An old South American legend told of a strange coronation ceremony. It took place high in the Andes on the shore of Lake Guatavita. Every new king had his body anointed with oil and then covered with gold dust. Glittering with this golden skin he plunged into the lake whilst his subjects cast in further gold and jewels as offerings …

The best sound we can get in our home is not from records or even tapes, but from compact discs. These small silvery discs are only 11 cm in diameter, but may contain more than an hour’s music on just one side. They need a special player which contains a laser and computer, and give superb sound without any background …

Bones of many adult birds are hollow and are connected to a system of air sacs dispersed through the body. Bone or osseous tissue consists of phosphate and carbonate of lime, salt and a few other substances. They are not filled with marrow and contain more calcium than mammalian bone, which tends to make them more brittle and prone to …

Joseph Banks, the naturalist, who went with Cook to the South Seas in the 1760s was busy collecting botanical specimens when he saw a very unusual creature. It was large, brown and hopped along on strong hind legs. He learned from the natives that it was called a ‘Kangaroo’. This was but one of the many strange animals and birds …

The Bayeux Tapestry represents scenes of the conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066, culminating in the Battle of Hastings. The scenes number seventy-two and over each is a short description in Latin. It is embroidered in colored wool on linen, and is more than 60 m long and about 50 cm wide. The tapestry, recorded in an …

Mountaineers of today owe a good deal to a Swiss scientist called Horace Benedict de Saussure, who was born at Conches, near Geneva, in 1740. He changed the general attitude to mountains from one of superstition and dread to one of inspiration. De Saussure was professor of physics and philosophy at the University of Geneva and a pioneer of geology, …

William Bligh is best known to history as the captain of HMS Bounty whose crew mutinied and set him adrift in a small boat. His voyage in this boat of 6,500 km reveals what a skilful seaman and navigator he must have been. He was also second-in-command to Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen. Because of his distinguished services he …

Delhi Haat – Madhuban Chowk – Move Towards Rithala Metro Station and join in the Raahgiri at Sector 13, Rohini. Starting from 7:00 am till 10:00 am. Surf through Rohini Raahgiri photos…

Power is measured in watts. This can mean either the power that something produces as it works, or the power that is needed to drive something. A watt is not a very big unit of power. Powerful machines are therefore graded in kilowatts(KW) or megawatts(MW). A kilowatts is 1,000 watts and a megawatt is 1,000,000 watts. The watt is named …

Calcite is a mineral which forms most of a common rock called limestone. A pure form of calcite, called Iceland spar, is transparent. If you placed a piece of it on this page, you would see two images of every word. This unusual feature is called double refraction.