Did You Ever Know 002

Frogs on all continents except Antarctica

There are close to 4,000 known species of frogs, including toads. They range in size from less than half an inch to nearly a foot long and come in a rainbow of colors and patterns.

Adult frogs are carnivorous and will eat just about anything smaller than themselves, including insects, worms and even other frogs.

A frog's long, sticky tongue is attached in the front of its mouth, and, as a signature move, a frog can flick its tongue out to capture its prey with remarkable speed.

The earliest known frog (Vieraella herbsti) appeared during the late Jurassic period, about 190 million years ago. The specimens that have been found in Arizona   shows that the skeletal shape and body plan of the frog has remained almost unchanged.

The biggest frog is the appropriately named Goliath frog (Conraua goliath) of Cameroon. They reach nearly 30cm (a foot) and weigh as much as 3,3 kilograms. The smallest frog is the Gold frog (Psyllophryne Didactyla) of Brazil. They grow to only 9,8 mm (3/8 inch).

Equally small is the Eleutherodactylus iberia discovered only in 1996 in Monte Iberia, Cuba. (It doesn't even have a common name yet.)  Other small frogs are poison frogs. They measure less than 1cm (1/2 inch).

Recently scientists have noticed a marked decline in the numbers of frogs and other amphibians around the world. Some species are believed to have become extinct within the past fifty years. Causes for the decline include ozone depletion, pollution, habitat loss, introduction of new predators, disease and even a fungus.

Source: Did you know?

Mr karamudini who is translator of some science books has added more information about my post : Frogs are not only interesting animals, but also used in evolutionary biology. They are mostly defendless and teach us much about the past life forms on the earth. Their ancestors appeared and lived millions of years ago 

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Bees may be used to detect landmines

Tiny radio plates the size of a rice grain will be attached to honey bees to detect antipersonnel landmines, of which there are about 100 million in 70 war-torn countries.

The tiny radio plates are engraved with serial numbers to keep track of the bees, which are being conditioned to develop a preference in addition to nectar, in this case TNT, or any other material that releases metamphenamine. Special spectrometers that can "smell" TNT are placed in movable beehives to indicate landmines in specific areas. Bees that "smell" of explosives can then be tracked to the landmine. The bees won't detonate the landmines.

This is just one of many reasons why bees are important to us. Without bees, there will be no flowers or crops. Although birds, other insects and the wind also pollinate plants, bees do most of it.

Busy bees

Between 20 000 and 60 000 bees live in a single hive. The queen bee lays 1 500 eggs a day and lives for up to 2 years. The drone, whose only job it is to mate with the queen bee, has a lifespan of around 24 days - they have no stinger. Worker bees - all sterile females - usually work themselves to death within 40 days in summer, collecting pollen and nectar. Worker bees fly up to 14km (9 miles) to find pollen and nectar, flying at 24km/h (15 mph).

Pollen is the main supply of protein and vitamins for bees, with the 10 amino acids they require. Nectar is up to 80% sugar but less than 0.2% in protein, so nectar is the carbohydrate supply for the hive. Bees place the nectar in honeycomb cells and then evaporate the water from the nectar by rapid wing movement. When the amount of water is less than 18%, the mixture is called honey and the bees cap off the cells. Thus honey is 80% sugars and 20% water. A mixture of honey and pollen is called "bee bread" and is the food for larvae and bees.

A worker bee communicates her floral findings by performing a dance on the honeycomb. The orientation of her movements and the frequency of her vibrations indicate the direction and distance of the flowers.

The sting

The worker bees defend the hive. The muscular barbed stinger quickly saw into the skin of the invader and the venom pouch begins to contract rhythmically to pump venom into the intruder.

But the bee species itself is under severe attack: in recent years thousands of colonies were destroyed by two parasitic mites, acarapis woodi and varroa jacobsoni. Scientist have not discovered a remedy yet, but have noticed a disturbing trend: the highest numbers of infested bees and the highest infestation rates were seen at high stress sites, ie. polluted areas. The challenge to individuals like us is to protect these amazing animals by making our gardens bee-friendly.

The bee is a remarkable animal - flowers are pollinated mostly by bees. Bees do not have ears, but they have an excellent sense of smell with chemoreceptors in their antennae.
Bees see colours differently than we do. They are insensitive to red but detects ultraviolet light which is invisible to us.

