's military agenda was fully declassified.

Ballard began his clandestine expedition by photographing Thresher in the summer of 1984. The following year, he and a team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution returned to the Atlantic and tracked down the wreck of Scorpion off the coast of the Azores. Ballard knew the Navy mission would leave him with precious little time to seek out Titanic, so he asked the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea, or IFREMER, to partner with him.

In July 1985, the French research vessel Le Suroit began scouting the area where Titanic was believed to have sunk. Using a technique known as "mowing the lawn," expedition leader Jean-Louis Michel towed a side-scan sonar system back and forth across the search zone in the hope of detecting large metal objects on the seafloor. Despite trawling the Atlantic for five weeks, the sonar failed to uncover any promising leads. The job of finding Titanic fell to Ballard and the crew of Knorr, who had just wrapped up their survey of Scorpion.

Ballard's military project left him with just 12 days to look for Titanic, but it had also given him an idea for a new search technique. While photographing Thresher and Scorpion, he'd noticed that the current had carried small bits of wreckage from the ships as they fell to the seafloor, creating a long chain of debris. With this in mind, he decided not to search for Titanic's hull. Instead, he would use Argo to scour the bottom for its much larger debris trail, which might stretch as far as a mile. Once he found it, he could use it to track down the ship itself.

The new approach allowed Ballard to expand the search area and move through it in a much wider pattern. Rather than "mowing the lawn" with sonar, he dragged Argo along the seafloor and monitored the live video feed from its onboard cameras. Seven people were needed to keep the submarine and Knorr in synch and analyze all the data, and the crew worked in shifts to keep the watch going around the clock. After several grueling days, they were rewarded with the sight of riveted hull plates and the telltale boiler. Argo continued stalking the debris trail, and the following morning, Titanic's bow came looming out of the inky depths.

Weather Forces Hasty Work Documenting the Wreck

For Ballard, the discovery came with mixed emotions. "It was one thing to have won-to have found the ship," he later wrote. "It was another thing to be there. That was the spooky part. I could see the Titanic as she slipped nose first into the glassy water. Around me were the ghostly shapes of the lifeboats and the piercing shouts and screams of people freezing to death in the water." As many had long suspected, Titanic had broken in two as it sank to the bottom. Its bow sat upright and was still surprisingly intact. The more heavily damaged stern lay some 400 meters away.

Ballard and his crew scrambled to document the wreck with both Argo and Angus, another unmanned submarine designed to take still photographs. The shots revealed large sections of Titanic's hull and mast, including the crow's nest where the fatal iceberg had first been spotted. Several of the hatches had been torn off, and a missing skylight allowed a tantalizing glimpse down into where the ship's "grand staircase" had once been located. The large debris field included pristine china plates, pieces of furniture and even an unopened case of champagne. Sea scavengers had long since consumed any human remains. The only remnants of the victims were the many pairs of leather shoes still lying on the sandy bottom.

Just four days after they laid eyes on Titanic, stormy weather forced the crew to pack up their supplies and steer Knorr toward home. Dozens of scientists would later study the site more thoroughly, including Ballard, who returned the following summer to get a firsthand glimpse of the wreck from inside a manned submersible called Alvin.

In the meantime, photos of the momentous discovery were splashed on the front pages of newspapers across the globe, and an army of reporters and television cameras greeted Knorr when it docked in Massachusetts. Ballard, who would later become a fierce opponent of attempts to salvage artifacts from Titanic, used his first press conference to stress the need for the wreck to be treated with reverence.

"The Titanic lies now in 13,000 feet of water on a gently sloping alpine-like countryside overlooking a small canyon below," he said. "There is no light at this great depth and little life can be found. It is a quiet and peaceful place-and a fitting place for the remains of this greatest of sea tragedies to rest. Forever may it remain that way."

In February 2023, 80 minutes of never-before publicly seen underwater video of the underwater discovery was released by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The footage was captured by cameras in a three-person research submersible named Alvin and the remotely operated Jason Jr. in July 1986. Ballard and two pilots were inside Alvin as the team explored the long-lost ship.

Fact Check

We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Real Story Behind the Discovery of Titanic's Watery Grave | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In 1985, a joint American-French expedition tracked down one of the biggest prizes in maritime archeology: the 73-year-old wreck of the "unsinkable" ocean liner Titanic.

# data[].attributes.headline
After Ship Sank, Fierce Fight to Get Story

# data[].attributes.subject
After Ship Sank, Fierce Fight to Get Story

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
After Ship Sank, Fierce Fight to Get Story

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When the Titanic sank about 960 miles from New York, the city’s newspapers came up with many ways to get the news of the catastrophe to hungry readers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Titanic facts for kids | History | National Geographic Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn about the most famous ship in history with our twenty Titanic facts. How big was the Titanic? Where did she sink? How many people died on the Titanic?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Read about the tragic shipwreck in the frigid North Atlantic Ocean.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Titanic Facts for Kids | 8 Hidden Facts about Titanic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Everybody knows the story of Titanic and the iceberg it hit on the night of April 14, 1912. When it first set sail, the Titanic was known for its extraordinary size and was thought to be "The Unsin...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Icebergs are large chunks of ice that break off from glaciers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
At 11.40pm on 14 April 1912, the famously 'unsinkable' ocean liner, Titanic, struck an iceberg. Two hours and 40 minutes later she sank deep into the freezing Atlantic waters. Less than a third of the people on board survived.

Over the years, the BBC has heard from some of the men and women who lived through that 'night to remember'. Their memories are gathered together here to tell the story of the disaster.

Hear the survivors describe a night they could never forget.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
At 11.40pm on 14 April 1912, the famously 'unsinkable' ocean liner, Titanic, struck an iceberg. Two hours and 40 minutes later she sank deep into the freezing Atlantic waters. Less than a third of the people on board survived. Over the years, the BBC has heard from some of the men and women who lived through that 'night to remember'.

# data[].attributes.headline
What You Need to Know about North Korea & Its Nuclear Program

# data[].attributes.subject
What You Need to Know about North Korea & Its Nuclear Program

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What You Need to Know About North Korea & Its Nuclear Program | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Get a primer on the enigmatic nation and why it’s fueling international fears with its aggressive nuclear program.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The unspeakable second's explosive sequence

0.0 second: Temperature at burst point reaches several million degrees F within one-millionth of a second following detonation. All bomb material becomes ionized gas & gamma rays.

0.1 second: Bomb explodes and fireball forms. In addition to heat and blast force, radiation was 3% of total energy, of which gamma rays & neutrons damaged living organisms, soil and ground structures.

0.15 second: Shock wave expands rapidly, heating air to luminous condition. Fireball visible for following 10 seconds.

0.2 second: Thermal energy, especially infrared wave-lengths, causes most of thermal burns to humans.

1.0 second: Fireball reaches maximum diameter of 200-300 meters.

Blast (50% of energy) is now complete. Overpressure at hypocenter (or "ground zero," directly below the burst point) in Hiroshima reaches an estimated 4.5-6.7 tons per square meter, and moves through the air and across the ground at the approximate speed of sound. Maximum pressure at Nagasaki's hypocenter may have been as high as 10 tons per square meter.

Recent research has found that in the initial "non-instant" (0.0 sec.) a powerful neutron burst struck a mile-wide area directly below burst point before the bomb casing exploded. This pre-explosion burst was caused by the initial impact of the uranium bullet with the core of uranium 235. This finding resolved a long-perplexing question of a young man near ground zero who died (Sept. 3) with symptoms of severe internal bleeding but no surface burns.

Suddenly there was a brilliant flash, like a photographer's magnesium flash. Then came a blast with a deafening bang, and I felt as though I had been kicked in the guts....The world was all black.- F.J.Johnson. Australian prisoner of war, Nagasaki.

Physical Devastation

The Hiroshima bomb was exploded over the city center, which was crowded with large public buildings and countless wood-frame residences and shops. Beneath the huge column of smoke that arose from the explosion, tens of thousands were already dead or dying. As fires raced out of control, destruction of wooden structures and reinforced concrete buildings alike was virtually complete within 2 km (1.2 mi.) of ground zero.

In Nagasaki, the more powerful bomb destroyed an estimated 12,000 buildings by blast and burning. Virtually nothing was left standing of the valley's homes, schools and factories. Worshippers in shrines, temples, and churches perished as they prayed.

In both cities, fires generated by the explosions' intense heat, and fed by broken gas and electrical lines, raged out of control. Fire stations and equipment had been destroyed, fire fighters were dead or injured, and water pipes were ruptured.

Many corpses were found at places where there was some water-rivers, old wells, fire-safety cisterns, ponds, and the like. People who did not die instantly had, it appears, exerted themselves to the limit just to find some water.- Marina Transport Rescue Team member, Hiroshima.

Hiroshima's gigantic firestorm leveled 13 square kilometers (5 sq. mi.), destroying some 92% of the city's structures. Nagasaki's firestorm, hemmed in by the valley, consumed some 22.7% of the entire city's structures. The bodies of many people who were close to ground zero in the two cities were shattered by blast or burned beyond recognition in the firestorms.

Houses and trees were leveled as far as the eye could see, and fires began breaking out in the ruins. At the roadside I saw the corpse of a man who had been leading a horse cart, still on his feet, with his hair standing on end like wire.... The river was filled with the dead and half-dead; burned children were screaming, 'Mommy! Mommy!' and mothers searched for their children, calling their names in faltering voices.- Ms. Hide Kurokawa, Nagasaki

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
0.0 second: Temperature at burst point reaches several million degrees F within one-millionth of a second following detonation. All bomb material becomes ionized gas & gamma rays. 0.1 second: Bomb explodes and fireball forms. In addition to heat and blast force, radiation was 3% of total energy, of which gamma rays & neutrons damaged living organisms, soil and ground structures.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The U.S. had been at war with Japan since the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the day Japan also bombed Manila and took control of the Philippines. By mid-1942, Japanese forces had gained control of all East Asia, most of Southeast Asia, and half…

# data[].attributes.headline
The First Atomic Bombs: "Little Boy" and "Fat Man"

# data[].attributes.subject
The First Atomic Bombs: "Little Boy" and "Fat Man"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
THE FIRST ATOMIC BOMBS: "Little Boy"and "Fat Man"

There were actually two new bombs, one using uranium, the other plutonium, with different triggering devices for each. The main research and production sites were Los Alamos, New Mexico; Hanford, Washington; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The entire project operated under top secrecy, mobilizing top scientists and engineers, and at unprecedented high costs.

The Hiroshima bomb

Nicknamed "Little Boy"(for President Franklin Roosevelt), the bomb's size was 3 meters in length by 0.7 meter in diameter, using uranium 235 as its critical material. Inside a shortened smooth-bore 76.2 mm (3 in.) naval gun, a subcritical projectile of U-235 was fired at a subcritical target of U-235. At the moment of impact, a supercritical mass was formed, triggering a nuclear chain reaction, or atomic explosion. The gun barrel and heavy casing gave it a weight of over four metric tons (8,900 lbs). The subcritical material was an alloy called Oralloy, a code named derived from the secret laboratory at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where it was fabricated.

For use in the gun device, the fissile materials had to be made into geometric shapes capable of withstanding the violence of being shot down the gun's tube, then stoipped abruptly at the target, and held together long enough to detonate.

The Nagasaki bomb

Nicknamed "Fat Man" (for England's Prime Minister Winston Churchill), this bomb had a core of plutonium 239, was 3.5 meters in length by 1.5 meters in diameter, and it weighed 4.5 tons. Its plutonium core was surrounded by 64 explosive charges arranged in an inner and outer shell. The explosive charges were fabricated in geometrical shapes in a configuration similar to a soccer ball-an extremely difficult and demanding procedure. When the two shells were detonated, the shockwave slammed into a tamper surrounding the plutonium nucleus, causing a rapid increase in density that compressed the slightly sub-critical plutonium core, rapidly increasing its density, making it supercritical, thus exploding in a nuclear chain reaction.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There were actually two new bombs, one using uranium, the other plutonium, with different triggering devices for each. The main research and production sites were Los Alamos, New Mexico; Hanford, Washington; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The entire project operated under top secrecy, mobilizing top scientists and engineers, and at unprecedented high costs.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
History for kids - Free history network for kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Black Death

The Black Death : Bubonic Plague

In late 1347, the Black Death killed approximately 30 to 45 percent of the European population (although some people put this rate even higher at around 60 percent). No one knew what caused the plague so people in the Middle Ages tried a number of methods to combat the disease but they didn't help. The only thing people could do was to simply run away from any place that was infected.

What Is It?

The Black Death is a bacterial disease. This simply means it is caused by bacteria. The official name of the bacteria is Yersina pestis. It was named after the French scientist, Alexandre Yersin, who discovered this germ. This bacteria actually causes three different types of plague: bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, and septicemic plague.

