1. If you are struck by lightning, your skin will be heated to 28,000 degrees Centigrade, hotter than the surface of the Sun.
2. If you trace your family tree back 25 generations, you will have 33,554,432 direct ancestors – assuming no incest was involved.
3. The average distance between the stars in the sky is 20 million miles.
4. It would take a modern spaceship 70,000 years to get to the nearest star to earth.
5. An asteroid wiped out every single dinosaur in the world, but not a single species of toad or salamander was affected. No one knows why, nor why the crocodiles and tortoises survived.
6. If you dug a well to the centre of the Earth, and dropped a brick in it, it would take 45 minutes to get to the bottom – 4,000 miles down.
7. Your body sheds 10 billion flakes of skin every day.
8. The Earth weighs 6,500 million million million tons.
9. Honey is the only food consumed by humans that doesn’t go off.
10. The Hawaiian alphabet has only 12 letters.
11. A donkey can sink into quicksand but a mule can’t.
12. Every time you sneeze your heart stops a second.
13. There are 22 miles more canals in Birmingham UK than in Venice.
14. Potato crisps were invented by a Mr Crumm.
15. Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in their correct order.
16. Eskimoes have hundreds of words for snow but none for hello.
17. The word “set” has the most definitions in the English language.
18. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating its letters is uncopyrightable.
19. Windmills always turn counter-clockwise.
20. The “Sixth Sick Sheik’s Sixth Sheep’s Sick” is the hardest tongue-twister.
21. The longest English word without a vowel is twyndyllyngs which means "twins".
22. 1 x 8 + 1 = 9; 12 x 8 + 2 = 98; 123 x 8 + 3 = 987; 1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876; 12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765; 123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654; 1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543; 12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432; 123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321
23. The word "dreamt" is the only common word in the English language that ends in "mt".
24. Albert Einstein never wore any socks.
25. The average human will eat 8 spiders while asleep in their lifetime.
26. In space, astronauts cannot cry because there is no gravity.
27. Hummingbirds are the only creatures that can fly backwards.
28. An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.
29. Cockroaches can live 9 days without their heads before they starve to death.
30. A flamingo can eat only when its head is upside down.
31. The lighter was invented before the match.
32. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up at the sky.
33. The average person has over 1,460 dreams a year!
34. Scientists with high-speed cameras have discovered that rain drops are not tear shaped but rather look like hamburger buns.
35. The first Internet domain name ever registered was Symbolics.com on March 15, 1985.
36. When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone back in 1876, only six phones were sold in the first month.
37. Approximately 7.5% of all office documents get lost.
38. Business.com is currently the most expensive domain name sold: for $7.5 million.
39. In 2001, the five most valuable brand names in order were Coca-Cola, Microsoft, IBM, GE, and Nokia.
40. In Canada, the most productive day of the working week is Tuesday.
41. In a study by the University of Chicago in 1907, it was concluded that the easiest colour to spot is yellow. This is why John Hertz, who is the founder of the Yellow Cab Company picked cabs to be yellow.
42. It takes about 63,000 trees to make the newsprint for the average Sunday edition of The New York Times.
43. On average a business document is copied 19 times.
44. The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system in India, employing over 1.6 million people.
45. Warner Chappel Music owns the copyright to the song "Happy Birthday." They make over $1 million in royalties every year from the commercial use of the song.
46. All babies are colour-blind when they are born.
47. Children grow faster in the springtime than any other season during the year.
48. Each nostril of a human being registers smells in a different way. Smells that are made from the right nostril are more pleasant than the left. However, smells can be detected more accurately when made by the left nostril.
49. Humans are born with 350 bones in their body, however when a person reaches adulthood they only have 206 bones. This occurs because many of them join together to make a single bone.
50. May babies are on average 200 grams heavier than babies born in other months.
51. Leonardo da Vinci was dyslexic, and he often wrote backwards.
52. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler had only one testicle.
53. Queen Lydia Liliuokalani was the last reigning monarch of the Hawaiian Islands. She was also the only Queen the United States ever had.
54. Rolling Stones band member Bill Wyman married a 19 year-old model Mandy Smith in 1988. At the same time Wyman's son was engaged to Mandy Smith's mother. If his son had married Smith's mother, Wyman would have been the step grandfather to his own wife.
