sharks

»   Sharks' fossil records date back more than twice as long as that of the dinosaurs.

»   Male monkeys lose the hair on their heads in the same manner men do.

»   Sharks have a sixth sense which enables them to detect bioelectrical fields radiated by other sea creatures and to navigate by sensing changes in the earth's magnetic field.

»   Male moose have antlers 7 feet across. The antlers often weigh 60 pounds.

»   Sharks lay the largest eggs in the world.

»   Male sea lion may have more than 100 wives and sometimes go three months without eating.

»   Sheep will not drink from running water. Hence, the line in the Twenty-third Psalm: "He leadeth me beside the still waters."

»   Male western fence lizards do push-ups on tree limbs as a courtship display for females.

animals

A cat's jaws can not move sideways

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

A bear has 42 teeth.

Giraffes have no vocal cords.

Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten

Mice, whales, elephants, giraffes and man all have seven neck vertebra

Goat's eyes have rectangular pupils.

There are only two animals with blue tongues, the Black Bear and the Chow dog

A chimpanzee can learn to recognize itself in a mirror, but monkeys can't.

Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.

Ants cannot chew their food, they move their jaws sideways, like scissors, to obtain the juices from the food

Crickets hear through their knees

A flea expert is a pullicologist

Chickens absorb vitamin-D through their combs from sunshine

The average hen will lay 227 eggs a year

Swans are the only birds with penises.

Kiwi birds are blind, they hunt by smell.

Hummingbirds are the only animals that can fly backwards

A flamingo can eat only when its head is upside down.

Chickens that lay brown eggs have red ear lobes. There is a genetic link between the two.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than it's brain.

Mockingbirds can imitate any sound from a squeaking door to a cat meowing.

A woodpecker can peck twenty times a second

Owls have eyeballs that are tubular in shape, because of this, they cannot move their eyes.

The fastest bird is the Spine-tailed swift, clocked at speeds of up to 220 miles per hour.

The hummingbird is the only bird that can hover and fly straight up, down, or backward!

The Kiwi, national bird of New Zealand, can't fly. It lives in a hole in the ground, is almost blind, and lays only one egg each year. Despite this, it has survived for more than 70 million years.

It is physically impossible for pigs to lookup into the sky.

When a female horse and male donkey mate, the offspring is called a mule, but when a male horse and female donkey mate, the offspring is called a hinny.

A donkey will sink in quicksand but a mule won't.

A diamond will not dissolve in acid. The only thing that can destroy it is intense heat.

The air we breathe is 78% nitrogen, 21.5% oxygen, .5% argon and other gases.

The only rock that floats in water is pumice.

The three most common elements in the universe are 1) hydrogen; 2) helium; 3) oxygen.

Eagles mate in mid air.

James Cook
1773 --- 1st person to cross Antarctic Circle.

Marquis d'Arlandes
Pilatre de Rozier
1783 --- 1st humans to fly. They were airborne in a hot-air balloon for 20 minutes, in Paris, on Nov. 21.

1st female Nobel Prize winners:
1903 ---  Physics: Marie Sklodowska Curie
1905 ---     Peace: Baroness Bertha Sophie Felicita von Suttner
1909 --     Literature: Selma Ottilia Lovisa LagerlØf
1911 ---    Chemistry: Marie Sklodowska Curie
1947 ---     Physiology & Medicine: Gerty Radnitz Cori

Marie Sklodowska Curie 1911 --- 1st person ever to win two Nobel Prizes. Her first was in Physics (1903) and the second in Chemistry (1911.)

What is the most common element found in the universe?
A: Hydrogen

Which planet is the hottest?
A:  Venus is the hottest planet.

Which planet is the coldest?
A: Pluto is the coldest planet. It has an icy temperature of -400 F.

How long is an astronomical unit?
A: The Astronomical Unit is the average distance between the Sun and Earth. Its value is 149,597,870 km (about 93 million miles).

Q: What landmark invention did Ts'ai Lun invent from bark and hemp in the second century?
A:  Paper.

Q: What was the occupation of cotton candy machine inventor William James Morrison?
A:  Dentist.

Q:  What Italian astronomer invented the thermometer in 1592?
A: Galileo.

