My Science School

World War I was an armed world conflict that took place mostly in Europe between 1914 and 1918 and it was fought by the Allies – Great Britain, France, Russia, and United States – on one side, and the Central Powers – Germany, Austria – Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire – on the other. The immediate cause of the World War I was the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Austrian heir-apparent to the throne, by a Bosnian Serb, on June 28th, 1914, in Sarajevo. The assassination sparked the chain of events that led straight to ‘the war to end all. 

 The final Allied push towards the German border began on October 17, 1918. As the British, French, and American armies advanced, the alliance between the Central Powers began to collapse. At 5 am on the morning of November 11th, an armistice was signed in a railroad car parked in a French forest near the front lines. Fighting ceased along the entire Western Front at precisely 11 am that morning. After over four years of bloody conflict, the Great War was at an end. 

History is Repeated in Reverse

 During World War II, France was forced to surrender to Germany on 22nd June 1940. To humiliate the French, the Germans insisted that the armistice be signed in the same railway carriage, in the same forest in which Germany had been forced to surrender in World War I.

 At 8:45 am, September 11th, 2001, the first of two airlines struck the World Trade Centre in New York. At 9:03, a second plane crashed into a second World Trade Centre tower, and exploded. At 9:43 am, a third passenger plane crashed into the Pentagon, the world's largest office building. At 10:48, police confirmed that a fourth passenger jet had crashed in Western Pennsylvania.

 September 11th marks the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil, and the last day of New York's World Trade Centre. Both the North and South Towers had collapsed, resulting in a massive cloud of debris, dust, and smoke. Everyone on the passenger planes that had been hijacked by terrorists was killed, as well as more than 3000 innocent people on the ground. Is it any wonder then that the day 11th September 2001 will always be remembered by us as one of the saddest days in modern times? 

People often think of fossils as being mineralized bones or shells stored in museums. However, they can even be any remains or traces of ancient organisms. They can ever be footprints, burrows, or casts of bodies, with nothing else surviving. Interpreting fossils is sometimes like solving a jigsaw puzzle.One of the ways of interpreting a fossil to compare the fossil with the skeleton of a living creature that seems to resemble it. For example, there are many well preserved fossils of coiled shell of ammonites, which are an extinct group of marine animals with no backbone. However, the soft body parts of these animals have not been preserved. But the fossils can be reconstructed, because a modern marine species known as the nautilus is very similar to the ammonites. So, in this case, interpretation is possible. When only one or two skeletons of a species have been discovered, there is no way of interpreting them correctly. For example, in the case of a dinosaur fossil, what was once interpreted as being a horn is now believed to be a large pointed thumb? So, until many similar specimens have been found, it is unwise to attempt a species description

The Tay Rail Bridge was completed in February 1878 to the design of Thomas Bouch. At that time, it was the longest bridge in the world. Less than two years later, at approximately 7:15 p.m. on the stormy night of 28th December 1879, the central navigation spans of the Tay bridge collapsed into the Firth of Tay at Dundee, taking with them a train, 6 carriages and killing 75 passengers.

Another famous bridge collapse was that of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (USA). It was revolutionary in its collapse. This bridge was known for its tendency to sway in windstorms. The shape of the bridge was much like that of an aircraft wing and under windy conditions, it would rise and fall likes the movement of a galloping horse. On November 7th, 1940 a large windstorm turned the galloping motion into uncontrolled bucking, and the bridge collapsed.

There have been several other bridges that have collapsed. On October 17th 1989, several bridges in San Francisco, USA, collapsed as the result of an earthquake. Bridges are marvels of engineering, but when they collapse, the marvel turns into a tragedy with terrible consequences.

Fossils form when an animal or plant dies in water or nearby places. The water insulates the remains from many of the elements that contribute to decomposition. For example, when an animal has died of old age at the bottom of the sea, bacteria consume the soft body parts, but leave the hard exoskeleton intact. As time passes, sediments bury the exoskeleton. As the sediments continue to pile on, the lower layers become compacted by the weight of the layers on top. Over time, this pressure turns the sediments into rock. As the continental plates move around the Earth, crashing into each other, mountains are formed. Former sea floors are lifted up, and become dry land. Thanks to the movement of the plates, fossils will come closer to the surface and nearer to discovery by some fortunate fossil hunter. Fossils are finally revealed through the forces of erosion.Though there are millions of fossils that have been discovered and millions more waiting to be discovered, fossilization is a rare occurrence. Soft bodied animals and plants that have no woody parts are rarely fossilized.

