Twigbrushes: The first known devices for brushing teeth date back to ancient Egypt, where people used frayed twigs to clean their teeth.  Some have been found preserved in Egyptian tombs. –bshm.org.uk

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Did you know that in 2003, the toothbrush was selected as the number one invention the American public could not live without? The toothbrush has become an indispensable tool for our oral hygiene. 

If I go camping and I forget my toothbrush, oh how good it feels to finally have a toothbrush to clean my mouth again!! But, have you ever wondered how the ancients kept their teeth clean? Twigbrushes, of course!

Most historians agree ancient Babylonians and Egyptians created the first 'toothbrushes' from frayed twigs between 3500-3000 B.C. We know this because ancient Egyptians meticulously preserved items in their tombs, including these "chew sticks."

Chew sticks are twigs or roots of certain plants that are chewed until one end is frayed. This end can be used to brush against the teeth, while the other end can be used as a toothpick. According to Wikipedia, here is a partial list of tree species that can be used twigbrushes, and some have better cleansing properties than others:

• Salvadora persica.
• Sassafras.
• Gumtree.
• Lime tree (Citrusaurantafolia)
• Garcinia mannii in West Africa.
• Orange tree (Citrus × sinensis)
• African laburnum (Cassia sieberiana)
• Tea tree.

In Europe and North America, the tree species that can be used for twigbrushes are apple, pear, bamboo, fig, common walnut and willow, to name a few.

The first brushes came from China, where the Chinese made them out of hairs pulled from the back of wild hogs. The kind of toothbrush we know came from William Addis in England around 1780. He worked on the toothbrush while he was in jail. First, he saved a bone from one of his meals and poked some holes in it. The prison guard gave him some bristles. William tied the bristles into little bundles, cut them to make them even, put glue on the ends, and stuffed them into the holes. The company he started still makes millions of toothbrushes every year. Of course, now the use of nylon bristles is the most popular.

Here’s one last interesting fact, but first a question. What color toothbrush do you think is the most popular?

According to  stellarkids.com, blue is the most popular color. Is that what you chose?!! Well, whether it was blue or pink, remember to take care of your teeth so that they will last you for many years to come! 

Ocean red: A “red tide”, also known as a harmful algal bloom, occurs when colonies of algae grow out of control.  The mass of plant-like organisms produce toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine animals, and birds – and often turns the water red. –noaa.gov

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Don’t you just love to go to the beach in the summer?!! I do! There’s nothing better than being at the beach when the sky is blue, the clouds are white, and the sun is warm! You can hear the powerful waves crashing onto the rocks, and the seagulls calling to each other. So relaxing!

But then you look at the water and suddenly it’s not so beautiful. All along the beach you see red water washing up on shore! And, not only water, but fish. Dead fish!  And then the smell!! Terrible! What is going on?  And then you see them!  There are signs up every so often along the beach warning you about the Red Tide, and not to go near the beach or the water. 

If you do not live near the ocean, you may not know about red tide. Red tide, simply put, happens when certain algae bloom in or near the water all at once in the right conditions. If there is nothing to compete with  or hold back this algae, then it takes over. Red tide is an ecological phenomenon, also known as harmful algal bloom, or HAB.

Certain algae, phytoplankton and marine seaweed give off toxins that are harmful to the air as well as the water. And if enough of it blooms it can overwhelm the water areas killing the fish and poisoning the creatures that live there; creatures like shellfish, shrimp, mollusks and muscles. This is why you may want to think twice before having these items on your menu. Sadly, if people or birds eat these poisoned creatures, or breathe the toxic air, they can be in trouble, too!

However, not all algal blooms are harmful. In fact, most algae are good for the ocean ecosystem as they are at the base of the food web, feeding organisms from tiny animals called zooplankton to small fish that, in turn, support larger animals such as sharks, tunas and sea lions.

Once found primarily in the coastal waters of the United States and Europe, red tides have become a global problem. Some scientists think pollution may have a big part to play. Pollution can throw off the ecosystem enough for these blooms to happen and go unchecked by nature.

The next time you are at the beach, be sure to thank God for the beauty around you, and try to keep it cleaner than you found it so we will always have a healthy beach and ocean to enjoy.