Q: What did George Nisser invent after observing high wire performers bouncing on safety nets?
A:  The trampoline.

Q:  What century saw the invention of the shoelace?
A: The eighteenth. 

Q: What O-word describes oxygen with molecules that have three atoms instead of two?
A: Ozone.

Q: What unit of measure do you multiply by .39 to convert it to inches?
A: Centimeters.

Q: What sea creature can have an eye measuring 16 inches across, the largest in the animal kingdom?
A:  A squid.

: What do doctors look at through an ophthalmoscope?
A:  The eye.

: What's short for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation"?
A: Laser.

A cockroach can live for up to a week without a head.

Ants don't sleep.

Aphids are born pregnant without the benefit of sex. Aphids can give birth 10 days after being born themselves.

Dragonflies are one of the fastest insects, flying 50 to 60 mph.

Each year, insects eat 1/3 of the Earth's food crop.

Only female mosquitoes bite. Females need the protein from blood to produce their eggs.

The animal responsible for the most human deaths world-wide is the mosquito.

The blood of mammals is red, the blood of insects is yellow, and the blood of lobsters is blue.

There are more than 900,000 known species of insects in the world.

When a queen bee lays the fertilized eggs that will develop into new queens, only one of the newly laid queens actually survives. The first new queen that emerges from her cell destroys all other queens in their cells and, thereafter, reigns alone.

When ants find food, they lay down a chemical trail, called a pheromone, so that other ants can find their way from the nest to the food source

Our galaxy has approximately 250 billion stars.

Sea water is approximately 3.5 percent salt.

The eyeball of a human weighs approximately 28 grams.

There are approximately 13,000 identifiable varieties of roses throughout the world.

There are approximately 2,700 different species of mosquitoes.

There are approximately 250,000 sweat glands in your feet.

There are approximately 45 billion fat cells in an average adult.

There are approximately 7,000 feathers on an eagle.

There are approximately 75,000,000 horses in the world.

There are approximately 9,000 taste buds on the tongue.
A chameleon can move its eyes in two directions at the same time.

A chameleon's tongue is twice the length of its body.

A chimpanzee can learn to recognize itself in a mirror, but monkeys can't

Carnivorous animals will not eat another animal that has been hit by a lightning strike.

Catfish have 100,000 taste buds

Elephants can communicate using sounds that are below the human hearing range: between 14 and 35 hertz.

Seals

»   Seals can sleep underwater and surface for air without even waking.

»   Lungless salamanders are the largest group of salamanders. They have no lungs or gills and breathe through their skin, which must be kept damp to allow oxygen in. If they dry out, they will die of suffocation.

»   Seals can withstand water pressure of up to 850 pounds per square inch.

»   Macaws are the largest and most colorful species of the parrot family.

»   Seals have back flippers that can’t bend under the body in order to walk on land, while sea lions use their leg-like hind flippers to “walk” on land.

»   Made of mud, small stones, straw, and feathers, flamingos build nest mounds that can be as high as 12 inches (30 cm).

»   Mahimahi is dolphin, but not the mammal with the big brain and the need to surface to breath (like Flipper). The mahimahi is a fish, but the United Nations dubbed it “dolphinfish” to end the confusion.

»   Male and female sea turtles are about the same size.

Sea sponges

  Sea sponges are used in drugs for treating asthma and cancer.

»   Llamas are smaller than horses, making them good pack animals, but they are not strong enough for people to ride upon. Typically, a llama can carry 80 to 100 pounds.

»   Sea sponges, stationary invertebrates that sometimes form a tough, flexible skeleton full of pores, were harvested as the first sponges used for bathing and cleaning.

»   Lobsters molt 20 to 30 times before reaching the one-pound market size.

»   Seabirds have salt-excreting organs above their eyes which enable them to drink salty water;seasnakes have a similar filter at the base of their tongue.

»   Lobsters, like grasshoppers — feel no pain. They have a decentralized nervous system with no cerebral cortex, which in humans is where a reaction to painful stimuli proceeds.

»   Seals and whales keep warm in the icy polar water thanks to a layer of fat called blubber under their skin. Whale blubber can reach up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) thick.

