A tornado is generally perceived to be one of the most violent weather disturbances you could ever face. The extremely fast whirling winds mean that tornadoes can travel for many miles at great speed causing massive destruction, death and cost to the people and environment they hit. As an example one tornado traveled for 293 miles across the USA crossing the states of Missouri to Indiana.
The fastest recorded tornado winds were moving at 286 miles per hour. This occurred in Wichita Falls, Texas on April 2nd 1958. Fortunately only 2% of tornadoes become this violent but despite this sadly 70% of tornadoes still result in human casualties.
Tornado outbreaks have also know to occur together. In March 28, 1984, the North and South Carolinas became victims to 22 tornadoes. The tornadoes killed 57 people and injured 1,248 others. The damage was estimated to be $200 million. The next year, May 31, 1985, the states of Ohio, Ontario, and Pennsylvania were terrorized by 41 tornadoes that killed 75 people and injured 1,025 others. Total damages were estimated at $500 million.
Did you know that the word “aboriginal” translates into the phrase “first known?” Aboriginal was first used in Greece and Italy but when stone tools in Australia were found to be 12,000 years old, the word “aborigine” was assigned to name the native people of Australia.
Some archaeologists estimate that the aborigines in Australia have existed for more than 35,000 years. The aborigines were hunters and gatherers and developed spears, nets, and clubs to hunt all types of animals ranging from fish, birds, and other large animals animals. They cleverly used mud to camouflage themselves whilst stalking their prey and even wove baskets to store their food and supplies.
The aborigines are also known for their artistic side and produced bark paintings to tell stories about themselves. Modern day Australia contains an aboriginal population of around 2.5%. Despite a long and colorful history modern day aborigines are generally discriminated against which has caused huge unemployment levels and problems within their communities.
Many scientists study caves but few of them focus on stalactites. The stalactites are formations that appear like icicles hanging down from the roof of the cave. These stalactites are not made of ice but of calcium carbonate, but did you know that all stalactites all over the world only have two traits?
Firstly a stalactite grows one inch every 100 years. Secondly stalactites world wide all share the same thin conical shape. This second trait confused scientists because water could drip anywhere and theoretically, a stalactite can have any shape. As more studies and experiments were conducted, it was discovered that the carrot-like shape is due to the geometric law of motion that controls the growth of stalactites.
A dwarf planet is a celestial body which is too small to be considered a real planet but too large to be called a space rock. It must revolve around the sun and it should not be a satellite of another planet. Hence this disqualifies earth’s big moon from being a dwarf planet.
Our solar system currently has three dwarf planets. These are Ceres, Pluto, and Eris. Ceres was the first dwarf planet discovered and at first was classified as a large asteroid. However this was later corrected after discovering that it had not only its own inner core, but a very thin atmosphere and gravity.
The second dwarf planet Pluto was first considered a small planet in itself but its orbit crosses the Kuiper Belt in the same way that Ceres moves among asteroids within the asteroid belt making Pluto a dwarf planet.
The last dwarf planet is Eris which is also the largest and coldest dwarf planet and was discovered in 2005 beyond the orbit of Pluto.
The International Space Station (ISS) is a result of the collaboration between six countries (United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, Italy, and Brazil) and the European Space Agency.
Not only has it been inhabited by astronauts continuously since the first crew entered the station on November 2nd 2000 but amazingly it only needs three astronauts on board at any point in time, thats pretty efficient for a high tech space station don’t you think ?
Overall it has four modules, the Zvezda Module which is where the crew sleep, exercise, and eat. The Zarya Module which houses the controls for navigation, communication, propulsion, and electric power.
The Unity Module which is called the “Node,” as it forms a connecting passageway allowing astronauts to depressurize when they leave the station. Finally the Destiny Module which is the laboratory where sophisticated instruments are found and used for experiments.
Jupiter is the biggest planet in the solar system but unlike Earth it has no ground to speak off. It is made up of dense helium and hydrogen, along with water, nitrogen, and other gases.
Despite it being gas that doesn’t mean things will just pass through it. In fact when the 21 fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed into the surface of Jupiter during the 16th-22nd July 1994 huge explosions with plumes going thousands of kilometers high were observed. Amazingly enough this was also the first ever observed collission between two solar system bodies.
Another unique feature about Jupiter is that it has a huge storm that has been moving across the surface of Jupiter for some 300 years maybe more. In fact people on Earth can actually see and locate this storm by looking for a big red spot on its surface.
Lastly if it wasn’t already quite different to Earth it doesn’t have 1 moon but 39 moons of which the four biggest ones are known as the Galilean Moons which were discovered centuries ago by the scientist Galileo.
Autumn is a time of great beauty with trees turning from a bright green to shades of brown and red, but why do these leaves lose their green color and become the yellow, orange, and red we associate with Autumn?
Well when the air temperature drops the chlorophyll inside the leaves starts to break down and this reveals the other pigments that also exist naturally within the plant. Some example pigments include carotenoids and xanthophylls which usually give a yellow and or orange color to the leaves.
At the same time as the chlorophyll breaking down a layer between the leaf and the main stem called the abscission layer also starts to grow which cuts off the water supply to the leaf. This eventually causes the leaf to fall off but before that happens, the sugars within the leaf also break down into anthocyanin which can give leaves that dark red color. So there you go, if you ever wondered where those colors came from? Well now you know.
Winter is a hostile season for both animals and humans but interestingly both approach the cold in different ways. Whilst humans will survive by keeping their homes insulated and wearing several layers of clothing animals take a slightly different route ? In fact scientists studies have shown that most animals fall into one of three categories, they either hibernate, migrate, or simply stick it out with plain old grit.
Lets look at some examples. Bats, Woodchucks, and Black Bears know that there is very little food available during the winter so they bulk up during the spring and summer to hibernate and slow down their metabolism during the winter months.
Other animals such as Hawks and Monarch Butterflies simply take off and migrate to the south where the temperatures are much warmer.
Lastly certain animals such as Sparrows, Cottontail Rabbits, Red Foxes and the White-Tailed Deer simply stick things out and persevere during the winter.
During spring reports of abandoned animal babies are very common, so much so that they even have their own name and are called spring orphans. Not only have they been deliberately left behind by their parents but most of them actually survive and grow up to be healthy adults due to the gentle spring time environment.
So despite them looking helpless rescuing them is actually the wrong thing to do! If you see a baby bird in your backyard don’t pick it up and try to feed it, just let it do whatever comes to it naturally.
If you really feel compelled to help it then the best thing you can do without affecting its natural decisions is to keep pet cats and dogs leashed or inside the house to prevent them from accidentally hurting these new spring babies.
Everyones familiar with Wolverine from the X-men and his trademark mega sharp adamantium claws but have you ever wondered what a real wolverine looks and behaves like ?
Well Wolverines are the largest land dwelling member of the weasel family, they’re thick brown fur allows them to survive well in cold frosty conditions and they look more like a small bear than an actual weasel.
In terms of size they can grow as long as four feet and weigh as much as 40 pounds. All wolverines have two light colored stripes along their back and are considered to be meat eaters. In fact wolverines are extremely muscular and powerful for their size and have been known to kill and consume animals much larger than themselves.
Are you beginning to see the similarities between Logan from X-men and Wolverines now ? Yeah me neither.
