Jackie Chan vs Bruce Lee, Who was the best

Image credit: Flickr hto 2008

With just 14 years separating their birth (Bruce Lee was born in 1940 and Jackie Chan in 1954), it was Lee’s untimely death in 1973 when he was just 32, that the world was denied any major collaborative work with both these great martial artists and actors sharing the same platform – as friends or foes.  Both of them had roots in Hong Kong, Lee after being born in the US was raised here while Chan was born and still resides in Hong Kong.

A short introduction to both

Read More

Bhopal disaster, the terrible gas tragedy

The night of 2nd and 3^rd of December, 1984 still remains memorable in the minds of the people and the government of Madhya Pradesh because of what happened on that fateful night. This is the day the Bhopal Disaster happened. The Union Carbide India limited which used to manufacture and produce phosgene monomethylamine (MMA), Sevin which is also referred to as pesticide carbaryl and methylisocyanate is the industry involved in this disaster.
What happened is that the MIC storage tank with 40 metric tons of MIC mixed with water which entered the tank by mistake causing a chain reaction that led to;

• Rise in temperature
• Increase in pressure
• Led to further reaction of the steel tank producing a lot of gas
• MIC and vapor to escaped in to the neighboring village killing people in their beds and in the streets

Those who were affected by the gas were easy to note because they showed the following signs

• Vomiting
• Burning sensation in the eyes
• Burning sensation in the throat

Read More

The second brain in human stomach

The human body is a machine that is full of wonders. Consider this fact – our stomach has neurotransmitters (nerve cells) similar to the brain means our stomach is our second brain.

Second Brain in Human Stomach:

According to Dr. Michael Gershon, M.D., author of `The Second Brain’ (HarperCollins, 1999), and a neurobiologist at New York’s Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, the stomach is our second brain with an independent network of over 100 million nerve cells in the gut, that not only signals our bodies to stress but causes  ailment. With the collection of around 100 million nerve cells, the stomach in fact contains the second largest accumulation of nerve cells in the human body after the brain.
What’s more, researchers have found all the typical cell characteristics

Read More

Bill Gates – Interesting Facts and Coolest quotes

William Henry Gates, the person who never graduated from a college, is the current chairman and former chief executive of Microsoft. His net worth as on March 2012 was $61 Billion. He founded Microsoft in year 1975 along with his friend Paul Allen.
He was rated as the world’s youngest self-made billionaire in year 1987. He was listed in the pages of Forbes’ 400 Richest People in America issue when he was 32 years old.

Read More

What is Cancer and how to avoid it?

What is cancer:

Cancer is simply a unique group of diseases which are characterized by a cell growth that is out of control. In general, there is more than 100 different cancer types with each classified according to the type of cell initially affected. Cancer is known to harm the body when the affected cells divide uncontrollably forming lumps of tissue referred to as tumors. The only different characteristic is found in leukemia where cancer does not allow normal blood functionality by exhibiting an abnormal division of cells in the blood stream.

In most cases, the tumors develop and temper with the digestive, circulatory and the nervous systems prompting the release of hormones which alter the normal functioning of the body. There are tumors which tend to stay in one particular place demonstrating a limited growth; these are generally referred to as being benign.

The most dangerous tumors develop as a result of:

Read More

Inside the Space Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

This week, when the space shuttle Endeavour flies from Kennedy Space Center to Los Angeles and its new home at the California Science Center, it also means the retirement of the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) that has been responsible for transporting all the space shuttles for over 35 years.
Edwards Air Force Base in California has had both the responsibility and honor of being the home of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft since the earliest days of the shuttle program. The team in charge of flying and servicing the two 747s is preparing to say their own goodbyes as the final ferry flights brings a shuttle back to the West Coast.

Read More

Discovering the World’s Astronomical Heritage

What places best describe humankind’s fascination with the universe?  Try Navajo star ceilings, the Temple of Isis in Egypt, or Stonehenge.  Maybe it’s Qing Dynasty instruments at the Beijing Ancient Observatory or mountaintop telescopes in Chile.  Austria even has a  and a dark-sky oasis.

Navajo star ceilings, like this one in Middle Trail Canyon, Arizona, consist of stars painted or stamped on overhanging ceilings of natural rock shelters. Photo © Von Del Chamberlain

These places are now recognized as astronomical heritage sites as part of a joint initiative of UNESCO and the International Astronomical Union.  Their newly launched Web portal—created to encourage discovery and discussion of our astronomical heritage through buildings, monuments, objects, and places—might leave you, well, a little starry-eyed.
What’s beautiful about browsing through the list of sites is how they connect a breadth of cultures across time and space.  You can pick up a bit of history reading through some of the general “heritage themes,” such as

Read More

Space Shuttle Atlantis Rolls to Retirement

Kennedy Space Center said goodbye to their final departing space shuttle orbiter on Friday, though Atlantis only had to travel 9.8 miles (15.8 km) to her new home just off-site in the process.
“It’s bittersweet seeing her go,” said one NASA employee, “but at least she’ll be nearby.”
The same can’t be said for the other two orbiters, Discovery already on display outside of Washington, DC, and Endeavour recently arrived in LA. This is the first time that Kennedy Space Center (KSC) has been without an orbiter since 1979.

