My Science School

Western Antarctica is now home to the densest concentration of volcanoes in the world after scientists uncovered 91 volcanoes 2 km beneath the continent's thick ice sheet. The discovery raises the volcano tally on the icy continent to 138. The volcanoes range in height from 100 to 3,850 metres and are covered in ice, which sometimes lies in layers that are more than 4 km thick.

They are concentrated in the west Antarctic rift system, which stretches 3,500 km from Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf to the Antarctic Peninsula. If only one of these volcanoes were to erupt, the west Antarctic fragile ice sheets could collapse with serious environmental consequences.

The discovery is particularly important because the activity of these volcanoes could have crucial implications for the rest of the planet. If one erupts, it could further destabilise some of the region’s ice sheets, which have already been affected by global warming. Meltwater outflows into the Antarctic ocean could trigger sea level rises. “We just don’t know about how active these volcanoes have been in the past,” Bingham said.

However, he pointed to one alarming trend: “The most volcanism that is going in the world at present is in regions that have only recently lost their glacier covering – after the end of the last ice age. These places include Iceland and Alaska.

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Elephant skin can be upto 1.5 inches thick in certain places. Despite this, an elephant's skin is very sensitive, to the point where it can feel a fly land on its back. The skin is also sensitive to changes in its environment. Surprisingly it is also sensitive to the sun, and baby elephants are even known to get sunburn.

Elephant skin, unlike human skin, is resistant to shedding, so the layers – particularly the super-tough top layer, the stratum corneum -- stick around longer before sloughing off. It also has a lot more keratin (the stuff that makes up fingernails) than human skin, so it's more durable. As this thick hide is subject to everyday movement, like bending and twisting, it quickly wrinkles, with layer upon layer of wrinkly skin serving as a complex system of channels that capture and hold moisture and dirt.

So when you see elephants basking in sloppy pools, spraying water and mud to and fro, they aren't just doing it for the hilarity. The filthy goo settles into the teensy cracks in their skin, some of which are just a micrometer across, about 50 times smaller than the naked human eye can detect. Continually wetted, the skin remains permeable, helping the animals stay cooler.

Interestingly, elephant skin doesn't just randomly wrinkle — it cracks in geometric shapes that approximate other common sights in our world, from drying mud to heat-shattered asphalt, or even geometrically precise rock breakage like the Giant's Causeway in Ireland. The result is a durable cooling system that keeps these gigantic mammals from cooking in their own thick skin on steamy summer days.

Credit : How Stuff Works 

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These spectacular rainbow coloured mountains are part of the Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park in China. Layers of coloured sandstone and minerals were pressed together over 24 million years by wind, rain and shifting tectonic plates.

As is always the case with spectacular geology, the Rainbow Mountains took millions of years to form.

Eons ago, the area was part of the ocean floor. Over time, as the Earth’s tectonic plates shifted, mountains were formed and rose above sea level. Next, over millions of years, sandstone and other mineral sediments were deposited in layers of different colors.

Over time, as the mountains rose higher, river erosion formed gorges, China Highlights explains. Further erosion from both water and wind over millions of years exposed the red, purple, yellow, green, and gray layers.

By the way, China isn’t the only place where you can find a rainbow-colored mountain. Deep in the Peruvian Andes, Vinicna Mountain — known as Montana de Colores or Rainbow Mountain — was formed in the same way.

Credit : Travel Awaits 

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College Park Airport in Maryland, USA, established in September 1909 by aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright, is the world's oldest continually operating - airfield.

But the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 prompted severe restrictions on private general aviation in at least 30 cities around the country, including a ban on all such aviation within a 25 nautical mile radius of Washington, DC and New York City.

While the restrictions are being gradually relaxed, and even though the radius of the ban about Washington's Reagan National Airport and New York's JFK Airport has been shrunk to 18 nautical miles, the College Park Airport falls well inside this range.

When the "temporary flight restricted area" about Washington and New York will be lifted is not clear. College Park Airport manager Lee Schiek said that high-ranking FAA officials told him reopening is likely to be a "multi-month" process.

"Founded" as an airstrip in 1909 by none other than Wilbur Wright himself - who was here to demonstrate the usefulness of his flying machine to the US Government - the College Park Airport turned 92 years old on October 26.

Unlike private, for-profit airports inside the restricted areas, the College Park Airport is run by the Maryland Park and Planning Commission, a quasi-governmental state agency that oversees parks, recreation and related zoning issues in Prince George's and Montgomery Counties. As such, the airport's survival through this difficult time is a good bet.

"We have resources available that will allow us to buffer the problem we are having right now," Schiek said. "Our private sector maintenance has moved off-site."

