Population: 281,421,906 (2000 Census)
Unemployment: 5.8 million, or 4.2% (Sept 99)
National Debt: $5,413.l Million (1997)
Average Salary: $13.37/hr (1999)
Teacher's Salary: $39,347 (1998)
Minimum Wage: $5.15/hr (1997)
Life Expectancy: Male 73.1 Female 79.1(1997)
Auto Deaths: 49,772 (1997)
Hello Dolly!
Though not the first cloned animal, Dolly certainly was the most famous.
Question 1: Why was Dolly considered, “old before her time"?
GPS
Once only intended for military use, this gadget has become a top seller in vehicles and hand-held devices.
Question 2: What are some of the everyday applications of GPS being used today?
WWW.
Imagine a life without Google! Prior to the 1990’s students had to look information up in an Encyclopedia, there was no MySpace or Facebook, and computers weren’t a necessity in education.
Question 3: What is “caching”?
Hubble
Man has always been interested in exploring places which are not easily accessible. The Hubble Telescope has helped scientists explore some of the farther regions of our galaxy.
Question 4: What is the spectral range of the Hubble Telescope?
Napster
Who said college drop-outs weren’t going to ever make money? Napster launched the craze of sharing music over the internet.
Question 5: What two musical artists filed legal disputes against Napster, why?
Human Stem Cells
The ability to cure cancer? Maybe?
Question 6: Why is there an ethical debate over stem cell research?
Avian Flu
A strain of the Avian Flu finally mutated to be fatal to humans in the late 90’s.
Question 7: What are some symptoms of the Avian Flu as it infects humans?
Human Genome Project
Having 23 pairs of chromosomes, human DNA is relatively small compared to other organisms. Scientists began to map the sequence of human DNA in hopes to identify the large variety of genes in the human chromosome.
Question 8: By 2001, how many base-pair units had been mapped?
Biodegradable Products
In the 1990’s a “biodegradable” plastic was created, but what does biodegradable really mean?
Question 9: What is the difference between biodegradable and compostable?
International Space Station
Construction started in 1998 and still continues. The launch of the ISS has allowed NASA to study space like never before.
Question 10: How many space flights will it take for the ISS to be completed?
Facts taken from:
http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade90.html
