The coldest village on Earth

From the Korea Times:

If you thought it was cold where you are at the moment then a visit to the Russian village of Oymyakon might just change your mind.

With the average temperature for January at -50 C, it is not surprising that the village is the coldest permanently inhabited settlement in the world (people live there all the time).

Known as the 'Pole of Cold', the coldest ever temperature recorded in Oymyakon was -71.2 C.

This is the lowest recorded temperature for any permanently inhabited location on Earth and the lowest temperature recorded in the Northern Hemisphere

The village, which is home to around 500 people, was, in the 1920s and 1930s, a stopover for reindeer herders who would water their flocks from the thermal spring (hot water that comes from under the ground).

reindeer

But the Soviet government, in its efforts to settle nomadic populations (groups of people who move from place to place), believing them to be difficult to control and technologically and culturally backward, made the site a permanent settlement.

Ironically, Oymyakon actually means 'non-freezing water' due to a nearby hot spring.

A thermal or hot spring

 Most homes in Oymyakon still burn coal and wood for heat and enjoy few modern conveniences (electric stoves, refrigerators).

Nothing grows there so people eat reindeer meat and horsemeat. A single store provides the town's bare necessities (food, clothing etc.) and the locals work as reindeer-breeders, hunters and ice-fisherman.

ice fishing

Doctors say the reason the locals don't suffer from malnutrition (bad health caused by not enough food) is that their animals' milk contains a lot of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals).

Unsurprisingly, locals are used to the weather and unlike in other countries where snow can cause problems such as the closing of schools, Oymyakon's only school only shuts if temperatures fall below -52 C.

The village is located in the far north of Russia, which means that the length of a day varies from 3 hours in December to 21 hours in the summer. And despite its terrible winters, in June, July and August there are often temperatures over 30 Celsius. 

Inventor of the World Wide Web

From FamousPeopleLessons.com

Sir Timothy Berners-Lee is a British computer scientist who invented the World Wide Web. He received a knighthood from the British Queen for his efforts (so he is called ‘Sir’). He is director of W3C, which looks after the Web’s development. A leading British newspaper ranked him as the world’s greatest living genius. Today’s world would be very different without his discovery.

Berners-Lee was born in 1955.His parents were mathematicians and computer scientists. He grew up with numbers and electronics and managed to build his own computer. He went to Oxford University and was banned from using the computers for hacking. Berners-Lee graduated with a degree in physics. His first jobs after graduating were as a computer programmer and software developer.

Berners-Lee spent the 1980s on a project based on sharing and updating information online. In 1991, he put the first website online. It explained what the World Wide Web was and how it was used. He gave his idea to the world for free. In 1994, Berners-Lee founded W3C to set standards and improve the quality of the Web.

Berners-Lee now spends his time between W3C and as a professor of computer science in England. He also writes about the future of the Web. In 2004, he was named as the first ever winner of the Millennium Technology Prize. He has other awards and is listed as one of ‘Time’ magazine’s 100 most important people of the 20^th Century.

An Ancient Palace Uncovered

From Scholastic News:

The ancient city of Xi’an (shee-an) in China holds many treasures. Last month, archaeologists working there made an important discovery—a buried palace built in the third century B.C. to honor China’s first emperor.

The entire palace measures roughly 2,260 feet (689 meters) long by 820 feet (250 meters)  wide. It includes 10 courtyard houses and one main building. Archaeologists found bricks and pieces of pottery at the site of the palace, as well as the remains of walls and roads.

THE FIRST EMPEROR
The palace is part of the massive burial complex of Emperor Qin Shihuangdi (chin shir-whong-dee). He conquered seven warring kingdoms and united ancient China in 211 B.C.

Qin Shihuangdi wanted his legacy, or accomplishments, to be remembered forever. So he hired more than 700,000 workers to build his funeral complex in Xi’an. It represents a miniature version of his vast kingdom.

The complex also includes the world-famous terra-cotta army, a collection of more than 8,000 life-size clay statues. These sculptures represent soldiers, acrobats, and horses from the Qin Dynasty (221 B.C.-206 B.C.). Scientists have not yet found all these terracotta warriors, even though they discovered more of the statues last summer.
  

A terracotta warrior from the tomb

CITY OF SECRETS

 Farmers discovered the complex by accident in 1974. Since then, scientists studying the site have learned a great deal about life in ancient China. But much of the emperor’s tomb has yet to be excavated, or unearthed. Many of the artifacts (objects from the past) are so old that scientists cannot preserve them.


“Archaeologists fully acknowledge that nobody in the world has the technology [to safely excavate Xi’an’s treasures] yet,” explains Kristin Romey, an expert on Chinese archaeology. But as technology improves, archaeologists will keep digging to uncover the rest of the wonders that still lie buried in Xi’an.

“It’s one of the most important archaeological discoveries that’s waiting to be made,” says Romey, "and we know where it is.”

There are over 8,000 life-size warriors, and each one is different

Songs from the International Space Station

The International Space Station

What did you do today? Did you record a song in space? No? Then you aren’t as cool as International Space Station mission commander Chris Hadfield.

The Canadian astronaut posted the song, “Jewel in the Night” to the music hosting service Soundcloud early on December 24, and then linked to it on the social-sharing site Reddit. The top responding comment from Reddit user jackrabbitslimz assured the commander that his song was good. Good music, check. / Recorded in space, check. / By a Canadian astronaut, check. / Rendez-vous with Reddit standards, complete.

Chris Hadfield doing "Jewel in the Night";

Here is Chris Hadfield singing his version of "Space Oddity", a song originally sung by David Bowie:

Hadfield traveled to the space station on board a Russian Soyuz capsule for a five-month visit to the giant orbiting space lab. During his stay, the 53-year-old space veteran, an avid guitar player, promised to do some strumming to help himself deal with homesickness, a promise he obviously started to fulfill today.

He will also be involved with more than 130 experiments including Micro-flow, a Canadian blood-sampling experiment which he compared to a hospital in a box.

During the second half of his mission, Hadfield will become the first Canadian to command the space station. This is Hadfield’s third space journey.


Words

Cool - informal word for "impressive" or "awesome". "He looked really cool on his motorcycle."
Preface - something written before a song or story. The preface of a book comes before the main part.
Humble-brag - humble means not showing off, not proud. "Buddhist priests are humble". Brag means to tell people you are wonderful or great. "John bragged about what a great student he was."
Capsule - the part of a rocket where the astronauts are seated when the rocket takes off from Earth
Lab - short for laboratory, a place where scientists do experiments
Veteran - somebody who has experience doing something: a veteran astronaut or a veteran soldier, for example
Stay - the length of time you spend somewhere. "Our stay in Seoul was enjoyable."
Avid - enthusiastic: An avid reader is someone who likes to read many books.
Strumming - playing the strings of a guitar
Homesickness - sadness you feel when you are away from home and you miss your home, family and friends