Two Sides of the Brain

In the late 1960s, research in the US was done by Roger Sperry and Robert Ormstein into the brain and its functions. They found that we have two brains (cortices) or, to be more accurate, two sides of the brain which is linked by a nerve structure called the corpus callosum. These two different hemispheres function in different ways and serve different mental processes.

The left side, which controls the right side of the body, is predominantly engaged with academic activities such as logical thinking, mathematics and numbers, words, analysis and reasoning, whereas the right side of the brain, which controls the left side of the body, is the artistic part which deals with images, imagination, rhythm, colour, orientation in space, music, humour and dreams, and recognition of faces, patterns and maps.

(Source: Energize Yourself! by Vera Peiffer)

Alfred Bernhard Nobel (Part 2)

Alfred in His Final Days

Alfred's health was not in good condition, and it had gone from bad to worse due to the inner crisis in his life. He witnessed with his own eyes that his invention was used for war. A great number of people had lost their lives. He felt very guilty of having invented the explosive. At first he invented the explosive for peaceful and technical purposes, not for military purpose. Since then he had become one of public figures who struggled for international peace.

Alfred passed away on December 10, 1896 in San Remo, Italy. He closed his eyes for good, bringing the feeling of regret in his heart.

Alfred & The Nobel Prizes

The Nobel prizes are very famous in the world. The names of these awards were taken from Nobel's name because it was he who had left a will that his wealth was used to establish international awards. The Nobel prizes are awarded annually in Sweden and Norway. The awardees are not limited to people residing in certain countries. The prizes are given to outstanding and meritorious people who have worked for the good of humanity regardless of their nationality.

The Nobel prizes were awarded for the first time in 1901 for five fields: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology/Medicine, Literature, and Peace. Then in 1969 the Economics Award was also granted. The Peace prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway while the other prizes in Stockholm, Sweden. Those prizes are awarded in December 1o to commemorate the death of Alfred Bernhard Nobel.


(From various sources)

Alfred Bernhard Nobel (Part 1)

Alfred in His Early Age

Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born on October 21, 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden. Alfred had shown a lot of promise in science since he was very young. His father, Immanuel Nobel, was an engineer and Alfred learned much about fundamental engineering from him. In 1842 Alfred followed his family to move to St. Petersburg.

Alfred & His Inventions

Alfred had a great interest in chemistry. So, in 1850 he went to France to satisfy his desire to study chemistry. A year later he left for the United States to study engineering. It seemed that he had been crazy about science. He always tried his best to deepen his knowledge.

Alfred spent four years in the United States. Then he returned to St. Petersburg and worked in his father's factory. Here he made an experimentation on nitroglycerin, a kind of chemical liquid which can explode easily. When the firm went bankrupt in 1859, Alfred went back to Sweden. What he did then was starting the making of the liquid explosive nitroglycerin.

Alfred felt that the nitroglycerin he had made contained some weaknesses. So, he tried to perfect it by reducing the danger of nitroglycerin. As a result, in 1866 Alfred managed to invent a safer explosive called the dynamite. The dynamite was patented in Britain in 1867 and in the United States in 1868. Again, Alfred tried to develop his invention and he succeeded in inventing a more powerful dynamite, blasting gelatin which was patented in 1876. Then, he was also successful in making the first nitroglycerin smokeless powders called the ballistite. But this time he failed to get the patent.

Being a very famous and successful inventor, Alfred became very rich. His inventions have led him to be one of the prominent inventors in the world. He deserves that!

Valentina Vladmirovna Tereshkova

Who is Valentina Vladmirovna Tereshkova?

Valentina Vladmirovna Tereshkova was born in 1937. She became a Soviet cosmonaut who was the first woman in space.

The Biggest Animal

What is the biggest animal in the world?

Do you think that elephants or dinosaurs are the biggest animals in the world? The answer is NO!!! The biggest animal in the world is BLUE WHALE. A blue whale can be up to 33 meters in length. How about its weight? Well... its weight can reach more than 100 tonnes. Can you imagine that???

Yuri Gagarin

Who is Yuri Gagarin?

Yuri Gagarin is a Soviet cosmonaut who in 1961 was the first person to travel in space. This made him very popular and he received many medals from different countries for his pioneering tour in space.

Archimedes' Principle

What does Archimedes' principle say?

This principle is very famous and it says,"A body immersed in a fluid is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the displaced fluid."

Mengapa Mata Kucing Bersinar?

Mengapa mata kucing bersinar di malam hari?

Agar dapat memburu mangsanya di saat gelap, kucing sering membuka matanya lebar-lebar. Mata yang terbuka lebar tersebut dimaksudkan agar setiap cahaya yang ditangkap dapat masuk sebanyak-banyaknya ke dalam mata. Inilah yang mungkin menjadi penyebab bersinarnya mata kucing pada malam hari.

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835. During his school days, he was often mischievous and inattentive. Therefore, he left school when he was only twelve years old. But... many years later he became a man of many interests and occupations.

He began his career as a printer, then became a pilot of a Mississippi riverboat. Next, he also worked as a journalist, travel writer, and publisher. He wrote a number of articles, short stories, and novels. Some of his great works are The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi, The Prince and the Pauper, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

Mark Twain was a pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. This name came from his riverboat days. At that time he was measuring the depth of the water which was called "marking the twain."

Mark Twain died in 1910. Now his name is very popular. He becomes one of America's greatest writers. If you want to know more about him and his works, I suggest you read one or more of his works.

Operating System

What is an operating system?

When a computer is turned on, it searches for instructions in its memory. Usually, the first set of these instructions is a special program called the operating system, which is the software that makes the computer work. It prompts the user (or other machines) for input and commands, reports the results of these commands and other operations, stores and manages data, and controls the sequence of the software and hardware actions. When the user requests that a program run, the operating system loads the program in the computer’s memory and runs the program. Popular operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows and the Macintosh system (Mac OS), have a graphical user interface (GUI)—that is, a display that uses tiny pictures, or icons, to represent various commands. To execute these commands, the user clicks the mouse on the icon or presses a combination of keys on the keyboard.

(Source: Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2002)

TV Tuner Card

Apa itu TV Tuner Card?

TV Tuner Card adalah kartu yang berfungsi untuk menangkap siaran televisi sehingga acara-acara televisi bisa kita saksikan melalui komputer. Saat ini banyak juga TV Tuner Card yang sudah diperlengkapi dengan alat untuk menangkap siaran radio FM. Kartu ini biasanya disisipkan ke dalam slot PCI pada motherboard komputer.