"This great and wide sea, in which are innumerable teeming things, living things both small and great".  Psalm 104:25

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cold Light Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus is the most reflective object in our solar system. Its icy surface reflects about 100% of the light that reaches it. Because it doesn’t absorb much sunlight, its temperatures reach about -201 Celsius (-330 Fahrenheit). –science.nasa.gov

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

What is your favorite planet in the solar system?  For many, it is Saturn because of its cool rings which are made up of ice, rock and dust. And maybe because Saturn has more than 140 moons that orbit the planet.  It certainly is beautiful!

One of Saturn’s moons is called Titan. Titan is even bigger than the planet Mercury!  It’s huge!

Another moon that is really spectacular is Enceladus; the sixth largest of Saturn’s moons, it’s a small, icy world that has geyser-like jets spewing water vapor and ice particles into space. And, as mentioned above, this moon is extremely bright because it reflects almost 100% of the light that reaches it.

Can you imagine being on a moon that is so cold, it could get to -330 Fahrenheit??!! I can’t!! Bbbrrrr!  How can anything live there?  And yet, that’s exactly what some scientists are saying about Enceladus. They say it because this moon has “key ingredients that…could encourage and harbor it [life]”. Being able to research samples of the vapor coming from Enceladus, scientists believe it has a global liquid ocean under a deep, frozen crust, and likely has hydrothermal vents releasing hot, mineral-rich water into its ocean.

Because of some other moons close to it and their gravity pulls, the planet is stretched in an elliptical shape, so Enceladus is sometimes closer and other times farther from Saturn, causing tidal heating within the moon.

Enceladus isn’t very wide; in fact at around 310 mi/500 km, it’s almost as wide as the state of Arizona. Enceladus blasts icy particles out into space and creates its own ring around Saturn as it circles, this is called the E ring.

​​On August 28, 1789, a man by the name of Sir Frederick William Herschel, a German-British astronomer, discovered this bright, shining moon in its orbit around Saturn. In his lifetime, he also discovered Uranus, infrared radiation and binary stars.

This reminds me of Psalm 19: “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. 2 Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.”

There are all kinds of things to discover. As you grow and learn, keep exercising your faith and allow God to guide you in your discoveries!

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Starfish Don’t Look Like Fish Starfish (which aren’t fish, but are invertebrates like urchins and sponges) can not only regrow lost or damaged limbs, they may even shed an arm to escape a threat.--natgeokids.com

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Going to the aquarium can be fun! You can see things you would maybe never see otherwise, especially if you don’t live near the water.  While there, you can see a lot of fish and even something called a starfish  - which is actually not a fish at all!

Typical starfish have about 5 arms/legs coming together at a central disc. They come in a multitude of colors, anywhere from blue or ivory to pink or brown. They can live about 35 years in the wild. 

They are carnivorous, (that means they eat meat) and they have no gills, fins, scales or backbone. They are invertebrates, which means they do not have a vertebral column. In fact, there are about 1,600 different species of starfish in the waters around the world. There are quite a few other creatures that are invertebrates. Some include squid, crabs, sponges, sea urchins and a number of insects, too.

Did you know that starfish have no brain or heart? They also don’t have blood. Seawater is pushed through their body delivering vital nutrients. In order to eat, they do something very interesting. They have a stomach that can digest food outside their body so that it can fit in their mouth.  This allows the food to be further broken down inside their body.

The largest starfish ever recorded is the very fragile brisingid Midgardia xandaros. In 1968, a specimen was collected in the Gulf of Mexico by a Texas AM University research vessel The Alaminos. The starfish measured an astonishing 1.38 m (4 ft 6 in) from tip to tip!

As well as their tough, prickly, armor-like skin, some have striking colours that camouflage them amongst plants and coral, or scare off potential attackers. And check this out, too – these cool creatures are able to regrow lost or damaged limbs! If under attack, some starfish will even shed an arm to escape the predator. It may take several months, but their limb will grow back! Amazing!

“O LORD, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions— This great and wide sea, In which are innumerable teeming things, Living things both small and great.” Psalm 104:24-25

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Proof that chickens can fly: The first hot air balloon passengers were a sheep, a duck and a chicken.  In 1783, France’s King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette watched as the Montgolfier brothers successfully demonstrated the first balloon passenger flight, traveling about two miles in eight minutes before safely landing.--space.com

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Have you ever wished you could fly?  I think, as children, we all wish we could fly at one time or another. Some people even dream they can fly! How exciting!  Maybe they were inspired by the angels we can read about in the Bible.

