My Science School

Covering an expanse of over 6.6 million square miles, Russia is the world’s largest country by landmass, beating out runner-up Canada by around 2.8 million square miles. It includes nine different time zones and shares land borders with 14 neighboring countries. Russia’s origins began with the Viking establishment of Kievan Rus in the 9th century. It expanded under the leadership of Viking chieftain Rurik and his ancestors but was broken up by Mongol invaders in 1237. Beginning with the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which was less vulnerable to Mongol attacks due to its remote, forested location, the remnants of Rus unified and expanded, most notably during the reign of Ivan the Terrible from 1533 to 1584. As its first official tsar, Ivan established the central Russian state and doubled its size by conquering the regions of Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberia. It expanded into the third largest empire in the world by the 1700s, and as the post-revolution Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, it was the largest part of the Soviet Union. With the break-up of the Soviet Union, Russia, also known as the Russian Federation, was officially established on December 25, 1991.

China underwent a period of modernization during Mao’s rule, including improvements to its health care system, which increased life expectancy dramatically. At the same time, Mao urged people to have larger families because he believed that population growth would result in the empowerment of the country as a whole. During Mao’s reign, from 1949 to 1976, China’s population grew from approximately 540 million to 940 million. In order to curb China’s overpopulation, the one-child policy was instituted in 1979 and has slowed the country’s exponential growth, but the population has still climbed to over 1 billion more than the third-ranked United States (313 million).

China may not hold the “most populous” title for long, though. The U.N. predicts that in the next 15 years, China’s and India’s populations will both reach nearly 1.5 billion. At this point, China’s population will begin to decrease, due to an aging population without a sufficient birth rate to sustain growth, and India’s will continue to climb.

Credit : History.com

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The world's largest tropical wetland, the Pantanal is a natural region in South America. Lying mostly in Brazil and spilling into neighbouring Bolivia and Paraguay, this wetland covers a whopping area of more than 1,81,000 sq.km. Within this large area, several subregional ecosystems thrive, each with its own distinctive characteristics. Though the Amazon rainforest is easily synonymous with the natural landscape and wildlife of South America, surprisingly it is the Pantanal region that has the highest concentration of wildlife in this continent. Annually, the Pantanal's vast basin gets flooded after torrential rains. After these rains, the water slowly drains into the Paraguay river, creating lakes and pools. Filled as they are with fishes and snails, these waterbodies attract a large variety of birds, including storks. The hyacinth macaw, the largest species of parrot, can be seen in the area. The vegetation in the region too is just as varied with giant water lilies rubbing shoulders with cactus!

Comprising a group of four contiguous protected areas, the Pantanal Conservation Area was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. As always, human activity is a grave concern in the area. These include sport fishing, the disturbance of nesting areas, and development projects such as the plan to construct navigable water courses.

Wildlife

Among the birds spotted in the region are tinamous, grebes, ducks, teals, guans, swans, pigeons, doves, cuckoos, nighthawks, nightjars, hermits, swifts, hummingbirds, crakes, rails, gallinules, stilts, lapwings, plovers. jacanas, sandpipers, godwits, snipes, terns, bitterns, storks, cormorants, herons, ibises, spoonbills, vultures, caracaras, ospreys, kites, owls, trogons, kingfishers, puffbirds, jacamars, toucans, piculets, woodpeckers, falcons, kestrels, parakeets, macaws, woodcreepers, spinetails, thornbirds, jays, martins, swallows, flycatchers, wrens, thrushes, mockingbirds, warblers, seedeaters, finches, and sparrows. The animals from the region include jaguars, green anacondas, giant armadillos, giant anteaters, otters, wild pigs, marsh deer, howler and capuchin monkeys, capybaras (world's largest rodents), in addition to caimans, alligators, and a range of amphibians, reptiles, and insects.

Threats

The Pantanal waterways are crucial for life in the region, but face several threats such as deforestation, soil erosion from expanding industrial agriculture, and infrastructure projects. It is said that because the land around the eco-rich Pantanal region is relatively inexpensive, over the years, many farmers from other parts of Brazil have begun agriculture here. This means the agrichemical runoff is high. According to WWF Brazil's report a few years ago, as many as "30% of springs that feed the Pantanal are at ecological risk and require urgent action". Much to the disappointment of activists and conservationists, a few years ago "the buffer zone necessary between farmland and river springs" was reduced, which could prove disastrous for the Pantanal in the long run. An unusual form of threat arising from agriculture is the killing of jaguars by farmers since the big cats kill their cattle. In the long run, if the jaguar disappears from the region it could throw the ecosystem into a disarray since it's at the top of the food chain. Another cause of concern is the lack of humanpower to police the region to see if there's encroachment, soil erosion, etc. In addition, the increasing use of hydroelectric dams to create energy in the region is also a major threat". In 2020, the Pantanal was exceptionally dry and burning at a record rate.

