Sunita Williams, was on born September 19, 1965. She is a United States Naval officer and a NASA astronaut. She was assigned to the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 14 and then joined Expedition 15. She holds the record of the longest spaceflight (195 days) for female space travelers. She was selected to appear on the Colbert Report …

Respirators or N95 masks can block 95% small particles that contain the H1N1 virus, which causes swine flu. These are expensive and can be used only for a single day. These masks are made of three layers of electrostaticallycharged microfibres, that block 95% particles, thus the name N95.

Sperm whale is a type of toothed whale (physeter catodon) with a very large head which has cavities containing spermaceti, a sperm oil. It is a white, waxy substance consisting of various esters of fatty acids used for making candles, ointments and cosmetics. It has no relation to sperm, the male gamete.

I personally think that the 10:10 position (sometimes 10:12 or 10:08) was adopted for pictures of clocks and watches because it is symmetric and looks better. Today the symmetric positions are both aesthetic and customary. Other symmetric hand positions are also used, but not as frequently. Examples include 8:20, 8:18, and 2:50. Reviewing some Seth Thomas clock catalog illustrations, I …

The diesel engine is more efficient than the petrol engine because of its greater thermal efficiency. This means that the ratio of the work done by the engine to the amount of heat supplied is higher. Since the heat in this case comes from fuel-oil, it is not possible to convert all the heat energy in the fuel into useful …

Blunderbuss probably derives its name from the German donder buchse, ‘thunder gun’. The gun was built with a bell-shaped barrel – wider at the muzzle than the breech. This amplified the noise of the explosion. The weapon was loaded with a number of small balls and it was thought that the bell-mouth would cause the shot to spread. But it …

Technically, it is not possible to light an electric bulb without drawing input greater than zero watts. Zero watts is actually not zero, but refers to the minimum wattage. The inaccurate electric meters of the early days could not measure such a negligible amount of consumption as during those days, the watt hour meter had a rotating disc and when …

Sunil Bharti Mittal, (born 23 October 1957) is an Indian telecom mogul, philanthropist and the founder, chairman and managing director of Bharti Enterprises. The US$7.2 billion turnover company runs India’s largest GSM-based mobile phone service. He is the son of Sat Paul (former MP) and Lalita. In 2007, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian honor. Early …

When we are tickled, we laugh and wriggle. This is what is termed a reflex action, an action which takes place without any thought on our part. Balancing ourselves when we walk is another example of reflex action. We retain our balance automatically, without thinking about it, but when we try to tickle ourselves, the brain knows that we are …

Atmospheric pressure, which is about 1 kg per sqcm of area, presses down on our body from all sides, but we don’t feel it as it is balanced by fluid pressure from inside our body. We can feel the difference during rainy season or when we go to places where atmospheric pressure is less, like hill stations, where due to …