Employees of Kennedy Space Center who worked with Atlantis for over 26 years walk behind her as she rolls past the Orbiter Processing Facilities that housed her for that time. Photo Credit: Jon Brack

Read More

A Grand Tour of the Universe

A map of Venus shows rough surface features named after goddesses or famous women (click to enlarge). MAP: National Geographic Maps. SOURCES: Magellan Synthetic Aperture Radar Mosaics, NASA, JPL, USGS

Armchair astronomers take note: This space atlas is for you.  Yes, that kind of atlas—a series of maps and

Read More

Organics Discovered on Mercury

The north pole of Mercury as seen by MESSENGER during a 2008 flyby. Credit: NASA

NASA dispatched the Curiosity rover to Mars to look for organics, but a probe orbiting Mercury has beaten it to the punch.
New results from the MESSENGER spacecraft not only confirm that the planet closest to the sun has ice inside shaded craters near the north pole, but that a thin layer of very dark organic material seems to be covering a good part of the frozen water.
Both likely arrived via comets or asteroids millions -- or hundreds of millions -- of years ago.
BIG PIC: Dark Shadows Freeze Mercury's North Pole
Unlike Curiosity, which will be directly sampling Martian rocks and soils to look for signs of organic material, MESSENGER bounces laser beams and counts neutrons and gamma rays to collect information remotely about chemical elements on Mercury’s surface.
The information is correlated with detailed topographical and temperature maps, laboratory tests and computer models and then compared with candidate materials to find the best match for the observed conditions.

Read More

Bear Grylls – The Man vs Wild

If you are familiar with Discovery T.V Channel than you must be familiar with a man who is left alone to any of the remote and the dangerous tourist locations like forests, deserts, rivers, plains and glaciers round the world and than survive using simple techniques, by eating insects, frogs and other bugs and by finding water to show common people how can they survive in these extreme situations. This amazing man is Bear Grylls.

Introduction

Edward Michael Grylls , known as Bear Grylls is a famous host of Man Vs Wild series of Discover Channel. This television series is popular as Born Survivor in the United Kingdom.  Apart from being adventurer he is television presenter and a writer. He got his name Bear from his elder sister when he was very small. He has got various accolades till date in all the fields he has ventured into. Below is more insight into journey of his life so far.

Read More

Paper today is produced across the world whereby the cellulose pulp (moist fibers) derived from wood, grasses or rags is pressed together and subsequently dried into flexible sheets.

Who invented Paper:

There has been much debate on who invented paper with many theories doing the rounds. One such popular belief was that the paper has its origins in ancient Egypt. This belief took its roots as the word “paper” came from the word “papyrus”, a plant found in abundance in Egypt.

The First known person who invented paper:

Read More

Are mermaids real

Mermaids have caught the fancy of mankind for many centuries now.  Be it an anecdote or a narrative, mermaids have generated curiosity amongst children and grown-ups alike.

 What is a mermaid?

From the legends, it is widely believed that mermaids are an aquatic creature which has an upper body of a woman and the tail of a fish as the lower body.  In other words, the feet of the woman are replaced with the fish’s tail and hence found in its known habitat.
Other than this physical attribute, which for some reason is unanimously accepted, nothing much is known about them.  Interestingly and despite the mystery, mermaids have been talked about in folklore across different parts of the world.  Yet another interesting factor is that mermaids have been concurrently depicted in contrasting representations.  While most tales and narratives depict mermaids as extremely beautiful, fairy like and even falling in love with men, there are some other accounts which show mermaids in the negative light associating them with water-storms, drowning and ship-wrecks.
Over a period of time, mermaids have been depicted in various forms of human expressions such as books, paintings, opera and even movies. Such representations and the endless debate as to their existence, has only amplified the curiosity, that too worldwide.

Read More

2 amazing animals that are extinct

When conservation of wildlife activities intensifies, many people only think of such measures as being unduly restrictive. The going into extinction by man’s indiscriminate hunting of the two species of animals – Quagga and Great Auk – has proved that when poaching and other illegal activities that cause loss of animal life are not controlled, some animals can go into extinction. In some cases, the habitats of these animals have been encroached upon destructively.

The Great Auk

Read More

Muhammad Ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi, The Father of Algebra

Name: Abu Abdullah Muhammad 

ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi

Born: 780 AD in Khwarizm

Died: 850 AD in Baghdad

Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi was a Mathematician who lived around the 780′s and has made great contributions to the world of mathematics and science. Noteworthy, though, is his development of the algorithms in the same field of mathematics. Since, in computer science, these form the basis for primary calculations, he has therefore been termed as the father of computer science. His discovery of this kind of mathematics has been used in many computer science calculations and discoveries.

