My Science School

Moles are very common, and most people have one or more. Moles are concentrations of pigment-producing cells (melanocytes) in your skin. People with light skin tend to have more moles.

Moles are caused when cells in the skin (melanocytes) grow in clusters or clumps. Melanocytes are distributed throughout your skin and produce melanin, the natural pigment that gives your skin its color.

Most moles are harmless. Rarely, they become cancerous. Monitoring moles and other pigmented patches is an important step in detecting skin cancer, especially malignant melanoma.

Moles can develop anywhere on your body, including your scalp, armpits, under your nails, and between your fingers and toes. Most people have 10 to 40 moles. Many of these develop by age 50. Moles may change in appearance or fade away over time. Hormonal changes of adolescence and pregnancy may cause moles to become darker and larger.

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One of the disputable things that we learnt from films is our idea of the quicksand. Does it really suck us to death? Quicksand is nothing but sand saturated with water, where the friction between sand particles is reduced. It is a mushy mixture of sand and saltwater. When you step into one, it does not immediately suck you in, rather it allows you to float, as quicksand is denser than water. It is your movement arising out of panic that digs you deeper into the pit. Because the human body is not dense enough to go all the way under, you would descend up to your waist, but no further.

At rest, quicksand thickens with time, hence your legs may get strongly held by it. But it remains very sensitive to small variations in stress. If you learn how to turn it around to your advantage, you can escape its clutches.

How to escape?

Asking your friend to pull you out doesn't work. The best way is to wriggle your legs around. This creates space between the legs and the quicksand through which water can flow down to loosen up the sand. You can get out safely using this technique. But it requires a lot of patience and considerable amount of force.

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If you are bookworm, you might be familiar with the term protagonist. It is used to describe the leading character in a story. But have you heard of deuteragonists, and tritagonists?

From the protagonist's perspective

A protagonist is usually easily recognisable as the main character of the story. Generally, the story is written from the protagonist's perspective. However, often a novel has multiple storylines and characters, each with their own storyline or role. For example, in "The Lord of the Rings" series, although Frodo is considered the main character as he has the Ring, Aragorn and Sam are equally significant. So are they protagonists too? No. That's where the concept of deuteragonists, and tritagonists comes in.

A dependable deuteragonist

Usually, deuteragonists are sidekicks, who support the protagonist. They are often (but not always) the second-most important character. So in "The Lord of the Rings" series, Sam can be called a deuteragonist Similarly, Rowley Jefferson is the deuteragonist in "The Diary of the Wimpy Kid" series. He is the well-meaning and helpful companion of Greg Heffley. However, Rowley also has his own spin-off series "Diary of an Awesomely Friendly Kid" in which he is the protagonist.

But not all sidekicks are deuteragonists. For example, Snowy from "Tintin" is not important enough to be a deuteragonist, but Captain Haddock is.

The tricky third

The third main character in a story can be called a tritagonist. It is generally a secondary side-kick character. The role of the tritagonist depends on the story. For example, Hermione is a tritagonist in the "Harry Potter" series. (However, fans are divided over this as they consider Hermione to be closer to Harry than Ron and hence, she is regarded more as a deuteragonist.) Other popular examples of tritagonists are Jessie from "Toy Story" with both Woody and Buzz, and both Princess Leia and Han Solo from "Star Wars".

On the dark side

Another important thing to remember is that not all deuteragonists and tritagonists are supportive of or helpful to the main character. They can also be evil and cause harm to the character. Yes, that's right, they can also be antagonists. For example, Prince Hans from the animated film "Frozen" reveals himself as an antagonist towards the end. Antagonists are the villains of the story, they are characters that bring harm upon the main character.

However, remember that these are only broad definitions, and depend on the story.

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You may have come across news stories about captive-breeding programmes being successful or failures. What is captive breeding?

