Photo: FUTURE KIIID

Is ivory worth anything?

smithsonianmag.com - Why Is Ivory So Precious? And More Questions From Our Readers

What is Jack Sparrow's accent?

The legendary Johnny Depp has been tasked with a British accent in quite a few projects over the years. Most notably, he's drunkenly warbled and...

Last updated Nov 8, 2021

What are piano notes?

A piano note is a symbol that represents a musical sound. A given note refers to a specific key on the piano. Notes are the foundation of sheet...

Last updated Mar 15, 2018

Join almost HALF A MILLION Happy Students Worldwide

Promotion

Q: What makes ivory so precious?

—C.B. | Redwood City, California

It has no intrinsic value, but its cultural uses make ivory highly prized. In Africa, it has been a status symbol for millennia because it comes from elephants, a highly respected animal, and because it is fairly easy to carve into works of art. Chiefs and elders used it to promote their economic power through control of valued resources and via trade with others, says Christine Mullen Kreamer, deputy director and chief curator of the National Museum of African Art. The high point of the African ivory trade was from the 15th through the 19th centuries, and expanded to Europe, the Arab world and beyond. In the 19th and 20th centuries, increasing demand for ivory piano keys, billiard balls and luxury items led to the precipitous decline in the elephant population. Since the 1980s, conservation groups and governments have implemented regulations to protect the endangered species.

Q: I’ve heard that the Air Force considered testing a nuclear bomb on the moon during the Cold War. What would the ramifications have been?

—Camden Wehrle | Seneca Falls, New York

There would have been none for us, because the distance is so great. Any nuclear weapon on the moon would carve out a crater, and would contaminate the area with radiation. But the explosion would not likely affect Earth or its near-space infrastructure, says Michael Neufeld, senior curator in the space history department at the National Air and Space Museum. The Air Force did not follow through on its 1958 moon proposal, but the United States and the Soviet Union both detonated nuclear weapons a couple hundred miles above Earth between then and 1962. The 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty banned “weapons of mass destruction” in space—and no major powers have tried to violate it.

Q: Why don’t carnivorous mammals choke on feathers and fur?

—Stephen Ross | Rodney, Michigan

Eating small prey means consuming a lot of fur, feathers and difficult-to-digest tissues. These are called “animal fiber,” explains Mike Maslanka, head of nutrition sciences at the National Zoo, and, in some measure, they’re actually good for the digestive tract of the carnivore. As animal fiber makes its way through the digestive tract, microbes partially ferment it. That contributes to the carnivore’s dietary energy and possibly helps create a healthier digestive system.

Q: When did “red” and “blue” get their current political connotations?

—Patricia Clark | Washington, D.C.

While those terms have clear meanings to us now, it’s a relatively recent development in American political history, says Harry Rubenstein, retired curator of political history at the National Museum of American History. In the 1970s, as television news started relying more on color graphics, red and blue, and once yellow, were used to represent the parties’ victories on the election night map. The broadcasts weren’t yet standardized, so there are examples from the 1970s and 1980 where red stands for Democrats and blue for Republicans. By the 1990s, there was a trend toward the current party-color connection. The 2000 election is credited as the one that truly solidified it.

It’s your turn to Ask Smithsonian.

What are the white keys on a piano called?

The white keys are known as natural notes, and the black keys are known as the sharps and flats. Jul 20, 2017

Last updated Nov 21, 2020

Is Lady Gaga good at piano?

She might be better known for her extraordinary mezzo voice and meat-inspired costumes, but Lady Gaga was also once accepted to study piano at...

Last updated Oct 1, 2021

Promotion

Is playing piano good for mental health?

Studies show that time spent at the keyboard improves mental health: people who make music experience less anxiety, loneliness, and depression. Playing piano has also been shown to be a great source of stress relief, and provides ample opportunities to bolster self-esteem.

steinway.com - The Benefits of Playing Piano - Steinway & Sons

Sharpen the intellect

Piano practice also boosts cognitive and intellectual abilities, which is to say it makes you smarter and activates similar parts of the brain used in spatial reasoning and math. Studying piano has also been shown to amazingly improve memory — particularly verbal memory — and build good habits like focus and perseverance, diligence and creativity. Children who had a few years of piano study under their belts could remember twenty percent more vocabulary words than their peers. And childhood musicians are better equipped later in life to retain information from speeches and lectures. Playing piano has been shown to increase spatial-temporal ability, which figures heavily in math, science and engineering. Regular music practice at an early age can even make structural changes to the brain that stay with you for the rest of your life, making your brain more efficient both while playing and in extra-musical endeavors. Children who had a few years of piano study under their belts could remember twenty percent more vocabulary words than their peers.

Calm the mind

Which keyboards last the longest?

Mechanical keyboards can last for up to 10 years or more depending on how heavily they are used. Mechanical keyboard switches are rated for 50+...

Last updated Apr 12, 2021

Are there 11th chords?

In music theory, an eleventh chord is a chord that contains the tertian extension of the eleventh. Typically found in jazz, an eleventh chord also...

Last updated May 1, 2022

Promotion

What does Clinodactyly mean?

Clinodactyly means that your child has a finger that curves to one side. It usually affects the little (pinky) finger but can affect other fingers...

Last updated Feb 14, 2020

Promotion

How many octaves did Whitney Houston have?

Houston's range spanned five octaves and her voice was plush, vibrant and often spectacular. She could pour on the exuberant flourishes of gospel...

Last updated Mar 31, 2021