Bubonic Plague: This was the most common form of the plague and got its name from the swollen areas (called buboes) that develop when a person is infected. These buboes appear in the groin, armpit, and neck. They can be the size of a golf ball or as big as an apple. The bubonic plague would typically kill its victim within a week but some people were able to recover from the disease (although not very many).

A flea that was infected with the disease would bite a person .Around six days after being bitten, a black blister would appear around the bite. Shortly after this, the buboes would appear followed by purple blotches on the skin. These blotches were caused by bleeding under the skin of the infected person. Bubonic plague killed around 50 to 60 percent of people who have been infected.

Pneumonic plague: This plague was much more deadly than bubonic plague but didn't happen as often. It entered a victim's lungs and caused pneumonia. The infected person would come down with a fever and begin coughing up blood. This coughing would help pass the disease on to other people. About 95 to 100 percent of people infected with pulmonary plague would die within three days.

Septicemic Plague: Septicemic plague occurs when the bacteria enters the victim's bloodstream. The victim will develop a rash and die within the day. Septicemic plague was always fatal but was very rare. The victim died so quickly that there wasn't time for the disease to be passed on to another person.

How Was It Spread?

The bacteria that causes the plague lives in the stomachs of fleas. These fleas are responsible for the spread of the disease. The fleas live on rats which were numerous throughout the Middle Ages. For some reason (people don't really know why) the bacteria builds up in the flea's stomach. As a result, there is so much bacteria, that the flea "throws up" while feeding. Unfortunately, what the flea is feeding on is a person. The flea bites a person and begins drinking the person's blood. At the same time, the flea throws up and the bacteria enters the blood of the person the flea is biting resulting in the person being infected with the plague.

When Did It Start and Where Did It Come From?

The plague first arrived in Europe in 1347 and came from the steppes area of Central Asia. The disease had been in the area for a while but did not cause a big problem because the people who lived in the area were the Mongols. The Mongols lived closely with their horses and fleas don't like the smell of horses so they did not cause a big problem.

Later trade and trading ports in Central Asia were created to help develop trade. The trading posts were areas where rats could gather. The rats brought the infected fleas with them. Any area that had a lot of rats was in danger of having the plague as well.

The plague probably made it into Europe as the result of an attack on the trading port of Kaffa by the Mongols. As the Mongols laid siege to the city, the army was destroyed by the plague. The Mongol leader, Yannibeg, wanted the people who lived in Kaffa to get the plague as well so he used a catapult to throw infected bodies over the city walls and into the city.

The people who lived in the city tried to stop the plague by quickly throwing the dead bodies into the sea, but the plague quickly spread through the city. In fact, these dead bodies were not responsible for the spread of the plague. A dead body isn't going to breath on anyone and the infected fleas that carry the plague would have almost immediately left the dead body for a living person.

A more likely answer for the spread of the plague into Kaffa is, once again, rats. Rats probably made their way into the city and carried the infected fleas with them. The plague took hold in the city and when the people fled the city in their ships, they took the plague with them. When these ships docked at the town of Messina, most of the crew were infected or already dead. The city government quickly had the ships towed out of the harbour but it was too late. The plague had arrived and began its spread throughout Europe.

Was There A Cure?

During the Middle Ages, there was no cure for the Black Death although a number of things were tried. In fact, doctors had no idea how the disease was spread. To combat the disease, doctors (when they were willing to actually see patients infected with the plague) would use bloodletting and boil lancing. Bloodletting simply means a doctor would cut a person and let some blood drain out. Boil lancing occurred when a doctors would cut open the swollen areas of a person (the buboes) and let them drain.

In addition, people would use burning herbs and bath in vinegar to fight the disease. Another method people would use was to simply run away. People would leave the area as soon as any plague cases were reported (and sometimes even before cases were reported).

Many people believed that the plague was visited upon them by God to punish society for being sinful. To atone for these sins, some people would beat themselves with leather straps or pieces of metal in an effort to lift God's curse.

When Did It End?

This outbreak of the plague ended in the early 1350s (around 1353) although there were a number of outbreaks of the plague over the centuries. In fact, even today, there are plague outbreaks. In 2003, more than 2,100 cases of the plague were reported as well as 180 deaths. In 2006, an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo resulted in the death of at least fifty people. In recent years, cases of the plague have been reported in China, India, Vietnam, and Mongolia as well as in the United States.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Black Death : Bubonic Plague In late 1347, the Black Death killed approximately 30 to 45 percent of the European population (although some people put this rate even higher at around 60 percent).

# data[].attributes.headline
How Do Cancer Cells Behave Differently From Healthy Ones?

# data[].attributes.subject
How Do Cancer Cells Behave Differently From Healthy Ones?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How do cancer cells behave differently from healthy ones? - George Zaidan

# data[].attributes.headline
Common Plant Could Help Fight Zika Virus

# data[].attributes.subject
Common Plant Could Help Fight Zika Virus

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
PHOENIX, Ariz. - Substances in a common plant can kill larvae of the mosquito that helps spread the viruses that cause Zika, chikungunya and dengue fever. That's the discovery of a teen from the Philippines. His research may help public health officials develop a way to slow the spread of those deadly diseases. It also may give homeowners hints about how to home-brew their own mosquito-killing cocktail.

Dengue (DEN-gay) virus is a leading cause of illness and death throughout the tropics and subtropics. The disease is spread by the Aedes aegypti (AY-dees Eh-JIP-tye) mosquito. Dengue causes high fevers, severe headaches and joint pain, among other symptoms. With no vaccine to prevent it, up to 400 million people contract dengue each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than one-third of all people on the planet live in areas at risk of this infection.

Within that big zone is The Philippines. It's where Jerouen Paul Lumabao lives. A 10 th grader at Daniel R. Aguinaldo National High School in Davao City, he wanted to look for something that would at least slow dengue's spread. He knew that many insect-killing chemicals were first discovered in plants. So the 17-year-old decided to test new candidates that he extracted from three plants common to where he lives.

One is a thigh-high weed called tawa-tawa ( Euphorbia hirta). Another is an attractive perennial called the San Francisco plant ( Codiaeum variegatum). Because its leaves are colorful, people often plant it in gardens and yards, says Jerouen. (Known as the variegated croton, this plant also is grown as a houseplant in cooler, temperate zones.) The third is an herb called lemon grass ( Cymbopogan citratus), which is used in cooking.

Many insect-killing extracts are isolated by soaking a plant's leaves in alcohol. And that's basically what Jerouen did. After picking the leaves, he dried them for one week. Then, he soaked each type in alcohol. Afterwards, he let the alcohol evaporate. What remained was a concentrated oily liquid full of plant-made chemicals.

He tested these extracts by dripping small quantities of them into water that contained mosquito eggs and larvae. Both tawa-tawa and lemon grass extracts caused the mosquito larvae to develop unusually. They would not have matured into healthy adults, Jerouen says. The San Francisco plant extract proved even more toxic to the insects. In just 24 hours, it had killed all of the mosquito eggs and larvae in the water.

Jerouen described his results here, May 12, at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Created by Society for Science & the Public and sponsored by Intel, this year's competition brought together more than 1,750 students from 75 countries. (SSP also publishes Science News for Students.)

Jerouen focused his research on preventing the spread of dengue fever. But in recent months, people have become even more aware of the Zika virus. It, too, is spread by mosquito bites. It can cause fevers, rashes and eye inflammation. What's more, if a pregnant woman gets infected, her baby might end up with birth defects. And then there's chikungunya, a devastating disease poised to hit North America. All three viruses can be transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. This suggests Jerouen's plant extracts might become a powerful weapon in fighting many frightening diseases.

Power Words
More About Power Words

(for more about Power Words, click here)

Aedes aegypti A species of mosquito that can transmit the viruses responsible for several tropical diseases, including dengue fever, yellow fever, chikungunya and West Nile disease.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC An agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CDC is charged with protecting public health and safety by working to control and prevent disease, injury and disabilities. It does this by investigating disease outbreaks, tracking exposures by Americans to infections and toxic chemicals, and regularly surveying diet and other habits among a representative cross-section of all Americans.

chikungunya A tropical disease that has been crippling large numbers of people in Africa and Asia. It's caused by a virus that is spread by mosquitoes. It recently has been spreading widely throughout warm nations. More than 3 million people have suffered through its initial flu-like symptoms. A large share may also go on to develop intense pain in their muscles and joints that can last months to years. There is no cure or vaccine.

dengue fever A potentially lethal infectious disease transmitted by mosquitoes. No vaccine yet exists to prevent infection with the virus responsible for the disease, which causes high fevers, severe headache, joint pain, pain behind the eyes, rash, bone pain and sometimes mild bleeding. A more severe form of the disease, known as dengue hemorrhagic fever can cause uncontrolled bleeding if not treated right away.

extract (v.) To separate one chemical (or component of something) from a complex mix. (noun) A substance, often in concentrated form, that has been removed from its natural source. Extracts are often taken from plants (such as spearmint or lavender), flowers and buds (such as roses and cloves), fruit (such as lemons and oranges) or seeds and nuts (such as almonds and pistachios). Such extracts, sometimes used in cooking, often have very strong scents or flavors.

larva (plural: larvae) An immature life stage of an insect, which often has a distinctly different form as an adult. (Sometimes used to describe such a stage in the development of fish, frogs and other animals.)

perennial (in botany) A plant that lives for many years. Some may die back in harsh weather (extreme heat or cold), but then come back months later when conditions improve.

Society for Science and the Public (or SSP) A nonprofit organization created in 1921 and based in Washington, D.C. Since its founding, SSP has been not only promoting public engagement in scientific research but also the public understanding of science. It created and continues to run three renowned science competitions: The Intel Science Talent Search (begun in 1942), the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (initially launched in 1950) and Broadcom MASTERS (created in 2010). SSP also publishes award-winning journalism: in Science News (launched in 1922) and Science News for Students (created in 2003). Those magazines also host a series of blogs (including Eureka! Lab).

toxic Poisonous or able to harm or kill cells, tissues or whole organisms. The measure of risk posed by such a poison is its toxicity.

tropics The region near Earth's equator. Temperatures here are generally warm to hot, year-round.

subtropics A geographic region that reaches to the beginning of the temperate climate zone (around 40° North and 40° South latitudes) from the edges of tropics, that band of hot climate spanning the outer belly of the planet. The tropics reach out to the Tropic of Cancer (around 23.5° north latitude) and Tropic of Capricorn (around 23.5° south latitude). The subtropics tend to be reliably warmer than temperate climates, but may experience brief periods of frost that would be unexpected in the true tropics.

temperate In geography, referring to areas that are cooler than the tropics but warmer than polar regions.

virus Tiny infectious particles consisting of RNA or DNA surrounded by protein. Viruses can reproduce only by injecting their genetic material into the cells of living creatures. Although scientists frequently refer to viruses as live or dead, in fact no virus is truly alive. It doesn't eat like animals do, or make its own food the way plants do. It must hijack the cellular machinery of a living cell in order to survive.

Zika virus A virus that can be transmitted to humans via mosquitoes. About 20 percent of infected people get sick. Symptoms include a slight fever, rash and pinkeye and usually fade quickly. A growing body of evidence suggests that the virus could also cause a devastating birth defect - microcephaly. Evidence suggests it may also cause neurological conditions such as Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Sid Perkins is an award-winning science writer who lives in Crossville, Tenn., with his wife, two dogs and three cats. He enjoys cooking and woodworking, and he really, really wants to get better at golf.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Common plant could help fight Zika virus

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
PHOENIX, Ariz. - Substances in a common plant can kill larvae of the mosquito that helps spread the viruses that cause Zika, chikungunya and dengue fever. That's the discovery of a teen from the Philippines. His research may help public health officials develop a way to slow the spread of those deadly diseases.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Cell vs. virus: A battle for health - Shannon Stiles

# data[].attributes.headline
One Out of Five Children Have Mental Illness, and Schools Don't Help

# data[].attributes.subject
One Out of Five Children Have Mental Illness, and Schools Don't Help

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - On a hot summer day last month, Sydney, 15, and Laney, 8, were enjoying their last two weeks of freedom before school started. The sisters tried to do flips over a high bar at a local playground.

"You've got to pull your hips into the bar, like you've got to kick up like that," explained their mother, Selena.

"I tried to kick! I did this - you told me not to stick out," said Laney indignantly.

Both girls have been diagnosed with mental illnesses - Sydney with bipolar disorder and Laney with a similar illness called disruptive mood dysregulation disorder. The family asked that their last name not be used to protect the girls' privacy.