»   Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary opened in 1927 in Brisbane, Australia, and it was the first, and is still the largest, koala sanctuary in the world. Tourists can cuddle one of 130 koalas, hand feed kangaroos and emus, and see a large variety of Australian native wildlife in the 50-acre sanctuary, such as wombats, Tasmanian devils, and dingoes. Koala cuddling has been banned in New South Wales since 1997, but cuddling is still permitted in Queensland, and especially at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. In Queensland, koalas can only be cuddled for less than 30 minutes per day. They must also get every fourth day off. At Lone Pine, koalas are timed for “clock on” and “clock off” when they go to the koala cuddling area.

science trivia questions answers and facts.

science trivia questions answers and facts.

Science trivia questions answers and facts.
What was the first city to be leveled by a plutonium-based atomic bomb?
A: Nagasaki.
What high-level computer language was named after a French mathematician and philosopher?
A: PASCAL.
What Mercury astronaut had a pulse rate of 170 at lift-off-John Glenn, Alan Shepard or Gus Grissom?
A: Gus Grissom.
What type of vessel was powered by a hand-cranked propeller when first used in combat in 1176?
A: A submarine.
What creature proved to be much faster than a horse in a 1927 race in Sydney, Australia?
A: The Kangaroo.
Science trivia questions answers and facts.
What radioactive element is extracted from carnotite and pitchblende?
A: Uranium.
What organ of a buffalo did Plains Indians use to make yellow paint?
A: The gallbladder.
What optical aids was nearsighted model Grace Robin the first to show off in 1930?
A: Contact lenses.

What creature's fossilized leg bone did John Horner discover red blood cells in, in 1993?
A: A tyrannosaurus rex's.
What sticky sweetener was traditionally used as an antiseptic ointment for cuts and burns?
A: Honey.
What computer was introduced in 1984 Super Bowl ads?
A: The Macintosh.
What male body part did Mademoiselle magazine find to be the favorite of most women?
A: Eyes.
What planet is named after the Greek god who personified the sky?
A: Uranus.
What fat substitute got FDA approval for use in snack foods, despite reports of diarrhea and cramps?
A: Olestra.
What plant's meltdown was dubbed "Russian Roulette" by nuclear power wags?
A: Chernobyl's.
What is a single unit of quanta called?
A: A quantum.
What will fall off of the Great Sphinx in 200 years due to pollution and erosion, according to scholar Chikaosa Tanimoto?
A: It's head.
What suntan lotion was developed by Dr. Ben Green in 1944 to protect pilots who bailed out over the Pacific?
A: Coppertone.
What was Friedrich Serturner the first to extract from opium and use as a pain reliever?
A: Morphine.
What substance nets recyclers the most money?
A: Aluminum.
What are you shopping for if you are sized up by a Brannock Device?
A: Shoes.
What animal travels at 25 mph under water but finds it easier to toboggan on its belly on land?
A: The penguin.
What's the itchy skin condition tinea pedis better known as?
A: Athlete's foot.
What uncooked meat is a trichina worm most likely to make a home in?
A: Pork.
How many of every 10 victims infected by the Ebola virus will die in two days?
A: Nine.
What computer company was named after a founder's memories of spending a summer in an Oregon orchard?
A: Apple.
What butterfly-shaped gland is located just in front of the windpipe?
A: The Thyroid.
What's short for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation"?
A: Laser.
What planet is the brightest object in the sky, after the sun and moon?
A: Venus.
What weapon did German gunsmith August Kotter unload on the world in 1520?
A: The rifle.
What type of machine did 19-year-old French genius Blaise Pascal invent to help his dad do taxes in 1642?
A: An adding machine.
What do leukemia sufferers have too many of?
A: White blood cells, or leukocytes.
What Benjamin Holt invention was good news to farmers in 1900?
A: The tractor.
What weather phenomenon is measured by the Beaufort scale?
A: Wind.
What do itchy people call the "rhus radicans" they were sorry they came into contact with?
A: Poison Ivy.
What drupaceous fruit were Hawaiian women once forbidden by law to eat?
A: The coconut.

