How and What

Sea cucumber A sea cucumber is a toothless creature that dwells on the surface of the sea at shallow depths. They are named so because their shape resembles to that of a cucumber. Though there are thousands of species alive on the earth, the reason for which I picked it as a topic to write is its strange feeding system, which fascinates me a lot. A typical sea cucumber is a living pipe which takes everything from its mouth, filters the eatable part and excretes the rest immediately. It appears more like an integrated pump and a filter rather than a living organism. The strangest fact about this aquatic species is that it acts as a safe house for pearl fish which enters its anus to safeguard itself from predators. More than one pearl fish have been seen entering its anus one by one for the same purpose only, which is sometimes dangerous for the sea cucumber, but it is helpless in that case and can’t resist them from entering. When the danger is gone, pearl fish comes out fr

Horseshoe crab   A horseshoe crab is an aquatic animal that is mostly found in shallow waters and prefer to live on soft sand or muddy surfaces. The species is famous for its 450 million year old origin and also because it has not changed since about 25 million years . Because of this fact, they are called the living fossils . They come to shore for mating and are too slow on ground. Another strange fact about it is that its blood is blue in color because of the presence of hemocyanin and absence of hemoglobin to carry oxygen. A horseshoe crab female lays thousands of eggs at a time which are than fertilized by the male member.

Extremophiles Microorganisms that prefer to grow in those conditions where life is impractical are called extremophiles. No doubt, our earth is full of diversity in both flora and fauna, but in earlier times, it was considered silly to expect that any organism could flourish in so tough conditions, but fact is fact and it is true that there are organisms that are able to live at- Extremely high temperature (Thermophile or Hyperthermophile) High pressure (Piezophile) Highly acidic atmosphere (Acidophile) Highly basic atmosphere(Alkaliphile) High concentration of heavy metal in the solution (Metallotolrant) Can resist high levels of ionizing radiations (Radioresistant) Remain alive from extremely long times under the rocks at low temperature (Cryophile or Polycryophile) High concentrations of salt (halophile) High concentrations of sugar (Osmophile) Polyextremophile, which are capable of growing in various extremophile conditions Thermoacidophile who can live at hi

Archaeological gems Most people think that this is the scientific era and all the inventions have been done in the recent years only, but these astonishing artifacts show that even in ancient times, people were interested in science and they too knew a lot about it. Antikythera mechanism   This is the world’s oldest gear system used to calculate the positions of sun, moon and eclipse positions. Following link will provide the detailed information about the subject. Antikythera mechanism Ancient chemical warfare The evidences of an ancient chemical warfare from Roman times (around 256 AD) have been found in the city of Dura-Europos. 20 armed dead bodies of Roman soldiers were found in a 2 m wide and high counter tunnel dug by them to counter the Persian tunnel. Being armed and not having any physical wounds, the reason of the deaths of 20 soldiers at once was a great mystery. The only possible solution to this question is that Persian ambushed them with poisonous gases,

Antikythera mechanism It is the oldest gear system found till date and is also famous as the oldest analog computer of the world. the calculator has been dated to be built in 1st century BC. The mechanism was found in 1900-1901 from a shipwreck off the coast of the Greek island of Antikythera and is of Greek origin. No other older artifact showing so much complex mechanism was ever found after that, hence Antikythera mechanism is of great historical significance. Reconstruction of Antikythera mechanism at Archaeological museum Athens It is actually a date calculator which was used as a calendar. The calculator had a small hand crank which is lost now. The hand crank was used to set the date and was linked to the largest gear through a crown gear. When the hand crank was rotated, all the gears inside were also rotated with it and various astronomical figures like position of the Sun, Moon phases, planets and eclipse cycles were calculated. The mechanism was made with