School has been a real challenge for them. That's not unusual for the 1 in 5 children with a mental illness. They often suffer anxiety, difficulty focusing and social challenges. Half of them drop out of high school, in part because many schools don't manage to meet their needs.

Selena has spent the past eight years trying to get the girls the resources to help them succeed. Like a lot of parents of kids with mental health issues, she's had to be her children's biggest advocate.

"It's definitely a journey. It wasn't easy," she said, even though she's a school guidance counselor herself.

"I used to cry the night before, because I didn't want to go to school."

Sydney describes class as "boring, distracting. It's hard to pay attention. It's overwhelming." She struggles to focus or process information, which makes her so anxious and depressed that she often has to leave school in the middle of the day.

She wants to be a rock star like Courtney Love. Every so often she pretends to take drag from a bubble gum cigarette. But she's an extremely sensitive kid, and school has been a painful experience.

"I used to cry the night before, because I didn't want to go to school," she said.

Laney on the other hand is a ball of chaotic energy. At school, she often gets frustrated and acts out. Sometimes, she is sent home.

Schools do not all screen students for mental health issues, and the practice varies widely across states. Even if students are successfully identified, many areas lack the community-based mental health treatment options that would be needed to help them. Just 38 percent of youth with a mood disorder such as depression or bipolar disorder receive treatment services. In 2014, the federal government announced $48 million in new grants to support teachers, schools and communities in recognizing and responding to mental health issues. Still, many students' mental health problems continue to go unidentified and untreated.

When Selena first noticed the girls were having problems, she took them to the doctor. Sydney started taking medication at the age of 7 and Laney at just 4, but it wasn't a quick fix.

"The brain is complex," said Selena. "It's not like you just take a medicine and it fixes it." It took years to get the girls' diagnoses and prescriptions right.

Selena said she needed to educate teachers about her daughters' illnesses. "I really tried to do my homework. I did a lot of research. Obviously I talked to parents online in a support group," she said.

Schools are starting to better recognize that mental health is key to academic and social success, said Darcy Gruttadaro, director of advocacy at the National Alliance on Mental Illness, a grassroots organization headquartered outside Washington, D.C.

"Kids spend six hours a day in school, and mental health is essential to learning.

"Kids spend six hours a day in school, and mental health is essential to learning. So schools that are very data-driven understand that in order for some kids to succeed, their mental health needs must be met," she said.

Nonetheless, schools vary greatly in the degree to which they are willing and able to accommodate mental health issues. "Some are doing a lot and training teachers on how to recognize warning signs and talk to families. And others are doing very little to understand the needs of students and how to work with families," said Gruttadaro.

Sydney's and Laney's public schools were willing to make accommodations - but the girls' struggles continued. So, Selena transferred both to a smaller charter school called High Point Academy.

Principal John Hurley said he's seen a growing number of students coming in with mental health diagnoses. The school wants to help - but teachers are not well prepared to handle these issues.

"My training in mental health was one chapter in a book that we covered in one day," recalled Hurley. Many teachers have experience with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, he said, but they don't have the tools to draw on when dealing with mood disorders.

"Because we're left in the dark, we have to fumble around to figure out what works best."

"Because we're left in the dark, we have to fumble around to figure out what works best," explained Hurley. "Sometimes you can be wildly successful, and sometimes you can fail miserably and you could have done the exact same thing for two different students."

That's a pretty good description of what happened with Laney and Sydney.

Laney started High Point in the second grade and, by October, had already begun acting out.

"A lot of the times she didn't like to write, so ... she'd get frustrated and she might tear up her paper just depending on how she was feeling," said her second grade teacher, Erica Smith. Occasionally, Laney would also tear up other students' assignments.

Selena was thrilled when Smith reached out and asked for advice. They started communicating almost daily, sharing tips about how best to reach Laney. They developed an individualized education plan, and Smith had a "safe spot" in the classroom where Laney could go to cool down until she could rejoin the class.

At the same time, Laney's doctor adjusted her medications to help balance her mood. The solutions worked - pretty soon Laney was thriving. But Selena knew from experience that what works with one kid doesn't always work with the other.

Selena helped get Sydney an individualized education plan that gave her extra time on tests, fewer assignments and two periods a day with special education teacher Pam Smith, who has a background in mental health.

"I really feel we had everything we could have had that was available to us to meet her needs," said Pam Smith. "I really feel that we went over and above sometimes."

"I started realizing it just wasn't working. I can't send my child somewhere every day and ignore the fact that it's having a negative impact on her mental health."

But nothing seemed to work. Sydney had trouble making friends and often shut down in class. She kept falling further behind.

"I started realizing it just wasn't working. I can't send my child somewhere every day and ignore the fact that it's having a negative impact on her mental health," said Selena.

So in March, she pulled Sydney out of High Point and home-schooled her for the rest of the year.

She looked for a therapeutic school for Sydney to attend this year, but she couldn't find one in her area. So this year, Sydney is attending an online school from home, while Selena works and Laney goes to the third grade at High Point. It's not an ideal solution. Selena wanted Sydney to be in a brick and mortar school with other kids, but she said she's had to learn to be flexible.

"You think as a parent you're supposed to just say, 'Get up and go back to school' the next day. And so you really have to sometimes stop and take stock of what's going on and maybe change the path," she said.

As for Sydney, she said she was looking forward to studying from home. For the first time in years, she said she hadn't been crying ahead of the first day of school.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
One out of five children have mental illness, and schools often don't help

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
School has been a real challenge for them. That's not unusual for the 1 in 5 children with a mental illness. They often suffer anxiety, difficulty focusing and social challenges.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
(by Betsy McKay and Gautam Naik, WSJ.com) - The swine flu epidemic crossed new borders Tuesday with the first cases confirmed in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region, as world health officials said they suspect American patients may have transmitted the virus to others in the U.S.

Most people confirmed with the new swine flu were infected in Mexico, where the number of deaths blamed on the virus has surpassed 150. But confirmation that people have been infecting others in locations outside Mexico would indicate that the disease was spreading beyond travelers returning from Mexico, World Health Organization spokesman Gregory Hartl told reporters on Tuesday in Geneva.

Mr. Hartl said the source of some infections in the U.S., Canada and Britain was unclear. The swine flu has already spread to at least six countries besides Mexico, prompting WHO officials to raise its alert level on Monday.

"At this time, containment is not a feasible option," said Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general of the World Health Organization.

The United Nations public-health agency raised its global alert to phase 4 from phase 3. The change recognizes that the new A/H1N1 virus spreads from person to person, and signals that governments should prepare for outbreaks. Phase 6 is a pandemic.

Fifty cases - none fatal and most of them mild - were confirmed in the U.S. Including the New Zealand, Israeli and new Spanish reports, there were 92 confirmed cases world-wide on Tuesday. That included six in Canada, one in Spain and two in Scotland.

New Zealand confirmed that 11 people who recently returned from Mexico contracted the virus, Health Minister Tony Ryall said. Laboratory tests on samples from three of the 11 came back positive and "on that basis we are assuming" the eight others are also infected, he said.

Those infected had suffered only "mild illness" and were expected to recover, Public Health Director Mark Jacobs said.

In the Israeli city of Netanya, hospital officials said a 26-year-old patient recently returned from Mexico was the region's first confirmed case of swine flu, but didn't know whether the patient had the same strain as the one that appeared in Mexico. Avinoam Skolnik, Laniado Hospital's medical director, said Israeli Health Ministry laboratory tests confirmed the virus but the patient has fully recovered and is in "excellent condition."

Meanwhile, a second case was confirmed Tuesday in Spain, Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez said, a day after the country reported its first case. The 23-year-old student, one of 26 patients under observation, was not in serious condition, Mr. Jimenez said.

The European Union health commissioner suggested that Europeans avoid nonessential travel both to Mexico and parts of the U.S. Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan said they would quarantine visitors showing symptoms of the virus.

Governments in Asia - with memories of previous flu outbreaks - were especially cautious. Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines dusted off thermal scanners used in the 2003 SARS crisis and were checking for signs of fever among passengers from North America. South Korea, India and Indonesia also announced screening.

Teams of doctors, nurses and government officials boarded flights arriving in Japan from Mexico, the U.S. and Canada to check passengers for signs of the flu, Japanese Health Ministry official Akimori Mizuguchi said.

World stock markets fell Tuesday as investors worried that any swine flu pandemic could derail a global economic recovery.

Cases Increase in the U.S.

With the virus spreading, the U.S. prepared for the worst even as President Barack Obama tried to reassure Americans. At the White House, a swine flu update was added to Mr. Obama's daily intelligence briefing. Mr. Obama said Monday the outbreak is "not a cause for alarm," even as the U.S. stepped up checks of people entering the country and warned U.S. citizens to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico.

"We are proceeding as if we are preparatory to a full pandemic," said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

The number of U.S. cases rose to 50, the result of further testing at a New York City school, although none was fatal. Other U.S. cases have been reported in Ohio, Kansas, Texas and California.

The Food and Drug Administration issued emergency guidance that allows certain antiviral drugs to be used in a broader range of the population in case mass dosing is needed to deal with the outbreak. The agency originally approved the use of the antiviral drug Tamiflu for the prevention and treatment of influenza in adults and children age 1 and older. Another antiviral drug, Relenza, was originally approved to treat people 7 years and older and to help prevent flu in those 5 and older.

Late Monday, the FDA said it issued emergency guidance to allow Tamiflu to treat and prevent flu in children under 1 year old and to provide doses other than originally approved in children over 1. The drugs may be distributed to larger segments of the population without complying with the approved label requirements, the FDA said. The agency also authorized a swine flu diagnostic test for testing samples from people with certain flu infections who virus subtypes cannot be identified by currently available tests.

On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised its number of confirmed cases to 40 people, who ranged in age from 7 years old to 54.

The new cases tallied by the CDC were linked to the outbreak at the St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens, New York, where eight people had been identified earlier. The new cases came after further testing and weren't new outbreaks, said Richard Besser, the CDC's acting director.

The new cases in Texas include a 24-year-old, a 7-year-old and a 3-month-old in Dallas County. The Dallas County city of Richardson, where the 7-year-old is enrolled, will close an elementary school for the rest of the week, school-district spokeswoman Liz Morse said.

None of the Richardson students have required hospitalization, Ms. Morse said. She said the district made the decision to close Canyon Creek Elementary School on Monday afternoon after consulting with county health officials. She said parents of all Canyon Creek students, even those without symptoms, should keep their children out of public places to avoid spreading the disease.

"We really want the students to not be in public places, to stay maybe a little secluded so that if they've caught it they won't be spreading it around," Ms. Morse said.

The flu outbreak comes as the Obama administration seeks a new head of its Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC. The Senate on Tuesday is expected to begin debating the nomination of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as HHS secretary. Democratic and Republican aides in the Senate said they expected Senate approval.

The U.S. government is far better prepared for an outbreak than it was when SARS awakened politicians and the public to the notion that infectious diseases continue to be deadly, even with modern vaccines.

Prodded by SARS and the avian flu scare that followed, President George W. Bush in 2005 issued a pandemic flu preparedness plan. Since 2006, $6.2 billion has been appropriated to stockpile antivirals, step up surveillance and improve vaccine-making and technology.

But state and local health departments - which are often the first to detect new infectious threats - haven't received federal funds for pandemic flu preparedness since 2006. Many of the agencies have cut staff and services in the recession.

"You can't stand up to this kind of capacity overnight if you haven't had resources to keep people on staff," said Jeffrey Levi, executive director of Trust for America's Health, a public health advocacy organization.

Investigation Intensifies

Mexico, where the number of deaths believed caused by swine flu rose by 50% on Monday to 152, is suspected to be ground zero of the outbreak. Health officials said they were stumped over why the strain has been so deadly in Mexico, where the number of suspected cases has surpassed 2,000 people.

Amid the alarm, there was a spot of good news. The number of new cases reported by Mexico's largest government hospitals has been declining the past three days, Mr. Cordova said, from 141 on Saturday to 119 on Sunday and 110 Monday.

In a bid to prevent mass contagion, Mexico canceled school nationwide until May 6, and the Mexico City government is considering a complete shutdown, including all public transportation. The Cinco de Mayo parade celebrating Mexico's defeat of a French army on May 5, 1862 and Mexico City's traditional May 1 parade were canceled. More than 100 museums nationwide were closed.

Three games involving Mexico City soccer clubs were played with no spectators over the weekend. Decio de Maria, secretary general of the Mexican soccer federation, said plans for future matches would be announced on Wednesday.

"The idea is to look for the fewest number of games that have to be played behind closed doors," he said. "If it's necessary, we'll play all the matches behind closed doors. We don't foresee canceling any games."