Flight has always been an exciting possibility, and through the years people have never given up working on some type of flying machine or another. The balloon, for instance, has been a concept that hasn’t changed a whole lot through the years. In fact, unmanned balloons have been around in some form for thousands of years. Ancient China is where we first learn of using hot air to make objects float.

The first hot air balloon to carry a person was made by the Montgolfier brothers. On 19 September 1783, they demonstrated their invention for King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette at the French court in Paris. The passengers were a sheep, a duck and a rooster. They flew for 480 metres. 

However, the first flight carrying a person was on 15 October 1783. It carried Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier. The balloon was attached to the ground by a rope. The first free flight, without being attached to the ground, was a few weeks later, on 21 November 1783. It carried Marquis François d'Arlandes and Pilatre de Rozier. Can you imagine being on that first free flight?! To be able to see for miles in every direction must have been awesome! Unless, of course, you were afraid of heights, then it was probably not so fun.

So, how does the hot air balloon work? First, you have a large balloon known as the “envelope” made of some type of non flammable material. This is what holds the hot air. The hot air is created by some kind of heat source called a “burner” which makes an open flame that shoots the heat up into the balloon. The flame is usually a mixture of liquid propane gas and air. And because the air around the outside of the balloon is colder than the hot air inside the balloon, it rises upward and becomes buoyant. The top of the balloon usually has a vent which allows the pilot to control the speed of ascent/descent (along with the burner). As time went on, a large sturdy basket was added for people to ride in.

In 1999 Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones became the first balloonists to complete a nonstop voyage around the world. Three years later U.S. adventurer Steve Fossett became the first person to complete the trip alone.

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, and other locations there are annual hot-air balloon festivals featuring hundreds of colorful balloons. I am sure it is an amazing sight to see! Can you spy the cow balloon in the photo above?! If you ever get the chance, go see one of these festivals. Or be sure to put it on your bucket list!

Nutty behavior:  Squirrels can bury thousands of nuts for each winter, and studies show they both store nuts across dozens of locations, and organize nuts by type. –scientificamerican.com

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Well it’s winter again! Do you ever find yourself eating more when it’s cold outside, as if getting ready for hibernation like some animals?  And it gets dark so early! Do you find yourself getting sleepy as soon as the sun goes down? I do! What’s up with that?!  Well, hopefully I am not the only one. And hopefully, these things are normal.  

In the fall, I watch the birds and squirrels as they are so busy getting ready for winter. They work on beefing up their nests in the trees, filling them with lots of dead leaves and other materials to help keep out the cold winds. And the squirrels collect as much food as they can. Somehow, they go around and hide it all (this is called caching) and in the middle of winter and snow, they know exactly where to find it again! Amazing!

Being able to find food in the winter is of utmost importance for their survival.  It makes sense, therefore, that some species are able to smell food under a foot of snow. The squirrel will then dig a tunnel under the snow, following the scent to their (or another squirrel’s) buried treasure. 

It is estimated that gray squirrels bury about 10,000 nuts per year, and can hide 50 nuts per hour. And they can usually recover between 50-85% of their cache. And as our top paragraph above states, some species of squirrels even organize their caches by type - seeds here, acorns there, and peanuts over there! Wow! God has surely created them in an amazing way!

Squirrels, of course, are famous for hiding nuts as a food supply for the winter. But they also have to protect their precious cargo from other squirrels or birds (25 percent of their hoard is lost that way). So how do they do this? A biology professor at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania found that sometimes squirrels engage in deceptive caching. A squirrel will dig a hole and cover it up, all the while holding a nut in its teeth and not depositing it. The squirrel sometimes repeats this behavior several times. 

Another researcher found that when she and her students uncovered these holes, the squirrels dug subsequent holes in locations that were harder to get to. By the way, squirrels don't uncover all the nuts they've buried in holes — many of those acorns and other nuts may grow into trees. Thanks, squirrels!

Squirrels have four front teeth that grow continuously throughout their lives, at a rate of about six inches (15 cm) per year. (That's about a 1/2 inch every month!) This helps their incisors endure the seemingly incessant gnawing, otherwise they'd quickly run out of teeth. Can you imagine if human teeth grew that much in a year?!!! Yikes!

