53 items in this section. Displaying page 5 of 6
What is Memory?
As a child my day began with a LARGE glass of milk and five almonds with their skin pealed, that my mother used to put in a bowl of water the previous night. While the milk was for health and energy, the almonds were for increasing the memory. I don’t know how much they helped, but I still offer them to my children in the hope that they do. After all, memory is a precious thing....
What is the Rubik's Cube?
My nephew Akshay was a brat. No two ways about it. When he was not occupied with dismantling everything that moved, ticked, or clicked he would be engaged in stuffing an icecube down your shirt when you were busy working on whatever it is that didn’t involve him. After a lot of thought, my uncle and I decided to purchase something that would rack his brains till kingdom come. We scouted the market for all sorts of things and luckily we came to a shop that sold a colourful cube – the Rubik’s cube....
What is Daylight Saving Time?
People in some parts of the world gain an extra hour in winters and are able to sleep and snore that much longer thanks to a suggestion by Benjamin Franklin about daylight saving time. But when the suggestion was first made, it raised such a furore not only from those kept awake by the extra snoring but also from others and they wasted a lot of time fighting over this extra hour. Actually the confusion began when the postal service and the railways began to connect far-flung cities....
What is Blood Pressure?
The heart is a live pump that delivers blood to different parts of the body. Blood flows in or flows out when the heart contracts and expands. The blood is forced into the arteries, which expand to receive the oncoming blood. The force with which the blood moves through the arteries is knows as blood pressure. The arteries have a muscular lining which resists this pressure. The blood is thus squeezed out into smaller blood vessels....
What is a Tsunami?
Last year there were three more fishing villages in the Pacific island country of Papua New Guinea than there are today. You might ask why. The answer is that these three villages were washed away by an ocean wave that was more like a giant wall of water. It goes by the name tsunami, a Japanese term meaning a harbour wave. Ocean that Becomes a Giant Wall [Illustrations by Kusum Chamoli] A tsunami is caused by a disturbance in the sea floor, just like the disturbances on land....
What is Physiotherapy?
If you’ve ever been laid up in bed because of a broken leg, or with an arm in a cast, you’ll know how limp that limb feels when it is finally out of bandages. That’s because the muscles in that particular part of the body have not been used for so long that they’ve ‘forgotten’ how to function. They need to be re-taught their work, and this is where physiotherapy comes in. Physiotherapy is that branch of medicine, which makes use of physical agents or exercises to treat a disease or an injury....
What is a Tornado?
If you ever happen to see a dark often greenish sky, wall cloud, large hail and a loud roar similar to a freight train then run to a safe place as it could be a tornado. Popularly known as twisters, tornado is derived from Spanish word ‘Tronada’ meaning thunderstorm and ‘Tornar’ meaning to turn. Tornadoes [Illustrations by Amarjeet Malik] A tornado is defined as a violently rotating column of air that can spin faster than 300 m....
What is Asthma?
Asthma is one of the most common diseases affecting the lungs. A serious disease, it affects all races and both sexes equally. This disease affects millions. Many of us recognize asthma symptoms like wheezing, chest tightness and gasping for breath. However, few of us know what is going on inside the body of a person with asthma. When we breathe, we inhale oxygen through the nose and mouth. The air passes down the trachea or windpipe through the two bronchi that branch off into the millions of tiny airways that make up the lungs....
What's Biting the Flea?
Scratch, scratch scratch goes your pet dog or cat. Behind the ears, on his body. He whips about trying to chew up his tail. What’s eating him? You part the hair and feel around. It’s a flea! Fleas are parasitic insects that suck the blood of birds and mammals. There are over 2,400 flea species worldwide classified under the order Siphonaptera. They are tiny wingless insects like the lice in our hair, either black or reddish brown....
What are Truffles?
Every year, between November and March, people in southern France and Italy are busy trampling the woods, sniffing the air and peering under the roots of elm and oak trees looking for truffles. Truffles? Hey, its no trifling matter – there are organisations in France and Italy which let you take part in truffle hunts! Truffles are a rare and delicate type of edible mushrooms that look like little potato nuggets. They grow in open woodlands in regions with a warm and moderate climate, on soil rich in calcium or limestone....