5 Amazing Facts about Puffin Bird

Puffins are pelagic seabirds that feed on fish which they catch by diving in the water. They have black and white feathers and a large and colorful beak(shaped more like parrot's beak). Puffin birds are found in three species, out of which two species the tufted puffin and horned puffin are found in the North Pacific Ocean where as the Atlantic puffin is found in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Atlantic Puffin

5 Amazing Facts About Puffin Birds 

1. Many misinterpret puffin bird with penguins. This could be because they share the same black and white body color. Penguins have black and white skin coat, while puffins have black and white feathers. One more similarity between both penguin and puffin bird is their love for eating fish. But penguins are penguins and puffins are birds. Penguins have wings but can't fly, but puffins are seabirds that fly. They don't even belong to the same family. While penguins belong to the family Spheniscidae, puffin bird belongs to family Alcidae.

2. Puffin birds always breed in large colonies usually on coastal cliffs or offshore islands. They nest in burrows(empty rabbit burrows), or even in rock crevices. They are found in a much larger number and mostly the areas or islands they breed are referred to as Puffin Islands.

Tufted Puffin

3. After the breeding season, puffin birds shed the colorful part of their beak leaving it to look dull and small.  Only during the breeding season the puffin birds have a colorful beak.

4. Puffins feed on fishes like herring, capelin, hake etc and also zooplankton. They have this unique ability to hold and carry as many as dozen small fishes at a time crosswise in their bill.

5. Puffins have the ability of swimming underwater as well as fly in the air. Their webbed feet enables them to swim effortlessly underwater, where they catch many fishes at a time. 

How Do We Get High Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is the force of our blood that pushes against the arteries. We do need some blood pressure so that it helps the blood to move throughout the body. But at times, the pressure rises more than one needs and stays high over time. This high pressure keeps pushing against the walls of the arteries as the heart pumps blood. In many ways this high rise in the blood pressure can damage our body. This process of the rise in the regular blood pressure and staying high over the time is known as high blood pressure.

High blood pressure is also referred as 'hypertension'. This condition of high blood pressure in one is dangerous as it makes one's heart pump and push more than normal stages. Understand this, the higher one's blood pressure, the greater is the damage risk. High blood pressure needs to be controlled to avoid major damage such as a heart stroke, heart attack or other complications. The situation at times could be fatal.

Symptoms and Causes of High Blood Pressure

Some symptoms of high blood pressure include severe headache, chest pain, tiredness, irregular heartbeat and difficulty in breathing. Some foods that may get you blood pressure higher include intake of salt, packaged foods, frozen food items, heavy creams, etc. Packaged foods and canned foods are the many culprits as they have heavy doses of sodium in it. Foods like canned beans, canned fruits, frozen meats, soft drinks, pastries should be avoided as much as possible.

One can include fresh fruits and vegetables, oatmeal, leafy vegetables, fishes with omega 3s, cow milk and berries to maintain a healthy heart. Other than foods, some other factors that lead to high blood pressure include body temperature, mental state, sleep apnea, over exertion and certain medications or drugs.

How is Blood Pressure Measured?

Blood pressure is measured with an instrument known as the sphygmomanometer, commonly also known as the blood pressure monitor or blood pressure gauge. The blood pressure is measured as systolic and diastolic pressures. Here 'systolic' refers to blood pressure while pumping blood and 'diastolic' means blood pressure when heart is at rest in between beats. 

What are Waterspouts

Tornadoes that form over water are called as waterspouts. A waterspout is a strong columnar whirlpool that resembles funnel shaped cloud and move over water. At times they form over water and move over land from water. A waterspout could be accompanied by heavy hail storm, lightnings and strong winds. A waterspout has a five part life cycle, which include a dark spot formation on the water surface followed by spiral pattern of water surface and formation of a spray ring along with a development of visible cloud like condensation funnel which finally decays.