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You may have noticed that weather events such as severe heatwaves and severe floods have often been making headlines. When such events happen, scientists are invariably asked, "Is climate change to blame?" A decade ago, scientists cautioned against making such attribution. They would dismiss the question by saying.

There's no science to tell us whether climate change contributed to this specific event. But today, they have the science, the computer model and the research methodology to connect climate change to the extreme weather events

Investigating links between climate change and extreme weather is known as Attribution Science. Such studies can be tricky- but not impossible.

Attribution Science is a relatively new field, which is thought to have emerged 10 years ago. In 2011, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists published a study concluding that human-caused climate change played a role in five of the six extreme weather events analysed. Such studies, called the "Explaining Extreme Events" report, have been published by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society every year since.

Scientists first define an extreme event's magnitude and frequency based on observational data. Then they use computer climate models and compare those models results with observational data. Based on these calculations, scientists quantify the impact of climate change. Attribution Science helps scientists not only to test whether climate change is responsible for a particular extreme weather event, but also to ascertain the magnitude of its impact.

What is climate change?

Climate refers to weather conditions that typically exist in one area over a long period of time. Climate change is the long term, significant change observed in the climate of Earth. It can happen naturally or in response to human activities, which include the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests. Climate change may lead to extreme weather events such as heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes and floods.

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Ever had a chance to touch and feel a fresh banknote that just come into circulation? What was it like? Crisp right? Did you know what our currency notes are made of Pure cotton Surprising isn’t it? Let’s find out more about the notes and where they are printed.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), headquartered in Mumbai, has the sole right to print and manage currency in India.

 Banknotes in circulation are often affected by heat, moisture, and other such factors. Considering that they are handled by millions of hands, a regular paper is not used for printing them. Though the banknote has the feel of paper, it is not the regular paper The paper currently being used for printing of banknotes in India is made of 100% cotton, according to the RBI site.

The cotton-based paper is coated with a special lacquer to repel dirt and moisture. Besides, banknotes are embedded with security features such as watermark, security thread, latent image of denomination numeral denomination numeral in colour shifting ink bleed lines, and see-through register. These are there mainly to deter counterfeiting.

The special paper required for printing of currency notes by the security presses in the country is manufactured at Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh, and Mysuru in Kamataka. While the Hoshangabad mill is under government control, the Mysuru mill is run by the RBI.

According to the site, "Bank notes are printed at four currency presses, two of which are owned by the Indian Government through its Corporation. Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd. and two are owned by the RBL through its subsidiary. Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Ltd." The currency presses of SPMCIL are at Nasik and Dewas and those of BRBNMPL are at Mysuru and Salboni.

Quick facts

• Paper currency came into existence in India in 1861.
• The one rupee note is the only currency note which is not signed by the Governor of RBI, but by the Finance Secretary to the Government of India.
• Coins are minted in four mints owned by SPMCIL. The mints are located at Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and NOIDA. The coins are issued for circulation only through the RBI.

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Solar energy, radiation from the Sun capable of producing heat, causing chemical reactions, or generating electricity. The total amount of solar energy incident on Earth is vastly in excess of the world’s current and anticipated energy requirements.

The Sun is an extremely powerful energy source, and sunlight is by far the largest source of energy received by Earth, but its intensity at Earth’s surface is actually quite low. This is essentially because of the enormous radial spreading of radiation from the distant Sun. A relatively minor additional loss is due to Earth’s atmosphere and clouds, which absorb or scatter as much as 54 percent of the incoming sunlight. The sunlight that reaches the ground consists of nearly 50 percent visible light, 45 percent infrared radiation, and smaller amounts of ultraviolet and other forms of electromagnetic radiation.

The potential for solar energy is enormous, since about 200,000 times the world’s total daily electric-generating capacity is received by Earth every day in the form of solar energy. Unfortunately, though solar energy itself is free, the high cost of its collection, conversion, and storage still limits its exploitation in many places. Solar radiation can be converted either into thermal energy (heat) or into electrical energy, though the former is easier to accomplish.

