A  Aromatherapy
What re the Top 10 essential oils and what benefits do some people think they provide?  Check out the national Association for Holistic Aromatherapy to find out:
www.naha.org/Top10.htm

B  Belly Laugh
Laughter: A Scientific Investigation, by Robert R. Provine, Viking Press, 2000

"Laughter," by Steven Johnson, Discover magazine, April 2003, p. 62-69

C  Cell Phones
The Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Communication Commission's page on cell phone facts:
www.fda.gov/cellphones/

"New Privacy Menace:  Cell Phones?" by Elisa Batista at Wired News:
www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,57692,00.html

D  Dreams
To learn about the meaning of dreams, check out this PBS Web site for kids:
www.pbskids.org/itsmylife/emotions/dreams/

For some fun science projects on dreamin, check out the Association for the Study of Dreams:
www.asdreams.org/subidxeduscienceprojects.htm

Fact:
· According to Dr. Matthew Walker, a psychiatrist at the Harvard Medical Institute, an average human spends about eight years of his or her life dreaming.

E  Ecotourism
Check out the Sierra Club's ecotourism principles:
www.asdreams.org/subidxeduscienceprojects.htm

The ecotourism game:  Try your hand at developing an ecotourism project in the Amazon.  Can you make ecotourism work?  Good luck!
www.eduweb.com/ecotourism/eco1.html

F  Fried Candy Bars
For an experiment on the melting point of chocolate, see:
http://www.nsf.gov/search97cgi/vtopic

For a slew of candy bar recipes, including one for fried miniature candy bars, visit:
www.recipegoldmine.com/candybar/candybar.html

G  Games
Learn about the software industry's fight against piracy at the Entertainment Software
Association's Web site:
http://www.theesa.com/index.html

Kids can learn about copyrights at:
www.copyrightkids.org/

H  Hot Cocoa
To learn more about the hot cocoa study, check out:
www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/03/11.20.03/cocoa_antioxidants.html

For a fact sheet on the health benefits of antioxidants see:
www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/antioxidants

I  Ice Cream
Fact:
· One factor that determines the smoothness of ice cream is ice-crystal size.  Ice crystals grow larger over time.  So when a mixture sits undisturbed in the freezer, the crystals expand, making the ice cream hard.  Smooth ice cream has ice crystals with a diameter smaller than 20 micrometers (two-hundredth of a millimeter).  By shaking ingredients, ice crystals have less of a chance to grow.  This makes the ice cream smoother.  Also, shaking traps air bubbles.  This give the cream a fluffier texture.  You can test how much air is in store-bought ice cream by letting it melt and refreeze.  (You will wind up with a smaller chunk of icy cream!)

This site includes (almost) everything about ice cream-from science to history:
www.foodsci.uoguelph.ca/dairyedu/icrcream.html

Read about an unusual method of making ice cream:
www.popsci.com/popsci/hometech/article/0,12543,458641,00.htm

J  Java
For a complete guide to the history and science of caffeine, check out The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug, by Bennett Alan Weinberg and Bonnie K. Bealer, Routledge, 2002.

Facts:
· In its pure form, caffeine is a toxic white powder.
· Caffeine has a half-life of 6 hours and is completely gone from your body in 12.  That's why even a soda at lunch can interfere with a night's sleep.

For caffeine content of food and drugs chart, go to:
http://www.cspinet.org/new/cafchart.htm

Includes the effects of caffeine on the nervous system, amount in popular drinks and foods, and links.
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/caff.html

K  Karaoke
National Center for Voice and Speech is an interdisciplinary team of scientists and artists dedicated to studying the powers, limitations, and enhancement of human voice and speech:
www.ncvs.org/index.html

L  Learning Disorders
Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems at Any Level, by Sally Shaywitz, M.D., Knopf, 2003.

For more information about dyslexia, visit the Web site of the International Dyslexia Association:
www.interdys.org/index.jsp

Fact:
· Before scientists understood dyslexia, dyslexic children were often brought to opthalmologists (eye doctors) for treatment.  The tendency for the kids to switch the order of letters led many to believe that they had vision problems.
· Many people believe that more boys than girls are affected by dyslexia.  But research shows that there are as many dyslexic girls as there are boys.

M  Money
For more information about the new $20 bill, visit the Department of Treasury's Web site:
www.moneyfactory.com/newmoney/

Facts:
· The U.S. government prints 8 billion notes each year.  That's enough t6o wrap around Earth's equator more than 30 times!
· Want to make a mile-high tower of money?  You'd need more than 14.5 million bills.
· It takes 454 U.S. bills to weigh one pound.
· According to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, re-designed $50 and $100 bills will be out in 2004 and 2005, respectively.