Credit : APS News

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Loophole (or murder hole') comes from the Dutch word liupen, meaning 'to peer'. Loopholes were a vertical slit or opening in the wall of a fortification such as a castle, allowing a defender to look out and shoot arrows or other projectiles while remaining protected. Metaphorically, therefore, the word means a gap, omission, error, ambiguity that one can exploit.

A loophole is a miswritten law or ambiguity in the law or a set of rules that allows someone to circumvent the law or a set of rules. The plural form of loophole is loopholes. Interestingly, the word loophole goes back to the sixteenth century and refers to an architectural feature. In castles of the time, narrow slits were built into the walls where archers could shoot at attackers. These narrow slits were known as loopholes, most probably derived from the Dutch word Iupen meaning to watch. The term loophole came into use in the seventeenth century in a figurative sense to mean a small opening or a outlet of escape.

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The megalithic site of Hirebenkal, built over 2000 years ago, is the largest necropolis in India. Located in North Karnataka, it contains roughly 400 megalithic funerary monuments, dated to the transition period between Neolithic and the Iron Age periods. The funerary monuments are located on a rocky range of seven hillocks. Hirebenkal is famous for its dolmens-three-sided chambers that are 8-10 feet tall, with larger stone slabs called capstones for roofs. The site also hosts a stone kettledrum on a 33-foot-high boulder. The boulder, when struck with a stone or wooden hammer, produces sounds that can be heard up to 1 km away.

The site under consideration is megalithic burial complex at Hire Benkal in Gangavati Taluka, Koppal District, state of Karnataka, INDIA, a Centrally Protected Site under Archaeological Survey of India, Hampi Circle. The site is located on top of castellated granite hillock within the zone of peninsular gneissic complex of the Dharwad series of rocks. The site is approachable from 3kms southeast of Hire Benkal village.

The megaliths on the hill, encompassing an area of nearly 20 ha. are situated at three different localities, spread in an east - west orientation, together to a distance of about 1 km. The three clusters could be classified as the western group, central group and the eastern group. The distance between each cluster is roughly 200m. The western group lies close to a granite quarry of the Megalithic period, which also served as a perennial waterhole. Several subtypes that have been identified at Hire Benkal are as follows: Port-holed Dolmenoid Cist – Circles, Oblong Dolmenoid Cists or Cists with or without port-holes, Irregular polygonal chambers, Rock Shelter Chambers, Anthropomorphic, etc.

Credit : UNESCO 

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As former national security adviser JN Dixit wrote, Shastri unexpectedly authorised the Indian armed forces to expand the scope of the war beyond Jammu and Kashmir across the international border with Pakistan and the army was ready to aim at Lahore and Sialkot. This surprised Pakistan and forced them to withdraw their forces from the Chhamb-Akhnoor sector and resist Lahore and Sialkot. This move effectively put Pakistan, which aimed Kashmir, to go on the defensive. Wolpert was also referring to this strategic upper hand India had in the war.

The United Nations suggested a ceasefire and both countries agreed to it. The formalities were later completed with the signing of the Tashkent Declaration. In hindsight, it was just one of the several agreements the two countries had signed. But as Wolpert wrote, Shastri never awoke to help implement that hopeful accord. He was found dead. No post-mortem. No official inquiry. Crisis man Gulzarilal Nanda was readied a second time to swear in as prime minister. End of story.

Current defence minister Manohar Parrikar has been critical of the Indian media that they did not give necessary coverage to the celebrations of the war victory anniversary. But what respect has the nation returned to Shastri? Even after 49 years of his death, Shastri's family has been asking for nothing more than justice to his memory. His family says his body sported blue patches by the time it reached India and that it also had several injury marks on it. As you would expect, our government still keeps classified files about Shastri's death, much like in the case of Subhas Chandra Bose.

Lal Bahadur Shastri, who became the second Prime Minister of India on 9 June 1964, was hailed as a national hero following victory in the Indo-Pak War of 1965. His slogan "Jai Jawan Jai Kisan" became very popular during the war and is remembered even today. The war formally ended in the Tashkent Agreement of 10 January 1966; he died the following day, still in Tashkent, of a heart attack.

Credit : DailyO

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This bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Church Street in downtown Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, commemorates the incident on 7 June 1893 wherein Gandhi refused to comply with racial segregation rules on a South African train and was forcibly ejected at Pietermaritzburg. Following his experience on the train, he noted: "I was afraid for my very life. I entered the dark waiting room. There was a white man in the room. I was afraid of him. What was my duty? I asked myself. Should I go back to India, or should I go forward with God as my helper, and face whatever was in store for me? I decided to stay and suffer. My active non-violence began from that date."

The seed for ‘Satyagraha’ (non-violent resistance) was planted right here in Pietermaritzburg on the night of June 7, 1893, he said.