Many residents of Mexico City wore blue surgical masks, though the CDC said most masks offer little protection. Many victims have been in their 30s and 40s - not the very old or young who typically succumb to the flu. So far, no deaths from the new virus have been reported outside Mexico.
-Betsy McKay, Gautam Naik, Janet Adamy, Shai Oster, J.R. Wu, Ben Casselman, Jennifer Martinez, Alicia Mundy and Jonathan D. Rockoff contributed to this article. Write to Betsy McKay at betsy.mckay@wsj.com and Gautam Naik at gautam.naik@wsj.com.
Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. Visit the website at wsj.com.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
(by Betsy McKay and Gautam Naik, WSJ.com) - The swine flu epidemic crossed new borders Tuesday with the first cases confirmed in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region, as world health officials said they suspect American patients may have transmitted the virus to others in the U.S.

# data[].attributes.headline
Mental Health in Schools: A Hidden Crisis Affecting Millions of Students

# data[].attributes.subject
Mental Health in Schools: A Hidden Crisis Affecting Millions of Students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Part One in an NPR Ed series on mental health in schools.
You might call it a silent epidemic.

Up to one in five kids living in the U.S. shows signs or symptoms of a mental health disorder in a given year.

So in a school classroom of 25 students, five of them may be struggling with the same issues many adults deal with: depression, anxiety, substance abuse.

And yet most children - nearly 80 percent - who need mental health services won't get them.

Whether treated or not, the children do go to school. And the problems they face can tie into major problems found in schools: chronic absence, low achievement, disruptive behavior and dropping out.

Experts say schools could play a role in identifying students with problems and helping them succeed. Yet it's a role many schools are not prepared for.

Educators face the simple fact that, often because of a lack of resources, there just aren't enough people to tackle the job. And the ones who are working on it are often drowning in huge caseloads. Kids in need can fall through the cracks.
"No one ever asked me"
Katie is one of those kids.

She's 18 now. Back when she was 8, she had to transfer to a different school in Prince George's County, Md., in the middle of the year.

"At recess, I didn't have friends to play with," she recalls. "I would make an excuse to stay inside with the teachers and finish extra work or do extra credit."

We're not using Katie's last name to protect her privacy. She's been diagnosed with bulimia and depression.

She says that in the span of a few months, she went from honor roll to failing. She put on weight; other kids called her "fat." She began cutting herself with a razor every day. And she missed a ton of school.

"I felt like every single day was a bad day," she says. "I felt like nobody wanted to help me."

Katie says teachers acted like she didn't care about her schoolwork. "I was so invisible to them."

Every year of high school, she says, was "horrible." She told her therapist she wanted to die and was admitted into the hospital.

During all this time, she says, not a single principal or teacher or counselor ever asked her one simple question: "What's wrong?"

If someone had asked, she says, she would have told them.
Who should have asked?
We talked to educators, advocates, teachers and parents across the country. Here's what they say a comprehensive approach to mental health and education would look like.
The family
The role: The first place to spot trouble is in the home, whether that trouble is substance abuse, slipping grades or a child who sleeps too much. Adults at home - parents, siblings, other relatives - are often the first to notice something going on.

The reality: Many families do not know what to look for. Sometimes a serious problem can be overlooked as "just a phase." But it's those sudden changes - angry outbursts, declining grades, changes in sleeping or eating - that can signal problems. When something unusual crops up, families can keep in close touch with the school.
The teacher
The role: During the week, many students see their teachers even more than their own families. Teachers are in a prime spot to notice changes in behavior. They read essays, see how students relate with other kids and notice when they aren't paying attention.

The reality: Teachers already have a ton on their plates. They're pressured to get test scores up, on top of preparing lessons and grading assignments. Plus, many teachers receive minimal training in mental health issues. But when they do see something concerning, they can raise a flag.
The social worker
The role: Social workers act like a bridge. If teachers come to them with a concern - maybe a child is acting withdrawn - one of the first things they'll do is call home. They see each child through the lens of their family, school and community. They might learn that a family is going through a divorce or homelessness.

The reality: There aren't enough of them. According to one model, every school should have one social worker for every 250 students. The reality is that in some schools, social workers are responsible for many more.
The counselor
The role: In some schools, counselors focus solely on academics: helping students pick classes and apply to college. But in others, they also act a lot like social workers, serving as a link to families and working with students who need support.

The reality: Like school social workers, there just aren't enough counselors. On average nationwide, each counselor is responsible for nearly 500 students. The American School Counselor Association recommends a caseload nearly half that size.
The special education teacher
The Role: Special education teachers may start working with students when a mental health problem affects the ability to do school work. They are primarily responsible for working on academic skills.

The reality: Again, there aren't enough of them. Nearly every state has reported a shortage of special education teachers. Half of all school districts say they have trouble recruiting highly qualified candidates.
The school psychologist
The Role: Here's one job that, on paper, is truly dedicated to student mental health. School psychologists are key players when it comes to crisis intervention and can refer students to outside help, such as a psychiatrist.

The reality: If you sense a pattern here, you're right. In the U.S., there is just one school psychologist for every 1,400 students, according to the most recent data available from the National Association of School Psychologists.
The school nurse
The role: Most any school nurse will tell you, physical and mental health are tough to separate. That puts nurses in a prime spot to catch problems early. For example: A kid who comes into the nurse's office a lot, complaining of headaches or stomach problems? That could be a sign of anxiety, a strategy to avoid a bully, or a sign of troubles at home.

The reality: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends at least one nurse for every 750 students, but the actual ratio across the country can be much higher.
The principal
The role: As the top dogs in schools, principals make the big decisions about priorities. They can bring in social-emotional, anti-bullying and suicide-prevention programs.

The reality: Principals also have a lot on their plates: the day-to-day management of student behavior, school culture and teacher support.
Getting help, and "excited for life"
Katie says things started to turn around for her when she met a nurse at the Children's National Health System in Washington, D.C., who finally showed interest in what was wrong.

Now, she's begun college and wants to be a pediatric nurse.

"I'm doing a lot better now" she says. " Obviously, I mean, I'm a lot happier. I'm excited for school. I'm excited to graduate. I'm excited for life."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mental Health In Schools: A Hidden Crisis Affecting Millions Of Students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An estimated 20 percent of children show signs or symptoms of a mental health problem. It's a destructive force in schools, but most educators don't have the training or resources to help.

# data[].attributes.headline
Hunting the Mysterious Source of a Global Illness

# data[].attributes.subject
Hunting the Mysterious Source of a Global Illness

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Shortly after World War II, a mysterious disease started showing up in Japan, mostly in young children. Now known as Kawasaki disease, it's named for the doctor who first reported it in his young patients. Symptoms include bloodshot eyes, a swollen tongue and a high fever. Especially curious, the skin on a child's hands will begin to peel.

ia_64/istockphoto

Most victims of this disorder are under age 5 and tend to recover within a couple of weeks. But not all are so fortunate. Some may develop permanent, life-threatening heart problems.

By the 1970s and 1980s, the disease had started showing up in Hawaii and California. Today, Kawasaki is still spreading. Cases have emerged in 60 different countries and in all U.S. states. The illness has appeared on every continent. Yet it's more common in some countries than others.

For instance, up to 1,667 out of every 100,000 Japanese children will get it. But out of 100,000 U.S. kids, fewer than two dozen will come down with the disease. Still, even U.S. cases are numerous. Every year, Kawasaki disease sends some 5,000 people to American hospitals. (For perspective, that's more than twice the number sent to the hospital with food poisoning by the common germ, E. coli O157.)

Researchers have worked for decades to find what causes Kawasaki disease. So far, they've come up empty-handed. It's become a puzzle that doctors and scientists all over the world are now trying to solve. If they knew what caused the illness, they might have a shot at preventing it.

mprice18/Wikimedia (CC BY 3.0)

The disease hits healthy kids suddenly, with no warning. Any child can fall sick. Still, it's most common among kids of Asian or Pacific Island descent. Fortunately, the disease doesn't travel from person to person, as many diseases do. That means sick kids can't infect others.

"Kawasaki disease just doesn't look like or act like any disease we've ever known. It's something new," says Jane Burns. She's a pediatric infectious disease specialist. She works at Rady Children's Hospital of San Diego in California. There, she specializes in treating young Kawasaki patients.

What drives her? Some children suffer devastating impacts. Roughly one in five of its victims, for instance, develop permanent heart damage. The walls of their arteries - the vessels that carry blood away from the heart to the rest of the body - become inflamed or swollen. Inflamed arteries can lead to blood clots, sticky masses of red blood cells. If clots block blood from flowing in the heart, they can trigger a heart attack.

Most doctors suspect that something in the air leads to Kawasaki disease. A trigger is a substance or event that sets off disease symptoms. Some Kawasaki researchers suspect the trigger for this disease is in the environment. So with help from scientists who study Earth's weather and atmosphere, they're screening for the possible agent. Other researchers believe a new virus may be at fault.

No matter who's right, experts hope to discover the cause of Kawasaki disease with an eye to one day halting its spread.
Story continues below video.
An airborne discovery

Burns began working on Kawasaki disease in the 1980s. Early on, she noticed a pattern in her San Diego clinic. She seemed to see more patients with Kawasaki disease during the late winter and early spring. "March was always a really big month," she says.

Jane Burns

She began to collect weather data from the local airport. "It wasn't very scientific," she admits. But "when it rained, we seemed to see a bunch of new patients."

Burns didn't know what it meant or whether that was important. But it appeared climate was somehow linked to Kawasaki disease. And she wasn't the only one to notice this.

Doctors in Japan reported a similar pattern. There were three major epidemics of Kawasaki disease in Japan in the 1970s and 1980s. An epidemic happens when many more people than expected get a certain disease in a short period of time. These epidemics happened in April 1979, May 1982 and March 1986. The Japanese doctors also found that Kawasaki disease seemed to cluster in certain parts of the country. Several regions had many cases while others had few.

Burns began to wonder whether something in the environment was the trigger.

Turning to computers for help

She had heard an ocean scientist give a talk about how changes in ocean temperatures in one part of the world could affect the climate in faraway areas. She asked that scientist whether seasonal patterns in Kawasaki disease in San Diego might be connected to outbreaks across the Pacific Ocean.

The researcher put Burns in touch with Xavier Rodó. The thought was that this atmospheric scientist might be able to help answer her question.

In fact, Rodó now notes, "Our atmospheric research introduced to this problem a new way of looking at Kawasaki disease." Rodó works in Barcelona, Spain, at the Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies. There, he uses physics and math to make computer models. For his Kawasaki research, he used the models to probe how changes in climate and weather in one place might influence disease patterns elsewhere around the world.

Rodó and Burns teamed up with doctors and scientists in Japan. The Kawasaki disease trigger appeared to be something children were inhaling. So they began to look for a trigger in the troposphere. That's the layer of Earth's atmosphere that extends from the ground to a height of about 10 kilometers (roughly 6 miles).

In winter, strong winds from Asia blow across the islands of Japan from the northwest. Rodó discovered that when winds blew from this direction, Kawasaki disease cases in Japan spiked. Those winds appeared to come from Central Asia. Disease cases dropped again when the winds shifted and now blew from some other direction.

Rodó also compared winter peaks of Kawasaki disease in California and Hawaii with when the disease peaked in Japan.

Danny15/Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)

This turned up something striking. The same northwesterly wind patterns that predicted Kawasaki disease in Japan also predicted cases in the United States.

To Rodó, it appeared that the winds must be blowing the source of Kawasaki disease across the Pacific.

Air masses are large blobs of air with one temperature and humidity. They drive the weather. Wind currents act like huge conveyor belts. They can carry air masses thousands of miles. So if the wind is blowing from a certain direction, the same air mass that crosses over Japan can ride the conveyor belt, arriving in California five days later, explains Mark Thiemens. He studies air chemistry at the University of California, San Diego.

Rodó looked at air masses that had crossed over Japan during the three Kawasaki disease epidemics in the 1970s and 1980s. He compared them to air masses that crossed over Japan each year during California's winter peaks of Kawasaki disease.

All seemed to come from the same place. It was a farming region in northeast China.

Homing in on the source

Burns suspects that a windborne toxin - some natural poison - comes from this area of China to trigger Kawasaki disease. Researchers now are scouring the region to find it.

Some evidence suggests a fungus might be the source. Rodó and Japanese scientists sampled air from a plane as it flew over Japan. Aerosols are microscopic particles - from pollen and water vapor to soot and pesticides - that can travel in air masses. (Fog, haze, dust and smoke are examples of aerosols.) The researchers collected aerosols from high up in the atmosphere and measured their quantities at a time in winter when cases of Kawasaki disease peak.

Rodó found high levels of Candida, a type of yeast,in the air blowing over Japan. More than 20 species of this one-celled fungus have been linked to diseases in people. Found across the globe, cells of this yeast show up on leaves, flowers, water and soil.

