210 items in this section. Displaying page 11 of 21
Why does Cutting Onions Make us Cry?
If you cut an onion, you begin crying. Have you ever wondered why this happens — why onions make tears run down your face? Well, onions contain a oil, which has lots of sulphur in it. When you cut the onion, this oil is released. It evaporates very fast. When the oil gases reach your eyes, it causes irritation and sends signals to your tear gland to produce tears. So that the tears can wash away the irritant from your eyes....
Where did Coffee Originate?
The aroma of coffee beans was one of the earliest smells to intoxicate me as a child – such was its flamboyant richness. That, and the lush sight of frothy white milk becoming creamier as it mixed with the nut-brown coffee decoction, served in steel tumblers, was perfect happiness. It is a memory shared by many Indians living in the southern states, the main coffee growing as well as drinking regions in the country. The pleasure that the beverage gave was so intense that it never occurred to me that coffee could have originated anywhere but in India....
Why is Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow?
Here’s a quiz question: what is curly or straight and needs to be combed, brushed, plaited or twisted? It is gelled, shampooed, dyed, coloured black, blonde, white, red, brown and needs to be cut once in a while. A hint – the answer is above your head – it’s your hair! Each time you pass by a mirror, the one thing that strikes you is the hair on your head. Hair is something that grows by itself without any help....
Who Invented Band-aid?
What happens when you have a small wound? Just apply a small piece of sticky plaster with gauze (a loosely-woven cotton surgical dressing), or band-aid on it for a few days, and ta-da, your wound is healed! What a stupendous item this band-aid is! So ideal for accident prone people, whether adults or kids. Well it was exactly for this reason that Earle Dickson invented it. He did it for his wife, who though not into rough contact sports was nevertheless accident prone....
What is Mad Cow Disease?
In 1996, doctors detected 10 cases of a rare and fatal human brain disease in Britain and they diagnosed that it was probably due to eating beef from animals with “mad cow disease”. Scientifically, this cow disease was termed bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE while the disease affecting humans was termed Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). The disease caused panic in Europe both among people eating beef and the farmers who were selling it. The European Union, which is the administrative body and includes all countries in Europe, responded immediately by banning imports of British beef....
How Does a Helicopter Hover?
It was January 26 and Rahul was terribly exited. And with good reason too. His father, a pilot in the Indian Navy, had been bestowed the rare honour of flying the newly acquired “Pawan Hans” helicopters for the Republic Day parade. Rahul couldn’t sleep the night before. He had already set his alarm clock to wake him up at 4 a.m., He wanted his mother to take him to the venue well before the scheduled time....
Is the Red Colobus monkey extinct?
Unbelievable but true! A large West African monkey has simply vanished from the earth. It has joined the Dodo, by becoming the first primate to vanish in the 20th century. After a six-year long survey, scientists and wildlife experts have declared the monkey, known as Miss Waldron’s Red Colobus monkey, extinct. Primatologists (people who study the evolution of apes and monkeys) carried out exhaustive surveys in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, in Africa, but failed to spot a single monkey of the species....
How did Sign Language Originate?
Have you ever seen people deep in conversation with each other without a single sound coming from their lips? Their hands and fingers move animatedly as they silently ‘speak’ sentences that sometimes you can also guess at. These people are actually conversing using sign language because they are hearing or speech impaired. Across the world, people have developed sign language to communicate with each other and with the rest of the world. Signs and gestures have always been in use....
Where Did Piggy Banks Come From?
You can find a piggy bank at almost every home. But whoever heard of pigs and savings? Pigs in a poke, yes, and pigs in a sty. But what is the connection between the sty residents and a home saving bank? Actually none. The connecting link has to do with clay. Clay? Yes. Though coin-slotted money boxes in the shape of animals, including pigs have been in existence for centuries, the actual term came to be associated with Europe in the middle ages....
When was the First Circumnavigation by Air?
Ever since Colombus set sail to see if the world was flat or round, intrepid explorers have vied with each other to go around the earth. The world has been circumnavigated by sea by Marco Polo and people have walked across continents from end to end. But until 1924 no one had tried to circumnavigate the world by air except over a continent by a balloon in a Jules Verne novel. Eight Americans decided to circumnavigate the world by plane....