Credit : Britannica

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Hydroelectric energy, also called hydroelectric power or hydroelectricity, is a form of energy that harnesses the power of water in motion—such as water flowing over a waterfall—to generate electricity. People have used this force for millennia. Over two thousand years ago, people in Greece used flowing water to turn the wheel of their mill to ground wheat into flour.

Most hydroelectric power plants have a reservoir of water, a gate or valve to control how much water flows out of the reservoir, and an outlet or place where the water ends up after flowing downward. Water gains potential energy just before it spills over the top of a dam or flows down a hill. The potential energy is converted into kinetic energy as water flows downhill. The water can be used to turn the blades of a turbine to generate electricity, which is distributed to the power plant’s customers.

Hydroelectric energy is the most commonly-used renewable source of electricity. China is the largest producer of hydroelectricity. Other top producers of hydropower around the world include the United States, Brazil, Canada, India, and Russia. Approximately 71 percent of all of the renewable electricity generated on Earth is from hydropower.

The Three Gorges Dam in China, which holds back the Yangtze River, is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world, in terms of electricity production. The dam is 2,335 meters (7,660 feet) long and 185 meters (607 feet) tall, and has enough generators to produce 22,500 megawatts of power.

Credit : National Geographic Society

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Marine energy or marine power (also sometimes referred to as ocean energy, ocean power, or marine and hydrokinetic energy) refers to the energy carried by ocean waves, tides, salinity, and ocean temperature differences. The movement of water in the world's oceans creates a vast store of kinetic energy, or energy in motion. Some of this energy can be harnessed to generate electricity to power homes, transport and industries.

The term marine energy encompasses both wave power i.e. power from surface waves, and tidal power i.e. obtained from the kinetic energy of large bodies of moving water. Offshore wind power is not a form of marine energy, as wind power is derived from the wind, even if the wind turbines are placed over water.

The oceans have a tremendous amount of energy and are close to many if not most concentrated populations. Ocean energy has the potential of providing a substantial amount of new renewable energy around the world.

The UK is leading the way in wave and tidal (marine) power generation. The world's first marine energy test facility was established in 2003 to kick start the development of the marine energy industry in the UK. Based in Orkney, Scotland, the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) has supported the deployment of more wave and tidal energy devices than at any other single site in the world. The centre was established with around £36 million of funding from the Scottish Government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Carbon Trust, UK Government, Scottish Enterprise, the European Union and Orkney Islands Council, and is the only accredited wave and tidal test centre for marine renewable energy in the world, suitable for testing a number of full-scale devices simultaneously in some of the harshest weather conditions while producing electricity to the national grid.

Clients that have tested at the centre include Aquamarine Power, AW Energy, Pelamis Wave Power, Seatricity, ScottishPower Renewables and Wello on the wave site, and Alstom (formerly Tidal Generation Ltd), ANDRITZ HYDRO Hammerfest, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Magallanes, Nautricity, Open Hydro, Scotrenewables Tidal Power, and Voith on the tidal site.

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Biomass is organic, meaning it is made of material that comes from living organisms, such as plants and animals. The most common biomass materials used for energy are plants, wood, and waste. These are called biomass feedstocks. Biomass energy can also be a non-renewable energy source. 

Biomass contains energy first derived from the sun: Plants absorb the sun’s energy through photosynthesis, and convert carbon dioxide and water into nutrients (carbohydrates).

The energy from these organisms can be transformed into usable energy through direct and indirect means. Biomass can be burned to create heat (direct), converted into electricity (direct), or processed into biofuel (indirect).

Biomass is the only renewable energy source that can be converted into liquid biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. Biofuel is used to power vehicles, and is being produced by gasification in countries such as Sweden, Austria, and the United States.

Ethanol is made by fermenting biomass that is high in carbohydrates, such as sugar cane, wheat, or corn. Biodiesel is made from combining ethanol with animal fat, recycled cooking fat, or vegetable oil.

Biofuels do not operate as efficiently as gasoline. However, they can be blended with gasoline to efficiently power vehicles and machinery, and do not release the emissions associated with fossil fuels.