gold

science trivia facts.
A diamond will not dissolve in acid. The only thing that can destroy it is intense heat.
A lump of pure gold the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court.
Absolutely pure gold is so soft that it can be molded with the hands.
An ounce of gold can be stretched into a wire 50 miles long.
Colored diamonds are caused by impurities such as nitrogen (yellow), boron (blue). With red diamonds being due to deformities in the structure of the stone, and green ones being the result of irradiation.
Free science trivia facts.
Diamond is the hardest naturally occurring substance, and is also one of the most valuable natural substances. Diamonds are crystals formed almost entirely of carbon. Because of its hardness, the diamond is the most enduring of all gemstones. They are among the most costly jewels in the world, partly because they are rare, Only four important diamond fields have been found - in Africa, South America, India, and the Soviet Union.
In 1957, the Shipping port Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States, went on line. (It was taken out of service in 1982.)
In 1982, in the first operation of its kind, doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center implanted a permanent artificial heart in the chest of retired dentist Dr. Barney Clark, who lived 112 days with the device.
Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature.
Mineral deposits in caves: The ones growing upward are stalagmites, the ones growing downward are stalactites.
Natural gas has no odor. The smell is added artificially so that leaks can be detected.
Prussic acid, in a crystalline powder called Zyklon B, was used to kill in Germany's gas chambers. The gas would paralyze the victim's lungs, causing them to suffocate.
Sea water, loaded with mineral salts, weighs about a pound and a half more per cubit foot than fresh water at the same temperature.
Ten per cent of the salt mined in the world each year is used to de-ice the roads in America.
The air we breathe is 78% nitrogen, 21.5% oxygen, .5% argon and other gases.
The Chinese were using aluminum to make things as early as 300 AD Western civilization didn't rediscover aluminum until 1827.
The Cullinan Diamond is the largest gem-quality diamond ever discovered. Found in 1905, the original 3,100 carats were cut to make jewels for the British Crown Jewels and the British Royal family's collection.
The largest gold nugget ever found weighed 172 lbs., 13 oz.
The largest hailstone ever recorded was 17.5 inches in diameter - bigger than a basketball.
The most abundant metal in the Earth's crust is aluminum.
The only rock that floats in water is pumice.
The three most common elements in the universe are 1) hydrogen; 2) helium; 3) oxygen.
The United States government keeps its supply of silver at the US Military Academy at West Point, NY. A diamond will not dissolve in acid. The only thing that can destroy it is intense heat.
A lump of pure gold the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court.
Absolutely pure gold is so soft that it can be molded with the hands.
An ounce of gold can be stretched into a wire 50 miles long.
Colored diamonds are caused by impurities such as nitrogen (yellow), boron (blue). With red diamonds being due to deformities in the structure of the stone, and green ones being the result of irradiation.
Diamond is the hardest naturally occurring substance, and is also one of the most valuable natural substances. Diamonds are crystals formed almost entirely of carbon. Because of its hardness, the diamond is the most enduring of all gemstones. They are among the most costly jewels in the world, partly because they are rare, Only four important diamond fields have been found - in Africa, South America, India, and the Soviet Union.
In 1957, the Shipping port Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States, went on line. (It was taken out of service in 1982.)
In 1982, in the first operation of its kind, doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center implanted a permanent artificial heart in the chest of retired dentist Dr. Barney Clark, who lived 112 days with the device.
Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature.  
Science trivia facts.
Mineral deposits in caves: The ones growing upward are stalagmites, the ones growing downward are stalactites.
Natural gas has no odor. The smell is added artificially so that leaks can be detected.
Prussic acid, in a crystalline powder called Zyklon B, was used to kill in Germany's gas chambers. The gas would paralyze the victim's lungs, causing them to suffocate.
Sea water, loaded with mineral salts, weighs about a pound and a half more per cubit foot than fresh water at the same temperature.
Ten per cent of the salt mined in the world each year is used to de-ice the roads in America.
The air we breathe is 78% nitrogen, 21.5% oxygen, .5% argon and other gases.
The Chinese were using aluminum to make things as early as 300 AD Western civilization didn't rediscover aluminum until 1827.
The Cullinan Diamond is the largest gem-quality diamond ever discovered. Found in 1905, the original 3,100 carats were cut to make jewels for the British Crown Jewels and the British Royal family's collection.
The largest gold nugget ever found weighed 172 lbs., 13 oz.
The largest hailstone ever recorded was 17.5 inches in diameter - bigger than a basketball.
The most abundant metal in the Earth's crust is aluminum.
The only rock that floats in water is pumice.
The three most common elements in the universe are 1) hydrogen; 2) helium; 3) oxygen.
The United States government keeps its supply of silver at the US Military Academy at West Point, NY.