Unsolved Mysteries Astronaut carving on a cathedral built in 1100 An astronaut like carving has been found on a Spanish cathedral which was built in 1100 AD. Few claim that this was created later in 1992 when the cathedral was renovated; still there is no answer that can suggest the reason for such a carving on a cathedral wall. The Incredible Ghost Fleet off the coast of Singapore Daily mail of Britain claimed that a huge fleet of ships showed up on the coast of Singapore, and the strangest part of the story is that there was no crew at all. That’s why it was named as the ‘Ghost Fleet’. Toxic lady On Feb 19, 1994, at 8:15 in the evening, a woman named ‘Gloria Ramirez’ was admitted in ‘Riverside General Hospital’, California for the treatment of Cervical Cancer. After being treated for 45 min, the lady died at 8.50, but the strangest fact was that everyone who was exposed to his skin or blood felt illness and fainted, though their blood tests were found to be no

Forbidden inventions With all the species, science and technology have also evolved after years of experimentation and testing. There have been many inventions in history which were too early to be accepted and hence were forbidden by the society. Today most of them are re-invented and re-discovered, but the interesting fact is that, world would would have been totally different if their acceptance was not so delayed. Lets have a look at some of the most remarkable ones. Greek fire (672) It was a sticky liquid flame used by Byzantine naval forces in 7 th century AD against the enemy ships. This became a very powerful weapon and helped them to win almost every battle they fought with it. The formulae of the compound was so well guided that its knowledge was not transferred to the future generations and the formulae of the compound was lost forever. Electric Car (1828) In 1828 a Hungarian Engineer ‘Anyos Jedlik’ invented first electric car of the world. Because of the

Milestones of Human evolution Theory of evolution states that we humans, like all other living species of the world have evolved from our ancestors. It is stated that a genetic mutation occurred in few members of an old species of chimpanzee and they were evolved into a newer species. This phenomenon continued for millions of years and we as humans were evolved finally. No doubt this phenomenon still continues and there are a lot of developments to happen. Well this post will only emphasize on the major milestones which occurred in our history of evolution. Toumai (Sahelanthropus) Believed to have existed 7 million years ago, this species is considered to have first evolved from chimpanzees. In this context they are the first known step in our evolution. For detailed information you may jump to Sahelanthropus which contains the detailed text about the species. Orrorin (Orrorin tugenesis) It is considered as the second big step in our evolution and is believed to

New Seven Wonders of the World Taj Mahal   Christ the Redeemer Machu Picchu   Petra   The Great Wall of China   Colosseum   Chichen Itza Above are the links that will direct you to the detailed page containing text informations about the seven wonders elaborately. mistakes are apologized and all suggestions and comments are welcome.  Thanks for visiting, come again for more interesting informations. Your feedback is important to us.

Christ the Redeemer Christ the Redeemer is a 30 meter tall statue of Jesus Christ on an 8 meter high pedestal in Rio de Janeiro. Both hands of the statue stretch 28 meter wide and because of this, the statue resembles a catholic cross. The statue is the world’s largest Art Deco Statue in the world built with Reinforced Concrete and soapstone, and took 9 years to complete from 1922 to 1931. This magnificent structure is located at the Peak of Corcovado Mountain, facing towards the city. Rio de Janeiro, also popular as the city of two wonders owes its popularity to the statue Christ the Redeemer (one of the New Seven Wonders of the World ) and The Harbor of Rio de Janeiro (one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World). A large mass of people from outside world are attracted towards this icon of the city which appears to be guarding the city spiritually. 

Machu Picchu Also popular as ‘The Lost City of Incas, is an archeologically important place built by Incas above the sacred valley above Urubamba River in Peru. The place was considered sacred and had a prominent religious status in its time and it was probably built as an estate for the Inca Emperor and also for researching the crops. The platforms built at different heights were used to grow crops at different altitudes so that most favorable climate for specific crops can be recorded. The place was inhabited by the people for only one century and was left deserted before Spanish invasion in 15 th century. Because of its location, it was hidden from the world for a long time and was first found by the American Archeologist Hiram Bingham in 1911. The Machu Picchu is a ‘World Heritage Site’, an important tourist attraction and ‘New Open World Corporation’ added it to the ‘New Seven Wonders of the World’ list. A large part of Machu Picchu has been restored by the Archeolo

Petra Petra is an old city established by Nabataeans in around 300 to 400 BC. The site is a major tourist attraction and is famous for its rock cut architecture and rose-red color. The city lies near Dead Sea and is UNSCO World Heritage Site. It is also one of the ‘New Seven Wonders of the world’. Due to its color and beautiful architecture, the city which rapidly declined in the period of Romans, is a major tourist attraction today, and was found in the starting of 19 th century by the western world.