55. There are 158 verses in the Greek National Anthem.
56. There are about 6,800 languages in the world.
57. There was no punctuation until the 15th century.
58. Children laugh about 400 times a day, while adults laugh on average only 15 times a day.
59. The coconut is the largest seed in the world.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Strange and Unbelievable Facts That You Never Knew Part-I
1. The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as a substitute for blood plasma.
2. No piece of paper can be folded in half more than seven (7) times.
3. Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.
4. You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.
5. The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum.
6. The King of Hearts is the only king without a mustache.
7. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one (1) olive from each salad served in first-class.
8. Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise. (Since Venus is normally associated with women,what does this tell you!)
9. Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.
10.Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.
11.The first owner of the Marlboro Company died of lung cancer.So did the first "Marlboro Man."
12.Walt Disney was afraid of mice.
13.Pearls melt in vinegar.
14.The three most valuable brand names on earth:
Marlboro
Coca Cola
Budweiser
15.It is possible to lead a cow upstairs... but, not downstairs.
16.A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.
17.Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least six (6) feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush. (I keep my toothbrush in the living room now!)
18.Richard Millhouse Nixon was the first U.S. president whose name contains all the letters from the word "criminal."
The second? William Jefferson Clinton
19.And the best for last... Turtles can breathe through their butts.
2. No piece of paper can be folded in half more than seven (7) times.
3. Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.
4. You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.
5. The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum.
6. The King of Hearts is the only king without a mustache.
7. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one (1) olive from each salad served in first-class.
8. Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise. (Since Venus is normally associated with women,what does this tell you!)
9. Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.
10.Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.
11.The first owner of the Marlboro Company died of lung cancer.So did the first "Marlboro Man."
12.Walt Disney was afraid of mice.
13.Pearls melt in vinegar.
14.The three most valuable brand names on earth:
Marlboro
Coca Cola
Budweiser
15.It is possible to lead a cow upstairs... but, not downstairs.
16.A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.
17.Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least six (6) feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush. (I keep my toothbrush in the living room now!)
18.Richard Millhouse Nixon was the first U.S. president whose name contains all the letters from the word "criminal."
The second? William Jefferson Clinton
19.And the best for last... Turtles can breathe through their butts.
Some facts about Formula One Grand Prix
FORMULA 1 CARS
F1 car is made up of 80,000 components, if it were assembled 99.9% correctly; it would still start the race with 80 things wrong!
When an F1 driver hits the brakes on his car he experiences retardation or deceleration comparable to a regular car driving through a BRICK wall at 300kmph!!!
F1 car can go from 0 to 160 kph AND back to 0 in FOUR seconds!!!!!!!
F1 car engines last only for about 2 hours of racing mostly before blowing up on the other hand we expect our engines to last us for a decent 20yrs on an average and they quite faithfully DO....that's the extent to which the engines r pushed to perform...
An average F1 driver looses about 4kgs of weight after just one race due to the prolonged exposure to high G forces and temperatures for little over an hour (Yeah that's right!!!)
At 550kg a F1 car is less than half the weight of a Mini.
To give you an idea of just how important aerodynamic design and added down force can be, small planes can take off at slower speeds than F1 cars travel on the track.
Without aerodynamic down force, high-performance racing cars have sufficient power to produce wheel spin and loss of control at 160 kph. They usually race at over 300 kph.
In a street course race like the Monaco grand prix, the down force provides enough suction to lift manhole covers. Before the race all of the manhole covers on the streets have to be welded down to prevent this from happening!
The refuelers used in F1 can supply 12 liters of fuel per second. This means it would take just 4 seconds to fill the tank of an average 50 liter family car. They use the same refueling rigs used on US military helicopters today.
TOP F1 pit crews can refuel and change tyres in around 3 seconds. It took me 8 sec to read above point
During the race the tyres lose weight! Each tyre loses about 0.5 kg in weight due to wear.
Normal tyres last 60 000 - 100 000 km. Racing tyres are designed to last 90 - 120 km.
A dry-weather F1 tyre reaches peak operating performance (best grip) when tread temperature is between 900C and 1200C.(Water boils boils at 100C remember) At top speed, F1 tyres rotate 50 times a second.
And that's not Magic.... Its only the Power of Human Imagination...
F1 car is made up of 80,000 components, if it were assembled 99.9% correctly; it would still start the race with 80 things wrong!