Waterspouts can form in an area less than 2 km in width. The column of rotating cloud that is funnel shaped, descends over water. This cloud that develops could be mild or even harmful. Some of the waterspouts formed are strong and usually tornadic in nature. At times these waterspouts could be mild and weak. Such mild waterspouts are caused by different atmospheric pressures and develop in moisture laden environment. Though weaker than a tornado, waterspout can still manage to cause considerable damage to it's surroundings.

Where are waterspouts witnessed?

Waterspouts are witnessed in tropics and subtropical areas. Europe, Australia, New Zealand have common occurrences of waterspout. One of the area which witness waterspouts frequently is Florida Keys with around 400 waterspouts approximately around the world. 

What is Chromite

Chromite is an oxide mineral. The main composition of Chromite is chromium along with iron and oxygen. It is the only ore of Chromium. The color of chromite varies from grey to black  and has a sub-metallic lustre with a high specific gravity. Chromite is relatively hard and metallic. It is found in basic and ultra-basic igneous rocks or metamorphic rocks and even sedimentary rocks. Their occurrence is a result of altering of these rocks by heat or weathering.

Being the only ore of chromium, chromite is highly used in the production of stainless steel, nichrome and chrome plating. Given it's high heat stability, it is also used as a refractory material. 

Why Vultures are Not Affected By Eating Rotten Carcasses

If humans were made to consume rotten food, we would definitely fall sick. Even if our food loses some of it's freshness, we could get digestion problems. Most of us suffer problems of food poisoning by eating stale foods, or foods left open for a long time. Not just humans but many animal fall prey to food poisoning. On the other hand, vultures are seen striving on decaying meat and rotten carcasses. And this is what we wonder - how can vultures eat rotten carcasses and still remain unaffected?

First of all, as we know a vulture is a scavenger and eats dead and rotten meat. They contribute tremendously to maintain the balance in the ecosystem by playing this role. It is said that they have this super ability of smelling a rotten carcass from far distances. And they can survive feeding on dead meat. The stomach acid of the vulture is significantly stronger and corrosive - to an extent that it can burn away almost anything. Even the harmful bacteria and other dangerous microbes present inside the rotting meat could be easily destroyed by the stronger stomach of a vulture. Hence even if a vulture feeds on a rotting carcasses which has been badly infected with these dangerous bacteria, the stomach acid would make it a point to kill the bacteria and make the meat safe enough for the vultures to survive on. 

What is Curium?

One of the rare metals, curium is radioactive in nature. It is hard, brittle and silvery. It's occurrence is not in nature and hence is a synthetic element. It has to be made in a nuclear reactor. The process of making curium in a nuclear reactor is by neutron capture reactions from plutonium and americium isotopes.

Curium glowing in the dark

Curium was discovered by American Chemist Glenn T. Seaborg, Ralph A. James and Albert Ghiorso in 1944 in USA. The metal was named after chemist and physicist Marie Curie and her husband Pierre Curie, who are known to be the pioneers of radioactivity.

One of the property of Curium is that, it tarnishes slowly in dry air at room temperature. Most of it's compounds are faintly yellow. Curium is highly radioactive and glows red in dark. Curium is considered to be dangerous. If curium enters the body it gets accumulated in the bone marrow and with it's radiation starts destroying the marrow and further stops red blood cell formation.

What is Curium used for?

Presently curium is used only for basic scientific research. Curium 244 is a power source in radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). It is also used in the Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (AXPS) which is used in measuring the abundance of chemical elements and soils on Mars.

Mount Wycheproof in Australia - The Smallest Mountain in the World

Located in the Wycheproof town in Victoria, Australia; Mount Wycheproof is the smallest mountain in the world. Formed around thousand years ago, Mount Wycheproof is a granite outcrop and surfaces as a rocky, conical peak. Sustaining about 43 meters above the landscapic topography, this mountain is known for its elegant and distinctive pinkish colored geological substance - Wycheproofite!! The Mount Wycheproof is located in a flat grassland area. This hill plays a major role within the local community. Annual races are held within hill top. Apart from that,  there are several walking trails throughout the hill. The wildlife of Mount Wycheproof comprises of animals including kangaroos and emus. 