Chichen Itza Chichen Itza was one of the largest cities developed in Mayan civilization, located in  Yucatan  region of Mexico. The City is said to have developed and flourished between the late classic and early post classic period. Today only the ruins of the city are left, with a structure named El Castillo at its center. The ruins of Chichen Itza are one of the most prominent tourist attractions of Mexico. In its time, the city flourished a lot and was a major economic power and had a well-established ruler ship and law enforcement forces. ICON Productions produced a movie named ‘Apocalypto’ which states that the city was filled with superstitions and slaves. El Castillo had a great religious value and was used as a platform for human sacrifice. The top priest of the city beheaded the slaves with his own hand in front of the common people and cut the heart out of the body. After that the body and head were thrown down the steps. All these activities were considered legal

Colosseum Colosseum is an elliptical amphitheater constructed in between 70 to 80 AD in Central Rome, by the two emperors of Flavian Dynasty. With the outer walls, the Colosseum is 189 m long and 156 m wide with a total perimeter of 545 m, covering a total area of 24000 m 2 . The colosseum is supposed to have an enormous capacity to hold 50000 spectators. The two emperors who ruled the country while the theater was being constructed were Vespasian and his successor Titus. The colosseum had 80 entrances which were made for public to escape the building safely and fast in case of accident. 76 of the total entrances were used by commoners and one was revered for the emperor and 3 were used by other prominent people. Though the colosseum is famous for gladiator fight, various other activities like religious activities and cultural performances were also carried out the theater. The colosseum was constructed by using stones and concrete. The arena was made with wodden base cover

Great Wall of China This 21196 km long wall constructed by various rulers of China since 7 th Century BC, is one of the ‘New Seven Wonders of the World’ . The wall was built with a purpose of fortressing the empire and preventing small attacks from the northern regions. The wall was originally built in fragments over the years by different kingdoms and as historians suggest, Qin Shi Huang conquered almost all enemies and unified China in 221 BC. He is the one credited to join all the pre-constructed walls by using bricks and rammed earth as filling. The walls built by his dynasty are the most famous one, being elaborate in length and also for the thousands of people who died constructing the wall. Having built with rammed earth, most of it was ruined and was repaired ad reconstructed later. The wall has an average width of 9 meters throughout, giving a pathway along the wall, which acted as a trade corridor in the history. Today The Great Wall of China is a major tourist attr

Eden Project Eden Project is a Multiple Greenhouse Complex built in Cornwell, UK built in 2000 by using stainless steel frame and hexagonal and pentagonal inflated plastic cells. The project consists of two separate artificial biomes built with three connected domes are built to maintain Tropical and Mediterranean climate, and an open outdoor biome represents the temperate and arid climate. The all the tree different biomes cover thousands of different  plant species brought from different regions of the world, the tropical biome being bigger in size than the Mediterranean one. The Eden Project is an ideal place for research and study of different plant species in one place and is a major tourist attraction. The whole project was designed by architect Nicolas Grimshaw and an engineering firm Antony Hunt & Associates. The Project was brought into existence by Tim Smith and Arup was the Service Engineer, Transportation Engineer, Economic Consultant and Environmental Enginee

Mumbai University Convention Center Being built in Mumbai, India, this convention center, owned by ASK Foundation and designed by James Law Cybertecture, is the largest convention center of Mumbai having a total capacity of 4200 people to sit inside a 50000 ft 2 hall. The round shape of the convention center is a beautiful structure and is definitely going to a landmark, being a modern architecture building. The convention center is being constructed for various purposes, facilitating banquets, sports facilities, exhibition functions concerts and shows having proposed to be complete till 2015.