When an F1 driver hits the brakes on his car he experiences retardation or deceleration comparable to a regular car driving through a BRICK wall at 300kmph!!!
F1 car can go from 0 to 160 kph AND back to 0 in FOUR seconds!!!!!!!
F1 car engines last only for about 2 hours of racing mostly before blowing up on the other hand we expect our engines to last us for a decent 20yrs on an average and they quite faithfully DO....that's the extent to which the engines r pushed to perform...
An average F1 driver looses about 4kgs of weight after just one race due to the prolonged exposure to high G forces and temperatures for little over an hour (Yeah that's right!!!)
At 550kg a F1 car is less than half the weight of a Mini.
To give you an idea of just how important aerodynamic design and added down force can be, small planes can take off at slower speeds than F1 cars travel on the track.
Without aerodynamic down force, high-performance racing cars have sufficient power to produce wheel spin and loss of control at 160 kph. They usually race at over 300 kph.
In a street course race like the Monaco grand prix, the down force provides enough suction to lift manhole covers. Before the race all of the manhole covers on the streets have to be welded down to prevent this from happening!
The refuelers used in F1 can supply 12 liters of fuel per second. This means it would take just 4 seconds to fill the tank of an average 50 liter family car. They use the same refueling rigs used on US military helicopters today.
TOP F1 pit crews can refuel and change tyres in around 3 seconds. It took me 8 sec to read above point
During the race the tyres lose weight! Each tyre loses about 0.5 kg in weight due to wear.
Normal tyres last 60 000 - 100 000 km. Racing tyres are designed to last 90 - 120 km.
A dry-weather F1 tyre reaches peak operating performance (best grip) when tread temperature is between 900C and 1200C.(Water boils boils at 100C remember) At top speed, F1 tyres rotate 50 times a second.
And that's not Magic.... Its only the Power of Human Imagination...
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Did you know?
Did you know?
To check the dwindling population of tigers in India, 'Project Tiger' was launched in April 1973. So far, 23 tiger reserves have been established in the country under this project, covering an area of 33,126 sq. km.
Where was India's first motion picture screening held?
India's first motion picture was screened at the Watson hotel in Mumbai. The Lumire brothers, Lousie and Auguste first showed films in India, on a commercial basis on July 7, 1896. Four 40-minute shows were held every day and the entry price for each was Re1 per person.
How many words are there in the longest Indian film title?
The longest film title has 20 words. This belongs to the Telugu film 'Shree Shree Rajadhiraja Shree Shree Madana Kamaraja Shree Shree Vilasa Raja Shree Shree Madhubana Raja Shree Shree Krishnadeva donga Raja'. The film was released in Chennai in Dec.1994.
Which Indian actor has won an international Best Actress Award?
Nirmal Pandey, a popular hindi stage and film actor won the Best Actress award at the Valenciennes Film Festival, France 1997 for his portrayal of a transvestite (a man who dresses as a woman and vice versa) in Amol Palekar's 'Daayraa' (Limitation). Nirmal shared the Best Actress award with the female lead of the film Sonali Kulkarni.
Which is India's all time biggest Best Selling Pop Track?
No, its not Micheal Jackson. India's Altaf Raja's 'Tum to thehre pardesi, saath kya nibhaoge' (you are but a foreigner, how will you stay with me). The album sold over 40 lakh cassettes, the largest seller in the non-film category.
Where in India is Asia's biggest sabzi market located?
It's in the capital city. The New Subzi Mandi, the wholesale market at Azadpur, Delhi, is Asia's largest fruit and vegetable market. Nearly 3,000 trucks bring in fruits and vegetables here daily for over 30,000 retail vendors.
Why are there so many cows on India's roads?
Because India has more cows than anywhere else in the world. Out of a world population of 132 crore, India has 20.5 crore or 15.5 percent! The hindus, the followers of India's biggest religion believe that cows are sacred animals and should not be killed for meat. The sad part though is that not many facilities are provided for these holy ones - and they are often left to wander on the roads - where they create a nuisance for themselves and others.
Is there a rat temple in India?
Yes, in Rajathan. The 575-year-old temple of Karni Devi (one of the nine incarnations of Durga) has a large number of holy rats called 'Kabas', believed to be the offsprings of the presiding deity. Located at Deshnok, 35 km from Bikaner, Rajasthan, this temple is devoted exclusively to the rats which roam around freely in the place.