Roger Curcoll, IC3

Peter Lillian, a high school student volunteering in Burns' lab, found another clue. Peter had been fascinated by Kawasaki disease ever since his little brother contracted it. So in 2012, "I started talking with Dr. Burns about her research and ways I could get involved," Peter recalls. (He's now a college student at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.)

Burns sent Peter to the library with an assignment: Learn about the history of the region in China where the trigger for Kawasaki disease seemed to come from. He spent a summer poring over translations of Chinese newspaper stories and farm records from after World War II. During that time, he learned, growers raised a lot of sunflowers in northeast China. They pressed the sunflower seeds to extract oil for cooking. Around the same time that Kawasaki cases started to emerge in Japan, the Chinese began to burn leftover husks, or shells, from sunflower seeds as fuel.

Fungi are found naturally on those husks. Peter wondered whether burning them might spew fungal cells into the air.

Researchers are now investigating Peter's theory by going to the source. Thiemens, the air chemist, is setting up monitoring stations on the ground in northeast China. He'll measure gases and collect air particles. He's looking for patterns that could connect specific on-the-ground activities - like burning fuel - with Kawasaki disease cases in Japan and the United States.

Thiemens isn't sure what he'll find. "It's a mystery, but that's what makes science fun," he says.

Viral possibilities?

Not all Kawasaki disease researchers agree with Burns' fungal-toxin theory. Anne Rowley is a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Northwestern University in Chicago, Ill. She believes Kawasaki is a viral disease. "When you look at patterns of Kawasaki Disease - who gets it, when and where - pretty much everything about it is consistent with a viral infection," she says.

Viruses are tiny infectious particles. They typically enter the body through the nose or mouth - when someone eats, drinks or breathes. "If we can find out what the virus is, then we can develop a vaccine to prevent it," says Rowley.

Viruses spread in the body by making copies of themselves. They do this by hijacking a cell's machinery. They insert their own DNA into a cell's nucleus. This leaves behind clumps of virus particles, "almost like a footprint," explains Rowley.

Pathologists found these viral footprints in the heart cells of children who had died from heart problems after Kawasaki disease. (Pathologists are doctors who study tissues, organs and bodily fluids to diagnose disease. They're often the people who perform autopsies to learn what caused someone's death.)

A footprint may be a clue, but it still doesn't explain what causes Kawasaki disease. Rowley is hopeful they'll find its source - and soon. "We're inching closer, but the world of viruses is huge," she says. "We know only a tiny fraction of them."

Power Words
More About Power Words

aerosol A group of tiny particles suspended in air or gas. Aerosols can be natural, such as fog or gas from volcanic eruptions, or artificial, such as smoke from burning fossil fuels.

agent A compound or activating form of energy (such as light or other types of radiation) that has a role to play in getting something done.

air masses Large volumes of air, sometimes covering many hundreds or thousands of square kilometers (square miles), that typically have a consistent temperature or water-vapor content. Air masses are often classified by their source, such as continental, arctic or tropical. Air masses and other weather systems are steered across Earth's surface by jet streams and by differences in atmospheric pressure.

CandidaA genus of yeasts that are ubiquitous across the globe. More than 20 species have been linked to disease in people and animals.

cell The smallest structural and functional unit of an organism. Typically too small to see with the naked eye, it consists of watery fluid surrounded by a membrane or wall.

chemistry The field of science that deals with the composition, structure and properties of substances and how they interact with one another. Chemists use this knowledge to study unfamiliar substances, to reproduce large quantities of useful substances or to design and create new and useful substances.

climate The weather conditions prevailing in an area in general or over a long period.

clot (in medicine) A collection of blood cells (platelets) and chemicals that collect in a small region, stopping the flow of blood.

computer model A program that runs on a computer that creates a model, or simulation, of a real-world feature, phenomenon or event.

current A fluid body - such as of water or air - that moves in a recognizable direction.

DNA (short for deoxyribonucleic acid) A long, double-stranded and spiral-shaped molecule inside most living cells that carries genetic instructions. In all living things, from plants and animals to microbes, these instructions tell cells which molecules to make.

environment The sum of all of the things that exist around some organism or the process and the condition those things create for that organism or process. Environment may refer to the weather and ecosystem in which some animal lives, or, perhaps, the temperature, humidity and placement of components in some electronics system or product.

epidemic A widespread outbreak of an infectious disease that sickens many people (or other organisms) in a community at the same time. The term also may be applied to non-infectious diseases or conditions that have spread in a similar way.

fungus (plural: fungi) One of a group of single- or multiple-celled organisms that reproduce via spores and feed on living or decaying organic matter. Examples include mold, yeasts and mushrooms.

haze Fine liquid or solid particles scattered through the atmosphere that make it hard to see. Haze can be caused by harmful substances such as air pollutants or by water vapor.

heart attack Permanent damage to the heart muscle that occurs when one or more regions of it become starved of oxygen, usually due to a temporary blockage in blood flow.

infection A disease that can spread from one organism to another. It's usually caused by some sort of germ.

nucleus Plural is nuclei. (in biology) A dense structure present in many cells. Typically a single rounded structure encased within a membrane, the nucleus contains the genetic information.

organ (in biology) Various parts of an organism that perform one or more particular functions. For instance, an ovary is an organ that makes eggs, the brain is an organ that interprets nerve signals and a plant's roots are organs that take in nutrients and moisture.

outbreak The sudden emergence of disease in a population of people or animals. The term may also be applied to the sudden emergence of devastating natural phenomena, such as earthquakes or tornadoes.

Pacific The largest of the world's five oceans. It separates Asia and Australia to the west from North and South America to the east.

particle A minute amount of something.

pathologist Someone who studies disease and how it affects people or other infected organisms.

pediatrics A field of medicine that has to do with children and especially child health. A doctor who works in this field is known as a pediatrician.

physics The scientific study of the nature and properties of matter and energy. Classical physics is an explanation of the nature and properties of matter and energy that relies on descriptions such as Newton's laws of motion

red blood cell Colored red by hemoglobin, these cells move oxygen from the lungs to all tissues of the body. Red blood cells are too small to be seen by the naked eye.

tissue Any of the distinct types of material, comprised of cells, which make up animals, plants or fungi. Cells within a tissue work as a unit to perform a particular function in living organisms. Different organs of the human body, for instance, often are made from many different types of tissues. And brain tissue will be very different from bone or heart tissue.

toxin A poison produced by living organisms, such as germs, bees, spiders, poison ivy and snakes.

vaccine A biological mixture that resembles a disease-causing agent. It is given to help the body create immunity to a particular disease. The injections used to administer most vaccines are known as vaccinations.

virus Tiny infectious particles consisting of RNA or DNA surrounded by protein. Viruses can reproduce only by injecting their genetic material into the cells of living creatures. Although scientists frequently refer to viruses as live or dead, in fact no virus is truly alive. It doesn't eat like animals do, or make its own food the way plants do. It must hijack the cellular machinery of a living cell in order to survive.

weather Conditions in the atmosphere at a localized place and a particular time. It is usually described in terms of particular features, such as air pressure, humidity, moisture, any precipitation (rain, snow or ice), temperature and wind speed. Weather constitutes the actual conditions that occur at any time and place. It's different from climate, which is a description of the conditions that tend to occur in some general region during a particular month or season.

yeast One-celled fungi that can ferment carbohydrates (like sugars), producing carbon dioxide and alcohol. They also play a pivotal role in making many baked products rise.

Lindsey Konkel Neabore likes to write stories about the environment and health for Science News for Students . She has degrees in biology and journalism. She has three cats, Misty, Trumpet and Charlotte, and one dog, Lucky.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Hunting the mysterious source of a global illness

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Shortly after World War II, a mysterious disease started showing up in Japan, mostly in young children. Now known as Kawasaki disease, it's named for the doctor who first reported it in his young patients. Symptoms include bloodshot eyes, a swollen tongue and a high fever.

# data[].attributes.headline
Chipotle Faces Another Foodborne Illness Outbreak, This Time in Boston

# data[].attributes.subject
Chipotle Faces Another Foodborne Illness Outbreak, This Time in Boston

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Is it those holiday parties filled with people eating together? We're not sure, but we keep hearing about new clusters of people getting poisoned by their meals.

The latest outbreak sickened at least 120 people in Boston, most of them students at Boston College.

This included eight members of the college's basketball team. The team is scheduled to play Providence this evening, and as of this morning, it's unclear whether the game will happen.

Most of the sick students reported eating at a nearby Chipotle Mexican Grill. (The college updated the number of students sickened from 80 to 120 students at 12:26 p.m. on Wednesday.)

This provoked suspicions of a link to an earlier outbreak of E. coli poisoning in the Pacific Northwest traced to Chipotle restaurants there.

It appears, however, that the two outbreaks are unrelated. According to preliminary tests, the Boston College students were sickened by another disease-causing organism, called norovirus.

Norovirus is sometimes overlooked, because it is less likely to kill you than disease-causing forms of E. Coli or salmonella. But it is by far the most common source of foodborne illness, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Chipotle has closed the restaurant near Boston College while the investigation continues. Government inspectors cited the company for allowing an employee to work there while ill last week, although the illness was not specified. Norovirus is highly contagious and is generally spread from person to person. (For more on what it's like when this nasty bug strikes, read Emily Sohn's essay over at Shots.)

On the other side of the country, meanwhile, prominent food safety lawyer Bill Marler tells us by email that an outbreak of foodborne illness has dampened spirits in his own office building. Last week, 200 people complained that they didn't feel well after a catered event in that building. Three went to the hospital. They were infected with norovirus.

Today, all the restaurants in that building are closed, including a Starbucks. "People look a bit uncomfortable on crowded elevators," Marler writes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Chipotle Faces Another Foodborne Illness Outbreak, This Time In Boston

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Outbreaks of foodborne illness are ruining the holiday spirit for Chipotle. The latest cases erupted over the past few days among students at Boston College.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Bananas are one of the most important crops on Earth. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 400 million people rely on bananas as a source of food or income. But the bananas we know and love may be...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
When she was 9 years old, Ann Albright went to the doctor with odd flulike symptoms. She was exhausted. She had to go to the bathroom frequently in the middle of the night. She was always thirsty. Even her vision was blurry.

After a few tests, the doctor pulled Albright's mother aside.

"I still remember it very vividly," says Ann Albright, now more than 40 years later. "My mom left the room with the doctor and came back in with tears running down her cheeks."

The verdict: diabetes, a disease that affects the way people process food.

At the time, the 1960s, the diagnosis meant that young Ann would never have the carefree childhood her mother wanted for her. For the rest of her life, she would have to give herself shots several times a day. She would need to be very careful about what she ate. And she might not realize all of her dreams in life.

"In the era I was diagnosed, most people were told they'd have a shorter life span," Albright says. "As a little girl with diabetes moving into adulthood, I wondered would I be able to have kids? Would I be able to have a life?"

Science has come a long way since then, says Albright, partly as a result of her own efforts: She's now a doctor and diabetes researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Since her diagnosis, researchers have developed better technologies, more effective medicines and a sharper understanding of how diabetes works.

Despite the advances, though, scientists still can't answer a lot of basic questions about what causes diabetes. There still is no cure. And living with the disease remains difficult.

"Everything changes" after a diabetes diagnosis, says Ali Reed, a pediatric endocrine fellow at the University of California, San Francisco. "Life becomes more complicated."

What's more, diabetes is on the rise - in both adults and kids. One version of the disease, called type 2 diabetes, is increasing at an especially alarming rate.

Scientists have linked type 2 diabetes with obesity. So now, more than ever, doctors are urging young people to start developing healthy habits as early as possible.
Breakdown
Diabetes refers to a group of diseases, but there are two main kinds: type 1 and type 2. In both types, the trouble begins with the body's ability to deal with sugar.

Sugar is the body's main fuel source. When you eat, your digestive system breaks down your food into basic parts, including proteins, fats and a simple sugar called glucose. Glucose gets absorbed through the intestines. From there, it enters the bloodstream. Circulating blood delivers glucose to all the cells, which convert it into energy.

At least, that's what's supposed to happen. In people with diabetes, however, sugar can't get from the bloodstream into the cells. A hormone, or messenger molecule, called insulin is normally responsible for that transfer. But in diabetics, insulin doesn't do its job.

As a result, sugar builds up in the bloodstream. When levels of sugar in the blood stay high, the condition is called chronic. And for reasons scientists don't yet understand, chronically high blood sugar can lead to blindness, kidney damage, limb amputations, heart attacks and more.

"It's not a death sentence, but it's a very serious disease," Albright says.
Two types
Exactly how diabetes affects a patient's life depends in part on which type of diabetes a person has. There are important differences between the two main types.