Read More

Some amazing facts about Solar Eclipse

Witnessing a Solar or lunar eclipse is always a very stunning experience for those who love to see miracles. By the Way how many of you have witnessed the most recent Solar Eclipse which occurred yesterday on May 20, 2012? Have you ever thought how this rare phenomenon occurs? Let us put some light on it.
What is Solar Eclipse:
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon comes between the earth and sun while revolving, and blocks the sun partially or fully. It occurs only on new moon and it blocks the light of sun to reach the earth. In fact, the moon and the sun are in conjunction as seen from the earth so the sun is completely invisible. The moon does not have its own light because it relies on Sun’s light reflected by earth, so it becomes dark during this whole process.
Eclipse types
Total Eclipse: When the sun is completely hidden behind the moon leaving a solar corona behind that is visible to naked eye.

Read More

What happens to Human body in space

In many Hollywood movies, you must have seen such scenes where an astronaut gets a hole in his special space uniform while he is in space and due to low pressure his body starts blowing like a balloon and can even explode.

Although the temperature in space is as low as freezing but there is also direct radioactive rays from sun that makes the environment of space very interesting and amazing. what really happens to human body and other masses in space? Lets have a look on it.

What will happen to Humans in Space:

Although the mixed environment of space is risky for Humans but they won’t be freeze because the heat of the body will not be transferred away from it.

Humans may also experience vomiting, headache and malaise due to motion sickness in space because they are totally weightless there.

If someone put off his helmet in space he would just remain conscious for a couple of seconds because there is no oxygen in space and when his blood without oxygen reaches his brain that will lead him to death.

What will happen to water in Space:

If you throw some water in outer space, first it will be boiled immediately because of the radiation known as Cosmic

Read More

Some cool facts about planet earth

Planet earth is the third planet from the sun and the only known planet having Life in it. It is the fifth largest planet of our solar system. In this post, we have tried to gather major components of earth along with all the facts and figures.
So lets explore the earth.
Facts and figures:
Name: Earth
Origin of Name: The word “earth” is derived from an ancient word “eorthe“. Eorthe means ground or dry land. The earth is the only planet in the solar system that is not named after the Roman or Greek gods. Earth is also known as Globe or World.
Situated in: Milky Way Galaxy
Mass of Earth: 5.9736×1024 or 5,973,700,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg
Current age of earth: about 4.5 billion years
What you find in planet earth:
29.2% Land

Read More

Does Aliens and UFOs exist?

How many of you believe that life exists on other planets and galaxies? Okay, tell me how many of you or your friends ever witnessed a UFO or an alien like man? Do you remember the famous Star Trek Series? Who was your most favorite character?
Well guys, today’s post is dedicated to world’s most asked question i.e does aliens and UFOs exist or not? So, here we go.

Aliens and UFOs

There are many studies conducted around the world on

Read More

17 cool facts about Neil Armstrong you must know about

Be it in any part of the world, the name of Neil Armstrong needs no introduction, having been the first human to set foot and walk on the moon.  This feat, way back in 1969, had made him a household name, which is preserved till date.  His words as he stepped on the moon, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” is equally popular and is considered as one of the best known quotes in English.

Here are some other facts about him, which everybody may not be aware of:

1. His full name is Neil Alden Armstrong.
2. Ohio is his place of birth and death.
3. He had a fascination with flight at an early age and earned his student pilot’s license when he was mere 16.
4. Other than an astronaut, he was also a test pilot, naval aviator, aero-space engineer and university professor.

Read More

What is Pollution and how to avoid it?

What is Pollution:

Pollution has been defined as the adding of contaminants into the environment to the end of changing it completely. The acts of polluting the environment are done either voluntarily or involuntarily. But what is cardinal is that small acts that are aimed at correcting one problem eventually end up harming the environment. In its broader sense, pollution can take the form of adding substances which are basically chemicals or an introduction of adverse environmental conditions like heat, light, and noise. Whichever form it takes, the environment eventually loses its quality and ends up failing to provide what it was originally intended for.

Read More

The Dead Sea, the nature’s wonder

The Dead Sea or the Sea of Salt is one of the natural wonders in the world with some surprising specialties. The dead sea is in fact not a sea but a lake which is being fed by the Jordan river. It is bordered by Jordan, Israel and West Bank. It is famous for its vast amount of salt and other minerals which made this watering body different from all other seas and lakes. Today, we are going to explore the Dead Sea.

Dead Sea quick facts and figures:

Name: Dead Sea, The Salt Sea, Sea of the plains, Sea of Salt.
Length: 67.4 km
width: 18 km
source of water: The Jordan river

Read More