Gandhi’s 21 years in South Africa shaped his philosophy, especially as it relates to peace and non-violence, Gengan said, explaining that while the event had been commemorated at the station where the incident occurred, they had been unable to do so since last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gandhi’s granddaughter Ela Gandhi, 80, who heads the Gandhi Development Trust which oversees the Phoenix Settlement that he started during his tenure in Durban, said that during the course of his life, Gandhi discovered many truths.

Credit : DT Next 

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The mugger, also known as the marsh crocodile, is a crocodile of medium to large size with the broadest snout of all the living members of the genus Crocodylus. It lives in the Indian subcontinent as well as other countries in southern Asia. They are more alligator-like than any other crocodile, especially in their rounded snout, as most crocodiles have a snout that is pointier. Like most crocodilians, muggers feature a flat head where their eyes, ears, and nose are on top. This enables them to see, hear and breathe above water when their bodies are underwater. They have webbed feet but do not use them for swimming, using their strong, flat tail instead. “Mugger” is corruption from an Indian word that means “water monster.”

The mugger crocodile occurs in the Indian subcontinent as well as surrounding countries: Sri Lanka in the east, Iran in the west, and also Pakistan and Nepal. This species is found in freshwater lakes, marshes, and ponds, and has also adapted well to reservoirs, human-made ponds, irrigation canals, and coastal saltwater lagoons. This crocodile likes shallow water no more than 5 m deep, and it avoids fast-flowing rivers. It will sometimes bury itself into the mud to avoid the searing heat in India in the dry season.

Muggers are highly social and their social behavior includes gregarious behavior, communication, territorial activities, and dominance interactions. Between adults and also adults and their young there are many vocalizations. Most of the socializing take place during the seasonal mating activities. Body postures like snout raising and tail thrashing are used by males when establishing territories and trying to gain dominance before courtship and mating. Like other crocodile species, activities include basking, diving, and swimming. In addition, a unique and important activity is burrowing. Burrows are used for thermoregulation during hot and cold periods of the day and at night muggers come out to seek food. During dry seasons, muggers walk many kilometers overland in search of water and prey and they can chase prey for short distances on land. They are adapted better than most other crocodiles to life on land.

Muggers are primarily carnivorous, eating mostly fish, frogs, crustaceans, insects, mammals, birds, and sometimes monkeys and squirrels. They also scavenge on dead animals.

Credit : Animalia 

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Gharials are one of the largest members of the crocodilian family. They look very similar to crocodiles and alligators, but they have a distinctive long, narrow snout, which reduces water resistance and helps them to hunt for fish. Historically, they lived in only four river systems in the world, but have now become extinct in many areas. The gharial is now listed as a Critically Endangered species. Read on to learn about the gharial.

Gharials have a typical crocodilian shape, other than their extremely elongated, narrow snouts. They are covered with smooth, non-overlapping scales. Adults are generally a dark or light-olive color, and youngsters usually have speckling and dark cross-bands on their heads, bodies, and tails. They have partly webbed fingers and toes. Like other crocodilians, they have a very thick, powerful tail, which is flattened on the sides (“laterally compressed”).

The male gharial has a large, hollow swelling at the end of his snout that is known as a “nasal boss.” This only develops when he becomes sexually mature. This swelling, and the males’ greater body-size, makes it easy to distinguish between male and female gharials (i.e. sexual dimorphism), something which is rare among other crocodilians. The function of the nasal boss is not well understood, but it might be a visual sex indicator, or it might be used as a sound resonator.

Gharials generally prefer clear, flowing, freshwater rivers with deep pools and plenty of fish. They also like habitats with sand-banks or san-bars for nesting and basking in the sun.

Gharials are found in small populations in only a few localities in the Northern part of the Indian Subcontinent.

Young gharials eat small fish, frogs, tadpoles, and insects. Adults also feed on larger fish and crustaceans. Gharials do not chew their prey, rather, they swallow it whole.

Credit : Animals.net

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Earth’s largest living crocodilian—and, some say, the animal most likely to eat a human—is the saltwater or estuarine crocodile. Average-size males reach 17 feet and 1,000 pounds, but specimens 23 feet long and weighing 2,200 pounds are not uncommon.

Saltwater crocs, or "salties," as Australians affectionately refer to them, have an enormous range, populating the brackish and freshwater regions of eastern India, Southeast Asia, and northern Australia. They are excellent swimmers and have often been spotted far out at sea.

Classic opportunistic predators, they lurk patiently beneath the surface near the water's edge, waiting for potential prey to stop for a sip of water. They’ll feed on anything they can get their jaws on, including water buffalo, monkeys, wild boar, and even sharks. Without warning, they explode from the water with a thrash of their powerful tails, grasp their victim, and drag it back in, holding it under until the animal drowns.

