My Science School

Edwin Lutyens had a mammoth task ahead of him. He had been appointed as the architect of the new capital of the British Raj in 1911.

As with any magnificent city, Lutyens wanted broad tree-lined avenues and sprawling gardens to add to its splendour. To realize his vision, he asked an eminent horticulturist of the time, William R. Mustoe for help.

The two men met for breakfast every day, meticulously planning the layout and personally choosing the trees for the roads. The biggest challenge, however, was designing the garden behind the Viceroy’s house (no known as Rashtrapati Bhavan).

The Viceroy, Lord Hardinge, wanted the garden to a fusion of British and Indian designs. His wife, Lady Hardinge was a fan of the Mughal-style garden, which she considered to be a ‘dream of loveliness.’ Her enthusiasm inspired Lutyens to lay a beautiful combination of a formal Mughal charbagh and a classical British garden. So Mughal-style canals, walkways and terraces divided the garden into neat rectangles, interspersed with bursts of colourful English-style flowerbeds.

 

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Iceland is home to the largest glacier in Europe – Vatnajokull. Consider its immense dimensions – it covers an area of 8100-8300 sq. km and is about 400 m thick on an average, with a maximum thickness of 1000 m at one point.

Beneath the surface of the vast icy landscape, lie seething volcanoes which give rise to hot springs and geysers. This magical blend of fire and ice plays out to spectacular effect in Kverkfjöll, a 2.8km-long icy cavern system caused by the geothermal activity of the region.

The mountain range of Kverkfjöll is located in the north of the glacier. Its glacier cave was first explored in the 1980s by a French expedition. However, glacial caves keep changing in form as the geothermal heat melts the ice; so the cave you see today is different from what the first explorers had seen.

There are two sets of caves – the Lower and Upper Kverkfjöll Ice Caves. As one enters the extraordinary world of icy splendour, the centuries-old ice shimmers in stunning shades of blue. However, the caves are unstable and dangerous especially in summers when blocks of ice collapse near the entrance. Hence the caves are normally visited in winter.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Beppu, a city on the island of Kyushu, is one place in Japan where you can say you have been to hell and back! Home to the second largest volume of hot water in the world after Yellowstone Park (USA), Beppu has nine major geothermal hot spots, locally called the ‘Nine Hells of Beppu’. It is a popular tourist spot.

With temperatures ranging from 50  to 90 , these nine springs are too hot to bathe in, but they present spectacular multicolored vistas. Of them, the Oniishibozu Jigoku is a hot pit of mud bubbles that resembles the shaven head of a monk. The picturesque turquoise blue waters of Umi Jigoku rise up in puffs of billowing steam. Chinoike Jigoku or ‘Blood Pond Hell’ is so named due to its photogenic pool of red water. The milky white water of Shiraike Jigoku explains its name – ‘white Pond Hell’. In the vicinity is also a geyser that spouts every half-hour for about five minutes.

 

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In some relationships, one organism ends up deriving all the benefits, and the other is not harmed or helped. The remora (or suckerfish) attaches itself to the host fish, usually a shark or a large fish, with its mouth. The shark unwittingly provides protection, transportation and food scraps from prey. The remora merrily enjoys all the benefits of this association.

Then there are the parasites. A parasite associates with its host and uses the host’s resources to flourish and reproduce, harming the host in the process. The adult tapeworm is a parasite that lives in vertebrate intestines. It takes up nutrients from the food, depriving the host of essential nutrients. Ticks, fleas and head lice are also parasites.

 

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Oxpeckers are birds that eat ticks, flies and other insects from cattle and other grazing mammals. The oxpecker receives nourishment, and the animal that it grooms receives pest control. Oxpeckers are birds that are commonly found on the sub-Saharan African savanna. They can often be seen sitting on buffalo, giraffes, impalas, and other large mammals. In addition to parasite and pest removal, oxpeckers will also alert the herd to the presence of predators by giving a loud warning call.

Despite their vampiric tendencies, the oxpecker does have qualities that benefit its mammalian hosts.  As well as eating ticks and other external parasites, the oxpecker acts as a watchman for the mammals on which it happens to be situated. When danger approaches, a hissing call warns its host to a potential and nearby predatory threat thus allowing the host ample opportunity to either fight or flee.

 

 

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Clownfish live within the protective tentacles of the sea anemone. In return, the sea anemone receives cleaning and protection.

Sea anemones are attached to rocks in their aquatic habitats and catch prey by stunning them with their poisonous tentacles. Clownfish are immune to the anemone’s poison and actually live within its tentacles. Clownfish clean the anemone’s tentacles keeping them free from parasites. They also act as bait by luring fish and other prey within striking distance of the anemone. The sea anemone provides protection for the clownfish, as potential predators stay away from its stinging tentacles.

 

Picture Credit : Google