All in all, squirrels are very hard working animals. Let’s be like the squirrel. As he works hard to store up his food, let’s work hard to store God’s Word and promises in our hearts!  Psalm 119:11, “Your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Thinking of you (and you, and you and you) In 1843, England’s Sir Henry Cole sent the very first Christmas cards. With new stamps making it possible to mail anyone a letter for just a penny, the well-known man was getting more mail than he had time to respond to. He had an artist draw a holiday scene, and printed about a thousand copies – and a tradition was born. –smithsonianmag.com

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Christmas cards!  Every year around Thanksgiving people are often busy writing and sending Christmas greetings by card.  Do your parents send out cards?  Do you get to help them?  Perhaps, your teacher at school has you make a Christmas card. It’s always fun to make stuff that you know will make people happy. And, it’s always nice to be remembered by family and friends we don’t get to see very often.  

I must admit, I don’t always get Christmas cards sent out.  And often, I have been so busy that they end up being more like New Year’s cards. At that point, I suppose I could always send them as Valentine’s and be early instead of late. 😀

Well, as I was thinking about Christmas cards, I was wondering when the tradition got started.  As it turns out there was a man, Sir Henry Cole of England, who felt much like me. He got so much mail and was having a hard time getting it all answered that he asked his artist friend, John Callcott Horsley, to create a greeting card for him. Then he had about 1000 copies made.  What a great idea!  And people have been doing something like it ever since!  I bet the artists appreciated the work, too, at that time of year!

Up until this time, people would make lovely handmade pieces and deliver them directly to the person for whom it was intended. But it took a lot of time and resources. Since then, the idea has grown to include all the holidays. And in our day, we have greeting cards for just about every holiday under the sun now!  Most stores carry some type of cards or stationery for sending greetings.

Well, God, our Father, went above and beyond and actually sent His only Son to us. He emptied all of Heaven for us! He wanted to make sure that we would know, without a shadow of a doubt, that He loves us and wants to be with us always. So, He sent Jesus to tell us and show us the way.

You can find God's love message to you in His word, the Bible. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved (you) the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting Life." And everyday of Jesus' life on this earth the message was breathed: "God loves you!"

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Windswept weed  When tumbleweed plants die, they detach from their roots and get blown about by the wind. They may merge together to form clumps big enough to bury a house, and each plant can spread as many as 250,000 seeds.--nationalgeographic.com

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Do you like Westerns? All the best western movies or books will have pictures of tumbleweed rolling around.  In fact, that’s when I knew I was in cowboy country when I moved to Colorado. I saw my first real rolling tumbleweed!!  At any moment, I thought I might see John Wayne, Clint Eastwood or Zane Grey go galloping by!

But the humble beginnings of this plant did not start in North America. Tumbleweed is actually an invasive plant also heard of as Russian thistle, Russian cactus or wind witch. However, it is neither cactus nor thistle.  The plant first showed up in the U.S. around the 1870s in the midwestern states. The best guess is it was brought in mixed with other seeds, like flax.  It is believed to have originated in Russia.

This plant grows every year in different arid places. It is part of the Amaranth family. It grows and blooms in late spring with tiny flowers on the stem that get pollinated by the wind.  

Once the plant matures in the late fall it dries out, and the stem breaks from its root. This gives the wind the ability to push it around and roll. Then the seeds fall out and get distributed all over and quickly can take root in most soils. As mentioned above, they can send out up to 250,000 seeds per plant.

Photo - Courtesy The Guardian

When the roundish plants dry out they have spiky-like branches that can interlock to each other causing one tumbleweed to combine with others as the wind blows. Some of these can get so big they can cover roadways or block entrances to houses. If there is a windstorm, it can make it very difficult to drive because the tumbleweed can be as large as round hay bales.

Tumbleweeds can cause traffic accidents when they blindly bounce across highways, and herds of these spiny plants have been known to bury cars and houses. In 2014, two counties in Colorado declared a state of emergency when neighbourhoods became overwhelmed. In the previous year, 45 miles of roads had to be closed after being clogged by tumbleweeds.