Captive breeding is a programme where usually animals, birds, reptiles, etc. that are extinct or nearly extinct in the wild, or those that are endangered, are bred in a controlled facility under human supervision. It is seen as a conservation effort because it strives to ensure that a species does not go extinct, and as a result, also protects the animal's habitat. Captive breeding is also viewed as part of species-survival plans that help create "large, healthy, and genetically diverse populations", thus leading to biodiversity too. There are many instances of captive breeding leading to newer populations of animals. For instance, the Arabian oryx that went extinct in the wild in the 1960s was captive bred and reintroduced into the wild in the mid-1980s.

However, the process is not without concern.

Normally, the creatures are bred in an environment different from their natural habitat. They are also in a safe environment, and are fed, which means they lack opportunities for their natural instincts to kick in or to learn survival skills. This could prove problematic or even fatal when such animals are released into the wild. Also, since only a small population is used for breeding, it can lead to in-breeding. In-breeding happens when closely related animals breed. If there are genetic problems or infections in the breeding population, this is likely to continue over generations.

Captive breeding may not always be taken up for conservation. Animals could be bred this way for zoos where they are primarily used for exhibition, often in cages under unhygenic conditions. Exotic animals can be bred to be pets or for the pet trade, or for illegal trade where they are killed for their skin, meat, etc.

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A massive explosion and a towering inferno above the Caspian Sea caught international attention recently. Initially, it was thought to be an accident in one of Azerbaijan's multiple offshore oil and gas fields in the area, but investigations revealed that the blast was caused by an underwater mud volcano.

The blast took place about 10km from the Umid gas field, 75 km off the coast of the capital, Baku. The location of the fire roughly points to a mud volcano called Makarov Bank, which exploded in 1958, releasing a column of flame 500-600 metres high and 150 metres wide.

What are mud volcanoes?

Mud volcanoes are a rare type of volcano that erupt in the form of a superheated slurry of mud and water, unlike igneous volcanoes which produce lava. They are not necessarily driven by magmatic activity. Several geological processes may cause the formation of mud volcanoes. Some mud volcanoes are created hot-spring by hot- activity where large amounts of gas react with water and surrounding rocks to form boiling mud Steam from heated water deep underground forces mud through an opening or fissure in the ground Some mud volcanoes occur only in oil-field regions Under stress, methane and related hydrocarbon gases mixed with mud force their way upward and burst through to the surface, spewing mud in a cone-like shape. This mud is often hot and may have an accompanying steam cloud. The gas that builds up inside can be ignited by sparks created by fast-moving rocks and boulders beneath the surface during eruptions. This is believed to have caused the recent inferno in the Caspian Sea.

Mud volcanoes exist around the world, from Indonesia to Italy But some of the greatest concentrations of mud volcanoes on Earth exist near Azerbaijan Azerbaijan has around 400 of the roughly 1,000 known mud volcanoes on Earth, which, along with its abundance of oil and gas reserves has earned the country the nickname Land of Fire Most mud volcanoes are situated on small islands created by their eruptions, but some are hidden below the surface and form temporary peaks above the water when active The mud volcanoes in Azerbaijan are some of the biggest and most violent in the world The size of small mud volcanoes can be as high as four feet. Lusi in Indonesia is the largest mud volcano at 2300 feet El Totumo in Colombia at 50 feet high is believed to spew out mud with medicinal properties. Many people visit the volcano to lie on its mud.

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Recently, Blue Origin, the aerospace company owned by Jeff Bezos of Amazon, announced that it had chosen 82-year-old Walky Funk, a female aerospace pioneer, to rocket into space on its first passenger flight on July 20. She will not only be one of the passengers on board this crewed flight, but also the oldest to travel to space. Bezos, his brother Mark, and the winner of a charity auction (who has bid $28 million for a seat on this New Shepard flight) will be her co-passengers.

BBefore this, Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson had scheduled a short up-and-down flight along with three others to suborbital space on July 11.

But why are these space flights talked about a lot?