Who was the first Indian to be admitted to the Indian Civil Service?
Satyendranath Tagore, the elder brother of Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore, was the first Indian to be admitted in the Indian Civil Service. He had to pass a tough exam, which was held only in London, to discourage Indians from applying.
Who was the first person to use zero as a number?
Brahmagupta (598-660) an Indian mathematician first used zero as a number and showed its mathematical use. Bhaskaracharya (1114 A.D.) was the first to understand the mathematical implications of zero by stating that anything divided by zero is equal to infinity.
When were India's first television signals transmitted?
The first experimental telecast was attempted on Sept.15, 1959, at Delhi. The transmission was done with the help of a small transmitter in a makeshift studio.
What is the name of India's oldest functioning English daily?
The Times of India. This was first published in Mumbai on Nov.3, 1838 as a bi-weekly and was called Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce. It was renamed The Times of India in 1850 with J.E.Brennan as its first editor.
Who is the only Indian to have been given an honorary US citizenship?
On November 16, 1996 Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhin) became the first Indian to be given an honorary US citizenship. She was the fourth person in the world to have been given this honor.
Who is India's most infamous conman?
That's Natwrlal or Mithilesh Kumar Srivastava, a man so clever at fooling people that he once walked out of Kanpur jail dressed in a smuggled Sub-Inspector's uniform! Having got the cell guard to open the door by handing out an attaché case full of cash, he coolly walked out, got into a waiting car and sped way. When the car broke down a little later, he coolly flagged down another vehicle and vanished!
Natwarlal was wanted in over 100 cases in eight States. He has been sentenced to a whopping 113 years in jail by various courts and has made eight daring escapes, each time from a different jail.
Where is India's highest motorable road located?
India's highest road is at Khardung-la in the Leh-Manali in Himachal Pradesh. The road was constructed by the Boarder Roads Organisation at a height of 5,682 meters (18,383 ft).
Who is India's largest employer?
Indian Railways. The railways employ over 15.79 lakh people, the largest by a single organization in India or anywhere else in the world.
How many people can eat from the food cooked (at one time) in India's largest solar cooker?
Over 10,000! Shirin and Deepak Gadhia devised a giant solar cooker for the Brahmakumaris World Academy in Mount Abu, Rajasthan in Jan.1998, The cooker has 84 solar dishes and a surface of 840 sq. m. This is also the largest solar cooker in the world.
When did Internet come to India?
In 1995 when the National Informatics Centre (NIC), Delhi, first provided users access to the World Wide Web service through the C-Web. The C-Web allows users to browse, search and publish documents on the Net.
Which Indian can calculate faster than a computer?
That's Shakuntala Devi of Bangalore. In 1977, she took only 50 seconds to compute the 23rd root of a 201-digit number while it took a computer well over a minute. On June 18, 1980, she multiplied 7,686,369,774,870 by 2,465,099,745,779 and arrived at the correct answer: 18,947,668,177,995,426,462,773,730 in 28 seconds.
Which Indian is the world's youngest graduate?
Tathagat Avatar Tulsi of Bihar became the world's youngest graduate by passing the Bachelor of Science examination (with honours in physics) from Science College, Patna at the age of 11 years and two months. Tathagat broke the record of Jay Luo of Garden City, USA, who had graduated at the age of 12 years, 1 month and 12 days. Tulsi had earlier cleared the Central Board of Secondary Examination at the age of nine years and six months. He has set a hat-trick in Guinness World Record in academics: he completed high school at the age of nine, earned a B.Sc. at the age of ten and a M.Sc. at the age of twelve.
Which Indian language is the world's oldest living language?
Tamil is the oldest of all Indian languages and also the oldest living language in the world. It represents certain literacy types not found in Sanskrit or other Aryan languages and traces its history to Tolkappiyam, the earliest extant manuscript of Tamil grammar, dated 500 B.C.
Which Indian word is the longest Palindrome (reading the same forward and backward) in the Roman script?
The longest palindrome in Roman script is the nine-letter word MALAYALAM, the language of Kerala.
What was India's first homegrown comic book or series?