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Landmine: a bomb hidden in the ground that explodes when someone walks or drives over it Plate: to be covered in sheets of a hard material such as metal war-torn :a war-torn country, city etc is being destroyed by war(war zone) engrave:to cut words, pictures or patterns into the surface of metal, stone, etc nectar :the sweet liquid that bees collect from flowers spectrometer: طیف سنج detonate: to explode or to make something explode set off pollinate: o give a flower or plant pollen so that it can produce seeds: hive: a structure where bees are kept for producing honey beehive: a small box where bees are kept, or the bees that live in this box drone :a male bee that does no work. stinger :the sharp needle-shaped part of an insect's or animal's body, with which it stings you [= sting British English] sterile :person or animal that is sterile cannot produce babies [= infertile; ≠ fertile] Pollen :a fine powder produced by flowers, which is carried by the wind or by insects to other flowers of the same type, making them produce seeds evaporate: if a liquid evaporates, or if heat evaporates it, it changes into a gas: barbed :a barbed hook or arrow has one or more sharp curved points on it. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Source: Did you know? 

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Science facts

Did you know that there are 206 bones in the adult human body and there are 300 in children (as they grow some of the bones fuse together).

Fuse: to join together physically, or to make things join together, and become a single thing.

The most dangerous animal in the world is the common housefly. Because of their habits of visiting animal waste, they transmit more diseases than any other animal.

Snakes are true carnivorous because they eat nothing but other animals. They do not eat any type of plant material.

Carnivorous: some one who eats meat.گوشتخوار

The world's largest amphibian is the giant salamander. It can grow up to 5 ft. in length.

amphibian :animals such as frogs that can live both on land and in water. دوزیست

salamander: a small animal similar to a   lizard, which lives on land and in the water سمندر

The smallest bone in the human body is the stapes or stirrup bone located in the middle ear. It is approximately .11 inches (.28 cm) long.

Stapes / Stirrup bone: استخوان رکابی

The human eye blinks an average of 4,200,000 times a year.

Blink: to shut and open your eyes quickly. چشمک زدن

100 years ago: The first virus was found in both plants and animals.

90 years ago: The Grand Canyon became a national monument & Cellophane is invented.

Monument: a very old building or place that is important historically.اثر تاریخی

80 years ago: The food mixer and the domestic refrigerator were invented.

domestic refrigerator: یخچال خانگی

70 years ago: The teletype and PVC (polyvinyl-chloride) were invented.

Teletype: تلگراف

60 years ago: Otto Hahn discovered nuclear fission by splitting uranium, Teflon was invented.

nuclear fission: شکافت هسته ای

50 years ago: Velcro was invented.

40 years ago: An all-female population of lizards was discovered in Armenia.

30 years ago: The computer mouse was invented.

20 years ago: First test-tube baby born in England, Pluto’s moon, Charon, discovered.

Test-tube:لوله آزمایش

5 years ago: The first successful cloning of human embryo.

embryo : an animal or human that has not yet been born, and has just begun to develop.جنین

For the largest list of science facts, visitThe Online Encyclopedia of Trivia  

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Did You Know?

• Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
• The Statue of Liberty's tablet is two feet thick.
• There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.
• The slogan on New Hampshire license plates is 'Live Free or Die'. These license plates are manufactured by prisoners in the state prison in Concord.
• Barbie's measurements if she were life size: 39-23-33.
• The dollar symbol ($) is a U combined with an S (U.S.)
• The straw was probably invented by Egyptian brewers to taste in-process beer without removing the fermenting ingredients which floated on the top of the container.
• David Prowse, was the guy in the Darth Vader suit in Star Wars. He spoke all of Vader's lines, and didn't know that he was going to be dubbed over by James Earl Jones until he saw the screening of the movie.
• The United States government keeps its supply of silver at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY
• There are only thirteen blimps in the world.
• Nine of the thirteen blimps are in the United States.
• The existing biggest blimp is the Fuji Film blimp.
• Naugahyde, plastic "leather" was created in Naugatuck, Connecticut.
• The Swiss flag is square.
• The word 'pound' is abbreviated 'lb.' after the constellation 'libra' because it means 'pound' in Latin, and also 'scales'. The abbreviation for the British Pound Sterling comes from the same source: it is an 'L' for Libra/Lb. with a stroke through it to indicate abbreviation.
• Sames goes for the Italian lira which uses the same abbreviation ('lira' coming from 'libra'). So British currency (before it went metric) was always quoted as "pounds/shillings/pence", abbreviated "L/s/d" (libra/solidus/denarius).
• The three largest land-owners in England are the Queen, the Church of England and Trinity College, Cambridge.
• The monastic hours are matins, lauds, prime, tierce, sext, nones, vespers and compline.
• If you come from Manchester, you are a Mancunian.
• No animal, once frozen solid (i.e., water solidifies and turns to ice) survives when thawed, because the ice crystals formed inside cells would break open the cell membranes. However there are certain frogs that can survive the experience of being frozen. These frogs make special proteins which prevent the formation of ice (or at least keep the crystals from becoming very large), so that they actually never freeze even though their body temperature is below zero Celsius. The water in them remains liquid: a phenomenon known as 'supercooling.' If you disturb one of these frogs (just touching them even), the water in them quickly freezes solid and they die.
• The white part of your fingernail is called the lunula.
• Madrid is the only European capital city not situated on a river.
• The name for fungal remains found in coal is sclerotinite.

Source:

http://www.kellys.com/know.html 

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Did You Ever Know 001

Focus on Solutions Rather than on Problems.... .

Case 1:

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (ink won't flow down to the writing surface).

To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 Million.

They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.

And what did the Russians do...?? They used a pencil.

Case 2:

One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soapbox, which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought

A soapbox that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soapbox went through the assembly line empty.

Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with High-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soapboxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent a whoopee amount to do so.

But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, etc., but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan On, and as each soapbox passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

MORAL

1) Always look for simple solutions.

2) Devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problems.

3) Always Focus on solutions & not on problems.

Source: ENGLISH-4-ALL

**True friends are those who care without hesitations, who remember without limitations, who give without expectations and love even without communication. Friendship doesnt need everyday conversation doesnt always need togetherness, as long as the
relationship is kept in the heart,true friends never go apart....... ...** Sadat Moshtaghian 

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New 7 Wonders vs. Ancient 7 WondersJuly 9, 2007 The 105-foot-tall (38-meter-tall) "Christ the Redeemer" statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was among the "new seven wonders of the world" announced July 7 following a global poll to decide a new list of human-made marvels.
The winners were voted for by Internet and phone, American Idol style. The other six new wonders are the Colosseum in Rome, India's Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, Jordan's ancient city of Petra, the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, and the ancient Maya city of Chich鮠Itzᠩn Mexico. The contest was organized by the New7Wonders Foundation?the brainchild of Swiss filmmaker and museum curator Bernard Weber?in order to "protect humankind's heritage across the globe." The foundation says the poll attracted almost a hundred million votes. Yet the competition has proved controversial, drawing criticism from the United Nations' cultural organization UNESCO, which administers the World Heritage sites program (pictures of the newest World Heritage sites). "This initiative cannot, in any significant and sustainable manner, contribute to the preservation of sites elected by [the] public," UNESCO said in a statement.

Great Wall of China
This newly elected world wonder was built along China's northern border over many centuries to keep out invading Mongol tribes. Constructed between the fifth century B.C. and the 16th century, the Great Wall is the world's longest human-made structure, stretching some 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers). The best known section was built around 200 B.C. by the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang Di. The wall was among the winners of the New7Wonders poll announced during a televised ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal. However the Chinese state broadcaster chose not to broadcast the event, and Chinese state heritage officials refused to endorse the competition. It was a different story for some of the other candidates. In Brazil, for example, President Luiz Inᣩo Lula da Silva encouraged his compatriots to vote for Rio de Janeiro's mountaintop statue of Jesus Christ.

The Colosseum, Rome, Italy
The only finalist from Europe to make it into the top seven?the Colosseum in Rome, Italy?once held up to 50,000 spectators who came to watch gory games involving gladiators, wild animals, and prisoners. Construction began around A.D. 70 under Emperor Vespasian. Modern sports stadiums still resemble the Colosseum's famous design. European sites that didn't make the cut include Stonehenge in the United Kingdom, the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, and the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. The Vatican in Rome accused the competition' s organizers of ignoring Christian monuments, none of which was featured among the 20 finalists. Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, head of culture and archaeology at the Vatican, called the omission of sites such as the Sistine Chapel ?inexplicable.?