Type 1 diabetes is the kind Albright has. In this version of the disease, the body stops producing insulin. Symptoms usually begin in kids or teenagers.

After they're diagnosed and for the rest of their lives, type 1 diabetics need to regularly test their blood sugar levels with a pinching tool that draws a little blood. They also have to give themselves shots of insulin several times a day to control blood sugar levels. So far, scientists don't know how to prevent type 1 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetics make insulin, but their bodies don't use the hormone properly. Type 2 diabetes is far more common than type 1, and most people who have type 2 are adults. These days, though, more and more kids are coming to their doctors with symptoms of type 2 diabetes.

Doctors already know that adults who develop type 2 diabetes tend to be overweight or obese. And as kids have become increasingly overweight, the disease has started appearing at younger and younger ages.

Shorrocks/iStockphoto

As recently as a decade ago, type 2 diabetes was called "adult-onset" because kids just didn't get it.

"When this disease we used to only see in adults started happening in adolescents, it was just shocking to people," Albright says. "Pediatricians just didn't know what to do."
Healthy living
Doctors already knew that adults who develop type 2 diabetes tend to be overweight or obese. (Scientists can't yet explain why.) And as kids have become increasingly overweight, the disease has started appearing at younger and younger ages.

In the United States, two out of three adults are now overweight, according to the CDC. Nineteen percent of kids between the ages of 6 and 11 are overweight, compared with 7 percent just 20 years ago. Over the same period, the proportion of overweight teens rose from 5 percent to 17 percent.

(You can find out whether you are overweight by plugging numbers into a calculator at an online site. Also, see the sidebar "Understanding Body Mass Index" at the bottom of this article.)

Like their type 1 peers, type 2 diabetics have to monitor blood sugar levels. But they often rely on drugs instead of insulin shots. Frequently, they can get the disease under control by simply exercising more and eating reasonable portions of healthy foods.

"We now know that we can prevent or postpone type 2 diabetes by having [adults] at very high risk lose 5 to 7 percent of their body weight," Albright says.

Scientists don't yet know whether the same is true for overweight kids. The trend is so new that CDC researchers are still working to gather basic information about how the disease works in young people.

But it can't hurt to play soccer instead of video games, and to choose fruits and vegetables over junk food.

"There's no harm in having healthier lifestyle habits," Albright says. "Get to know what's going into your body. Make it fun."
Seeking answers
Weighing more than you should doesn't mean you're doomed to develop diabetes. The disease is far more complex than that. And while research has come a long way, plenty of questions remain.

Doctors don't know, for example, why certain ethnic groups have particularly high rates of diabetes, including American Indians, Hispanics and African Americans. Nor can doctors say for sure why the chances of getting diabetes go up if your parents or siblings have it.

Both relationships suggest that genes play a role in setting people up for diabetes. But something in the environment has to push those genes into action, and scientists aren't sure what those triggers are. It's also not clear which genes are involved.

"People spend their whole careers trying to understand this stuff," Albright says.

If you learn you have diabetes, don't despair. There's plenty you can do to live a long and healthy life. Also, know you're not alone.

Reed encourages all newly diagnosed kids to go to one of the nation's many diabetes camps. It can be hugely reassuring, she says, to be surrounded by other kids who feel like you do.

"It's really amazing," Reed says. "It's a very supportive and tolerating environment for kids who are often the only ones at their school with diabetes. At diabetes camp, everyone is going through it together."
Going Deeper:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When she was 9 years old, Ann Albright went to the doctor with odd flulike symptoms. She was exhausted. She had to go to the bathroom frequently in the middle

# data[].attributes.headline
How to Clean and Disinfect Schools to Help Slow the Spread of Flu

# data[].attributes.subject
How to Clean and Disinfect Schools to Help Slow the Spread of Flu

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
History is dotted with epidemics and plagues, but a certain number of them stand out as unique for their severity and impact on future generations. This is a list of the worst plagues in man's recorded history.

SEE ALSO: 10 Of Human History's Most Atrocious Plagues

The first signs of plague in Moscow appeared in late 1770, which would turn into a major epidemic in the spring of 1771. The measures undertaken by the authorities, such as creation of forced quarantines, destruction of contaminated property without compensation or control, closing of public baths, etc., caused fear and anger among the citizens. The city's economy was mostly paralyzed because many factories, markets, stores, and administrative buildings had been closed down. All of this was followed by acute food shortages, causing deterioration of living conditions for the majority of the Muscovites. Dvoryane (Russian nobility) and well-off city dwellers left Moscow due to the plague outbreak. On the morning of September 17, 1771, around 1,000 people gathered at the Spasskiye gates again, demanding the release of captured rebels and elimination of quarantines. The army managed to disperse the crowd yet again and finally suppressed the riot. Some 300 people were brought to trial. A government commission headed by Grigory Orlov was sent to Moscow on September 26 to restore order. It took some measures against the plague and provided citizens with work and food, which would finally pacify the people of Moscow.

The Great Plague of Marseille was one of the most significant European outbreaks of bubonic plague in the early 18th century. Arriving in Marseille, France in 1720, the disease killed 100,000 people in the city and the surrounding provinces. However, Marseille recovered quickly from the plague outbreak. Economic activity took only a few years to recover, as trade expanded to the West Indies and Latin America. By 1765, the growing population was back at its pre-1720 level. This epidemic was not a recurrence of the European Black Death, the devastating episodes of bubonic plague which began in the fourteenth century. Attempts to stop the spread of plague included an Act of Parliament of Aix that levied the death penalty for any communication between Marseille and the rest of Provence. To enforce this separation, a plague wall, the Mur de la Peste, was erected across the countryside (pictured above).

The Antonine Plague (also known as the Plague of Galen, who described it), was an ancient pandemic, of either smallpox or measles, brought back to the Roman Empire by troops returning from campaigns in the Near East. The epidemic claimed the lives of two Roman emperors - Lucius Verus, who died in 169, and his co-regent who ruled until 180, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, whose family name, Antoninus, was given to the epidemic. The disease broke out again nine years later, according to the Roman historian Dio Cassius, and caused up to 2,000 deaths a day at Rome, one quarter of those infected. Total deaths have been estimated at five million. The disease killed as much as one-third of the population in some areas, and decimated the Roman army. The epidemic had drastic social and political effects throughout the Roman Empire, particularly in literature and art. (Pictured above is a plague pit containing the remains of people who died in the Antonine Plague.)

The Plague of Athens was a devastating epidemic which hit the city-state of Athens in ancient Greece during the second year of the Peloponnesian War (430 BC), when an Athenian victory still seemed within reach. It is believed to have entered Athens through Piraeus, the city's port and sole source of food and supplies. The city-state of Sparta, and much of the eastern Mediterranean, was also struck by the disease. The plague returned twice more, in 429 BC and in the winter of 427/6 BC. Modern historians disagree on whether the plague was a critical factor in the loss of the war. However, it is generally agreed that the loss of this war may have paved the way for the success of the Macedonians and, ultimately, the Romans. The disease has traditionally been considered an outbreak of the bubonic plague in its many forms, but re-considerations of the reported symptoms and epidemiology have led scholars to advance alternative explanations. These include typhus, smallpox, measles, and toxic shock syndrome.

The Italian Plague of 1629-1631 was a series of outbreaks of bubonic plague which occurred from 1629 through 1631 in northern Italy. This epidemic, often referred to as Great Plague of Milan, claimed the lives of approximately 280,000 people, with the cities of Lombardy and Venice experiencing particularly high death rates. This episode is considered one of the last outbreaks of the centuries-long pandemic of bubonic plague which began with the Black Death. German and French troops carried the plague to the city of Mantua in 1629, as a result of troop movements associated with the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). Venetian troops infected with the disease retreated into northern and central Italy, spreading the infection. Overall, Milan suffered approximately 60,000 fatalities out of a total population of 130,000.
SEE ALSO: 10 Twisted Facts About The Dancing Plagues
Before the European arrival, the Americas had been largely isolated from the Eurasian-African landmass. First large-scale contacts between Europeans and native people of the American continents brought overwhelming pandemics of measles and smallpox, as well as other Eurasian diseases. These diseases spread rapidly among native peoples, often ahead of actual contact with Europeans, and led to a drastic drop in population and the collapse of native American cultures. Smallpox and other diseases invaded and crippled the Aztec and Inca civilizations in Central and South America in the 16th century. This disease, with loss of population and death of military and social leaders, contributed to the downfall of both American empires and the subjugation of American peoples to Europeans. Diseases, however, passed in both directions; syphilis was carried back from the Americas and swept through the European population, decimating large numbers.

The Great Plague (1665-1666) was a massive outbreak of disease in England that killed 75,000 to 100,000 people, up to a fifth of London's population. The disease was historically identified as bubonic plague, an infection by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, transmitted through fleas. The 1665-1666 epidemic was on a far smaller scale than the earlier "Black Death" pandemic, a virulent outbreak of disease in Europe between 1347 and 1353. The Bubonic Plague was only remembered afterwards as the "great" plague because it was one of the last widespread outbreaks in England. Although the disease causing the epidemic has historically been identified as bubonic plague and its variants, no direct evidence of plague has ever been uncovered. Some modern scholars suggest that the symptoms and incubation period indicate that the causal agent may have been a disease similar to a viral hemorrhagic fever. (Pictured above is a list of mortalities from the time of the plague.)

The Plague of Justinian was a pandemic that afflicted the Byzantine Empire, including its capital Constantinople, in the years 541-542 AD. The most commonly accepted cause of the pandemic is bubonic plague, which later became infamous for either causing or contributing to the Black Death of the 14th century. Its social and cultural impact is comparable to that of the Black Death. In the views of 6th century Western historians, it was nearly worldwide in scope, striking central and south Asia, North Africa and Arabia, and Europe as far north as Denmark and as far west as Ireland. The plague would return with each generation throughout the Mediterranean basin until about 750. The plague would also have a major impact on the future course of European history. Modern historians named it after the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I, who was in power at the time and himself contracted the disease. Modern scholars believe that the plague killed up to 5,000 people per day in Constantinople at the peak of the pandemic. It ultimately killed perhaps 40 percent of the city's inhabitants. The initial plague went on to destroy up to a quarter of the human population of the eastern Mediterranean.

The "Third Pandemic" is the name given to a major plague pandemic that began in the Yunnan province (pictured above) in China in 1855. This episode of bubonic plague spread to all inhabited continents, and ultimately killed more than 12 million people in India and China alone. According to the World Health Organization, the pandemic was considered active until 1959, when worldwide casualties dropped to 200 per year. The bubonic plague was endemic in populations of infected ground rodents in central Asia, and was a known cause of death among migrant and established human populations in that region for centuries; however, an influx of new people due to political conflicts and global trade led to the distribution of this disease throughout the world. New research suggests Black Death is lying dormant.

The Black Death (also known as The Black Plague or Bubonic Plague), was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, widely thought to have been caused by a bacterium named Yersinia pestis (Plague), but recently attributed by some to other diseases. The origins of the plague are disputed among scholars. Some historians believe the pandemic began in China or Central Asia in the late 1320s or 1330s, and during the next years merchants and soldiers carried it over the caravan routes until in 1346 it reached the Crimea in southern Russia. Other scholars believe the plague was endemic in southern Russia. In either case, from Crimea the plague spread to Western Europe and North Africa during the 1340s. The total number of deaths worldwide is estimated at 75 million people, approximately 25 to 50 million of which occurred in Europe. The plague is thought to have returned every generation with varying virulence and mortalities until the 1700s. During this period, more than 100 plague epidemics swept across Europe.

(This article is licensed under the GFDL because it contains quotations from Wikipedia.)

SEE ALSO: 8 Fascinating Facts About Plague Doctors

Jamie is the founder of Listverse. When he's not doing research for new lists or collecting historical oddities, he can be found in the comments or on Facebook where he approves all friends requests!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Top 10 Worst Plagues In History - Listverse

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
History is dotted with epidemics and plagues, but a certain number of them stand out as unique for their severity and impact on future generations. This

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Rabies is caused by a virus. A virus is a very tiny germ. You can only see that germ if you have a special microscope. Here´s a picture of the rabies virus:

Scientists have discovered more than 300 viruses in animals. Some won´t hurt you. Others cause disease. The common cold and measles are caused by viruses. So are the flu, chickenpox, and AIDS.

Viruses cannot eat food or grow on their own, but they can make more of themselves if they live inside the cells of other organisms, called "hosts".

The viruses attack those host cells and make more of themselves. Then the viruses move on to other host cells and do it all over again.

The rabies virus wants to make its home in a nerve cell, the smallest part of our central nervous system. The central nervous system is made up of our brain and spinal cord and all the other parts of our bodies that control everything we do from breathing to walking.