Unfortunately, tumbleweed is very dangerous in times of dryness and fire. A tumbleweed's tangle of dry branches is particularly flammable and as the dead plants roll their way across fire lines or accumulate against structures like houses, they can become a threat to life should they catch fire.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Canned response We have the French general Napoleon Bonaparte to thank for canned foods.  Wanting to keep his army’s food from spoiling, in 1795, he offered a prize for a way to preserve food long-term.  Candymaker Nicolas Francois Appert closed jars with cork, sealed them with hot wax, wrapped them in canvas and boiled them in water, and in 1810 he won the prize. –tastingtable.com

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Not too many good things come out of war, but apparently we can thank French General Napoleon Bonaparte for his concern of how he was to feed his men on a long term basis. It’s hard to fight a war with malnourished soldiers just because you have no way to keep food from spoiling.

Have you heard the saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention”? Sometimes the most important inventions are created out of great need. But the French government had a unique way to motivate people to come up with an idea for this. In 1795, they decided to offer 12,000 francs to the first person who could come up with a successful way to preserve food. In 1980, that would equal about $50,000 US!

In the past, the usual methods were to dry, smoke or pickle food. But these ways tended to take a lot of the nutrients away. Ideally, they needed something more practical and easier to transport over long distances. They also needed something that would work with a greater variety of foods.

Well, one person took the contest to heart and was determined to win. Nicolas Appert, a French confectioner, cooked food in wide-mouth wine bottles, and through trial and error determined the suitable cooking time to preserve various meats and vegetables. He capped the bottles with cork, sealed them with wax, and reinforced the closure with wire. 

It only took about 15 years, but we won the prize!  In 1809, Appert published “The Art of Preserving All Kinds of Animal and Vegetable Substances for Several Years” and presented his findings to the government. He was awarded the prize in 1810 and used the money to support his canning factory (the world’s first) in Massy, south of Paris.

As time went on, different materials were used to store food, like tin for cans. In 1858, American Tinsmith John Landis Mason patented a square-shouldered glass jar with a threaded mouth and a metal screw-top which held into place a rubber gasket and tin lid. Best of all, Mason’s jars and screw-tops were reusable. Today, Aluminum and steel are the materials most commonly used for canned food and drink storage. However, a lot of people who can at home still use the good old Mason jar!

The next time you go to visit your grandparents and your grandma serves you canned pears or applesauce, remember to thank her! Then share with her this food for thought!

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Better together Corals may look like colorful plants in the ocean, but they’re actually animals.  Many individual creatures live and grow while connected to each other, forming reefs, sometimes known as the “rainforests of the sea.” –nationalgeographic.org

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

It’s Thanksgiving time!!  Right now in school, you may be studying about New England and how the pilgrims came and established the colonies. But did you know there are different kinds of colonies?  Today, we will learn a little bit about coral and coral reef colonies.

Have you ever had a chance to go scuba diving or snorkeling in the ocean? If so, you have probably seen some coral reefs. There are all kinds of coral - different shapes and different colors.  A coral reef can look like a shelf made from rock with little dents or holes all in it. But coral is actually made up from a lot of different animals that live in colonies.

Coral reefs can be found all over the world! However, most coral reefs grow in shallow, clean ocean waters on either side of the Equator, because they need sunlight and warm temperatures all year to survive. And even though the coral reef is made up of  living creatures, it also provides a home for a lot of other creatures to live, or hide in, if needed.

Each coral animal (or polyp) is like a little bag. The opening on top is the mouth. Tentacles (little arms) around the mouth carry stinging nematocysts, which paralyze the small animals eaten by the coral polyps. Most corals get energy and nutrients from symbiosis with photosynthetic unicellular algae called zooxanthellae. 

The many types of coral include stony, soft, black, thorny, horny, and blue corals. As they grow, corals form different patterns and shapes. They may look like feathers, fingers, branches, or even a brain.

Corals have a skeleton that may be outside or inside the body. Stony corals have a hard, outside skeleton made of a mineral called calcium carbonate. As these corals die, new corals build up a colony on top of the dead corals’ skeletons.

Pollution and climate change have been very hard on these beautiful living entities. Some countries are making changes to help protect the coral so it will be around for many years to come.  We can help, too! By being more mindful of how much water we use, and remembering to throw our trash away properly, we can make a difference to the environment around us.  And just like the Native Americans helped the pilgrims survive when they first came to America, we can help the coral survive by being careful of the earth. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.