The long reign of Elizabeth, who became known as the “Virgin Queen” for her reluctance to endanger her authority through marriage, coincided with the flowering of the English Renaissance, associated with such renowned authors as William Shakespeare. By her death in 1603, England had become a major world power in every respect, and Queen Elizabeth I passed into history as one of England’s greatest monarchs.

Scientists have found a new function of the nuclear membrane, the envelope that encases and protects DNA in the nucleus of a cell—it fixes potentially fatal breaks in DNA strands. Previously, the nuclear membrane was thought to be mostly just a protective bubble around the nuclear material, with pores acting as channels to transport molecules in and out. But a recent study has documented how broken strands of a portion of DNA known as heterochromatin are dragged to the nuclear membrane for repair. The reason why we don’t experience thousands of cancers every day in our body is because we have incredibly efficient molecular mechanisms that repair the frequent damages occurring in our DNA.

In November 2007—after the sale of nearly 1.4 million iPhones—Time magazine named the sleek, 4.8-ounce device, originally available in a 4GB, $499 model and an 8GB, $599 model, its invention of the year. The iPhone went on sale in parts of Europe in late 2007 and in parts of Asia in 2008. In July 2008, Apple launched its online App Store, enabling people to download software applications that let them use their iPhones for games, social networking, travel planning and an ever growing laundry list of other activities. Apple went on to release updated models of the iPhone, including the 4S, which debuted in October 2011 and featured Siri, a new voice-activated digital assistant.

Marvin Freeman’s groundbreaking new study of the plays of Henrik Ibsen will alter the course of Ibsen scholarship forever. Previously, scholars limited the areas of their studies to a particular phase of Ibsen’s career, since a different scholarly approach seemed to fit each of the phases. Freeman has instead taken on the entirety of Ibsen’s work. Happily, this breadth of scholarship does not diminish the depth with which Freeman explores each work. The career of Ibsen is now liberated from arbitrary divisions and stands before us as a complete picture. It will be years before we can fully appreciate the service that Freeman has rendered.

An overview of the United States at the end of the Civil War reveals a society which bears little resemblance to our society today. The America of Civil War days was a country without railroads, telephones, cars, electricity, skyscrapers, the internet and email, or a thousand other things that today supply the conveniences and comforts of our civilization. The cities of that period, with their unpaved streets, their dingy, flickering gaslights, and their slums, were appropriate settings for the rough-and-ready political methods of American democracy.

Only by talking with the business leaders of that time could we understand the changes that have taken place in the last hundred years. For the most part we speak a business language which our fathers and grandfathers would not have understood. The word “trust” was not part of their vocabulary; “restraint of trade” was a phrase which only the antiquarian lawyer could have interpreted; “interlocking directorates,” “holding companies,” “subsidiaries,” “underwriting syndicates,” and “community of interest”—all these words of modern business would have meant nothing to our Civil War-era ancestors.

Our nation of 1865 was a nation of farmers, city artisans, independent business men, and small-scale manufacturers. Millionaires, though they were not unknown, did not swarm all over the land. Luxury had not become the American standard of well-being. The industrial story of the United States in the last one hundred and fifty years is the story of the most amazing economic transformation the world has ever known—a true marvel.

An overview of the United States at the end of the Civil War reveals a society which bears little resemblance to our society today. The America of Civil War days was a country without railroads, telephones, cars, electricity, skyscrapers, the internet and email, or a thousand other things that today supply the conveniences and comforts of our civilization. The cities of that period, with their unpaved streets, their dingy, flickering gaslights, and their slums, were appropriate settings for the rough-and-ready political methods of American democracy.

Only by talking with the business leaders of that time could we understand the changes that have taken place in the last hundred years. For the most part we speak a business language which our fathers and grandfathers would not have understood. The word “trust” was not part of their vocabulary; “restraint of trade” was a phrase which only the antiquarian lawyer could have interpreted; “interlocking directorates,” “holding companies,” “subsidiaries,” “underwriting syndicates,” and “community of interest”—all these words of modern business would have meant nothing to our Civil War-era ancestors.

Our nation of 1865 was a nation of farmers, city artisans, independent business men, and small-scale manufacturers. Millionaires, though they were not unknown, did not swarm all over the land. Luxury had not become the American standard of well-being. The industrial story of the United States in the last one hundred and fifty years is the story of the most amazing economic transformation the world has ever known—a true marvel.

(1) Howard Hughes was a successful Hollywood movie producer when he founded the Hughes Aircraft Company in 1932. (2) He personally tested cutting-edge aircraft of his own design and in 1937 broke the transcontinental flight-time record. (3) In 1938, he flew around the world in a record three days, 19 hours, and 14 minutes.

(4) Following the U.S. entrance into World War II in 1941, the U.S. government commissioned the Hughes Aircraft Company to build a large flying boat capable of carrying men and materials over long distances. (5) Because of wartime restrictions on steel, Hughes decided to build his aircraft out of wood laminated with plastic and covered with fabric, and they had a wingspan of 320 feet and was powered by eight giant propeller engines.

(6) Development of the Spruce Goose cost a phenomenal $23 million and took so long that the war had ended by the time of its completion in 1946. (7) The aircraft had many detractors, and Congress demanded that Hughes prove the plane airworthy. (8) On November 2, 1947, Hughes obliged, taking the prototype out into Long Beach Harbor, CA for an unannounced flight test. (9) Thousands of onlookers had come to watch the aircraft taxi on the water and were surprised when Hughes lifted his wooden behemoth 70 feet above the water and flew for a mile before landing.

