27th May 2016
Mawlynnong, located in Meghalaya, is the cleanest village in Asia. Situated about 90 kilometres from Shillong, it is nestled in the East Khasi Hills, where the villagers live in harmony with nature. In 2005, the Discover India magazine accorded it the status of the cleanest village in Asia. Mawlynnong has a matrilineal society, and agriculture is the chief occupation of the local population.
27th May 2016
Sharks are fish which have cartilages rather than bones. These fish evolved earlier than dinosaurs, which were reptiles. The fossil records show that sharks existed about 400 million years ago. Dinosaurs were found during the Triassic period, i.e. about 225 million years ago.
26th May 2016
Cyanide is a lethal chemical found in minute amounts in seeds of some fruits such as apple, cherry and peach. The seeds of these fruits contain a compound called amygdalin, which is a sugar and cyanide based compound. When amygdalin enters a human or animal body, the sugar part of the molecule gets cut off and the remainder forms a poisonous gas called hydrogen cyanide. Hydrogen cyanide was one of the main ingredients of Zyklon B, the commercial name of the pesticide used by the Nazis in the gas chambers. However, to poison yourself you would have to consume a huge number of seeds. One seed is approximately 0.7 grams, and not all of this mass gets converted to hydrogen cyanide. A minimum of 1.5 grams of hydrogen cyanide per kilogram of body weight is required to kill a human.
26th May 2016
Rocketgrams are mail delivered by firing crude rockets towards their destinations. Stephen Hector Taylor-Smith, an Indian aerospace engineer, launched the first rocketgram in the 1930s. In the ten-year span of his experiments he made around 270 launches. The first successful livestock dispatch was of a cock and a hen, Adam and Eve, across the Damodar River near Burnpur in West Bengal.
25th May 2016
A spider’s web is not its home, but rather a trap for its prey. It is woven by the spider using the spider silk produced by special glands in their abdomen. The webs are as unique as snowflakes, with no two ever being the same. Some tropical spiders have built webs over 5.5 m across.
24th May 2016
World’s first recorded women’s test match was played in 1725 in Surrey, England, between Bramley and Hambledon villages. The Bramley team sported white dress and blue ribbons while the Hambledon team wore white dress and red ribbons. This report appeared in The Reading Mercury on July 26, 1745.