Space tourism

Space tourism is nothing but people travelling to space for fun or recreational purposes. Astronauts have been travelling to space since the 1960s to perform planets. If you are wondering whether Funk and team would be the first space tourists, the answer is “no”. American multi-millionaire Dennis Tito was the first space tourist. He is said to have paid $20 million for hitching a ride alongside trained cosmonauts on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station in the year 2001. What is distinct about the Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin flights is this is the first time private companies are attempting to send private individuals to space. The objective is to make space travel accessible to civilians. But whether space tourism will be within our reach, considering the exorbitant price involved for the experience, is debatable. However, these are just early days.

Besides Bezos’ Blue Origin and Branson’s Virgin Galactic, Elon Musk’s SpaceX is keen on ushering in a new era of private commercial space travel, wherein people will be transported on short, suborbital flights to the edge of space.

Suborbital flights

Suborbital flights ascend about 100 km above the Earth to let travellers experience a few minutes in space. They also enable travellers to experience weightlessness and to catch a glimpse of the planet's curvature through viewing windows before returning to Earth. A suborbital flight does not have the power or speed to achieve orbit. SpaceX, which already transports astronauts to actual orbit and to the International Space Station, plans an all-civilian mission to space later this year.

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German-born theoretical physicist Albert Einstein is someone who needs no introduction. Best known for developing the theory of relativity, Einstein has made several other important contributions as well.

Einstein had predicted the existence of gravitational waves - ripples in space-time caused by some of the most energetic processes in the universe - in 1916 in his general theory of relativity. It was nearly a 100 years later that gravitational waves were detected from the collision of two black holes for the first time in 2015. The first detection of a neutron star-neutron star collision took place in 2017. And now, finally, black hole-neutron star collisions have been observed.

Observed in January 2020

While the paper announcing the discovery of collisions between black holes and neutron stars beyond doubt was published in June 2021, the two collisions that were observed actually took place separately in January 2020.

The first one observed, on January 5, involved a black hole nine times massive when compared with our sun and a neutron star that is almost twice as massive as our sun. The second one on January 15 involved a black hole 5.7 times as massive as our sun and a neutron star that was 1.5 times massive when compared to our sun.

Types of merger

Before these observations, scientists weren't sure if the supermassive black holes will simply swallow the lighter neutron stars in a single bite or if the forces of the black hole would shred the neutron star before taking it in. The latter case would be accompanied by glowing debris, which can be picked up by powerful telescopes at our disposal even though they are taking place at astronomically vast distances.

Physicists were able to confirm that no glows or electromagnetic signals were detected in either of these collisions, meaning that the black holes swallowed the neutron stars in a single bite in these two instances at least. Scientists, however, haven't ruled out the possibility of future collisions producing glows or electromagnetic signals owing to the many factors that are at play.

The discovery of these collisions opens up a universe of possibilities for the scientists. Apart from getting us on the right path towards understanding how these binaries (two star systems) are formed, they could also tell us what proportion of the universe's heavier elements (gold, platinum, and others) are produced by such collisions.

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A chameleon is a very unique lizard that inhabits warm locations such as rainforests and deserts. They are known for their colour-changing abilities, long tongues, and unusual eye movements. The word chameleon comes from the Latin word chamaeleon, derived from Greek words chamai and leon, meaning ground and lion respectively. So, chameleon means lion on the ground. It is thought that the name refers to the ornate mane-shaped crests around the heads of some species.

The longest chameleon in the world is Parson’s chameleon (Calumma parsonii), which may grow up to 69.5 cm (about 27 inches) long. On the other hand, the world’s shortest chameleon, the male nano-chameleon (Brookesia nana), can be as small as 21.6 mm (about 0.9 inch) long. Most chameleons, however, are 17–25 cm (7–10 inches) long. The body is laterally compressed, the tail is sometimes curled, and the bulged eyes move independently of one another. Also, some chameleons possess helmet-shaped heads.

The chameleon’s specialized vision and a specialized tongue-projection system permit the capture of insects and even birds from a distance. The chameleon’s eyes are very good at detecting and regulating light. The lens of a chameleon’s eye is capable of focusing extremely rapidly, and it can enlarge visual images much like a telephoto lens. Although many other lizards also use the tongue to capture prey, most can expel it only a short distance. 

