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The Kiwi is Australian!
The Kiwi is Australian! [Illustration by Shinod AP] March 14: The kiwi bird is one of the most common symbols of New Zealand. It is also the country’s national bird. And that’s not all. It features as an insignia on New Zealand’s coat of arms as well. New Zealanders consider the kiwi their most enduring national symbol and until now, they believed that the bird did not even exist outside New Zealand....
The Cool and Cunning Lark
The very mention of summer and heat makes us think of desert land. Countless films have shown thirsty travellers lost in the desert, uttering the words, ‘Water! Wa-a-ter, waaa…” But then what do you do if the temperature even in the desert shade is as high as 50 degree centigrade, hot winds almost cut you up into pieces, and there is no water, or even saliva in your mouth? If you are smart like the desert animals, you would probably sleep during the day and move about at night....
The Bt Brinjal Battle
Where: New Delhi, India February 20, 2010 : India’s environment minister Jairam Ramesh had announced that Bt Brinjal, a genetically modified (GM) plant, would be introduced for cultivation across the country. A storm of public protests followed. As a result, the introduction has been put on hold for the time being. On February 9, 2010, the government of India announced that it needs more time to take a final decision. Bt Brinjal is brinjal modified by the addition of a gene from ‘Bacillus thuringiensis’ (a bacterium)....
Road of Jute
You must have seen jute rugs, jute dolls, even jute clothes. But, have you seen, or even heard of jute roads? A research centre in Calcutta, the National Institute of Research on Jute and Allied Fibre Technology (NIRJAFT), is planning to make a road with jute. It will be 24 kilometres long. Road of Jute [Illustration by Nitin Vishwakarma] The scientists at the centre say the road will be stronger than normal roads....
It's a Beetle's World
Have you ever had winged visitors to your room on a rainy day, that are black, shiny and button-like, and which fall to the ground with a distinct tapping sound? You might also be familiar with those cute-looking insects with bright orange bodies dotted with black, called Ladybirds, hovering over flowers and tender leaves. There also might have been times when an unlucky one splats on your windshield or gets crunched underfoot. Well, these are all different kinds of BEETLES — creatures that can be called evolution’s biggest success story....
When a Cat Preys for Lunch
Many people have always believed that animals hunting for prey always catch the ones that are young, old or sick. For it would be difficult for those creatures to escape a predator’s hold. Till now there was no actual proof of this fact. But latest research by French scientists in Paris, France, has proved that it is true. A report on their research came out in ‘The Economist’ magazine recently. How did they do it?...
Vanishing Vulture
It’s the bird most commonly associated with death. Once a common sight in South Asia, the vulture, or nature’s scavenger, is one of the 78 species in India that is dying out. Faced with a mysterious virus and pesticide poisoning, the population of vultures today is said to be just 5 per cent of what it was (about 20 years ago) in the 1980s. A couple of years ago, the vultures of Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur numbered 2000....
An Octopus as Jar-opener
Try opening a bottle of jam. See how skilfully your fingers wrap around the lid and unscrew it? Now researchers at the Brighton University, United Kingdom, are carrying out an interesting study to see if the octopus, too, has the same skill. Makes sense considering it has so many ‘hands’ or tentacles! The scientists have even made a gigantic glass aquarium, specially designed for the resident pet octopus, in the university laboratory. They have named it Roger, after the British actor Roger Moore who acted as James Bond in the Hollywood film...
India launches the Agni-III missile
Where: Balasore, Orissa, India April 12, 2007: The newspapers have splashed the news across the front page. TV channels have gone ballistic. India today test fired a missile that can reach as far as the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Beijing and most of the region of West Asia. A missile is basically an object or weapon that is fired, thrown, dropped, or otherwise projected at a target. It could be as simple as a rock shot off with a catapult (where the rock is the missile) or a toy car zooming out of a launcher (where the toy car is the missile)....
The Fossil Tree
December 27: Which are the oldest living trees in the world? You might think it’s those huge redwood trees, called giant sequoias, dating 4000 years. Not true. How about the Wollemi Pine? Yes, you’re getting there. But the answer is the Nightcap Oak, which was discovered recently. This oldest tree is 90 million years old. The Nightcap Oak has been identified as a living fossil. It dates back to millions of years and was thought to have died out....