What is a Constellation? A constellation is a group of stars making an imaginary night sky shape. They are usually named after mythological characters, people, animals and objects. In different parts of the world, people have made up different shapes out of the same groups of bright stars. It is like a game of connecting the dots. In the past… Read more →
What is the concept behind Leap Year? The solar year is not exactly 365 days. It is 365.24219 days. That means it is almost a quarter of a day longer than our standard 365-day calendar. Over time, that adds up. After four years, the calendar would be off by almost a full day. After 120 years, the calendar would be… Read more →
The word spectrum in this context refers to a range of radio-waves that are used for communication purposes. This includes the FM or AM radio broadcasts that you listen to on the way to work, and even other wireless forms of communication like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The smartphone you’re using also uses these same radio waves to transmit data, and… Read more →
Human teeth are almost as hard as rocks! Pain travels through the body at 350 feet per second! A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue! Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards. When you walk down a steep hill, the pressure on your knees is equal to three times your body weight. Your skin is actually an organ.… Read more →
More than half of the oxygen you breathe comes from marine photosynthesisers, like phytoplankton and seaweed. In 2001, Pizza Hut became the first company in the world to deliver its food to outer space, they paid a million dollars to send a salami pizza to the International Space Station (ISS). Beekeepers wear white beekeeping suits because white is the least… Read more →
Termites eat wood twice as fast when listening to heavy metal music. A B-25 bomber aeroplane crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building on July 28, 1945. Technically speaking, crystal glass is actually a Liquid that flows very slowly. The WD in WD-40 stands for Water Displacer. The volume of the Earth’s moon is the same as… Read more →
A wine that has a musty smell, similar to wet cardboard or mold, may mean that the bottle is “corked” (the bottle has a contaminated cork. Muscles absorb alcohol faster than fat. As a result, people who have more muscles and less body fat have higher alcohol tolerance. The coldest temperature ever measured on Earth was -89 Celsius (-129 Fahrenheit)… Read more →
Los Angeles is the first major city in the world to synchronize all its traffic lights. Nearly 4,400 lights across 469 miles receive real-time updates about traffic flow to make second-by-second adjustments. The system limits congestion by up to 16% while also dramatically reducing idling time. Norway hires sherpas from Nepal to build paths in the Norwegian mountains. They have… Read more →
How to survive a nuclear explosion? Yes, there is such a possibility! In a nuclear explosion, the main danger is the shockwave created by the explosion, not the flash itself and the fireball, which has a relatively small radius. If you are far enough away from the fireball and see it, you may have 8-10 seconds to react correctly. You… Read more →
Paper is made out of wood pulp which contains cellulose. Another organic substance binding the cells, fibers and vessels that constitute wood, is LIGNIN. Apparently, it is the most abundant renewable carbon source after cellulose. Cellulose, a colourless substance, is remarkably good at reflecting light, which means we see it as being white. To make a fine white paper (Bond… Read more →