On August 13th, 1961, the East German government erected the Berlin Wall in order to keep its citizens from fleeing to the West. Just past midnight, trucks with soldiers and construction workers rumbled through East Berlin. While most Berliners were sleeping, these crews tore up streets that entered into West Berlin, dug holes to put up concrete posts, and strung barbed wire all across the border between East and West Berlin. Telephone wires between East and West Berlin were also cut. The Berlin Wall stretched over 160 kilometers. It ran not only through the centre of Berlin, but also wrapped around West Berlin, entirely cutting West Berlin off from the rest of East Germany.

 The Berlin Wall did prevent the majority of East Germans from emigrating to the West, yet during the history of the Berlin Wall, it is estimated that about 5,000 people made it safely across. The fall of the Berlin Wall happened nearly as suddenly as its rise. There had been signs that the Communist bloc was weakening yet it came as a surprise to everyone when at midnight on November 9th/10th 1989 East Germany’s Communist rulers gave permission for gates along the Wall to be opened after hundreds of people converged on crossing points. Berliners from the East surged through, cheering and shouting and were be met by jubilant West Berliners on the other side. Ecstatic crowds immediately began to clamber on top of the Wall and hack large chunks out of the 45 kilometer barrier. The Berlin Wall had become the gateway to freedom in Germany.

Paleontology is the study of fossils. Paleontology has played a key role in developing the theory of evolution. The study of fossils has shown that the animals and plants of prehistoric times were very different indeed from the animals and plants of today. By reassembling fossils bones, scientists can get an idea of the size and shape of the creatures that inhabited the Earth before the appearance of humans. Teeth and shells that have been fossilized also tell us much about the lifestyle of these creatures. Fossils of insects are often found embedded in amber, which is a transparent rock nodule formed when the resin from trees petrifies. Small creatures are sometimes trapped inside the amber, and are perfectly preserved to give us a glimpse of ancient insects.Trace fossils are also important in the study of evolution. Trace fossils are tunnels, worm casts and tracks that animals have made on soft sediment that has later hardened into rock. These imprints of animals on the move reveal much about the lives of ancient species, including their size, gait, stride length, and speed.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as the USSR or Soviet Union was the successor to the Russian Empire of the tsars. It came into existence in 1922, and stretched from the Baltic and Black Seas to the Pacific Ocean. In its final years, it consisted of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics.

During the period of its existence, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was by area, the world’s largest country. It was also one of the most diverse, with more than 100 distinct nationalities living within its borders. The U.S.S.R. covered some 22,400,000 square kilometers, seven times the area of India, and two and one-half times that of the United States. The country occupied nearly one-sixth of the Earth’s land surface, including the eastern half of Europe, and roughly the northern third of Asia.

 Dramatic changes, both political and economic, occurred during the late 1980’s and early 90’s. There was political restructuring, and greater openness to revitalize a struggling economy. There was also a wave of increased nationalism among the member republics, and in December of 1991, as the world watched in amazement, the Soviet Union disintegrated into fifteen separate countries. On 25th December 1991, the Soviet flag was lowered for the last time, marking the last official day of the Soviet Union.

Fossils are the remains of animals or plants which once lived on the Earth millions of years ago. When fossils were first discovered, people did not really understand what they were, and so, many myths and folklore developed over time, about where fossils came from.

            The coiled shell of some fossils led the Ancient Greeks to believe they were related to the ram-god Ammon. In China, these were also thought to resemble horns, and were called ‘horn stones’. In England, they were believed to be coiled snakes that had somehow lost their heads, and turned to stone. Echinoids, also known as sea urchins, are amongst the most commonly found fossils. In some places, they are considered to be snakes’ eggs, which have the power to protect one from deadly poisons.

Fire Eating Dragons

            Over 40,000 years ago, giant bears roamed over Europe. Some of them were buries in caves while hibernating, and over hundreds of years, their bodies turned into fossils with huge canine teeth. When these fossils were discovered in the Middle Ages, they were thought to be the remains of a mythical creature, the fire breathing dragon.