‘Time to polish those very rough edges’- by chetan bhagat

Dear  Chetan Bhagat,

Your column ‘Time to polish those very rough edges’.

I do not venture to write on politics or politicians because it would be better to write about the shape of a cloud at least I can be sure that probably sometime or other I can show to people what type of cloud I was writing about. So at the outset let me make it very clear that I am not a supporter of any particular party or political figure.  

I would like you not to ignore facts even if you are not willing to accept or approve them. This is the fundamental rule for writing about politics or history. You are at liberty to then give your own interpretations, justifications, opinions etc. So, first notice facts without prejudice, take notes from political correspondents like Paul Johnson or our own M.J. Akbar [ who has incidentally written an excellent article in the same page today] and read history by authors like Will Durant, Dance etc along with reading of social psychology before venturing to write on subjects like Modi. Do your home work before arrogating yourself  to sit on judgment on all matters like TV anchors or act like the feigning petty know-all newspaper or news channel reporters. 

1] “He stands tall but does not work well as a combo meal” It is not a rough edge it is the sharp difference of a great personality and all great leaders are firm and look firm. He did not have greatness thrust upon him either by virtue of any dynasty, sect, class, caste, religion or sponsored by any political party or business house but has become great through showing to India what is governance and what a leader who gives priority to governance over corruption and promoting his family members can do. What is wrong in being a tall leader if you can deliver good governance and achieve something very important for improving the economic conditions of the people like a Margaret Thatcher, Moraji Desai, Vallabai Patel, Martin Luther King, Jothi Basu and E.M.S.Namboodiripad [ from a parties where party ideology {whether right or wrong} and cadre approval matter more than any single personality]

2] On Independence Day remember it was not aggression but it was honest appraisal and evaluation. Come on stop being hypocritical all Prime Ministers, Ministers, Chief Ministers owe their post , position , power ,pelf etc to politics and must and do use all opportunities to play politics. Unfortunately most Prime Ministers and Chief Ministers observe Independence Day and Republic Day as mere calendared observation of rituals rather than an occasion to put across what is required to make the nation a better place to live and acknowledge the mistakes that have led the nation to where it is now and also pointing out who is responsible for the mess [here though not directly- unfortunately the PM is the official face of the present Government]

3] Modi hype. Without PR, publicity or hype nothing sells anywhere. That too in a country where it involves taking on a entire government machinery , paid and biased media and a hoard of sycophants who would do anything to support a single family. Please remember it is only because of hype and promotion by business houses like IBD that your books are in the front racks in most book shops at the Air ports, Railway stations, major book stalls etc and only because of hype an ordinary small time writer like you could become popular enough to migrate from writing very ordinary novels to writing columns in newspapers and they too publish them. Please do not abuse something [hype and publicity] which has given you an identity which probably many better writers deserve in India.

4] Pan –Indian sensitivity. Please define what it is? Probably only economic development, equal opportunities to all, dignified living standards to everyone, national interest above dynastic, family, party ideology etc could be the few things that can be included in that classification called  Pan –Indian sensitivity. We cannot even include common civil code for fear of  losing a particular minority vote which is euphemistically and conveniently termed as Secularism of lately. On this Modi has declared boldly that Constitution is the only religion of a politician.

He talks frankly as all leaders who have with national and economic welfare as a vision and mission combined with  good intentions, initiatives and interest in implementing them like Margaret Thatcher, Dr. B.R . Ambedkar, Vallabhai Patel, Moraji Desai, Kamaraj etc rather than perpetuating a dynasty, promoting their kith and kin or thrusting a political ideology at the cost of economic welfare of all. It was one family which ensured that a great person like B.R. Ambedkar was never allowed to lead the nation as a main leader or sidelined Kamaraj and ultimately pushed him out they want to push aside Modi too because he belongs to very backward Ghanchi caste.

Considering all this I find your write up as highly parochial, prejudiced and perhaps paid up.