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Why do Flies have Compound Eyes?
Just like a man woos the woman he loves, takes her to nice restaurants, buys her presents, and courts her to impress her before marriage, animals too choose their mates through courtship. Since animals cannot do all these, they do it differently. Some animals put up a colourful display, while others give little gifts to their beloved – a choice worm, a designer nest and so on. A few species display their love through a series of grunts and others, like the Saurus crane or the stickleback fish, perform an intricate courtship dance....
How Does Ice float?
A cool glass of water topped with huge chunks of ice is sure to quench your thirst on a hot summer day. But, before you guzzle the water, look at how the ice floats on the water surface. How do these large ice pieces manage to stay afloat? Ice floats because it is less dense than water. (If you take a one-litre container with ice and weigh it, it will be lighter than a similar container with water....
How is Paper Perfumed?
Fruity, musk, floral, woodsy… believe it or not, the human nose can detect the difference between nearly 1,000 different odours. Our nose is very sensitive to delicate variations in smell. To cater to the need ‘to smell good’, perfume manufacturers churn out innovative new fragrances all the time. How is Paper Perfumed? [Illustration by Shinod AP] Perfume manufacturers spend a lot of money on making a perfume, research, bottling and advertisements. That’s not all, sometimes they even put the fragrance on a page in a popular magazine so that readers can sample the scent....
What is Cotton Candy?
It’s sticky, it’s messy and it’s just the thing to eat at a fair. Children or adults, most people do not consider a mela or fair complete without the giant-wheel and the fluffy cotton candy wrapped around a stick. Or budhiya ke baal (old woman’s hair), as it is popularly known in parts of northern India. And do you know what it is made of? Well, next time, don’t gobble up the whole of the candy....
Holi – The Colours of Spring
Quick, think of spring and what comes to mind? The festival of Holi, of course!! Think of Holi and what springs to mind? ‘Gulal’ or dry colours in bright shades, ‘pichkaris’ or water pistols, and buckets of water to drench people, right? For, winter has finally come to an end, and the friendly mischief of spring is in the air. And so, on the day of Holi, huge armies of children and adults come out on the streets....
The Truth about Zoos
Last week we carried a piece about the relevance of zoos as the last refuge of endangered species. But in India it appears that zoos should be the last place for animals of any sort, let alone the endangered variety. It is no secret that most Indian zoos are in a bad state. Although zoos claim to educate people and preserve species, Indian zoos do neither. Most zoo enclosures are quite small, and labels provide little information....
How Lizards Defy Gravity
Lizards slithering up walls or dangling precariously from overhead lights are a common sight in tropical countries. These slimy creatures zipping up walls are called geckos. They are the only lizard species that make any sound, other than hissing — in fact they make a loud clicking noise that sounds like “gecko”, hence the name. Recent studies show that the gecko’s ability to cling on to surfaces could well lead to the creation of the world’s first non-sticky, self-cleaning adhesive!...
India's first Underwater World
June 24: If you have ever visited an aquariam you would have noticed that the fish look plain bored. Their homes are not very exciting. Nor are the visitors terribly charged up. True, some aquariums are fairly well maintained, but the fact remains that they rarely attract hordes of visitors. The government of Maharashtra has suddenly woken up to the fact that this is a fishy state of affairs. And it wants to make amends. So it has entered into a partnership with a Singapore-based company to create India’s first underwater world, or oceanarium....
Venice is Sinking
Most people all over the world travel by the road. In a city in Italy however, waterways make up the primary commuting routes. The city of Venice, rich in architectural marvels, is best known for its canals. Unfortunately, this beautiful city of flat-bottomed boats (Gondolas), churches and quaint cobbled streets is sinking and sinking fast. Venice is Sinking Known as the ‘Queen of the Adriatic’, Venice is situated on 120 islands formed by canals in the lagoon between the mouths of the Po and the Piave rivers, at the northern extremity of the Adriatic Sea....
What are Komodo Dragons?
European mythology abounds in stories of knights in shining armour battling fearsome dragons. Fairytale storybooks are peppered with illustrations of these huge monsters looking like crocodiles with wings and huge claws and breathing fire. Of course fire breathing dragons do not exist, but there is a tiny island, called Komodo, in Indonesia, that is home to dragons – yes, real dragons! Unlike the dragons of yore, the Komodo dragon does not possess a fiery breath, nor can it trample hapless humans underfoot, but it does pack a mean bite....