Salties are considered at low risk for extinction. But saltwater croc hides are valued above all other crocodilians, and illegal hunting, habitat loss, and antipathy toward the species because of its reputation as a man-eater continue to put pressure on the population.

Credit : National Geographic

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The Nile crocodile has a somewhat deserved reputation as a vicious man-eater. The proximity of much of its habitat to people means run-ins are frequent. And its virtually indiscriminate diet means a villager washing clothes by a riverbank might look just as tasty as a migrating wildebeest. Firm numbers are sketchy, but estimates are that up to 200 people may die each year in the jaws of a Nile croc.

Africa's largest crocodilian can reach a maximum size of about 20 feet and can weigh up to 1,650 pounds. Average sizes, though, are more in the range of 16 feet and 500 pounds. They live throughout sub-Saharan Africa, the Nile Basin, and Madagascar in rivers, freshwater marshes, and mangrove swamps.

The diet of the Nile crocodile is mainly fish, but it will attack almost anything unfortunate enough to cross its path, including zebras, small hippos, porcupines, birds, and other crocodiles. It will also scavenge carrion, and can eat up to half its body weight at a feeding.

Hunted close to extinction in the 1940s through the 1960s, local and international protections have helped them rebound in most areas. In some regions, though, pollution, hunting, and habitat loss have severely depleted their numbers.

One unusual characteristic of this fearsome predator is its caring nature as a parent. Where most reptiles lay their eggs and move on, mother and father Nile crocs ferociously guard their nests until the eggs hatch, and they will often roll the eggs gently in their mouths to help hatching babies emerge.

Credit : National Geographic

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Researchers in South Australia unearthed a fossil of a disc-shaped tiny creature that lived in the ocean over 500 million years ago. They named it Obamus coronatus after former American President Barack Obama to honour his passion for science.

The discovery, by researchers at the University of California-Riverside and the South Australia Museum, took place in a newly excavated fossil bed located in South Australia's Flinders Ranges that has been dubbed "Alice's Restaurant Bed", borrowing a lyric from the Arlo Guthrie song that says "you can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant." 

Professor of paleontology Mary Droser, who led the research, told the Washington Post that the Obama moniker was bestowed upon the creature because it reminded researchers of an ear, something that avid Obama watchers and cartoonists will know was one of the former president's more obvious characteristics.

Alice's Restaurant Bed is teeming with prehistoric fossils from the Ediacaran Biota, a group of soft-bodied animals representing some of the earliest lifeforms on Earth. Scientists are able to visualize their traits and physiology in the Ranges due to their remarkable preservation in fine-grain sandstone.

Not only was Obama honored, but a second ocean floor dweller discovered in the same bed was named after famed naturalist Sir David Attenborough. That creature -- Attenborites janeae -- was even smaller, less than a centimeter across and shaped like an egg, complete "with ridges and grooves giving it a raisin-like appearance."

Credit : CNet

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The Magdeburg Water Bridge at 918 metres in length is the longest navigable aqueduct built over the river Elbe in Germany. The bridge was completed in 2003 as part of the unification project to link former East Germany and West Germany.

The Elbe-Havel and Mittelland canals had previously met near Magdeburg but on opposite sides of the Elbe. Ships moving between the two had to make 12 km detour, descending from the Mittelland Canal through the Rothensee boat lift into the Elbe, and then sailing downstream on the river, before entering the Elbe-Havel Canal through Niegripp lock. Low water levels in the Elbe often prevented fully laden canal barges from making this crossing, requiring time-consuming off-loading of cargo.

The construction of the aqueduct was started in the 1930s but due to the World War II and subsequent division of Germany it remained suspended till 1997. The aqueduct was finally completed and opened to the public in 2003.

Picture Credit : Google

The Magdeburg Water Bridge at 918 metres in length is the longest navigable aqueduct built over the river Elbe in Germany. The bridge was completed in 2003 as part of the unification project to link former East Germany and West Germany.

The Elbe-Havel and Mittelland canals had previously met near Magdeburg but on opposite sides of the Elbe. Ships moving between the two had to make 12 km detour, descending from the Mittelland Canal through the Rothensee boat lift into the Elbe, and then sailing downstream on the river, before entering the Elbe-Havel Canal through Niegripp lock. Low water levels in the Elbe often prevented fully laden canal barges from making this crossing, requiring time-consuming off-loading of cargo.

The construction of the aqueduct was started in the 1930s but due to the World War II and subsequent division of Germany it remained suspended till 1997. The aqueduct was finally completed and opened to the public in 2003.

Credit : Time Travel

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