Showing results by publisher "iMinds" in All Categories

Learn about Whales with iMindsJNR audio learning series for younger minds. Whales may seem like the biggest fish in the ocean, but they're actually not fish at all. Whales and dolphins are actually mammals, just like us! In fact, we're more similar than you might think. Scientists believe that millions of years ago, whales lived on land and spent most of their time fishing in shallow water.

Learn about Leveraged Buyouts with iMinds Money's insightful fast knowledge series. Leveraged buyouts originated in the early 1960’s. It is also known as a hostile takeover, a highly-leveraged transaction, or a bootstrap transaction. In effect, it is a tactic through which control of a corporation is acquired by buying up a majority of their stock using borrowed money.

The French Revolution came about because of a long-held displeasure at how the rich lived. While the rich lived comfortably, the common people were forced to pay taxes too high for them to pay. And there was not enough food produced for them to eat. French peasants became so impoverished that visitors to France said many of them were as skinny as skeletons.

Learn about the life and times of John F. Kennedy with iMindsJNR audio-learning series for younger minds. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, or JFK, was president of the United States of America from 1961 to 1963. From his unlikely rise to power at the age of 43 to his dramatic death at the hand of an assassin, his presidency marked a transformative and tumultuous period in American history.

Kennedy was America's first Catholic president.

Learn about UFOs with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. On 25 June 1947, Kenneth Arnold, a United States Forest Service employee and private pilot, witnessed nine Unidentified Flying Objects in the sky near Mount Rainier, Washington. This incident was to mark the beginning of a rapid increase in public interest in UFOs. Arnold, who at the time was searching for a downed transport plane, originally thought the objects he saw were jets. However, on closer inspection, he realised the objects had no tails and all but one looked like flat disks.

Learn about derivatives with iMinds Money's insightful fast-knowledge series. In economics, a derivative is defined as a financial instrument or an “agreement” between two parties that is based on an “underlying” and generally tangible asset, such as a stock or a commodity.

Learn about the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. The Bermuda Triangle is a large stretch of ocean in the Caribbean. It is infamous for numerous unexplained disappearances of boats and aircraft. What goes on in the Bermuda Triangle is one of the world's greatest mysteries. Many believe supernatural phenomena or extra-terrestrial activity occurs there.

Learn about the story behind the tradition of Thanksgiving with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. Thanksgiving is a North American festival. It commemorates the good fortune its founders encountered when they arrived in the New World. In Canada, Thanksgiving is held on the second Monday of October. In the United States of America, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.

Learn about the greatest fictional detective, the story of Sherlock Holmes, with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. Sherlock Holmes is probably the most famous of all fictional detectives. He was created in the 19th century by UK author Arthur Conan Doyle. Holmes holds the record for the most-portrayed fictional character in movies.

Learn about the U.S. Federal Reserve with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. The Federal Reserve is stirring more excitement these days than is probably recommended for a central bank just shy of its 100th birthday. The Fed, tasked with fostering economic growth and price stability in the US, was ratified by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913.

Learn about the feeling of déjà vu with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. When Charles Dickens wrote in his 1850 novel David Copperfield about "a feeling, that comes over us occasionally, of what we are saying and doing having been said and done before", he may well have been referring to the experience of déjà vu.

Learn about the Rosetta Stone with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. In 196 BCE, priests of all the gods of Upper and Lower Egypt assembled at Memphis to celebrate the accession to the throne of the boy king Ptolemy V. He was already in the ninth year of his reign, but this was the first time that such a momentous gathering as this had taken place.

According to most economics textbooks, human beings are super-rational creatures who know what is in their own best interests and always act accordingly. When making a decision to purchase, the rational consumer would not buy something on the spur of the moment, or on the recommendation of a friend. Sound realistic?

Learn the history of the Magna Carta with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. Magna Carta: the great document has become synonymous with the power of the people. A medieval English charter of 63 clauses, it has become one of the most famous legal documents in history. Those who wrote the American Declaration of Independence claimed to have been inspired by it.

Imagine entering a place where you can travel back in time from the sixth millennium B.C. to the modern day. A place where you can travel from Europe to Africa and then take in the Americas and the Middle East, all in one day. Okay, you would probably need more than one day, because this place is called the Louvre. It is one of the biggest museums in the world. And it is the home to the most comprehensive collection of art assembled under one roof anywhere in the world.

Learn about the history of the U.S. Civil War with the iMinds JNR audio-learning series for younger minds. A civil war is a war where the two opposing sides come from the same country. It is a war that occurs within a single nation. The U.S. Civil War was waged from 1861 to 1865 and was fought between the Northern states (making up the Union) and eleven Southern states (the Confederacy). A major cause of the U.S. Civil War was the North's condemnation of slavery.

You probably would agree that the four weeks leading up to Christmas are a special time of year. For Christians this is a period of preparation. Many Christians call these four weeks 'Advent' and they prepare themselves for the celebration of Jesus' birth. The word 'Advent' comes from the Latin 'adveneo', meaning 'to come to' and refers to Jesus' coming into the world at Christmas.

Learn about REM sleep with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. REM is an important component of sleep. But sleep itself is a difficult phenomenon to study, because it is such an insular process. Dreams in particular are highly elusive for the researcher of sleep. As dreaming is a "state of mind", theories concerning it are frustratingly convoluted and highly theory-based, with any advancement unlikely to be supported by hard evidence.

Learn about the history and geography of Antarctica with iMindsJNR audio-learning series for younger minds. Antarctica is the fifth biggest continent on Earth. It is also the coldest. The sun shines for only half of the year and stays under the horizon for the other half. Early explorers of Antarctica described it as a mysterious, lonely place. But they also described it as a desert. And a desert it is!

Learn about the science of Wind Power with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. Wind power is a limitless, non-polluting resource that currently contributes almost 2% of the world's energy supply. It's the fastest-growing resource market in the world and has become one of the biggest issues in the green movement. Importantly, there is enough of it in the atmosphere to meet the daily global energy demand five times over!