The Amar Chitra Katha series of mythology and other themes in comic book form, was published by India Book House (IBH) in 1969 and sold over half-a-million copies. The series was the brainchild of Mr. Anant Pai. The first Amar Chitra Katha title was Krishna. Since then over 436 titles have been published in all Indian and some foreign languages.
Only acting Prime Minister: Gulzari Lal Nanda became acting Prime Minister twice after the death of two Prime Ministers (Jawahar Lal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri), but he was never elected to the post. As they say - always the bridesmaid, never the bride!
Indira Gandhi was the first and till now the only woman Prime Minister of India. She assumed office in 1966 and ruled over the country for nearly 2 decades (except during 1977 - 80). She lost the 1977 elections because of her unpopular imposition of national 'emergency', but won the following elections on the basis of her 'garibi hatao' call!
Oldest PM: Morarji Desai became the Prime Minister when he was 81 years old!
Youngest PM: Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister at the age of 40.
To check the dwindling population of tigers in India, 'Project Tiger' was launched in April 1973. So far, 23 tiger reserves have been established in the country under this project, covering an area of 33,126 sq. km.
Where was India's first motion picture screening held?
India's first motion picture was screened at the Watson hotel in Mumbai. The Lumire brothers, Lousie and Auguste first showed films in India, on a commercial basis on July 7, 1896. Four 40-minute shows were held every day and the entry price for each was Re1 per person.
How many words are there in the longest Indian film title?
The longest film title has 20 words. This belongs to the Telugu film 'Shree Shree Rajadhiraja Shree Shree Madana Kamaraja Shree Shree Vilasa Raja Shree Shree Madhubana Raja Shree Shree Krishnadeva donga Raja'. The film was released in Chennai in Dec.1994.
Which Indian actor has won an international Best Actress Award?
Nirmal Pandey, a popular hindi stage and film actor won the Best Actress award at the Valenciennes Film Festival, France 1997 for his portrayal of a transvestite (a man who dresses as a woman and vice versa) in Amol Palekar's 'Daayraa' (Limitation). Nirmal shared the Best Actress award with the female lead of the film Sonali Kulkarni.
Which is India's all time biggest Best Selling Pop Track?
No, its not Micheal Jackson. India's Altaf Raja's 'Tum to thehre pardesi, saath kya nibhaoge' (you are but a foreigner, how will you stay with me). The album sold over 40 lakh cassettes, the largest seller in the non-film category.
Where in India is Asia's biggest sabzi market located?
It's in the capital city. The New Subzi Mandi, the wholesale market at Azadpur, Delhi, is Asia's largest fruit and vegetable market. Nearly 3,000 trucks bring in fruits and vegetables here daily for over 30,000 retail vendors.
Why are there so many cows on India's roads?
Because India has more cows than anywhere else in the world. Out of a world population of 132 crore, India has 20.5 crore or 15.5 percent! The hindus, the followers of India's biggest religion believe that cows are sacred animals and should not be killed for meat. The sad part though is that not many facilities are provided for these holy ones - and they are often left to wander on the roads - where they create a nuisance for themselves and others.
Is there a rat temple in India?
Yes, in Rajathan. The 575-year-old temple of Karni Devi (one of the nine incarnations of Durga) has a large number of holy rats called 'Kabas', believed to be the offsprings of the presiding deity. Located at Deshnok, 35 km from Bikaner, Rajasthan, this temple is devoted exclusively to the rats which roam around freely in the place.
Who was the first Indian to be admitted to the Indian Civil Service?
Satyendranath Tagore, the elder brother of Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore, was the first Indian to be admitted in the Indian Civil Service. He had to pass a tough exam, which was held only in London, to discourage Indians from applying.
Who was the first person to use zero as a number?
Brahmagupta (598-660) an Indian mathematician first used zero as a number and showed its mathematical use. Bhaskaracharya (1114 A.D.) was the first to understand the mathematical implications of zero by stating that anything divided by zero is equal to infinity.
When were India's first television signals transmitted?
The first experimental telecast was attempted on Sept.15, 1959, at Delhi. The transmission was done with the help of a small transmitter in a makeshift studio.
What is the name of India's oldest functioning English daily?
The Times of India. This was first published in Mumbai on Nov.3, 1838 as a bi-weekly and was called Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce. It was renamed The Times of India in 1850 with J.E.Brennan as its first editor.
Who is the only Indian to have been given an honorary US citizenship?