Amazing Facts About Bats

Bats are the second largest mammal after rodents with almost 1000 species found all around the world. Most of the bats are nocturnal and could be found hanging upside down on trees, mountain cliffs or caves roosting during day. After roosting, a bat bird starts flying from its resting place in search of food. Bats roost a lot during day time and between bots of feeding during night.

Echolocation

During nights bats find their food either by sight or scent by using sound waves. This process is called echolocation. A microbat burst high frequency sound to find prey in the dark. This high frequency sound bounces off the prey such as a moth or a rat and thus the bat pinpoints the location of its food; by listening to the returning echo of their sound. Fishing bats too use echolocation to detect fish below the water surface.

Types of Bats

Bats species are divided into two groups - Megachiroptera or megabats and Microchiroptera or microbats.

Megabats

A Malaysian Flying Fox is a large fruit bat

Fruit bats fall under the category of megachiroptera or megabats. Fruit bats are also known as flying foxes and are found in tropical and subtropical parts of the continents of Asia, Africa and Australia. Most of the megabats eat fruits but few species are known to eat flowers, insects, pollen etc. The fruit bats prefer living in tropical belt due to abundant food supply. Megabats lack a tail unlike most species of microbats.

Microbats

Microbats are often mislead with the term insect-eating bats but they also feed on fruits, meat, fish, pollen as well as blood. These bats are found in tropical as well as temperate regions. Microbats are often known to roost in tree holes. Large microbats such as  False Vampire bats eat mice, rats and frogs.

20 Amazing Facts about Bats

1. Bats are the only mammals that can fly.

2. Bats find their food either by sight or scent by using sound waves which is a process called echolocation.

3. A bat's wing consists of an elastic membrane that is stretched between the elongated fingers of its front limbs and back of its hind limbs.

4. Btas have a clawed thumb on the edge of each wing.

5. Bats could get killed by frost and hence they hibernate in cold places where they would be protected by frost.

6. The place where a bat roosts is known as hibernaculum. This place has to be damp so that bats do not dry out. Perfect locations for roosting includes caves, tree holes, loft spaces etc.

7. Insect eating bats have large ears which are essential for echolocation.

8. In a long-eared bat, ears are almost as long as bat's head and body combined.

9. A horseshoe bat catches prey by emitting sounds through their noses.

10. Epauletted fruit bats have large eyes and nose.

11. Vampire bats feed on the blood of mammals or small birds. They make a wound on the ear or ankle of the prey with help of their razor like incisor teeth.

12. Smaller bats such as pipistrelles catch tiny gnats and mosquitoes.

13. Large bats such as noctules feed on cockchafers and dung beetles.

A Bumblebee bat is also known as Kitti's hog-nosed bat

14. Fruit bats squash ripe fruits against ridges on the roof of their mouth.. They then spit out the rind and large seeds.

15. Some species of bats are in danger of extinction due to greatest threats to their survival which  include destruction of habitat, pesticide and human vandalism.

16. Some animals that prey on bats include Mongrove rat snake, bat hawks, owls and cats.


17. The largest bat known is the Malaysian Flying Fox which can have a wingspan of up to 5 to 6 feet.

18. The smallest bat is known to be a Bumblebee bat which weighs only about 2 grams and is 30 mm long.

19. During sleeping, the toes of the bat have special locking mechanism which prevents fall when hanging upside down.

20. Like any other mammal, a female bat carries her young inside her womb until birth. 

What is Wildfire

Also referred commonly as forest fire, grass fire, bush fire, brush fire, hill fire or woodland fire; a wildfire is a uncontrollable fire which usually occur in wild land ares and tend to cause maximum damage. Though the wildfires usually start in forest areas, yet if not brought under control, spread quickly destroying vegetation or agricultural areas within the vicinity. Usually forest fires happen in those areas, which are with ample dry bushes where once ignited and left unnoticed, the fire spreads quickly.

