What makes rain smell so good?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteARE you a pluviophile, a person who loves rain and the smell of rain? Did you know that the earthy smell when rain hits the ground is called petrichor? The word petrichor was coined from Greek which petros means “stone” and ichor means “the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods”. Petrichor has […]
Why do volcanoes erupt?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteVOLCANOES are just a natural way that the Earth and other planets have for cooling off and releasing internal heat and pressure. Volcanoes erupt because of density and pressure. The lower density of the magma relative to the surrounding rocks causes it to rise (like air bubbles in syrup). It will rise to the surface […]
Why do snakes dance to the sound of a flute?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteHAVE you ever seen a snake-charmer playing a flute or pungi and a snake swaying its head to the tune of the pungi? It is a common scene of the small town street in India or in a movie. But can a snake really hear the sound? Snakes do not have external ears and thus, […]
Patents and its WOW factors!
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Why can’t owls roll their eyes?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteTHE OWL is known as nocturnal birds. Owls are birds of prey and they have a sharp beak as well as sharp claws in order to catch and eat their prey. Owls can be very small like the five-inch elf owl, or pretty big like the two-foot tall great grey owl. Whether large or small, they all look stocky with large heads and soft feathers. Owls […]
What is dactyloscopy?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteHAVE YOU EVER TIP-TOED into your sibling’s room to peek into something? You probably left behind evidence of your secret visit. A fingerprint expert could likely find fingerprints and match them to the unique prints at the end of your fingers. Analysis and classification of patterns observed in an individual’s prints are called dactyloscopy. Every living person […]
How do foetuses breathe in the womb?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteAS HUMANS, breathing is essential for our wellbeing and without breathing, we can die. Most importantly, developing babies need oxygen during the early phase of pregnancy. But a baby would not take its first breath until after birth. This means that babies do not truly breathe in the womb. Instead, babies rely on their mother’s breathing to receive oxygen to their […]
How many nerve cells are there in the brain?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteTHE HUMAN BRAIN has often been viewed as an outstanding organ among mammalian brains and is the most cognitively able. It is endowed with an overdeveloped cerebral cortex that represents over 80 per cent of brain mass, and purportedly containing 100 billion neurons and 10 times more glial cells. A neuron is an electrically excitable cell that processes and transmits […]
How hot is lightning?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteTHE MOST DESTRUCTIVE FORCE of nature is lightning. In simple terms, lightning is a sudden electrostatic discharge caused by imbalanced between storm clouds and the ground which occurs during thunderstorm. We have heard before that a direct hit from a lightning strike can start forest fires or can kill a person. Lightning is the movement of electrical charges and does not have a temperature. However, resistance to […]
What causes colour blindness?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteCOLOUR BLINDNESS or colour vision deficiency (CVD) affects approximately 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women in the world. Colour blindness is usually a genetic or hereditary condition. Red/green and blue colour blindness is usually passed down from your parents. The gene which is responsible for the condition is carried on the X chromosome and this is the reason why many […]