Problem: Auckland is a city in New Zealand's North Island. Auckland is the largest urban area in the country, with an urban population of around . It is located in the Auckland Regionthe area governed by Auckland Councilwhich includes outlying rural areas and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf, resulting in a total population of . A diverse and multicultural city, Auckland is home to the largest Polynesian population in the world. The Maori language name for Auckland is ' or ', meaning "Tamaki with a hundred lovers", in reference to the desirability of its fertile land at the hub of waterways in all directions. It has also been called "Akarana", the Maori pronunciation of the English name.

The Auckland urban area (as defined by Statistics New Zealand) ranges to Waiwera in the north, Kumeu in the northwest, and Runciman in the south. Auckland lies between the Hauraki Gulf of the Pacific Ocean to the east, the low Hunua Ranges to the south-east, the Manukau Harbour to the south-west, and the Waitakere Ranges and smaller ranges to the west and north-west. The surrounding hills are covered in rainforest and the landscape is dotted with dozens of dormant volcanic cones. The central part of the urban area occupies a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean. Auckland is one of the few cities in the world to have a harbour on each of two separate major bodies of water.
1. What is Auckland?
2. In what country?
3. Which island?
4. What region is it located in?
5. Who is it run by?
6. Is Auckland the smallest urban area in the country?
7. Is it the largest?
8. What does the Auckland region include?
9. What is Auckland home to?
10. In what language does Auckland mean 'or'?
11. What does 'or' mean?
12. What does that make reference to?
13. Has it been called anything else?
14. What is that?
15. What is in the north of the Auckland urban area?
16. What about the south?
17. Northwest?
18. What harbor is to the southwest?
19. And the East?
20. What are the surrounding hills covered in?
Answer: 1. a city
2. New Zealand
3. North
4. Auckland Region
5. Auckland Council
6. no
7. yes
8. outlying rural areas and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf,
9. largest Polynesian population in the world.
10. Maori
11. Tamaki with a hundred lovers
12. desirability of its fertile land
13. Akarana
14. Maori pronunciation of the English name.
15. Waiwera
16. Runciman
17. Kumeu
18. Manukau
19. Hauraki Gulf of the Pacific Ocean
20. rainforest

Problem: The boroughs of Liverpool, Knowsley, St Helens and Sefton were included in Merseyside. In Greater Manchester the successor boroughs were Bury, Bolton, Manchester, Oldham (part), Rochdale, Salford, Tameside (part), Trafford (part) and Wigan. Warrington and Widnes, south of the new Merseyside/Greater Manchester border were added to the new non-metropolitan county of Cheshire. The urban districts of Barnoldswick and Earby, Bowland Rural District and the parishes of Bracewell and Brogden and Salterforth from Skipton Rural District in the West Riding of Yorkshire became part of the new Lancashire. One parish, Simonswood, was transferred from the borough of Knowsley in Merseyside to the district of West Lancashire in 1994. In 1998 Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen became independent unitary authorities.

The Duchy of Lancaster is one of two royal duchies in England. It has landholdings throughout the region and elsewhere, operating as a property company, but also exercising the right of the Crown in the County Palatine of Lancaster. While the administrative boundaries changed in the 1970s, the county palatine boundaries remain the same as the historic boundaries. As a result, the High Sheriffs for Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside are appointed "within the Duchy and County Palatine of Lancaster".
1. What is one of two royal duchies?
2. Where are they?
3. In what country?
4. How many countries were included in Merseyside?
5. When did the administrative boundaries change?
6. How are the High Sheriffs appointed?
7. Which parish was transferred from the borough?
8. In what year?
9. Which became independent unitary authorities in 1998?
10. Which districts became part of the new Lancashire?
11. Which boundaries remain the same as the historic ones?
12. In Greater Manchester, were there successor boroughs?
13. What was the name of the two that started with "B"?
14. Which were south of the new Merseyside/Greater Manchester border?
15. What were they added to?
Answer: 1. The Duchy of Lancaster
2. The County Palatine of Lancaster.
3. England
4. Four
5. The 1970s
6. Within the Duchy and County Palatine of Lancaster.
7. Simonswood
8. 1994
9. Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen
10. The districts of Barnoldswick and Earby, Bowland Rural District.
11. Lancaster
12. Yes
13. Bury and Bolton
14. Warrington and Widnes
15. Cheshire

Problem: Ashleigh Fraser and Leah Guskjolen, both 18, wondered why they would not be allowed to wear nail polish or artificial nails during their training to become certified nursing assistants. But when they asked, the only response which they got was that "rules are rules." Not satisfied, the teens decided to explore the issue themselves.

For their new study, Ashleigh and Leah, seniors at Willcox High School in Willcox, Arizona., borrowed materials from the hospital where they had been trained as nursing assistants. Ten nurses there agreed to give them little scrapings off the top side of their nails. Half of the participants had natural nails. The other half wore nail polish or fake nails on top of their natural nails. The teens grew bacteria from the scrapings on plates; these are plastic dishes with a gel that feeds bacterial growth.

Natural nails produced an average of 4.3 bacterial colonies. In contrast, scrapings from nail polish or artificial nails produced an average of 17.5 colonies! Leah and Ashleigh had their answer to the question. Only natural nails are allowed because polished or artificial nails tend to harbor far more bacteria. The germs could be dangerous to sick patients.

Leah notes that they are not the first to look at nails in a medical setting. Still, she says, "It is something that should be taken much more seriously than it is." To emphasize that, she points to the large list of similar studies she and Ashleigh uncovered during their research.

When nurses touch patients, they often wear gloves, but many small tasks are performed bare-handed. The teens hope to raise awareness of how dangerous artificial nails can be in the medical setting. "What shocked me," Leah says, "is how unconcerned some of the nurses were. They did not think their nails were dangerous." Ashleigh agrees and observes that to preserve their manicures , nurses with polish or fake nails tended to scrub less vigorously when washing their hands. Their nails might look nice, but this might contribute to the large numbers of germs that hang onto their nails.

Ashleigh has never really liked nail polish, so she will not have to change much to pursue her dream of being a surgeon. But the results have reminded Leah, who wants to be a nurse, to give up her artificial nails for good. "They are very pretty," she says, "I love them." But now that she knows the risks they can cause, she admits that for a health professional they just are "not worth it."
1. What question did the two 18 year olds have?
2. Who were they?
3. Their names?
4. What did Ashleigh want to become?
5. After that?
6. What about Leah?
7. What was the answer they received to their question?
8. Did they find an answer themselves?
9. What was it?
10. On average, how much more bacteria do fake nails produce?
11. What's one of the reasons for this?
12. Who helped them with this research?
13. How did they help?
14. How did they collect the bacteria?
15. Were they the first to do a study like this?
Answer:
1. why they were not allowed to wear nail polish
2. teens
3. Ashleigh Fraser and Leah Guskjolen
4. certified nursing assistants
5. unknown
6. nurse
7. unknown
8. Yes
9. bacterial colonies
10. 13.2 bacterial colonies
11. bacteria
12. Ten nurses
13. give them little scrapings off the top side of their nails
14. unknown
15. No