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DEFINITION: (verb) To make smooth or glossy by or as if by rubbing; polish. SYNONYMS: furbish, buff, flush. USAGE: Every afternoon, she would obsessively burnish the floors until the parlor gleamed like an ice rink.

The daughter of poet Lord Byron, Ada Lovelace has been called the world's first computer programmer because she wrote a description of Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, called the analytical engine. The extent of her contribution versus Babbage's remains a politically sensitive matter, however, because biographers note that the programs in question were written by Babbage, himself. Her image can be seen today on hologram stickers that are meant to verify what?

The Nobel Prizes, named after Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, are given to individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to society. Nobel is said to have been inspired to create the prizes after reading his own prematurely published obituary, which condemned his invention of dynamite. Whose winning of the Peace Prize in 1973 occasioned the criticism that fame and influence are more important than actual achievement in winning the prize?

A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he can get it if he wants it.

Rugby is a game that originated in the early 19th century in England. It is related to both soccer and football and is said to have started when a student playing soccer picked up the ball and ran with it, instead of kicking it. It was introduced into the US in 1875, but faded as American football developed. In rugby, players may not pass the ball forward, and unlimited bodily contact with no padding is allowed, making it imperative that players adhere to the rules. What is the "scrum"?

Scientists are investigating stunning new images of Mars . The photographs, from an unmanned NASA craft, show changes in craters that provide the strongest evidence yet that water coursed through them as recently as several years ago, and is perhaps doing so even now. Scientists say that if the evidence is confirmed, all the ingredients favorable for life on Mars would be in place: liquid water and a stable heat source.