My Science School

Researchers from Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands have used artificial intelligence to create a treasure map of zones in which to find meteorites hidden in Antarctic ice.

Sixty-two per cent of all meteorites recovered on Earth were found in Antarctica, making this cold continent a hotbed for space research. These meteorites provide a unique view into the origin and evolution of the solar system.

Meteorites have been accumulating in Antarctica for millennia, falling from space and becoming embedded in ice sheets within the continent's interior. As the glaciers slowly flow, the meteorites are carried with them. If a glacier comes up against a large obstacle, in areas like the Transantarctic Mountains, the ice rises and meteorites are brought to the surface. Dry Antarctic winds gradually erode the ice, exposing the meteorites. As more ice rises to the surface, the process repeats. Given enough time, a significant accumulation of meteorites builds up.

Researchers say that satellite observations of temperature, ice flow rate, surface cover and geometry are good predictors of the location of meteorite rich areas, and expect the "treasure map' to be 80 per cent accurate. Based on the study, scientists calculate that as many as 300,000 meteorites are out there on the Antarctic landscape.

Picture Credit : Google 

At 24,000 km long, the Great Trail in Canada is the world's longest recreational trail network of roadways, greenways and waterways. It has individual sections for walking, cycling, paddling. horseback riding and cross-country skiing.

Twenty-five years ago, Great Trail founders Pierre Camu, Bill Pratt and Paul LaBarge came up with the idea of linking Canada’s various trail networks into one mega-trail to celebrate the nation’s 125th birthday. Since then, tens of millions of dollars have been spent on trail building, signage and negotiations with landowners and local governments. Four hundred and seventy-seven groups helped to create the trail’s 432 sections, which pass through 15,000 communities.

In September of 2016, the trail was only 85 to 90 percent connected,  Over the last year, however, organizers made a monumental push to work with counties and municipalities to negotiate interim solutions for the missing bits of trail.  Not everyone is impressed by the Great Trail, former known as the Trans-Canada Trail, however, according to Jason Markusoff at MacLean’s. Reportedly, the route falls significantly short of its original goal of being an off-road trail, with only around 4,900 miles of the route, or 32 percent, composed of off-road trails. About 5,340 miles of the trail are along roads or the shoulders of highways, while 3,770 miles are water trails and 1,110 miles share the trail with ATVs.

Picture Credit : Google 

The Eiffel Tower, first opened to the public on 6 May 1889, is actually painted in three different shades of colour (Eiffel Tower Brown); the darkest shade begins at the base, lightening progressively upto the top, to show off the Tower to maximum advantage against the Parisian skies. The tower is covered with 60 tons of paint every seven years to protect against corrosion.

Its color has varied over the years, from reddish-brown (1889) to ochre-brown (1892), a variation of 5 shades of yellow over its total height (1899), yellow-brown (1907 to 1947), reddish-brown (1954-1961) and since 1968, an “Eiffel Tower brown” of three different tones.

It’s thought that Eiffel chose the colour because he wanted the 324-metre-high tower to reflect the yellowish limestone architecture of the city around it. (But of course, the nod to Olympic gold medals is a nice touch too.)

The work, which began in 2019, is expected to cost a whopping €50 million ($60 million or £44 million) overall. The paint job will be complete by 2022 – well in time for the 2024 Games – and an extensive renovation of the park just to the south is set to follow.

The tower will serve as the backdrop for the triathlon and open-water swimming events in the Seine. The surrounding quais are also expected to play host to a series of shows, concerts and other entertainment.

Credit: Time Out 

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Kodinhi in Kerala is known as India's Town of Twins. Located in Malappuram district, in a population of nearly 20,000 the presence of more than 450 pairs of twins of different ages still remains a riddle for the scientific world. It has the highest rate of twins in the country, although India has one of the lowest twinning rates in the world. The first association of twins in India, The Twins and Kins Association, was founded here. Like many other villages in Kerala, it is lined with coconut palms, crisscrossed with canals and dotted with rice fields. But, when you go deeper into its narrow streets, you come across a large number of identical faces. You will see many lookalike children, in the school and in the nearby market in this village. The oldest twin living in this village is Abdul Hameed and his twin sister Kunhi Kadia.