On November 16, 1996 Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhin) became the first Indian to be given an honorary US citizenship. She was the fourth person in the world to have been given this honor.
Who is India's most infamous conman?
That's Natwrlal or Mithilesh Kumar Srivastava, a man so clever at fooling people that he once walked out of Kanpur jail dressed in a smuggled Sub-Inspector's uniform! Having got the cell guard to open the door by handing out an attaché case full of cash, he coolly walked out, got into a waiting car and sped way. When the car broke down a little later, he coolly flagged down another vehicle and vanished!
Natwarlal was wanted in over 100 cases in eight States. He has been sentenced to a whopping 113 years in jail by various courts and has made eight daring escapes, each time from a different jail.
Where is India's highest motorable road located?
India's highest road is at Khardung-la in the Leh-Manali in Himachal Pradesh. The road was constructed by the Boarder Roads Organisation at a height of 5,682 meters (18,383 ft).
Who is India's largest employer?
Indian Railways. The railways employ over 15.79 lakh people, the largest by a single organization in India or anywhere else in the world.
How many people can eat from the food cooked (at one time) in India's largest solar cooker?
Over 10,000! Shirin and Deepak Gadhia devised a giant solar cooker for the Brahmakumaris World Academy in Mount Abu, Rajasthan in Jan.1998, The cooker has 84 solar dishes and a surface of 840 sq. m. This is also the largest solar cooker in the world.
When did Internet come to India?
In 1995 when the National Informatics Centre (NIC), Delhi, first provided users access to the World Wide Web service through the C-Web. The C-Web allows users to browse, search and publish documents on the Net.
Which Indian can calculate faster than a computer?
That's Shakuntala Devi of Bangalore. In 1977, she took only 50 seconds to compute the 23rd root of a 201-digit number while it took a computer well over a minute. On June 18, 1980, she multiplied 7,686,369,774,870 by 2,465,099,745,779 and arrived at the correct answer: 18,947,668,177,995,426,462,773,730 in 28 seconds.
Which Indian is the world's youngest graduate?
Tathagat Avatar Tulsi of Bihar became the world's youngest graduate by passing the Bachelor of Science examination (with honours in physics) from Science College, Patna at the age of 11 years and two months. Tathagat broke the record of Jay Luo of Garden City, USA, who had graduated at the age of 12 years, 1 month and 12 days. Tulsi had earlier cleared the Central Board of Secondary Examination at the age of nine years and six months. He has set a hat-trick in Guinness World Record in academics: he completed high school at the age of nine, earned a B.Sc. at the age of ten and a M.Sc. at the age of twelve.
Which Indian language is the world's oldest living language?
Tamil is the oldest of all Indian languages and also the oldest living language in the world. It represents certain literacy types not found in Sanskrit or other Aryan languages and traces its history to Tolkappiyam, the earliest extant manuscript of Tamil grammar, dated 500 B.C.
Which Indian word is the longest Palindrome (reading the same forward and backward) in the Roman script?
The longest palindrome in Roman script is the nine-letter word MALAYALAM, the language of Kerala.
What was India's first homegrown comic book or series?
The Amar Chitra Katha series of mythology and other themes in comic book form, was published by India Book House (IBH) in 1969 and sold over half-a-million copies. The series was the brainchild of Mr. Anant Pai. The first Amar Chitra Katha title was Krishna. Since then over 436 titles have been published in all Indian and some foreign languages.
Only acting Prime Minister: Gulzari Lal Nanda became acting Prime Minister twice after the death of two Prime Ministers (Jawahar Lal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri), but he was never elected to the post. As they say - always the bridesmaid, never the bride!
Indira Gandhi was the first and till now the only woman Prime Minister of India. She assumed office in 1966 and ruled over the country for nearly 2 decades (except during 1977 - 80). She lost the 1977 elections because of her unpopular imposition of national 'emergency', but won the following elections on the basis of her 'garibi hatao' call!
Oldest PM: Morarji Desai became the Prime Minister when he was 81 years old!
Youngest PM: Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister at the age of 40.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Aurora - Solar Winds
The sun sends a constant stream of charged particles, know as the solar wind, into space. These energized particles interact with a protective magnetic shield that shrouds our planet.