When there´s a bite from an animal with rabies, the virus attaches to a healthy nerve cell. Then the virus multiplies, making a lot more viruses like itself. Those viruses move on and attach to other nerve cells until eventually they get to the brain. There the virus can cause the brain to swell, and the person with rabies may go into a coma and die.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Rabies is caused by a virus. A virus is a very tiny germ. You can only see that germ if you have a special microscope. Here´s a picture of the rabies virus: Scientists have discovered more than 300 viruses in animals. Some won´t hurt you. Others cause disease.

# data[].attributes.headline
What's the Difference Between Bacteria and Viruses?

# data[].attributes.subject
What's the Difference Between Bacteria and Viruses?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ask Smithsonian: Whats the Difference Between Bacteria and Viruses?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Climate change describes a change in the average conditions in a region over a long period of time.

# data[].attributes.headline
Six Graphics That Explain Climate Change

# data[].attributes.subject
Six Graphics That Explain Climate Change

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A breakthrough deal to attempt to limit global temperature rises was agreed at a conference of world nations in December 2015. These charts from the time show how and why the Earth's climate is changing.

1. What is the problem?

The world is getting warmer

The average temperature of the Earth's surface has increased by about 0.85°C (1.4F) in the last 100 years. Up until 2015, 13 of the 14 warmest years had been recorded in the 21st Century. 2015 then became the hottest year on record, but was surpassed by record-breaking 2016.

10 warmest years

10 coldest years

20th Century average temperature

Hotter

Colder

Source: NOAA

2. Why is this happening?

Greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide

Scientists believe that gases released from industry and agriculture (known as emissions) are adding to the natural greenhouse effect, the way the Earth's atmosphere traps some of the energy from the Sun.

Human activities such as burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas are increasing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas responsible for global warming. Carbon-absorbing forests are also being cut down.

The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is now higher than at any time in the last 800,000 years and reached a record high in May 2015. But 2016 marked five consecutive years of CO2 increases of at least two parts per million.

Scripps CO2 Program, data from the Mauna Loa Observatory

3. What are the effects?

Arctic sea ice melt

Higher temperatures, extreme weather events and higher sea levels are all linked to a warming climate and could have a drastic effect on the world's regions.

Since 1900, sea levels have risen by on average about 19cm globally. The rate of sea-level rise has accelerated in recent decades, placing a number of islands and low-lying countries at risk.

The retreat of polar ice sheets is an important contributor to this rise.

Arctic sea ice is also shrinking because of higher temperatures, though it makes little contribution to raised sea levels.

An area of sea ice roughly 10 times the size of the UK has been lost when the current day is compared with average levels from the early 1980s.

Arctic sea ice min. extent: 1980, 7.8 million sq km. 2015, 4.6 million sq km

Source: National Snow and Ice Data Center

4. What does the future hold?

Higher temperatures and more extreme weather

The scale of potential impacts is uncertain.

The changes could drive shortages in freshwater, bring about major changes in food production conditions and cause a rise in the number of casualties from floods, storms, heat waves and droughts.

This is because climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme weather events - however linking any single event to global warming is complicated.

Projected temperature change (1986-2005 to 2081-2100)

If greenhouse gas emissions peak between 2010-2020 and then decline substantially (RCP2.6)

If greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise throughout the 21st century (RCP8.5)

Source: International Panel on Climate Change - Fifth Assessment Report (AR5)

5. What can be done?

World's top ten greenhouse gas emitters

The top 10 greenhouse gas emitters make up over 70% of total emissions

Source: Carbon Brief, figures are for 2012

6. Limiting the damage

By the end of October 2015, 146 countries had submitted national climate plans on curbing emissions that are expected to form the cornerstone of a binding, global treaty on climate change.

According to a UN report, submissions in their current form point to a rise of 2.7°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100.

Scientists have determined that if temperature rises surpass 2°C, this will lead to substantial and dangerous climate impacts, which will hit the world's poor in particular.

Average warming (°C) projected by 2100

Source: Climate Action Tracker, data compiled by Climate Analytics, ECOFYS, New Climate Institute and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Six graphics that explain climate change as world leaders gathered in Paris for COP21.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Science of Climate Change in National Parks Video Series

# data[].attributes.subject
The Science of Climate Change in National Parks Video Series

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Science of Climate Change in National Parks Video Series - Climate Change (U.S. National Park Service)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The discussion surrounding climate change is often focused on natural resources. The National Park Service is also tasked with preserving and protecting cultural and historical resources, and they are relevant to climate change too. In this video, National Park Service staff and partnering scientists talk about climate change in the context of Jamestown Island in Virginia, the site of the first permanent English settlement.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Climate Change 101 with Bill Nye | National Geographic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This page will help you understand the science behind climate change, the impacts of a changing climate, and how you can help slow climate change and prepare for it. We've also created a list of resources and activities for educators and students of all ages.

The Science

Science paints a clear picture: Climate change is happening; it is caused mostly by humans; and it creates many serious and damaging effects. The primary cause of climate change is human activities - like driving cars, creating electricity, and cutting down forests - not natural changes in the climate. These human activities release gases into the atmosphere called greenhouse gases, which slowly warm the planet, creating climate change.

The climate is very complex, and there are still some things we don't know about it. But through centuries of studies and experiments, we've been able to create a strong understanding of how the system works, and how humans are changing it.

The Greenhouse Effect

Imagine a greenhouse made of glass used to grow plants, like flowers and vegetables. The greenhouse keeps the plants inside warm even when it's cold outside because it traps heat from the sun. The earth's atmosphere acts like a greenhouse: When light from the sun passes through the atmosphere, some of it is absorbed by the Earth's surface to heat it, but some heat is also trapped in our atmosphere by certain gases. These heat-trapping gases are called greenhouse gases, and they act like a blanket, keeping the earth warm. This greenhouse effect is a natural process that makes the planet comfortable to live.

But human activities are increasing the amount of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. One type of greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, has reached a level in our atmosphere that the Earth hasn't seen for more than 400,000 years! Plants, soils, and the ocean can absorb carbon dioxide, but they can't keep up with all the extra greenhouse gases that we have been releasing. And some greenhouse gases stay in the atmosphere for a long time, from hundreds to even thousands of years. All these gases are making things hotter than natural, so we need to stop producing them to avoid climate change.

Weather vs. Climate

Weather refers to the state of the atmosphere in a short period of time, like minutes or days. It includes lots of things we are familiar with, like temperature, humidity, precipitation, and wind speeds. The weather changes every day, but the climate is much more consistent because it measures the patterns of weather over long periods of time (at least several decades). Let's say you were going to visit Florida for a few days in June. You would expect it to be hot and humid, because that's what the climate of Florida is usually like in June. It might turn out to be hot during your trip, or it could rain or be cloudy. All of those are examples of possible weather during those days.

The Greenhouse Effect Explained

Where do greenhouse gases come from?

Up until about 150 years ago, humans did not produce many greenhouse gases. That changed as the human population grew, we cut down forests to make way for cities and farms, and important inventions and technology, like in-home electricity and cars, transformed the way we live.

These inventions and technologies need energy. Some types of energy called fossil fuels - like coal, oil, and natural gas - have become important sources of that energy. Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. We call the release of these gases emissions.

Today in the United States, electricity and transportation (cars, trucks, and planes) are responsible for almost 60 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. The rest comes from agriculture, industry - such as factories that make products we use - and from energy we use in our homes and businesses.
Learn more about U.S. greenhouse gas emissions here.
Greenhouse Gases

The most common types of greenhouse gases are:

Carbon Dioxide (CO ₂): Carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas created by human activities. It makes up 80 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Most carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere when fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal) are burned for electricity and transportation, and because of other processes like making cement. Carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and stored when it is absorbed by plants, soils, animals, and the ocean as part of the carbon cycle.
Learn more about how energy emissions are controlled in the United States.

Methane (CH ₄): Methane is the next most common greenhouse gas emitted by human activities. It makes up 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Most methane emissions come from raising livestock (like cows), but methane is also released when coal, natural gas, and oil are produced and transported, and when organic waste (like food) decays in landfills. Methane is a stronger gas than carbon dioxide, meaning it creates more warming, but it stays in the atmosphere for a shorter time.
Learn more about how industrial greenhouse gases like methane are controlled in the United States.

Nitrous Oxide (N ₂ O): Most nitrous oxide is emitted by agricultural activities, like applying fertilizer, but it also comes from industrial activities, burning fossil fuels, and other sources. It makes up 6 percent of U.S. greenhouse emissions. Nitrous oxide is even more powerful than methane and carbon dioxide at warming the atmosphere.

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6): Try saying these gases three times fast! They're called "fluorinated gases" for short. These gases combined make up only 3 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. That may sound small, but they are very important to solving climate change because they stay in the atmosphere for a very long time (sometimes for thousands of years!) and are much more powerful warmers than all other gases. These gases are made by humans and are used to cool our refrigerators, freezers, buildings and cars.

U.S. Greenhouse Gases by Gas Type and Sector, 2021

Impacts of a Changing Climate

Because of increases in greenhouse gas emissions, global temperatures are rising. Each of the past four decades has been warmer than the previous one. 2016 and 2020 were the warmest years on record, and the six warmest years have all been since 2010.
Learn more about the relationship between extreme weather and climate change.
The following charts show how emissions and temperatures have gone up since 1900, and how they could continue to change in the future. If we continue to emit more and more greenhouse gases, the temperature of the Earth will rise a lot - maybe as much as 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100. Even if we reduce our emissions right now, the temperature of the Earth will still rise slightly, but we might be able to keep the rise below 2 degrees Celsius (or about 4.8 degrees Fahrenheit). Two degrees might not sound like much, but scientists agree that even that small amount of warming can have large impacts on humans and the environment.

Past and Projected Changes in Carbon Emissions and Temperature

Rising global temperatures affect many things, like extreme weather, human health, food supply, and ecosystems. These impacts are already being felt today, and groups like the poor, elderly, and others are especially vulnerable.
Impacts of climate change include:

Heat waves. Heat waves are long periods of time with temperatures that are hotter than normal. As the Earth warms, more areas will be at risk for hotter and more common extreme heat waves. Learn more about the link between climate change and extreme heat.

Heavy precipitation and storms. Heavy precipitation - like rain or snow - is becoming more common in many locations, which can lead to flooding and other dangerous weather. As seas warm, coastal storms like hurricanes are also becoming more frequent and damaging. Learn more about the link between climate change and heavy precipitation and hurricanes.

Sea level rise. Sea levels have risen about 8 inches since 1880 because glaciers and ice sheets are melting and seas are warming. Scientists predict that, with 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, sea levels could rise by as much as 1.8 feet this century, which would harm communities living on islands and near coasts. These rises could be even higher if glaciers in Greenland or Antarctica melt very quickly.

Threats to habitats and animals. Warming temperatures, rising seas, melting ice, and other impacts of climate change can threaten the habitat of many plants and animals. Some species are moving to new habitats, but others may struggle to adapt and become endangered or extinct.

Ocean acidification. Extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is absorbed by the oceans, making them more acidic. This can make it difficult for corals and organisms that form shells to survive, which can create problems in the food chain for other sea animals.

Wildfires. These are fires that burn large amounts of forests and brush. When they are not controlled, wildfires can destroy homes and be deadly. The number of large wildfires and the length of the season when they're most likely and threatening have been increasing in recent years. Find out how climate change will worsen wildfire conditions.

Drought. A drought is a period with little rain and not enough water. Global warming will increase the risk of drought in some places and make it harder to grow food. Learn about the links between climate change and drought.

How can you help?

Even though climate change sounds scary, we still have time to avoid some of the worst impacts. Everyone can play a part, including government, businesses, and you.

There are two main things we need to do:

The first is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change. By choosing cleaner ways to power our homes, offices, and cars, and being more efficient and less wasteful, we can produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

There are lot of things you can do to help, like turning off the lights when you leave a room to reduce the electricity you use, walking or biking where you can, or planting trees to absorb carbon dioxide. If you do any of these things, make sure you communicate with other people (like your family, teachers, and friends) about why you're doing them! Communication can inspire more people to change their habits and help save the climate.

Look for more ideas on what we can do together and individually.

The second is to prepare for life in a changing climate. Even if we could stop creating greenhouse gases tomorrow, the climate would still change some because of our past emissions. So we need to make sure our buildings, roads, businesses, and communities are ready for the climate changes that we can't avoid. This includes things like helping cities on the coast prepare for floods, preventing wildfires in our forests, and more.

Learn how communities and companies are preparing.