Credit : Britannica

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Flamingos are wading birds that are easily recognised by their long, stilt-like legs, and striking pink feathers. The bright pink colour comes from beta carotene, a red-orange pigment that's found in the algae and the shrimp that flamingos eat in their wetland environment. This flame-like appearance also gave them their name. In Portuguese and Spanish flamengo means flame-coloured. The genus name Phoenicopterus comes from the Greek word phoinikopteros, which means, "blood red-feathered".

To feed, flamingos tramp the shallows, head down and bill underwater, stirring up organic matter with their webbed feet. They eat various types of food, including diatoms, algae, blue-green algae, and invertebrates such as minute mollusks and crustaceans. While the head swings from side to side, food is strained from the muddy water with small comblike structures inside the bill. The bird’s pink colour comes from its food, which contains carotenoid pigments. The diet of flamingos kept in zoos is sometimes supplemented with food colouring to keep their plumage from fading.

Flamingos constitute the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. They are sometimes classified in the order Ciconiiformes (herons and storks) but also show similarities to anseriforms (ducks and geese), charadriiforms (shorebirds), and pelecaniforms (pelicans and cormorants).

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Cobra is a species of highly venomous snakes, which expand the neck ribs to form a hood. These snakes are prevalent in India. It is believed that the Portuguese colonists in India gave the snakes their name. Cobra de capello is Portuguese for serpent of the hood or hooded serpent. Its genus name Naja has Indian origins, and may have derived from the Sanskrit word for snake Naga.

The world’s largest venomous snake is the king cobra, or hamadryad (Ophiophagus hannah). Found predominantly in forests from India through Southeast Asia to the Philippines and Indonesia, it preys chiefly on other snakes. Maximum confirmed length is 5.6 metres (18 feet), but most do not exceed 3.6 metres (12 feet). King cobras guard a nest of 20 to 40 eggs, which are laid in a mound of leaves gathered by the female. The guarding parent will strike if a predator or a person approaches too closely. Not all cobras are egg layers.

The Indian cobra (or Indian spectacled cobra, Naja naja) was formerly considered a single species with much the same distribution as the king cobra. Recently, however, biologists have discovered that nearly a dozen species exist in Asia, some being venom spitters and others not. They vary both in size (most ranging between 1.25 and 1.75 metres) and in the toxicity of their venom. Spitters propel venom through the fangs by muscular contraction of the venom ducts and by forcing air out of the single lung.

Credit : Britannica

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Cormorants are large water birds that live in coastal areas or near lakes and rivers, and are usually black, brown, or greyish. Cormorant comes from two Latin words: corvus meaning crow and marinus meaning marine. So, cormorant is another way of saying sea-crow. It may have had its origin in Cornish mythology. In the Comish tale of Jack the Giant Killer, Cormoran is a sea giant. Though cormorants have little in common with crows except for their black plumage, the birds were erroneously thought to be related to ravens till the 16th Century.

Cormorants inhabit seacoasts, lakes, and some rivers. The nest may be made of seaweed and guano on a cliff or of sticks in a bush or tree. The two to four chalky eggs, pale blue when fresh, hatch in three to five weeks, and the young mature in the third year.

Cormorants have a long hook-tipped bill, patches of bare skin on the face, and a small gular sac (throat pouch). The largest and most widespread species is the common, or great, cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo; white-cheeked, and up to 100 cm (40 inches) long, it breeds from eastern Canada to Iceland, across Eurasia to Australia and New Zealand, and in parts of Africa. It and the slightly smaller Japanese cormorant, P. capillatus, are the species trained for fishing. The most important guano producers are the Peruvian cormorant, or guanay, P. bougainvillii, and the Cape cormorant, P. capensis, of coastal southern Africa.

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Hippopotamuses are large, round, water-loving animals that are native to Africa. Greek writer Herodotus is credited with naming this unusual creature. In Greek, the word hippo means horse and potamos means river. But hippos are not related to horses, they are in fact related to pigs, whales, and dolphins!