Causes of Wildfire

There are many causes of wildfires which include a

- lightning

- volcanic eruptions

- heat waves

But the most common cause of wildfire is human carelessness. On an average out of every ten wildfires, eight are caused by people. Few factors like drought, climatic changes may also impact a risk of wildfire. During droughts, wildfire are particularly prevalent, as the dry leaves, twigs, branches etc may become highly inflammable and if a small ignite went unnoticed, could cause fire and read widely throughout the area destroying homes. Wildfire can lead to death of animals and destruction of property.

Wildfire are common occurrence in the wildland areas of United States and Canada. Same is the case with the vegetation areas of Australia and Western Cape of South Africa. 

What is Thallium

Named after the Greek word 'Thallos', Thallium is a soft, grey metal. It is a poor and malleable metal, soft enough to be cut with a knife at room temperature. Thallos means a green twig and thallium was named so for it's green spectral line. Thallium is highly toxic in nature and hence needs to handled with care. Thallium is very shiny though it dulls quickly in presence of oxygen. With the process of oxidation, thallium turns bluish grey and resembles lea. I order to prevent the oxidation of thallium which ends discoloring it, thallium has to be stored in mineral oils. Thallium is a toxic metal and should never come in contact with skin.

Uses of Thallium

Thallium is mainly used in electronic industry. Out of 70% of it's annual global production is used up in electronic industry. Rest of it is used in pharmaceutical industry for the production of nuclear medicine and also by the glass industry. Thallium is also used for the treatment of ringworm and other skin infections despite of it's toxic nature. Thallium sulfate is effectively used as a rodent killer and an ant killer as it is odorless and tasteless. 

Why Do Our Hands and Feet Go Numb?

Very often we experiences our hands and feet go numb. This usually happens when we sit in certain position for a long time or even when our hand or feet is folded for a long time. Once you change your sitting position or stand and relax you legs, give a rub to the numbed portion or pinch it, the tingling sensation within your numbed part slowly recedes and you body regains normalcy.  This numbness is usually temporary and diminishes after a while, but in certain instances, such numbness could become permanent.

What Causes Numbness

While sleeping many of us are in the habit of placing their arms under their head. When we do so the nerve signals are blocked as the pressure is applied on nerves. Same is the case when you cross your legs or fold them into sitting position for a long time. In such cases the body part resumes normalcy as soon as you rub your hand for a while or change the position. But it is not just the position that could block the nerve cells, it could also be some diseases such as kidney failure, diabetes, and vitamin deficiency or a damage due to some accident that could cause to block the nerve cells and stop the blood circulation. Few other reasons could include alcoholism, infections and autoimmune diseases such as Lupus and paralysis.

However the tingling sensation that you experience within your hands or feet may be followed by severe pain. Such a condition where the nerves are distantly blocked right from the part of the body that experiences numbness up to the brain is known as Peripheral Neuropathy. In this condition nerves are blocked distantly right from the brain throughout the spinal chord upto the hand or feet. In such cases a person may find it difficult to feel anything in his hands or legs and the numbness could overpower his sensations.

Numbness which is temporary usually disappears in no time. But certain numbness that has caused due to nerve damage or other diseases need medical evaluation. Medical field has solutions to regenerate the ability of peripheral nerve cells to overcome numbness as long as the nerve cells are not completely destroyed. 

What is Palladium?

Sources: Google images

A steel white in colour and ductile in nature, palladium is a tarnish-resistant metal which has a melting point of 1554 degrees C. It was discovered by William Hyde Wollastan in the year 1803 in England. The metal was named after the asteroid 'Pallas' which had been discovered at the same time as the metal. Also it gets it's name from the Greek god 'Pallas' which means Goddess of Wisdom. Palladium is denoted with the symbol Pd and has the atomic number 46. Though Palladium highly resembles Platinum, it is least dense an has the lowest melting point. 