Ethanol requires acres of farmland to grow biocrops (usually corn). About 1,515 liters (400 gallons) of ethanol is produced by an acre of corn. But this acreage is then unavailable for growing crops for food or other uses. Growing enough corn for ethanol also creates a strain on the environment because of the lack of variation in planting, and the high use of pesticides.

Ethanol has become a popular substitute for wood in residential fireplaces. When it is burned, it gives off heat in the form of flames, and water vapor instead of smoke.

Credit : National Geographic Society

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Geothermal energy, form of energy conversion in which heat energy from within Earth is captured and harnessed for cooking, bathing, space heating, electrical power generation, and other uses.

Geothermal energy use can be divided into three categories: direct-use applications, geothermal heat pumps (GHPs), and electric power generation.

Probably the most widely used set of applications involves the direct use of heated water from the ground without the need for any specialized equipment.  Other direct uses of geothermal energy include cooking, industrial applications (such as drying fruit, vegetables, and timber), milk pasteurization, and large-scale snow melting. For many of those activities, hot water is often used directly in the heating system, or it may be used in conjunction with a heat exchanger, which transfers heat when there are problematic minerals and gases such as hydrogen sulfide mixed in with the fluid.

Depending upon the temperature and the fluid (steam) flow, geothermal energy can be used to generate electricity. Geothermal power plants can produce electricity in three ways. Despite their differences in design, all three control the behaviour of steam and use it to drive electrical generators. Given that the excess water vapour at the end of each process is condensed and returned to the ground, where it is reheated for later use, geothermal power is considered a form of renewable energy.

Credit : Britannica

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Swans were regarded as a status symbol as well as a delicacy in medieval England. According to medieval legislation, the Queen owns all unmarked mute swans on "certain stretches of the Thames and its surrounding tributaries." To this day during the third week of July, all the swans on the Thames are counted for the Queen in a practice called Swan Upping. It is held not just to establish the ownership of each swan, but also to check up on their health and to conserve their population.

Swans—who owns them, who breeds them and who eats them—is an issue for the British that has generated legal statutes, sparked courtroom battles and engaged town councils in bitter arguments since the Middle Ages. 

There is a legend that the mute swan was introduced to Britain by Richard I in the 12th century, who brought them back from his campaigns during the Crusades. Today, ornithologists believe the bird is probably native to the country, with archaeological evidence for the presence of swans dating back as far back as the late glacial period, 10,000 years ago.

Since ancient times, swans have been associated with tranquility and nobility, featuring in myths and stories around the world. Their high status is likely to have come about because of their perceived beauty and natural behavior; they are solitary birds, strong and aggressively protective of their young but at the same time graceful and elegant on the water.

Swans were luxury goods in Europe from at least the 12th century onward; the Medieval equivalent of flashing a Rolex or driving a Lamborghini. Owning swans signaled nobility, along with flying a hawk, running hounds or riding a battle-trained destrier. Swans were eaten as a special dish at feasts, served as a centerpiece in their skin and feathers with a lump of blazing incense in the beak. They were particularly associated with Christmas, when they would be served in large numbers at royal feasts; forty swans were ordered for Henry III’s Christmas celebrations in 1247 at Winchester, for example.

Credit : Smithsonian Magazine

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Rainbow Bridge National Monument, rainbow-shaped natural bridge of pink sandstone spanning a canyon 290 feet (88 metres) above a creek that winds toward man-made Lake Powell in southern Utah, U.S., near the Utah-Arizona boundary. 

The monument is located in the Navajo Reservation, where it lies on the northwestern flank of Navajo Mountain; it is within Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The monument, established in 1910, occupies 160 acres (65 hectares). The bridge has a span of 275 feet (84 metres) across the creek and is probably the largest natural bridge in the world.

Embedded among canyons carved by streams, the monument is situated on a remote desert plateau and can be reached only on foot, by horseback, or by boat from Lake Powell. The peak of Navajo Mountain, which reaches an elevation of 10,388 feet (3,166 metres), is 5 miles (8 km) southeast. Plants, fed by water seeping from the canyon walls, grow in profusion nearby and include wild orchids and maidenhair ferns.

The bridge has long been a religious site for the region’s Native Americans. Its existence was not documented until 1909, when it was reached by explorers making the difficult overland journey to Navajo Mountain. Access to the area improved dramatically in the early 1970s after the Glen Canyon Dam had impounded the waters of the Colorado River to form Lake Powell.

Credit : Britannica

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