The power of YOUth

Around the world, young people are learning about climate change and taking action. In fact, young people are some of the most important voices in the climate movement because you can inspire powerful people to create a better future for you.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist or a politician to make a difference in the fight against climate change. Whatever your talents are, there's a role for you to play. Some young people, like Greta Thunberg, Vanessa Nakate, and others, are leading the Fridays for Future movement to tell their governments to create strong policies to fight climate change. Other students are inventing new technologies to cut emissions and reduce waste. And others are using their creativity to bring awareness to climate change by writing music and creating art.

You can also look for ways to get involved in your community - maybe you can help your school set up a composting program to keep food waste out of the landfill. Maybe your synagogue or mosque needs help switching to energy efficient lights. Maybe you can write a letter to your local government to encourage your community to prepare for extreme weather or wildfires. Everyone can do something to fight climate change.

Check out our Educator Resources page for activities you can do to learn more about how climate change works and how you can be a part of the solution.
C2ES thanks the Alcoa Foundation for its support, which allowed us to develop our Climate Classroom content. As a fully independent organization, C2ES is solely responsible for its positions, programs, and publications.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This page will help you understand the science behind climate change, the impacts of a changing climate, and how you can help slow climate change and prepare for it. We've also created a list of resources and activities for educators and students of all ages.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Glaciers have retreated dramatically all over world. Here are some photos of Alaska’s Muir Glacier, photographed by glaciologist William O. Field on 13 August 1941 (left) and by geologist Bruce F. Molnia on 31 August 2004 (right).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The debate about global warming appears to be pretty much over. A majority of climate scientists now agree that it's occurring and there seems no end to the accumulating evidence that rising temperatures are causing changes all over the planet.

The yellow jacket population in Alaska, for example, has undergone a significant increase during the past decade. One effect of the insect's growing numbers is that in 2006, Fairbanks experienced its first two sting-related deaths. "We think warmer temperatures are allowing the insects to thrive," says Jeffrey Demain, director of an allergy immunology center in Anchorage. Demain presented his findings in March in Philadelphia at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

Another symptom comes from plants: Leaves are emerging earlier in Eurasia's northern forests in the spring. Researchers in France, the United Kingdom, Japan and Russia reported the finding in the March Global Change Biology. When leaves pop out depends largely on temperature in the northern hemisphere.

And some marine mammals may need special government protection because the icy environment they depend on is melting away. For instance, on March 26, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced it was considering whether to list four types of seals as species threatened or endangered with extinction. At issue: Arctic sea ice is melting rapidly and could disappear entirely during polar summers fairly soon. Ribbon, bearded, spotted and ringed seals-the species in question-rely on sea ice for spots on which to rest, to mate and to have pups.

A second federal agency, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, is evaluating whether polar bears should be listed as a threatened species for similar reasons. These bears are completely dependent upon Arctic sea ice for their hunting grounds.

But the warming is affecting more than seals and polar bears. "There's going to be a widespread impact on the whole ecosystem of the Arctic, and the whole world," says Walt Meier, a research scientist who studies Arctic ice at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo.

Why is our planet running a fever? That's what scientists are investigating, and some of their findings are disturbing. But there are things that the public can do to potentially bring down that fever. Even kids.
Understanding Earth's fever
At its simplest, global warming is the rise in the average temperature of Earth's atmosphere. Since the 1950s, the planet has been experiencing a warming trend.

In a convincing set of reports issued last year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), scientists argued that it's very likely that this warming trend has been caused by an increase of carbon dioxide and other greenhouses gases in the atmosphere. (See story below: "Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect.")

The reports also blamed people and their actions for much of the increase in levels of these gases in the atmosphere. For instance, the IPCC linked increasing amounts of carbon dioxide-the most important of the greenhouse gases-primarily to humans' use of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas.

The IPCC reports show that all but one of the years between 1995 and 2006 rank among the 12 warmest since 1850. That's when scientists first began measuring surface temperatures across the globe. During the past century, the planet's average temperature has risen about 0.74° Celsius (or 1.33° Fahrenheit). Satellite data since 1978 show that annual average Arctic sea ice has shrunk by 2.7 percent per decade. In addition, mountain glaciers and snow cover have declined all over the world. These decreases are all consistent with global warming.

Shrinking Arctic sea ice and retreating glaciers are both key and quick-responding indicators of global warming, says Meier. Long ago, coal miners brought caged canaries into their mines as a type of early-warning signal. If the birds died, it meant that toxic gases were building up in the mine, and that the workers were in trouble. Some scientists now view what's happening to glaciers and Arctic ice as the climate equivalent of canaries in the coal mine. Once sea ice and glaciers begin to undergo serious melting, Meier says, "You know you're having some kind of climate change."
Changes to the planet
The IPCC reports predict that by 2100, Earth's average global temperature will have climbed by anywhere from 1.1 to 6.4° C (2 to 11.5° F). But global warming is about more than just temperature, says Susan Solomon. She's a senior scientist at NOAA in Boulder, Colo., and led one of the IPCC working groups.

"We'll also see changes in drought and rainfall, which will affect our ability to grow food," Solomon says. "[Global warming] is about extremes of temperature and rainfall, and there are a lot of open questions about, for example, whether hurricanes become more intense as you have a warmer world." What there's no question about, she says, is that when climate changes, people will be affected.

Heavy rainfalls, warm spells and heat waves will all very likely become more common than they are today, the IPCC reports say. Heat waves can be deadly, especially for the very young or very old. The heat wave that struck Europe in 2003, for example, killed thousands of people.

Global warming also affects sea levels. As temperatures climb, glaciers and portions of the polar ice sheets start to melt. The glaciers' melting will swell the size of Earth's oceans, increasing their depth. Moreover, as ocean water warms, it expands, which makes it take up even more space.

Melting ice and expanding seawater are already making sea levels climb about 3 millimeters (one-eighth of an inch) each year, according to the IPCC reports. If sea levels continue to rise, coastal cities and small island nations will be in trouble. Some areas could become submerged. Remaining low-lying regions could be at risk of flooding during storms or a scouring away by waves along the coasts.

The environment could also suffer dramatically. Plants, insects, birds and other animals could lose their homes or sources of food. And, Solomon says, "There's evidence that changes in temperature and other climate variables can cause extinction."

The loss of Arctic sea ice will affect more than wildlife, says Meier. "The climate system is all interconnected," he notes, "so you're going to see changes in ocean currents, in winds and in weather patterns." People throughout the world, but especially in the Northern Hemisphere, should expect to experience some impacts, he warns.

Disappearing sea ice will also add to the warming trend, Meier says. Because snow and ice are white, the Arctic acts like a big mirror-it reflects a lot of the sun's rays. When you remove the ice through melting, you expose more ocean. Because the water's very dark, almost black, it reflects less of the sun's energy, and absorbs more of it. This leads to still more warming, which leads to still more ice melting, and so on.

So once this process gets underway, "you have the potential for the loss of sea ice to accelerate and for this to contribute even more to global warming," Meier says. A warmer ocean can transfer its heat, he adds, further warming the atmosphere.
What to do
Global warming is a serious issue affecting the entire planet. But people working together can find answers to environmental problems. The IPCC reports offer recommendations for government leaders on ways to reduce fossil-fuel use, thereby reducing carbon-dioxide emissions. One way: begin substituting alternative energy sources, such as solar, wind, tidal and wave power for the burning of oil, gas and coal.

Solomon says that it's important "to get involved in the issue, understand the issue and express your opinions, and get your family to express their opinions to [government leaders]" in Washington D.C. and elsewhere.

Even kids can have an impact, prompting changes within their families.

Transportation-cars, trucks and airplanes-contribute a large share of carbon dioxide into the air, Solomon says. So one way to limit those emissions would be to encourage your family to walk or ride a bike for simple trips. You might also encourage your parents to buy a car that sips gasoline, not a vehicle that guzzles it. And remind your family that running several errands at one time will result in fewer car trips and less greenhouse-gas pollution.

Anything kids can do to conserve energy and avoid releasing extra carbon dioxide helps, Meier adds. This includes everything from installing energy-efficient compact-fluorescent light bulbs to turning down the thermostat (put on an extra sweater to stay warm). "If you get enough people working together, then you definitely start making a difference," he says.

Keep in mind, Solomon points out, that what people do today could "affect the lives of their children and of their children's children and the children of their children's children."

Overall, Solomon concludes, if countries around the world don't reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, "the world will get a lot warmer in the next hundred or even maybe several hundred years. We have to decide whether we want to live in that world."
Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect
Earth's atmosphere works something like a giant glass greenhouse. As the sun's rays enter our atmosphere, most continue right down to the planet's surface. As they hit the soil and surface waters, those rays release much of their energy as heat. Some of the heat then radiates back out into space.

However, certain gases in our atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor, work like a blanket to retain much of that heat. This helps to warm our atmosphere. The gases do this by absorbing the heat and radiating it back to Earth's surface. These gases are nicknamed "greenhouse gases" because of their heat-trapping effect. Without the "greenhouse effect," Earth would be too cold to support most forms of life.

But you can have too much of a good thing. Carbon dioxide is released when we use fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas. We burn these fuels, made from the ancient remains of plants and animals, to run electricity-generating plants that power factories, homes and schools. Products of these fossil fuels, such as gasoline and diesel fuel, power most of the engines that drive cars, airplanes and ships.

By examining air bubbles in ice cores taken from Antarctica, scientists can go back and calculate what the concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have been throughout the last 650,000 years. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been climbing to where today it is 30 percent greater than 650,000 years ago. That rise in carbon dioxide "is essentially entirely due to the burning of fuels," Susan Solomon says. She's a senior scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in Boulder, Colo., and studies factors that affect climate.

Humans have further increased the levels of greenhouse gases in the air by changing the landscape. Plants take up carbon dioxide to make food in a process called photosynthesis. Once cut down, they can no longer take in carbon dioxide, and this gas begins building up in the air instead of fueling the growth of plants. So by cutting down trees and forests for farmland and other human uses, more carbon dioxide is also added into the atmosphere.

"We've always had some greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," Solomon says. "But because we've burned a lot of fossil fuels and deforested parts of the planet, we've increased the amount of greenhouse gases, and as a result have changed the temperature of the planet."
Last week: Part 1: Polar ice feels the heat, a sign of global warming Power Words
All definitions from the American Heritage Student Science Dictionary, except as noted.

atmosphere The mixture of gases that surrounds the Earth or some other celestial body. It is held by the force of gravity and forms various layers at different heights, including the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere. Earth's atmosphere, called air, is rich in nitrogen and oxygen; that of Venus is mainly carbon dioxide.

carbon dioxide (CO ₂) A colorless, odorless gas that is present in the atmosphere and is formed when any fuel containing carbon is burned. It is breathed out of an animal's lungs during respiration, produced by the decay of organic matter and used by plants in photosynthesis.

climate The general or average weather conditions of a certain region, including temperature, rainfall and wind: Caribbean islands have a year-round climate of warm breezes and sunshine.

deforestation The cutting down and removal of all or most of the trees in a forested area. Deforestation can damage the environment by causing erosion of soils, and it decreases biodiversity by destroying the habitats needed for different organisms.

ecosystem An ecological community made up of plants, animals and microorganisms together with their environment. Pond or rain forests are examples of complex ecosystems.

fossil fuels Petroleum, coal and natural gas, which are derived from the accumulated remains of ancient plants and animals.

glacier A large mass of ice flowing very slowly through a valley or spreading outward from a center. Glaciers form over many years from packed snow in areas where snow accumulates faster than it melts. A glacier is always moving, but when its forward edge melts faster than the ice behind it advances, the glacier as a whole shrinks backward.

global warming An increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere, especially a sustained increase great enough to cause changes in the global climate. Many scientists believe that the Earth has been in a period of global warming for the past century or more, due in part to the increased production of greenhouses gases related to human activity.

greenhouse effect The trapping of the sun's radiation in the Earth's atmosphere because of the presence of greenhouse gases.

greenhouse gas Any of the atmospheric gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane and nitrous oxide.

habitat The area or natural environment in which an animal or plant normally lives, such as a desert, coral reef or freshwater lake. A habitat can be home to many different organisms.

photosynthesis The process by which green plants, algae and certain forms of bacteria make carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water in the presence of chlorophyll, using light as energy. Photosynthesis normally releases oxygen as a byproduct.

weather The state of the atmosphere at a particular time and place. Weather is described by variable conditions such as temperature, humidity, wind velocity, precipitation and barometric pressure.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The debate about global warming appears to be pretty much over. A majority of climate scientists now agree that it's occurring and there seems no end to the accumulating evidence that rising temperatures are causing changes all over the planet. The yellow jacket population in Alaska, for example, has undergone a significant increase during the past decade.

# data[].attributes.headline
Climate Change: National Geographic Kids

# data[].attributes.subject
Climate Change: National Geographic Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What is climate change? What could happen? Get all the facts you need to know.