 

The British ruled India for over 100 years, and this period is known as the days of the British Raj. Under British rule, a strong Indian Nationalist Movement developed, that was led by Gandhiji. His famous campaign of non violence and civil disobedience finally succeeded in ending the British Raj and winning independence for India.The British Raj formally ended on midnight, August 14th 1947. A conch shell was blown to herald freedom, and to mark the opening of the new Indian Constituent Assembly. Each member swore allegiance to independent India. Nehru’s Independence Day speech stirred every Indian’s heart as he uttered the now famous words  ‘At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom’.

            

Between 1450 and the late 1800’s, it is estimated that between 10 and 15 million Africans were kidnapped, and sold into slavery. The slave trade was incredibly profitable, but very cruel too. For over 300 years, slaves were captured along the west coast of Africa, often with the active help of African kings and merchants. Slaves were traded for beads, textiles, brandy, horses, and guns. Slavery was illegal in the United States after the Civil War, but slaves continued to be traded in Central and South America for another 40 years, until finally slavery was declared illegal in Central and South America as well. 

Slavery existed not only in America, but in other parts of the world as well. Denmark was the first European country to abolish slavery in 1804, while Britain abolished slavery in March 1907. In the United States, slavery was one of the main issues in the Civil War between the North and the South. The last day of legal slavery in the USA was 31st January, 1865, while the world wide abolishment of slavery took place only in 1926.

 

Earth is estimated to be about 4.5 billion years old, hand for much of that history, it has been home to life in one form or another. Today, there are several theories for how life arose on Earth. The first of these is that life was created by a Supreme Being or spiritual force. The second theory is that life began in another part of the Universe, and arrived on Earth by accident when a comet or meteor crashed.

            Scientists say that life began around 3.5 billion years ago as a result of a complex sequence of chemical reactions that took place spontaneously in the Earth’s atmosphere. Molecules were formed as a result of these reactions. The molecules then interacted with one another, and this eventually led to the earliest forms of life.

            The first beings were probably bacteria which survived on naturally occurring food, and did not breathe oxygen. The fossils of these oldest forms of life have been found in Australian rocks dating back 3.5 billion years.

From the beginning of time, human beings have wondered how the Earth came into existence. Different religions have different explanations Scientists claim that a vast, dark, very hot cloud of dust swirled around a newly formed sun. Gradually, the cloud cooled, and the gas began to condense into billions of droplets. Slowly, these droplets were pulled together into clumps by their own gravity – and they carried on clumping until all the planets, including the Earth, were formed. In short, scientists and researchers have been arguing for centuries about how the Earth was formed, and the debate still continues.

Don’t you think a book is much more interesting if it has lots of pictures? Pictures or illustrations also make it easier to understand things. The manuscripts of ancient times which were decorated with elaborate initials, miniature illustrations and borders were called illuminated manuscripts. Sometimes, these decorations were even made with gold and silver!Very early printed books were sometimes produced with spaces left for miniatures, or were given illuminated initials or decorations in the margin. Illustrated printed books began to appear in the late 15th century, in Germany and Italy. In earlier times, some books had been published from woodcuts, with text and illustration all carved on a single block. Early type-printed books were illuminated by hand. However, this was very expensive.  Although many early printed books, like the Gutenberg Bible, relied on hand-coloured illustrations, others quickly integrated the new printing, using moveable type for the letters, with the older woodcut traditions. Another early technique was etching, in which the lines of the picture were cut into a copper plate with acid. In either case, ink was spread over the carved illustration and applied to the paper

Between 1450 and the late 1800’s, it is estimated that between 10 and 15 million Africans were kidnapped, and sold into slavery. The slave trade was incredibly profitable, but very cruel too. For over 300 years, slaves were captured along the west coast of Africa, often with the active help of African kings and merchants. Slaves were traded for beads, textiles, brandy, horses, and guns. Slavery was illegal in the United States after the Civil War, but slaves continued to be traded in Central and South America for another 40 years, until finally slavery was declared illegal in Central and South America as well. 

Slavery existed not only in America, but in other parts of the world as well. Denmark was the first European country to abolish slavery in 1804, while Britain abolished slavery in March 1907. In the United States, slavery was one of the main issues in the Civil War between the North and the South. The last day of legal slavery in the USA was 31st January, 1865, while the world wide abolishment of slavery took place only in 1926.