ET and Intelligent Life
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ReadOasis Step 2 The film ET warmed the hearts of millions of children and adults. It was funny and exciting. And it told a hopeful story about love and friendship. In one scene, ET points his finger to the sky. And he says, "ET phone home." This simple phrase... Read more
Habit Power (Step 3)
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ReadOasis Step 3 Will walked into the large office area and looked around. He was carrying a cup of coffee, and he spilled some on his hand. “Ouch!” he said. “That’s hot!” He looked around, but all the other workers were busy. They didn't even notice him. He walked over to... Read more
The Rules of Elite Success
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ReadOasis Step 2 (Part 1) The computer sat in a funny little room at the Lakeside School in Seattle. It was a gift from the Mother’s Club. Costing $3,000, it was expensive at the time. But the mothers wanted the students to have a computer so they could have... Read more
Gregor Mendel: Father of Genetics
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By Max L. Knowles ReadOasis Step 2 A great tree comes from a small seed, and from small beginnings come great things. Gregor wanted to solve a problem. It was a big and important problem. But he was not a big and important man. And he was not studying... Read more
Violent Games and Young Minds
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ReadOasis Step 3 Millions of gamers were waiting for the day. On November 10, 2009, the game "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" was released. In the first 24 hours, about 4.7 million copies were sold. And the first day of revenue in the US and UK reached $310... Read more
By Tek Smith ReadOasis Step 4 Ashley was born on March 7, 2027. It's her birthday today, and she is 18 years old. Her birthday present will be a new computer. Her budget is 1,000 dollars, and today (March 7, 2045), this money will buy her a very powerful... Read more
A Definition of Health (Step 4)
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ReadOasis Step 4 A medical doctor was examining a patient. He summarized his diagnosis in the following way. "You're in superb health, and you'll live to be 80." The patient responded, "But, doctor, I am 80 right now. The doctor replied, "See, now what did I tell you? But... Read more
ReadOasis Step 2 Isaac Newton People of all kinds have had emotional problems. For example, Beethoven, Abraham Lincoln, and Isaac Newton all experienced trouble with the blues. That is, at times they had trouble with some form of depression. Look at the case of Newton. He was born into... Read more
Why Ban Smoking in Public?
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ReadOasis Step 2 More than twenty US states ban smoking in public places. And many countries around the world also have similar bans. A new study shows the strongest evidence yet that smoke-free laws can reduce heart disease, which is a major effect of tobacco smoke. The study took... Read more
ReadOasis Step 2 In August 2003, electrical power went out in a large part of North America. Ten million people in Ontario, Canada, lost power. And forty-five million people in eight U.S. states had their lights go out. Eleven deaths were related to this event. It was one of... Read more
ReadOasis Step 3 (Part 1) A light wind blew through the garden and shook the trees. From one tree, an apple fell and hit the ground. Isaac heard the sound, and it disturbed his thoughts. At the time, he was walking in his mother’s garden, and the apple had... Read more
From Science Daily (November 10, 2010) summarized at ReadOasis Step 2 A new study in the United States found an interesting result about skill with numbers.This skill is called numeracy. Some married couples scored well on a simple numeracy test. These couples gained more wealth by middle age than... Read more
ReadOasis Step 3 Creative Commons Photo by Ludovic Peron Tiger Woods started playing golf when he was two years old. Basically from birth, Tiger was trained by his father to become a great golfer. As a boy, baseball marvel Ichiro Suzuki practiced with his father every day. The practice... Read more
ReadOasis Step 2 He is the star of books, movies, and TV shows. Maybe you know him from the film The Mask, with Jim Carrey. Perhaps you know him from the TV show Frasier, or maybe you saw him in the film My Dog Skip. He is full of... Read more
ReadOasis Step 2 A computer needs software, information that tells it how to operate. A computer cannot work without software. Our bodies work like this too. Imagine the body is a computer. It needs an information code to work. DNA is this code. The DNA code contains the instructions... Read more
ReadOasis Step 2 Mount Everest is the highest mountain on earth. It stands between Nepal and Tibet in the Himalayan Mountain range. Everest is 8,848 meters high (29,029 feet). That is almost 9 kilometers -- or 26 Tokyo Towers. Everest is cold. In the warmest of summer, it is... Read more
Are Lectures Effective? (Step 2)
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ReadOasis Step 2 The teacher stood in front of the class. He put his notes on a tall stand. The stand was in the middle of the room, and the teacher could move around behind it. As he faced the class, there were many windows on his right. On... Read more
The Future of Water (Step 3)
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ReadOasis Step 3 Rajan woke up to the sound of bird calls. He rubbed his eyes, and he heard his mother calling his name. “Rajan! Wake up! We need water for today.” Saying nothing, he got out of bed and got dressed. Then he walked outside, his dark brown... Read more
Evolution by Natural Selection
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ReadOasis Step 3 Evolution is a process of how living things change over time. Natural selection is the basic mechanism of evolution. It was introduced by Charles Darwin in 1859. He compared natural selection with artificial selection. In artificial selection, humans choose traits for breeding. For example, we can... Read more
Self-Testing Helps You Remember
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ReadOasis Step 2 Dr. Katherine Rawson says that taking practice tests can help you remember information. This is especially true if the practice test pushes you to recall something from memory. Rawson said, "It's surprising that we know very little about why testing improves memory." This is surprising because... Read more