Initially, only a few twins were born in the years, but later it accelerated and now twins are being born at a very high speed. In 2008, there were 30 twins out of the 300 children born in good health in the village. But in a few years; their number has reached 60. It is not that the twins born here or their mothers have any physical defects or mental deformities, nothing like that. Women also remain healthy and do not suffer from any kind of deformity. The locals believe that this village has God's special grace which gives birth to more and more twins. 

Credit : India Times

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The world's largest bee - roughly the size of a human thumb - has been rediscovered in Indonesia. Wallace's Giant Bee, discovered in the 19th century by British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace and nicknamed the "flying bulldog", had not been seen in the wild since 1981.

 The bee (Megachile pluto), which lives in the island region of North Moluccas, makes its nest in termite mounds, using its large fang-like mandibles to collect sticky resin to protect its home from the termites. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists the bee as "vulnerable". Currently, there is no protection for the bee's habitat which is threatened by increasing deforestation for agricultural purposes.

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An angel oak tree in South Carolina provides shade across an area of 17,000 square feet! This feat is possible thanks to its immense height of 65 feet and 28 feet circumference. The tree is nearly 500 years old and had all the time in the world to grow both upwards and outwards. The Angel Oak estimated to be more than 400-500 years old.  Angels Oak has survived rough weather including earthquakes, hurricanes, floods as well as human interference. It’s therefore accurate to assume that the tree will live for a whole lot more centuries.

The land was also used as part of a marriage settlement between Martha W.T. Angel and Justus Angel. Today, Angel Oak serves as the focal point of a public park in South Carolina. In the modern day, Angel oak is owned by the City of Charleston and it costs nothing to marvel at the tree in John’s Island.

Credit : Crafted Charleston Tours

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Boojum trees are named after a mythical thing found in the work, The Hunting of the Snark, by Lewis Carroll. Their fantastic form resembles an upside-down carrot and groups of them create quite an astounding display as the vertical trunks snake up from the earth. It can grow to a height of about 20 metres. The small leaves that grow on it fall early, and the task of photosynthesis is left to the stem. If you want one in your own garden, you need to have deep pockets. Apparently, the tree is sold at the rate of $1000 per foot! The boojum tree is one of the strangest plants imaginable. For most of the year it is leafless and looks like a giant upturned turnip.

 Its common name was coined by the plant explorer Godfrey Sykes, who found it in 1922 and said "It must be a boojum!".

The swollen trunk base is often hollow and provides a habitat for bees; the wood is somewhat spongy and retains water. The boojum tree is sometimes planted in southern California and Arizona as a landscape curiosity; small plants can be grown indoors.

Credit : Google 

Picture Credit : Google 

A eucalyptus tree species in the Philippines has a fantastic, psychedelic rainbow bark. How did this even happen? Patches of bark peeled out at different stages. The green exposed bark matures and develops different colours. You'd expect that it'd be grown for its beauty, but since paper is more important, they're grown for wood pulp.

The colorful striations are created due to the fact that the tree doesn't shed all at once. Slowly, over time, different layers fall off, while other exposed areas have already begun aging. This process makes for a spectacular visual, with the rainbow eucalyptus looking like it could be pulled from Alice in Wonderland. Botanists have identified around 900 species of eucalypts divided into three different groups: Eucalyptus, which make up the bulk of the species; Corymbia, the bloodwood eucalypts mainly found in the north; and Angophora.

Picture Credit : Google 

 It is a unique tree that is one of the most peculiar trees in the world . The Dragon's Blood Tree got its name from its bright red sap, made up of a cocktail of chemicals. This sap was used as a colourant in the mummification process, and today, even as a natural remedy for gastrointestinal troubles. The tree has an interesting back story. About 500 years ago, there was a flightless bird species that ate the fruits of this tree. It helped disperse the seeds and kept the population of the tree stable. After the bird went extinct, the tree also went into decline.

. The tree has a distinctive external shape that makes it look like a huge umbrella, as the leaves grow only at the end of branches and point upwards. It has many branches; it grows by dichotomy, which means that each branch is divided into two until the leaves finally grow on the branches' ends. It produces a lot of green leaves that are renewed every three or four years; they fall and other leaves grow in their place.

What makes this tree stand out among other trees in the world is that it bleeds when it is truncated; the bloody liquid is a type of red resin that has no smell or taste. This resin is of great importance, as it contains an effective substance known as draco, which has multiple medical uses and is part of the pharmaceutical industry to treat some health problems.

Credit : Sci planet

Picture Credit : Google