(10) The Spruce Goose never went into production, primarily because critics alleged that its wooden framework was insufficient to support its weight during long flights. (11) Nevertheless, Howard Hughes, who became increasingly eccentric and withdrawn after 1950, refused to neglect what he saw as his greatest achievement in the aviation field. (12) From 1947 until his death in 1976, he kept the Spruce Goose prototype ready for flight in an enormous, climate-controlled hangar at a cost of $1 million per year. (13) Today, the Spruce Goose is housed at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.

(1) Howard Hughes was a successful Hollywood movie producer when he founded the Hughes Aircraft Company in 1932. (2) He personally tested cutting-edge aircraft of his own design and in 1937 broke the transcontinental flight-time record. (3) In 1938, he flew around the world in a record three days, 19 hours, and 14 minutes.

(4) Following the U.S. entrance into World War II in 1941, the U.S. government commissioned the Hughes Aircraft Company to build a large flying boat capable of carrying men and materials over long distances. (5) Because of wartime restrictions on steel, Hughes decided to build his aircraft out of wood laminated with plastic and covered with fabric, and they had a wingspan of 320 feet and was powered by eight giant propeller engines.

(6) Development of the Spruce Goose cost a phenomenal $23 million and took so long that the war had ended by the time of its completion in 1946. (7) The aircraft had many detractors, and Congress demanded that Hughes prove the plane airworthy. (8) On November 2, 1947, Hughes obliged, taking the prototype out into Long Beach Harbor, CA for an unannounced flight test. (9) Thousands of onlookers had come to watch the aircraft taxi on the water and were surprised when Hughes lifted his wooden behemoth 70 feet above the water and flew for a mile before landing.

(10) The Spruce Goose never went into production, primarily because critics alleged that its wooden framework was insufficient to support its weight during long flights. (11) Nevertheless, Howard Hughes, who became increasingly eccentric and withdrawn after 1950, refused to neglect what he saw as his greatest achievement in the aviation field. (12) From 1947 until his death in 1976, he kept the Spruce Goose prototype ready for flight in an enormous, climate-controlled hangar at a cost of $1 million per year. (13) Today, the Spruce Goose is housed at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.

(1) Howard Hughes was a successful Hollywood movie producer when he founded the Hughes Aircraft Company in 1932. (2) He personally tested cutting-edge aircraft of his own design and in 1937 broke the transcontinental flight-time record. (3) In 1938, he flew around the world in a record three days, 19 hours, and 14 minutes.

(4) Following the U.S. entrance into World War II in 1941, the U.S. government commissioned the Hughes Aircraft Company to build a large flying boat capable of carrying men and materials over long distances. (5) Because of wartime restrictions on steel, Hughes decided to build his aircraft out of wood laminated with plastic and covered with fabric, and they had a wingspan of 320 feet and was powered by eight giant propeller engines.

(6) Development of the Spruce Goose cost a phenomenal $23 million and took so long that the war had ended by the time of its completion in 1946. (7) The aircraft had many detractors, and Congress demanded that Hughes prove the plane airworthy. (8) On November 2, 1947, Hughes obliged, taking the prototype out into Long Beach Harbor, CA for an unannounced flight test. (9) Thousands of onlookers had come to watch the aircraft taxi on the water and were surprised when Hughes lifted his wooden behemoth 70 feet above the water and flew for a mile before landing.

(10) The Spruce Goose never went into production, primarily because critics alleged that its wooden framework was insufficient to support its weight during long flights. (11) Nevertheless, Howard Hughes, who became increasingly eccentric and withdrawn after 1950, refused to neglect what he saw as his greatest achievement in the aviation field. (12) From 1947 until his death in 1976, he kept the Spruce Goose prototype ready for flight in an enormous, climate-controlled hangar at a cost of $1 million per year. (13) Today, the Spruce Goose is housed at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.

(1) Howard Hughes was a successful Hollywood movie producer when he founded the Hughes Aircraft Company in 1932. (2) He personally tested cutting-edge aircraft of his own design and in 1937 broke the transcontinental flight-time record. (3) In 1938, he flew around the world in a record three days, 19 hours, and 14 minutes.

(4) Following the U.S. entrance into World War II in 1941, the U.S. government commissioned the Hughes Aircraft Company to build a large flying boat capable of carrying men and materials over long distances. (5) Because of wartime restrictions on steel, Hughes decided to build his aircraft out of wood laminated with plastic and covered with fabric, and they had a wingspan of 320 feet and was powered by eight giant propeller engines.

(6) Development of the Spruce Goose cost a phenomenal $23 million and took so long that the war had ended by the time of its completion in 1946. (7) The aircraft had many detractors, and Congress demanded that Hughes prove the plane airworthy. (8) On November 2, 1947, Hughes obliged, taking the prototype out into Long Beach Harbor, CA for an unannounced flight test. (9) Thousands of onlookers had come to watch the aircraft taxi on the water and were surprised when Hughes lifted his wooden behemoth 70 feet above the water and flew for a mile before landing.

(10) The Spruce Goose never went into production, primarily because critics alleged that its wooden framework was insufficient to support its weight during long flights. (11) Nevertheless, Howard Hughes, who became increasingly eccentric and withdrawn after 1950, refused to neglect what he saw as his greatest achievement in the aviation field. (12) From 1947 until his death in 1976, he kept the Spruce Goose prototype ready for flight in an enormous, climate-controlled hangar at a cost of $1 million per year. (13) Today, the Spruce Goose is housed at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.