My Science School

The game Snakes and Ladders was invented in India in the century by the poet saint Gyandev, and was called Moksha Patam. The ladders represented the virtues while the snakes indicated vices. The game was designed around the concept that good deeds take you to heaven while bad deeds take you to hell.

Our favorite Snakes and Ladders was earlier known as Mokshapat, Moksha Patamu, or Gyan Chaupar (the game of knowledge). It was not just a game but a way of understanding life and its values. 

Its origin is still unclear, but some historians believe that the game is as old as the 2nd century BC, while others believe that it was invented in the 13th century by an Indian poet, Saint Gyandev.

The game served as a teaching tool to embrace and reinforce the Hindu philosophies of Karma and Samskara in students. Unlike the snakes and ladders we know now, the original game had squares in the range of 72-124 that symbolized the journey of life. Every square enlightened a positive or negative aspect of life. 

Mokshapat had more snakes than ladders representing various evils on the path to attaining salvation. It also depicted that the path to salvation is more difficult than the path to evil. 

The squares that contained the bottom of the ladder symbolized a good deed or good karma, and the top of the ladder symbolized a heavenly place. The squares where the mouth of the snakes was placed were a sign of evil or bad karma. The goal was to reach the end square that signified salvation or Moksha.

The astounding fact about the old version of the game is that the game focused on developing the necessary values in people rather than focusing on competition.

Credit : ED Times

Picture Credit : Google

Boing boing!

Have you ever played with a semicircular spring toy that gracefully bounces into position even when it falls down? Navy engineer, Richard James, was seriously engaged in the task of fitting springs on sensitive instruments to prevent them from rocking. When a piece of spring crashed onto the floor, it didn't roll away. Instead, it sprang downward and righted itself back into an upright position. That spring got a cool name - Slinky- and went on to become a popular toy that even found a place in USA's National Hall of Fame.

Magnetron magic

Every anxious 'snacker' who loves to have popcorn or brownies ready in minutes has Percy Spencer and his magnetron-fiddling curiosity to thank. Who would have thought that in 1945, Spencer would be studying microwave radiations from a magnetron while keeping a bar of chocolate in his pocket? A sizzling sound and the melting of chocolate was a dramatic moment for the scientist - he realized that hidden in microwave radiation was the power to bring smiles on food lovers worldwide!

A sweet surprise

In 1879, chemist Constantin Fahlberg forgot to follow every Mom's golden rule: 'Wash your hands before you eat! Had he been handling dangerous chemicals, he might have ended up in major trouble. As it turned out, he'd only been dealing with saccharin and so he was simply in for a pleasant surprise the food tasted oddly sweet. It also opened the door for saccharin, 'an artificial sweetener', to make it into the market.

Vacations are good

How did the most popular antibiotic in the world come to be? It's thanks to the fact that Alexander Fleming decided to go on holiday. When Fleming returned from his holiday, he noticed a green fungal mould growing in one of the unwashed petri dishes in which bacterial cultures were being grown. He was about to throw it away when he noticed something odd: there was a clear circle around the mould where the bacteria didn't grow. Was it some chemical compound in the mould that stopped bacterial growth? You bet! Had Fleming been less excited about going on a vacation, he'd have cleaned the petri dish before making the fabulous discovery. So the moral seems to be: rush, when it's time for your vacation. Everything else can wait!

Make a note of this...

Spencer Silver was asked to make a super-strong adhesive for the aerospace industry. What he invented was a weakling that could barely stay stuck. The only saving grace was that the adhesive was decent enough to work even after peeling and sticking back many times. Nobody seemed to want it until another gentleman, Stephen Fry, cut a bunch of yellow papers and coated the glue at the top and handed out free samples to people - the Post-It sticky notes became an instant hit.

When an idea struck

We will never know who the first person to discover fire was, but we do know that matches made a glowing entry into this world. John Walker was stirring a medley of chemicals in a pot when he noticed a dried lump sticking to the stirring stick. How do you remove dried gob from something? Walker rubbed the stick on a surface, trying to scrape it off when suddenly it ignited. That was all he needed to patent and sell matches in a box along with a piece of sandpaper.

Picture Credit : Google

Empowering your nose

Exactly how important is it for you to type a message when you're in the bathtub? Or to play Angry Birds while holding a cup of coffee in one hand and toast in another? The 'nose stylus', designed by Dominic Wilcox, satisfies the need to go 'hands-free' at the minor cost of looking a little silly. The nose stylus doesn't seem to be on sale, but it's a given that hardcore tweeters and texters would make it a bestseller once it does come into the market.

For those who like a purpose in everything

You may be one of those people who hate going for a stroll on the beach without a purpose. Maybe you need these amazing metal detecting sandals, capable of finding metallic treasures up to two feet below the ground. You may not look utterly cool wearing an electronic unit strapped to your feet but imagine how you could be the most useful person on the beach if you can find out where someone's ring has dropped on the sand...