Hippo is often attributed to terms related to horse. For instance, hippodrome is a stadium for racing horses (and not hippos). Seahorses belong to a genus called hippocampus

(Hippocampus is Greek for seamonster, and it originally referred to a mythological creature that resembled a horse with wings).

Do you know why our brain area hippocampus is called so? Because the part resembles a seahorse.

Hippos live in sub-Saharan Africa. They live in areas with abundant water, as they spend most of their time submerged to keep their skin cool and moist. Considered amphibious animals, hippos spend up to 16 hours per day in the water, according to National Geographic.

Hippos are social beasts, hanging out in groups called schools, bloats, pods or sieges. Schools of hippos usually consist of 10 to 30 members, including both females and males, although some groups have as many as 200 individuals. No matter the size, the school is usually led by a dominant male.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the common hippo isn't endangered, but it is vulnerable to extinction. The IUCN estimates that between 125,000 and 148,000 hippos remain in the wild. Poaching and habitat loss reduced the hippo's global numbers during the late 1990s and early 2000s, but the population has since plateaued thanks to stricter law enforcement, according to the IUCN.

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Rhinoceros is a giant horn-bearing herbivore that's among the largest living land mammals. It derives its names from its most pronounced feature: the horn. The term stems from the Latin word rhinoceros and Greek word rhinokeros, both of which take root in rhinos, which means nose, and keras, meaning horn. (Keras is also the origin of keratin, the protein that is the main substance of hair, nails, horns, and feathers).

Rhinoceroses are characterized by the possession of one or two horns on the upper surface of the snout; these horns are not true horns but are composed of keratin, a fibrous protein found in hair. Modern rhinoceroses are large animals, ranging from 2.5 metres (8 feet) long and 1.5 metres (5 feet) high at the shoulder in the Sumatran rhinoceros to about 4 metres (13 feet) long and nearly 2 metres (7 feet) high in the white rhinoceros. Adults of larger species weigh 3–5 tons. Rhinoceroses are noted for their thick skin, which forms platelike folds, especially at the shoulders and thighs. All rhinos are gray or brown in colour, including the white rhinoceros, which tends to be paler than the others. Aside from the Sumatran rhinoceros, they are nearly or completely hairless, except for the tail tip and ear fringes, but some fossil species were covered with dense fur. The feet of the modern species have three short toes, tipped with broad, blunt nails.

In rhinoceroses, females do not conceive until about six years of age; gestation is long (16 months in most species), and they give birth to only one calf at a time. The period of birth between calves can range from 2 to 4.5 years. Thus, the loss of a number of breeding-age females to poachers can greatly slow the recovery of rhinoceros populations.

Credit : Britannica

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Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. The name orangutan is derived from two Malay words - orang, meaning person and hutan meaning forest. So orangutan means person of the forest. Humans and orangutans share approximately 97% of the DNA and 28 physical traits. Orangutans laugh, recognise faces, 'talk about the past learn from each other, and pass on the knowledge to the next generation. Hence, it is only fitting that we call the animal the 'person of the forest.

Orangutans are not as powerfully built as the gorilla but are larger than the chimpanzee. The adult male is typically twice the size of the female and may attain a height of 1.3 metres (4.3 feet) and a weight of 130 kg (285 pounds) in the wild; females weigh 37 kg (82 pounds) or less. Older males develop wide cheek pads, a unique feature among primates. The typically dark tan or brownish skin is covered with relatively coarse and usually sparse red hair. Adult males and some older adult females may have partially or entirely bare backs, but the hair on a male can be so long as to look like a cape when he moves his arms.

Orangutans are predominantly ripe-fruit eaters, although they consume more than 400 different types of food, including invertebrates and, on rare and opportunistic occasions, meat. Almost every night orangutans construct a sleeping platform in the trees by bending and breaking branches, leaves, and twigs. Unlike the African apes, orangutans frequently use vegetation to protect themselves from the rain.

Credit : Britannica

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