What is Palladium Used For

Palladium is largely used in the jewelry industry for making jewelry. It is also used in dentistry in small amounts for making of dental amalgams which help decrease corrosion. Palladium also is used in making surgical instruments, electrical contacts, blood sugar strips, spark plugs of aircraft, watches and in automobile catalytic converters. The soft metal Palladium also plays a key role in the technology used for fuel cells which is used to combine hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity, heat and water. Palladium costs USD907.80 Per Troy Ounce (approximately 31 gm).

How Scorpions Can Survive Without Eating

Scorpions can face adverse situations and at times survive for months without food. Scorpions eat insects as food. When such situation occur, scorpions slow down their metabolism to one-third of its normal scale. With this routine they are able to use very little oxygen and can survive on just one insect a year.

This doesn't mean the scorpion can't spring up quickly enough in action on sight of it's food given hos low metabolism. Well no!! that's not the case. It still can hunt with the same zing as in normal circumstances. 

How to Avoid your Child's Disobedience

Disobeying is in our blood, wouldn't you agree to that! We ask ourselves, have we been the obedient kind? Our kids somewhere in their part of growing up get this trait from us. It's not something we ask them to learn from us. Our children pick and learn from daily observation - observing us! So this is how some children accidentally learn disobeying from their parents. It is also a behavioral trait that a child can develop in it's adolescent stage due to mental repression of their feelings.

How to deal with a disobedient child

- First we ask ourselves! Would it be right to spank or verbally abuse a child for disobeying? Is anger the right weapon to handle your child's tantrum. Is yelling back or punishing a child the right approach to reinforce obedience. Should we be taking a child's disobedience  personally and act accordingly. No!! certainly not.

- It takes a lot of patience on the part of parent to act as a responsible parent. First all we need to do is deal with this situation with patience and calm.

- Finding the actual reason behind child's disobedience could be the first step that you take to tackle it. Why is your child behaving so can help you answer a lot of questions and also help find solution.

- If the disobedience of your child comes from his curiosity then all it needs is good reasoning and patience to deal with the situation. Help them by providing solutions and answers to their curiosity.

- If a child is confused then clearing their confusion helps. Talk to them! Let them know the rights and wrongs.

- Tantrums can be the worst behavior trait a parent would wish to handle. A moody child needs to handle with loads of patience and calm. Try to divert their attention to change thier moods. Be calm and reasoning while doing so.

- Provide attention to your child. In order to avoid your child's disobedience spend some quality time with them so they don't go seeking your attention by being disobedient. Make it rule - in spite of your busy schedule, you will spend few hours of your day or maybe weekends with your children. Let your children know how much you love them.

- Don't encourage a child's disobedience during primary stages. Don't give into their unnecessary and unworthy demands every now and then. Teach them discipline.

- Don't punish your children every now and then. Be firm on decision you make if you think they are right for them. Certain instructions or rules should not be changed even for once. Any threat which you don't intend to follow shouldn't be made.

- Set an example. If you wish your child to follow rules, see that you too follow the same. For example, If you ask a child to eat vegetables but he doesn't see you eating them. Or you ask your child not to watch television while eating food but you watch. How do you expect a child to obey in such cases.

- At times a child disobeys because he feels his behavior is right. In such cases providing a little legroom or space helps. For instance a child would learn to obey if he experiences certain things, other then following your instruction out and out. 

Importance of Obedience in Children

One of the most important keystone of our society is obedience. Obedience is essential for a child's individual as well as social life. Without obedience, there would be void and what would exist is turbulence, disorderliness and rebellion. Obedience is essential for the betterment of human society. It is not only necessary for an individual's private as well as social life but comes handy in all dimensions of life.

Obedience in Children

A child must obey his parents. A student must obey his teacher. A disobedient child shows signs of being spoilt. On the contrary child who obeys may actually shine bright in his future. In the similar manner, obeying teachers portray respect for them. A student exhibits good behavior as well as manners.