Earth's magnetosphere, as the shield is called, is made up of invisible lines of a magnetic field that radiate out into space from the poles. The magnetosphere forces the solar wind to slide around it, protecting the planet from radiation.
The charged particles squeeze the magnetic field into a teardrop shape. In the magnetosphere, researchers say, the interaction creates electric fields and electromagnetic waves that transfer their energy to electrons, which then plunge into the atmosphere.
The charged particles excite oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere to create the aurora borealis, or northern lights. (The same condition creates the aurora australis, or southern lights.)
"The aurora varies in intensity from brightness equal to that of the Milky Way up to the equivalent of a full Moon," says climatologist Jan Curtis, who photographs auroras from his home in Alaska. "Colors range from mostly greens to reds, and take on the forms of discrete rays, homogeneous bands and arcs, or diffuse glowing clouds. Their movement can be stationary, or zip across the entire sky in seconds."
Thanks to satellites, researchers are getting their best look ever at auroras, and what's behind them. Using three satellites, including the Polar spacecraft, scientists now can make before-and-after measurements of the phenomenon when a gust of solar wind passes by.
James Spann, a space plasma physicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, explains a recent finding based on satellite data: When a pressure wave of solar radiation hits the leading edge of Earth's magnetosphere, known as the bow, it can cause the shield to contract, and the aurora brightens. As the pressure wave travels along the magnetosphere, the brighter area moves with it, said Spann and his colleagues in a study published in June of 1999.
As the sun approaches solar maximum, a peak of activity, expected in the coming months, flings more and more bursts of energy into space, forcing a corresponding increase in the auroras.
Earth's magnetosphere, as the shield is called, is made up of invisible lines of a magnetic field that radiate out into space from the poles. The magnetosphere forces the solar wind to slide around it, protecting the planet from radiation.
The charged particles squeeze the magnetic field into a teardrop shape. In the magnetosphere, researchers say, the interaction creates electric fields and electromagnetic waves that transfer their energy to electrons, which then plunge into the atmosphere.
The charged particles excite oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere to create the aurora borealis, or northern lights. (The same condition creates the aurora australis, or southern lights.)
"The aurora varies in intensity from brightness equal to that of the Milky Way up to the equivalent of a full Moon," says climatologist Jan Curtis, who photographs auroras from his home in Alaska. "Colors range from mostly greens to reds, and take on the forms of discrete rays, homogeneous bands and arcs, or diffuse glowing clouds. Their movement can be stationary, or zip across the entire sky in seconds."
Thanks to satellites, researchers are getting their best look ever at auroras, and what's behind them. Using three satellites, including the Polar spacecraft, scientists now can make before-and-after measurements of the phenomenon when a gust of solar wind passes by.
James Spann, a space plasma physicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, explains a recent finding based on satellite data: When a pressure wave of solar radiation hits the leading edge of Earth's magnetosphere, known as the bow, it can cause the shield to contract, and the aurora brightens. As the pressure wave travels along the magnetosphere, the brighter area moves with it, said Spann and his colleagues in a study published in June of 1999.
As the sun approaches solar maximum, a peak of activity, expected in the coming months, flings more and more bursts of energy into space, forcing a corresponding increase in the auroras.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Diesel from fungus may be future fuel
A unique fungus that makes diesel compounds directly from cellulose has been discovered living in trees in the Patagonian rainforest. "These are the first organisms that have been found that make many of the ingredients of diesel," said Professor Gary Strobel from Montana State University. "This is a major discovery
A reddish microbe found on the inside of a tree at a secret location in the rain forests of northern Patagonia could unlock the biofuel of the future, say scientists.
Its potential is so startling that the discoverers have coined the term "myco-diesel" — a derivation of the word for fungus
— to describe the bouquet of hydrocarbons that it breathes.
"This is the only organism that has ever been shown to produce such an important combination of fuel substances," said Gary Strobel, a professor of biology at Montana State University.
"The fungus can even make these diesel compounds from cellulose, which would make it a better source of biofuel that anything we use at the moment."
The study appeared in a peer-reviewed British journal, Microbiology.
Strobel, a 70-year-old veteran of the world's rainforests, said that he came across Gliocladium roseum thanks to "two cases of serendipity".