Petra, Jordan
Perched on the edge of the Arabian Desert, Petra was the capital of the Nabataean kingdom of King Aretas IV (9 B.C. to A.D. 40). Petra is famous for its many stone structures such as a 138-foot-tall (42-meter-tall) temple carved with classical facades into rose-colored rock. The ancient city also included tunnels, water chambers, and an amphitheater, which held 4,000 people. The desert site wasn't known to the West until Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt came across it in 1812. Jordan has taken the New7Wonders competition seriously. Petra is an important attraction in a country where tourism has recently suffered due to troubles in the Middle East region, particularly in neighboring Iraq. The Jordanian royal family backed a campaign promoting Petra's selection.

Machu Picchu, Peru One of three successful candidates from Latin America, Machu Picchu is a 15th-century mountain settlement in the Amazon region of Peru. The ruined city is among the best known remnants of the Inca civilization, which flourished in the Andes region of western South America. The city is thought to have been abandoned following an outbreak of deadly smallpox, a disease introduced in the 1500s by invading Spanish forces. Hundreds of people gathered at the remote, 7,970-foot-high (2,430-meter- high) site on Saturday to celebrate Machu Picchu's new ?seven wonders? status. The winners were revealed at a soccer stadium in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, where Machu Picchu reportedly got one of the biggest cheers. The other two Latin American selections were Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Chich鮠ItzᬠMexico.

Chich鮠ItzᬠMexico
Chich鮠Itzᠩs possibly the most famous temple city of the Mayas, a pre-Columbian civilization that lived in present day Central America. It was the political and religious center of Maya civilization during the period from A.D. 750 to 1200. At the city's heart lies the Temple of Kukulkan (pictured)?which rises to a height of 79 feet (24 meters). Each of its four sides has 91 steps?one step for each day of the year, with the 365th day represented by the platform on the top. The New7Wonders competition was launched in 1999, and the voting process beginning in 2005. Nearly 200 nominations that came in from around the world were narrowed down to 21. Unsuccessful finalists included the giant statues of Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean; the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia; and the Sydney Opera House in Australia.

Taj Mahal, India
The Taj Mahal, in Agra, India, is the spectacular mausoleum built by Muslim Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to honor the memory of his beloved late wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Construction began in 1632 and took about 15 years to complete. The opulent, domed mausoleum, which stands in formal walled gardens, is generally regarded as finest example of Mughal art and architecture. It includes four minarets, each more than 13 stories tall. Shah Jahan was deposed and put under house arrest by one of his sons soon after the Taj Mahal's completion. It's said that he spent the rest of his days gazing at the Taj Mahal from a window.

The Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt
The Egyptian pharaoh Khufu built the Great Pyramid in about 2560 B.C. to serve as his tomb. The pyramid is the oldest structure on the original list of the seven wonders of the ancient world, which was compiled by Greek scholars about 2,200 years ago. It is also the only remaining survivor from the original list. The Great Pyramid is the largest of three Pyramids at Giza, bordering modern-day Cairo. Although weathering has caused the structure to stand a few feet shorter today, the pyramid was about 480 feet (145 meters) high when it was first built. It is thought to have been the planet's tallest human-made structure for more than four millennia. Initially the Giza Pyramids were top contenders in the Internet and phone ballot to make a new list of world wonders. But leading Egyptian officials were outraged by the contest, saying the pyramids shouldn't be put to a vote. "This contest will not detract from the value of the Pyramids, which is the only real wonder of
the world," Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass told the AFP news agency. Instead competition organizers withdrew the Pyramids from the competition in April and granted them "honorary wonder" status.

The Colossus of Rhodes, Greece In contrast to the pyramids, the colossus was the shortest lived of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Completed in 282 B.C. after taking 12 years to build, the Colossus of Rhodes was felled by an earthquake that snapped the statue off at the knees a mere 56 years later. The towering figure?made of stone and iron with an outer skin of bronze?represented the Greek sun god Helios, the island's patron god. It looked out from Mandr᫩ Harbor on the Mediterranean island of R