To Obey or not to Obey

Obedience is fundamental essentials of life. But it can be damaging when it causes physical or mental distress. One needs to understand the perfect balance between obedience and submission. One should obey only if he believes in it, not because he is expected to. An obedient child should also know when, where and whom to obey. For this a child should understand what is right and what is wrong. When a child is unable to make such a difference then he is submissive to bullying. Blind obedience is bad. When disobedience makes you feel oppressive then it's time you question yourself - are you doing the right thing? Blindly following rules which one is forced to follow is not being obedient. Letting autocrats and dictators bully you is not obedience.

Role of Parent and Teacher in Teaching a Child being Obedient

It is the duty of a parent or the teacher to explain the child the importance of obedience and the right way to do so. A child should be taught to understand the difference between what is right and what is wrong, whom to obey and whom to disobey. Obedience in the correct sense may take a child to great heights, help to excel in studies and indeed lead him to a brilliant future ahead!

The Largest Temple Corridor in India

The corridor of Ramnathswamy Temple located at Rameshwaram, Tamilnadu has the largest temple corridor in India. This shrine is a Shiva Temple which has 1220 meters of huge corridors that houses around 1200 majestic columns made of granite. The Ramnathswamy Temple was built in 17th Century. Located on the Rameshwaram Island, it is a popular pilgrimage.

It is said that Lord Rama had performed rituals here on this island after killing Ravana. One of the twelve Jyotirlingas, Rameshwaram is an important and must visit pilgrimage in India.

Amazing Facts About The Pink Lake (Lake Retba)

Located in the north of Cap Vert Peninsula of Senegal, West Africa, the Pink Lake is one of the popular destinations. The actual name of Pink Lake is Lake Retba. Because of it's pink waters, the lake is called as Pink Lake or Lac Rose by the locals.

The Pink Lake gets its colour because of the presence of the Dunaliella Salina Algae that is slightly red or purple in colour. The red pigment within the algae is produced using sunlight for more energy.

This lake is said to be totally harmless for humans and hence one can swim in the lake. But the presence of high salt content within the lake makes it difficult for living organism to thrive. And hence not many organisms survive in the Pink Lake.

The salt content in the lake is said to be one and half times higher than the Dead Sea. Salt is extracted from the Pink Lake by locals and salt collecting industries. To protect their skin from the huge salinity, the salt workers apply shea butter on their skin for protection.

What is 83-42 Greenland

Sources - Google

Imagine this place which is identified by numbers and no, it's not a pincode! 83-42 Greenland is the northernmost point on Earth. It is a piece of land which was first spotted by Dennis Schmitt in 1998. Thereafter it was named a Schmitt Island. This place is located 432 miles from North Pole and measures about 35m X 15m. 

83-42 Greenland is 4 meters high in Greenland and is made of piles of rocks and mud. Yet this is a permanent piece of land where life in the form of Lichens exist. Lichens are a type of algae that grow on rocks and usually found in various colours. Earlier it was considered that Kaffeklubben Island was the northernmost point on Earth, but now 83-42 Greenland is the world's Northernmost point.

Stok Range

Within the well-known Hemis National Park, around 14 km southwest of Leh Ladakh district; lie the famous Stok Range. It stands at an altitude of 20,182 feet above sea level. It's highest peak Stok Kangri is a effortless and undemanding climb; and hence is most often considered as a beginning expedition for high altitude mountaineering such as Mount Everest.

The interesting feature of Stok Range is the breathtaking and dazzling rocks formed from strongly creased layer of deposits that point skyward in bright colours such as orange, purple and green.

A Fallstreak Hole

Sources: Google

A Fallstreak Hole is a large, oval gap that appears in Cirrocumulous clouds (high altitude clouds) or Altocumulous clouds (low altitude clouds). This hole, also known as Cavum literally appears as a punch hole in clouds. When the temperature of clouds is below freezing point but the water is not frozen due to lack of ice nucleus (Ice nucleus means the particle which plays the role of a nucleus and helps in the formation of ice crystals), such holes or gaps within the clouds form.

So due to the lack of ice nucleus the ice crystals that are formed set off chain reactions which cause the water droplets to evaporate around the crystals, thus leaving a large gap (circular or oval) in the cloud.