The first was in the late 1990s, when his team, working in Honduras, came across a previously unidentified fungus called Muscodor albus. By sheer accident, they found that M albus releases a powerful volatile — meaning gassy — antibiotic. Intrigued by this, the team tested M Albus on the ulmo tree, whose fibres are a known habitat for fungi, in the hope that this would show up a new fungus. "Quite unexpectedly, G roseum grew in the presence of these gases when almost all other fungi were killed. It was also making volatile antibiotics," said Strobel.
"Then, when we examined the gas composition of G roseum, we were totally surprised to learn that it was making a plethora of hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon derivatives. The results were totally unexpected and very exciting, and almost every hair on my arms stood on end."
Strobel's team put the G roseum through its paces in the lab, growing it on an oatmeal-based jelly and on cellulose.
Extractor fans drew off the gases exuded by the fungus, and analysis showed that many of them were hydrocarbons, including at least eight compounds that are the most abundant ingredients in diesel. Biofuels have been promoted as good alternatives to oil, which is sourced from politically volatile regions and is a major contributor to the greenhouse effect.
A reddish microbe found on the inside of a tree at a secret location in the rain forests of northern Patagonia could unlock the biofuel of the future, say scientists.
Its potential is so startling that the discoverers have coined the term "myco-diesel" — a derivation of the word for fungus
— to describe the bouquet of hydrocarbons that it breathes.
"This is the only organism that has ever been shown to produce such an important combination of fuel substances," said Gary Strobel, a professor of biology at Montana State University.
"The fungus can even make these diesel compounds from cellulose, which would make it a better source of biofuel that anything we use at the moment."
The study appeared in a peer-reviewed British journal, Microbiology.
Strobel, a 70-year-old veteran of the world's rainforests, said that he came across Gliocladium roseum thanks to "two cases of serendipity".
The first was in the late 1990s, when his team, working in Honduras, came across a previously unidentified fungus called Muscodor albus. By sheer accident, they found that M albus releases a powerful volatile — meaning gassy — antibiotic. Intrigued by this, the team tested M Albus on the ulmo tree, whose fibres are a known habitat for fungi, in the hope that this would show up a new fungus. "Quite unexpectedly, G roseum grew in the presence of these gases when almost all other fungi were killed. It was also making volatile antibiotics," said Strobel.
"Then, when we examined the gas composition of G roseum, we were totally surprised to learn that it was making a plethora of hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon derivatives. The results were totally unexpected and very exciting, and almost every hair on my arms stood on end."
Strobel's team put the G roseum through its paces in the lab, growing it on an oatmeal-based jelly and on cellulose.
Extractor fans drew off the gases exuded by the fungus, and analysis showed that many of them were hydrocarbons, including at least eight compounds that are the most abundant ingredients in diesel. Biofuels have been promoted as good alternatives to oil, which is sourced from politically volatile regions and is a major contributor to the greenhouse effect.
Software that reads mind
In a landmark research, scientists in Netherlands have developed a mind-reading state-of-the-art software, which can decipher the sounds being spoken to a person from scans of the listener's brain.
The researchers led by Elia Formisano of Maastricht University, found that each speaker and each sound created a distinctive "neural fingerprint" in a listener's auditory cortex, the brain region that deals with hearing. "This is the first study in which we can really distinguish two human voices, or two specific sounds," Formisano said.
Neuroscientists used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to track the brain activity of 7 people while they listened to three different speakers saying simple vowel sounds. This fingerprint was used to create rules that could decode future activity and determine both who is being listened to, and what they are saying, the New Scientist reported.
The researchers hope to match recent advances in using fMRI to identify what a person is looking at from their brain activity. Until now, the best mind-reading feats extended only to differentiating between different categories of sounds, such as human voices versus animal cries.
The researchers led by Elia Formisano of Maastricht University, found that each speaker and each sound created a distinctive "neural fingerprint" in a listener's auditory cortex, the brain region that deals with hearing. "This is the first study in which we can really distinguish two human voices, or two specific sounds," Formisano said.
Neuroscientists used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to track the brain activity of 7 people while they listened to three different speakers saying simple vowel sounds. This fingerprint was used to create rules that could decode future activity and determine both who is being listened to, and what they are saying, the New Scientist reported.
The researchers hope to match recent advances in using fMRI to identify what a person is looking at from their brain activity. Until now, the best mind-reading feats extended only to differentiating between different categories of sounds, such as human voices versus animal cries.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
