My Science School

When a monkey makes faces at you, do you know that it is trying to communicate with you? Visual communication may take the form of facial grimaces, gestures, body language, displays, and even markings on the  A peacock's extravagant display of feathers is a form of visual communication. The male rabbit will use the white underside of its tail to attract the attention of a female, while the female may use the white of her tail as a visual signal for her young to follow when she is leading them to the safety of the burrow.Dogs and wolves make use of body language, as do cats, monkeys and many other animals. The attitude of the tail when two wolves meet will indicate which of the two the superior is. Horses will hold their ears or tail in certain positions to signal pleasure or alarm. 

 It is true that animals cannot talk like we do, but they do make noises that other animals can understand, even if we can't!Birds do this when they chirp and sing cats when they meow and purr, and dolphins when they click and whistle. Many of these noises translate to simple phrases like 'I'm hungry', ‘I’m angry', 'feed me' and 'leave me alone'.Other animals use signals and sign language to talk to each other. Bees do a complicated dance to tell other bees in which direction to go to find food. Howler monkeys will howl to tell other monkeys to keep off their territory, and some birds sing both to attract mates and defend their Will we ever be able to understand what animals are saying? Maybe, one day. It's possible that, in the future, we'll have computers so powerful that they'll be able to decode the dolphin clicks even to translate Cuttlefish into English! 

If you rub your kitten under the ear, it will make a purring sound. Do you know why? Cats purr to let you know that they are feeling good! Sometimes, though, when they are hurt, they purr to comfort themselves.

 In short, purring is a cat's way of communicating, and when a healthy cat purrs, it is a sign that it is happy and at peace. 

A special kind of postal system, which existed in the princely states of Travancore and Cochin, in Kerala, was known as the ‘Anchel’. It was introduced by a British officer Colonel John Monroe in 1811. He was the Resident of the English East India Company in Travancore and their political agent in Cochin. He was also the Dewan of Travancore State. In the beginning, the Anchel service was used to carry only royal implements, government letters, and flowers as offering to the Sree Padmanbhas swamy Temple at Thiruvananthapuram, owned by royal family of Travancore. Later, the system was opened to the public for a fee of one chakram (copper coin used in Travancore. One rupee was equal to 28 chakrams).

            The Anchel office was headed by an ‘Anchel Pillai’ (the post master). Each Anchel sepoy had to carry the postal articles for a fixed distance, and then hand it over to another person. It was like a relay race.

            The Anchel sepoy used to run with a metal rod fixed with bells, in his hand. The rule was that when people heard the sound of these bells they had to make way for him. Postal runners were allowed to occupy the centre of the road, and any obstruction made to the postal runners was considered a serious offence.

            The Anchel system continued even after the Travancore and Cochin states were brought together to form the Travancore Cochin States in 1949. In 1951, the department of Anchel was merged with the Central Government’s Postal Department

How does the letter that you send reach its destination? In early days, mail was carried by riders on horseback. Sometimes, boats and carriages would also carry parcels and letters. Fees had to be paid in person to the carrier, both by the person sending the mail, and the person receiving it.

        In 1858, letter boxes were introduced ob streets. People did not have to go to the post office to mail their letters or pay fees. Free delivery of service was also started by 1863. Letters and parcels were carried by train to different cities and later on, to villages in rural areas as well. The coming of railways really increased the efficiency of the postal systems, and made delivery much faster. Today, railroads, automobiles, and airplanes are all used by the Post Office to bring your mail to you as fast as possible.

The Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the North American continent from the Missouri River to the Pacific coast. Messages were carried on horse-back relay across the plains, deserts, and mountains of the Western United States. Compared to earlier delivery services, the Pony Express was very fast.

            In 1861, telegraph wires connected New York and San Francisco, and the Pony express riders went out of business. But their courage and determination to deliver messages through rain and snow, sleet and ice, over the toughest mountain trials and harshest desert have become legendary.

Today, when you want to send your friend a message, you just send a letter. But 3000 years ago, King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba exchanged messages by carrier pigeons. These are specially trained pigeons which will find their way back home when they are released. The Egyptians and the Persians first used carrier pigeons 3,000 years ago. They also were used to proclaim the winner of the Olympics.

Carrier pigeons served many purposes during the war, racing through the skies with airplanes, or even being fitted with cameras to take pictures of enemy positions. But one of the most important roles they served was as messengers. First an important message could be written on a piece of paper. Then, that paper neatly folded and secured in a small canister attached to a pigeon’s leg. Once the pigeon was released, it would try to fly to its home back behind the lines, where the message would be read and transmitted to the proper

Probably the most famous of all the carrier pigeons was one named Cher Ami, two French words meaning ‘Dear Friend’. Cher Ami flew 12 important missions to deliver messages. Perhaps the most important message he carried was the one that saved the lives of over 200 American soldiers, though he was badly wounded by enemy fire.

