QUES: Plants also detect the daily cycle of light and darkness. Do you know how plants respond to these changes? Some plants open their leaves during the day. It is during these hours the plant can collect sunlight. At night, the plant closes its leaves to prevent water loss. Many plants respond to the change in the length of the day. As days grow shorter, some plants respond by going dormant. Dormant is when a plant suspends its growth. It does this in order to survive. Shorter days signal the coming of winter. Winter in most areas means extreme cold. It is also very dry in the winter months. As winter approaches, some plants respond by their leaves changing color. After the change in color, they fall off. This dormancy period helps trees. It allows them to survive the cold and dry winter. Plants only want to grow when conditions are right.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: What happens to plants when winter approaches?

QUES: Peace and Prosperity: After years of government propaganda predicting the worst atrocities, most Japanese civilians were surprised at the warmth and friendliness of the occupying forces. The postwar period began, however, with millions of displaced people homeless and starving. To counter a perceived communist threat from the Soviet Union, the US quickly set to work reconstructing the economy by transforming Japan's institutions and devising a new pacifist constitution. Article 9 renounced Japan's right to maintain armed forces, although the ambiguous wording was later taken to permit the creati on of a "self-defense" force. The zaibatsu conglomerates that had proved so instrumental in boosting Japan's militarism were disbanded, later to re-emerge as the keiretsu trading conglomerates that dominated the economy once again. The entire economy received a massive jump-start with the outbreak of the Korean War, with Japan ironically becoming the chief local supplier for an army it had battled so furiously just a few years earlier. The occupation lasted until 1952, having already planted the seeds for Japan's future stunning economic success. Economic output was back to prewar levels, and British auto companies provided the support needed to get Japan's auto industry back on its feet. Japanese companies then enthusiastically imported any Western technologies they could get their hands on. This included transistor technologyinvented in the US but then considered to have only limited applicationsfor the surreal sum of $25,000. It was Japan that produced the world's first transistor radio. The electronic technology spurt that followed is now legendary. Parliamentary democracy finally came into its own, albeit with distinctly Japanese characteristics reflecting the dislike of debate and confrontation and the group-oriented preference for maintaining the appearance of harmony at all times. The government, through the powerful Finance Ministry and Ministry of International Trade and Industry, generously supported favored private corporations: first shipping, then cars, then electronics firms basked in the warmth of the government's loving attentions. Japan overtook Britain economically in 1964. By the end of the decade, Japan's was the third largest economy in the worldless then two decades after the war had left the country in ruins. Prosperity was not without its own problems: pollution caused by "dirty" industries, a high incidence of stomach ulcers (even suicides) among schoolchildren pressured by over-ambitious parents, and the awkward questions of what to do about nuclear energy. The famous coziness among politicians, bureaucrats, and private companies, together with the strong cultural emphasis on relationship-building and a lack of transparency and accountability, eventually led to corrupt practices of endemic proportions.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: How long after the occupation ended did it take for Japan to overtake Britain economically?

QUES: Tropical climates are found around the equator. These climates have warm temperatures year round. Tropical climates may be very wet or wet and dry. Tropical wet climates occur at or very near the equator. They have high rainfall year round. Tropical rainforests grow in this type of climate. Tropical wet and dry climates also occur near the equator. They receive less rainfall. Most of the rain falls in a single season. The rest of the year is dry. Few trees can withstand the long dry season. The main plants are grasses. Dry climates receive very little rainfall. They also have high rates of evaporation. This makes them even drier. Deserts can get less than 25 centimeters of rain per year. Thats less than 10 inches per year. How much rain do you get at your house?
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: In a tropical wet and dry climate, in how much of the year does it rain?

QUES: Neighborhood Legal Services, which provides free legal services to the poor, has expanded into the San Gabriel and Pomona valleys, areas with large Asian populations, many of whom speak limited or no English. Language is their biggest obstacle, but the Asian communities' cultural isolation and service providers' lack of cultural expertise also play a part, said NLS executive director Neal Dubovitz. And with 13 percent to 15 percent of the Asian population in the U.S. living below the poverty line, NLS services are badly needed, Dubovitz said. "Although it is a significant part of the poverty population, Asians historically have not been able to participate in the services and programs available to the poor," he said. From simple telephone advice to complete legal representation in court, the agency provides free consumer, health, family, immigration, housing, public benefits and labor legal services to people who earn under $1,380 per month. Legal service providers have long served large Latino populations, who have cultural diversity but share a common language. "I remember the days when there were only a handful of people in the legal offices who spoke Spanish," Dudovitz said. "Now Spanish and English are interchangeable. Our goal is to have that for the major Asian languages as well." Before the expansion, only a few NLS lawyers spoke Asian languages, said attorney Rebecca Yee, who was hired by NLS in April 2002 to design and head the project. "Now we have people speaking Cantonese, Mandarin, Thai, Khmer (from Cambodia), Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese and Tagalog," Yee said. One of the 13 attorneys hired to work with the program is Irene Mak, a family law attorney who speaks Cantonese, Mandarin and Thai. Mak was a partner at a private law firm before she went to work for NLS two years ago, earning up to $20,000 less a year working on domestic violence cases. "The job is more satisfying than the money," said Mak, who grew up in Hong Kong and Thailand before coming to the United States. "I could use my language skills and wanted to give back to the Asian community." NLS expanded when Legal Services Corp., the federal agency that funds providers of free legal services nationwide, reduced the number of grantees in the Los Angeles area from five to three, Dudovitz said. NLS won the competitive grant over the Legal Services Program for Pasadena, San Gabriel-Pomona valleys. That boosted its client base from 16,000 to around 25,000, and NLS opened an office in El Monte.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION:
What does NLS stand for?