Now muggles can work magic

How many of us, want to be like those supercool wizards and wave a wand to achieve a wish? How fantastic would it be to control the TV and electronic gadgets at will? Remote controls are old; magic wands are in vogue now. Just because you're a muggle is no reason not to possess a wand. Get your own 'magic wand remote control' that can learn 13 commands from your old remote control and map them to particular motions of your hand. Chuck the remote control, wave your wand and show your gadgets who's the boss!

Take toast to the next level

For some of us, there's hardly time to gulp down a coffee or drain a bowl of cornflakes in the morning. But a lucky few have all the time not only to enjoy a classy breakfast but also prepare an awesome one. We're talking about those who own the 'scan toaster'. Doesn't sound familiar? It's a toaster you can connect to the computer with the help of a cable and burn an image of your choice onto toast! Imagine how awesome it must be to print the news on the toast, read it and then eat it up! That's innovation!

Comfort matters more than looks, right?

Is it a hood? Is it a pillow? Is it a gigantic garlic bulb? Nope, it's the ostrich pillow! This amazing invention was designed to offer quality snooze time to the sleep-deprived souls wandering around in airports or travelling in trains looking for an undisturbed spot to sleep. Many who've used it believe that it has championed the sleep revolution like never before. If ever there's a minus point, it's how people stare at you when you put it on.. Don't worry, it's plain jealousy, nothing else!

The best pets ever!

Last, but definitely the best, meet the 'pet rocks', a bold venture by aspiring advertising executive genius, Gary Dahl. Now what's the number one concern of parents when kids want a pet at home? Cleaning up the mess, right? Which parent is going to say no to a pet rock that's as quiet as a mouse, fit as a fiddlestick (forever!) and maintenance free? A nice cardboard box and a whacky instruction manual on training the pet rock helped Dahl sell a cool 1.5 million pet rocks!

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It might be the perfect cuddle partner and companion for children of all ages; and come in various colours and sizes, but not many know the story behind the Teddy Bear. It is actually named after Theodore Roosevelt, the late United States President.

Roosevelt and the bear

Theodore Roosevelt was a game hunter. One day, he went on a bear hunting trip with a group of people on invite from Andrew H. Longino, the Governor of Missisippi. While others in the group managed to spot bears, Roosevelt did not locate even one.

To ensure the President didn't feel dejected, his assistants cornered and tied an old black bear to a willow tree. They suggested Roosevelt shoot the bear, however, the President refused to shoot the bear as it would be very unsportsmanlike of him to shoot a bear he had not even located.

Newspapers were quick to publish this event and the word quickly spread across the whole country.

A cartoon and an idea

Seeing the detailed pieces in the newspaper, Clifford Berryman, a political cartoonist, decided to create a satirical cartoon of Roosevelt's refusal to shoot the bear. His cartoon appeared on November 16, 1902 in the Washington Post. Then, upon seeing the cartoon, Morris Michtom, a candy shop owner in Brooklyn, had an idea. He and his wife used to make stuffed animals, so Michtom decided to make a stuffed toy bear and dedicate it to Roosevelt. He called it Teddy's Bear.

Michtom then sought permission from Roosevelt for using his name to mass produce the stuffed bears. Once he received the same, he founded the ideal Toy Company and started producing Teddy's Bears that we all fondly call today as Teddy Bear.

Picture Credit : Google

Braille, universally accepted system of writing used by and for blind persons and consisting of a code of 63 characters, each made up of one to six raised dots arranged in a six-position matrix or cell. These Braille characters are embossed in lines on paper and read by passing the fingers lightly over the manuscript. Louis Braille, who was blinded at the age of three, invented the system in 1824 while a student at the Institution Nationale des Jeunes Aveugles (National Institute for Blind Children), Paris.

The Frenchman Valentin Hauy was the first person to emboss paper as a means of reading for the blind. His printing of normal letters in relief led others to devise simplified versions; but, with one exception, they are no longer in use. The single exception is Moon type, invented in 1845 by William Moon of Brighton, England, which partly retains the outlines of the Roman letters and is easily learned by those who have become blind in later life. Books in this type are still in limited use by elderly people, particularly in Great Britain.

Writing Braille by hand is accomplished by means of a device called a slate that consists of two metal plates hinged together to permit a sheet of paper to be inserted between them. Some slates have a wooden base or guide board onto which the paper is clamped. The upper of the two metal plates, the guide plate, has cell-sized windows; under each of these, in the lower plate, are six slight pits in the Braille dot pattern. A stylus is used to press the paper against the pits to form the raised dots. A person using Braille writes from right to left; when the sheet is turned over, the dots face upward and are read from left to right.

Braille is also produced by special machines with six keys, one for each dot in the Braille cell. The first Braille writing machine, the Hall Braille writer, was invented in 1892 by Frank H. Hall, superintendent of the Illinois School for the Blind. A modified form of this device is still in use today, as are later, similar devices. One innovation for producing Braille is an electric embossing machine similar to an electric typewriter, and electronic computer processing is now routine.

Credit : Britannica 

Picture Credit : Google