Computers play an important role in communication. Large companies use a network of computers to run their business. When people cannot meet in person to discuss matters, they can use video conferencing to share ideas even if they live in different continents. Video conference is a system where computer networks, telephones and video cameras are used to let people see and talk to each  E-mail is also an important tool of communication if you have a computer and an internet connection. E-mail is nothing more than sending and receiving messages through your computer. People use e-mail for business, to keep in touch with friends and relatives, and to work on a project with someone a hundred kilometres away. The internet is also used for communicating in chat rooms and newsgroups. You can chat with a friend who is far away by typing or even speaking to him as you would do with a  New ways of using computers for communication are being developed at a fast pace. In addition to using videophones to speak to, and see people for way, cars can now find routes to avoid traffic jams, and even give you directions to reach a particular place. ships and trains, planes and spaceships, all depend on computers in one way or the other

Did you know that your computer can be connected to another computer in Africa or America? This is possible because of a giant network called the internet that connects computers through phone lines, cable and satellite links. If you take an internet connection, your computer becomes a part of this network.  An internet connection will allow you to communicate with other users all over the world through electronic mail or email. You can also get access the World Wide Web, which is a vast store of information. You can download this information on to your own computer, copy it and print it. The World Wide Web has many sites that give you news and entertainment too.  So, we can say that the three main uses of the internet are communication, research and ‘publishing’ on the World Wide Web. The Web allows for the display of still images, moving video, audio and text in any combination. The fact is that once you start using the internet, you will find that ‘browsing’ or ‘surfing’ the internet is a very good way to learn a lot… and have a lot of fun as well, for you can play many exciting games on the internet

Most deaf people learn to lip-read. There is an internationally recognized sign language also. Below you can see the sign language of the alphabetical system using one hand.

When greeting one another, Americans shake hands. From an early Americans are taught to shake hands with a firm solid Other commonly used gestures include signaling goodbye by waving the hand and beckoning someone with a curving motion of the index finger. Nodding the head means ‘yes’, shaking it from side to side means ‘no’.A palm facing outwards with the middle finger and index finger forming a ‘V’ and the other fingers clenched signifies ‘victory’ or ‘peace’. You can say ‘OK’ by forming a circle with your thumb and forefinger, while a closed fist with the thumb up means ‘good job!’ Like us, the Americans to extend the forefinger and make a circling motion near the forehead to say ‘he’s crazy’!

The ‘V’ is a hand gesture which means 'Victory' or 'Peace.' It is made with the first and second fingers raised and parted, whilst the remaining fingers are clenched and the palm faces outwards.According to legend, the 'V' sign goes back to the Hundred Years' War between England and France. The story claims that the French cut off two fingers on the right hand of captured archers, and the 'V' sign was a gesture of defiance made by the English archers who were not mutilated. Former British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill used the ‘V’ sign to symbolize victory during World War II. The sign became very popular in the United States during the peace movement of the 1960s. 

The Japanese greet each other by bowing. The bow can be a small nod of the head, or a more elaborate bending from the waist. If your opposite is of higher social status than yourself, you are supposed to bow deeper and longer than him or her!However, nowadays the Japanese do shake hands too. The handshake is usually followed by a bow. Did you know that Japanese people sometimes bow toward the person whom they are talking to on the phone? Though they can't actually see the person whom they are talking to, they tend to bow in order to show respect.Different bows are used for apologies and gratitude, to express different emotions like humility, sincerity, remorse, or deference, and in various traditional arts and religious ceremonies. Generally speaking, an inferior bows longer and more deeply, and more frequently, than a superior.

In India, people greet each other with folded hands and say ‘Namaste’. Many Asian people bow to greet each other, while others touch their foreheads with their hands to say ‘salaam’.The handshake is the universal form of greeting in the West, Now, this practice has spread to other parts of the world too. Native Hawaiians hug and exchange breaths when they meet, while Mexicans just hug each other.In many parts of the world, men greet each other by exchanging kisses on the cheek, while the Maoris of New Zealand rub noses to say ‘hello’!

Gestures are important means of communication, it is true, but sometimes, they can prove troublesome. This happens when the same gesture has different meanings in different When an American meets a Chinese, they will both greet each other with a handshake. Some of the gestures they use will have a common meaning... waving a hand to say good bye, frowning to show displeasure, nodding the head to say ‘yes’ and shaking it from side to side to say ‘no’.However, some gestures means different things to an American and a Chinese. An American will stamp his foot when he is impatient, a Chinese when he is angry. For an American, starting is very rude, while for a Chinese it is only a sign of curiosity or surprise. When an American makes a shushing sound, it means ‘be quiet’, while for a Chinese it is a sign of displeasure. Never pat a Chinese on the head. You may think you are encouraging him or consoling him, but for the Chinese, a pat on the head is an insult!