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when a plant or animal produces more offspring than can possibly survive in nature. 

of the thousands of eggs produced, only a few hundred will actually hatch

several dozen will live to adulthood. 

was a cultural movement that spanned the period roughly from the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe

In politics, the Renaissance contributed the development of the conventions of diplomacy, and in science an increased reliance on observation

There is a consensus that the Renaissance began in Florence, Italy, in the 14th century

To say that we owe a lot to the ancient Greeks is nothing new. Everywhere we look, we see echoes of that world in our own: democracy, philosophy, art, architecture, science, sport, to name but a few.

Our very sense of the ‘Classical’ from the Renaissance onwards, has been based on the ‘fact’ that ancient Greek temples and buildings were made out of marble and stood shining off-white in the sunlight. But ever since the first modern travellers visited Greece in the 17th century, we have discovered evidence that this is, in fact, completely wrong. Greek temples were painted bright blue, red, green: our very definition of the opposite of Classical!

By the seventh century AD, for example, the term 'democracy' had a ‘mob-rule’ feel about it, which made ancient Athens a very unpopular model for any society, right through until the until the late 18th century. In the English Civil War, for instance, Cromwell was encouraged to follow the example of the ancient Spartans, not the Athenians.

here were probably always slaves in India, but until about 1000 AD there were only a few slaves, and most of them worked as house servants.

Islamic conquerors reached India, they forced many more people to be slaves. They sold thousands of these slaves out of India to work in Persia (modern Iran) or Afghanistan. Many of these people worked in the mines. SIGN IN LOG OUT

arts, philosophy, science, math, literature, and politics. 

edy, Satire, Theatre

At least 75 were adult male skeletons, all under the age of 45, around an inch taller than the Roman average and well built. This demographic alone is unusual for a Roman cemetery of the era. But the manner in which the remains were buried was oddest of all. The heads had been removed, placed in the graves on the chests or between the legs of the bodies.

Forensic work conducted on the bones revealed one man had been bitten by a large carnivore, such as a lion or bear, which were fought by gladiators in the arena. Another skeleton showed signs of a massive hammer blow to the head, a method of mercy killing delivered to badly wounded fighters.

The bones also showed that the men had much stronger right arms than left, which was normal for slaves trained to fight in the arena from childhood. In addition, the bones showed evidence of childhood stress and deprivation, which would be expected for gladiatorial slaves, and healed wounds that suggested lives well used to injury and fighting.

Voltaire pointed out that history is a pack of tricks we play upon the dead.

the present can and does influence our knowledge of the past because past events do not any longer exist anywhere except in mind of the historian, who has now become both subject and object.

Some people have gone so far as to say that the closest we can get to what actually happened is to believe what the records say actually happened.