While most desert animals will drink water if confronted with it, for many of them the opportunity never comes. Yet all living things must have water, or they will expire. The herbivores find it in desert plants. The carnivores slake their thirst with the flesh and blood of living prey. One of the most remarkable adjustments, however, has been made by the tiny kangaroo rat, which not only lives without drinking but also subsists on a diet of dry seeds containing about 5 % of free water. Like other animals, the kangaroo rat has the ability to manufacture water in its body by a metabolic conversion of carbohydrates. But it is notable for the parsimony with which it conserves its small supply by every possible means, expending only minuscule amounts in its excreta and through evaporation from its respiratory tract.

Sometimes it’s hard to figure out if you have a food allergy, since it can show up so many different ways. Your symptoms could be caused by many other problems. You may have rashes, hives, joint paints mimicking arthritis, headaches, irritability, or depression.

The most common food allergies are to milk, eggs, seafood, wheat, nuts, seeds, chocolate, oranges, and tomatoes. Many of these allergies will not develop if these foods are not fed to an infant until his or her intestines mature at seven months. Breast milk also tends to be protective. Migraines can be set off by foods containing tyramine, monosodium glutamate, or sodium nitrate. Common foods which contain these are chocolate, aged cheeses, sour cream, red wine, pickled herring, chicken livers, avocadoes, ripe bananas, cured meats, many Oriental and prepared foods (read labels!). Some people have been successful in treating their migraines with supplements of vitamin B, particularly B₆ and niacin.

Children who are hyperactive may benefit from eliminating food additives, especially colourings, and foods high in salicylate from their diets. A few of these are almonds, green peppers, peaches, tea, and grapes. This is the diet made popular by Benjamin Feingold, who has written the book Why Your Child Is Hyperactive. Other researchers have had mixed results when testing whether the diet is effective.

PASSAGE 1

The roots of writing seem to lay in the human need to store information in order to communicate, to store information for longer periods, and to spread it over broader areas.

Writing started with the production of art, simple cave drawings of the environment, a buffalo created with its horns and paws, a human with two hands and two legs and women with their body organs. This work of art over time became popular in certain tribes and societies and symbolized over time.

The first fully written language is the Sumerian cuneiform script. The Sumerians in Uruk were in search of a way to simplify their complex administration which led them eventually to create a standardized system of cuneiform symbols to store and pass information. The cuneiform script was a revolution and soon after we find an explosion of thousands upon thousands of Sumerian clay tablets.

PASSAGE 2

The earliest dated printed book known is the “Diamond Sutra”, printed in China in 868 CE. However, it is suspected book printing may have occurred long before this date. In 1041, movable clay type was first invented in China.

Johannes Gutenberg, a goldsmith and businessman from southern Germany, borrowed money to invent a technology that changed the world of printing. Gutenberg invented the printing press with replaceable wooden or metal letters in 1437. This printing method can be credited not only for a revolution in storing information in books, but also for fostering rapid development in sciences, arts and religion through the transmission of texts.

The Gutenberg press with its wooden and later metal moveable type printing brought down the price of printed materials and made such materials available for the masses. It remained the standard until the 20th century.