Blue skies form when violet and blue light wavelengths are scattered more effectively by oxygen and nitrogen molecules in the atmosphere than longer wavelengths such as red and orange ones, which pass directly through. Rayleigh scattering is the name given to this process and it has its roots in 1871 when Lord Rayleigh first identified…
Honey bees are amazing pollinators; their buzz is responsible for pollinating crops of all sorts – wine grapes included! Without them, vineyards would simply die off. Bees have six legs and three body parts (head, thorax and abdomen). A worker bee can produce around one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime; their wings…
Female butterflies carefully choose a leaf species based on its color and shape to lay their eggs upon. After the caterpillar has grown, its skin sheds several times before it forms a hard protective covering called a chrysalis. As it emerges from its chrysalis, a butterfly emerges with crumpled wings. As it hangs with wings…
Scientists have spent years digesting New Horizons data from Pluto’s flyby. The spacecraft found vast nitrogen glaciers, methane- and water-ice mountains, an intriguingly complex atmosphere, an age-spanning terrain profile including dunes constructed out of solid methane grains rather than earthen sand dunes, vast nitrogen glaciers and methane glaciers resembling Earthly ones and numerous dunes similar…
France is well known for many things, from cuisine and fashion to art and architecture. Yet France holds much more cultural depth than meets the eye. King Louis XIX held the record for having ruled for only 20 minutes! And considering France has 12 time zones. 1. The French are the world’s biggest consumers of…
Ron Howard’s depiction of Apollo 13’s doomed 1970 mission is one of the classic space movies ever made and features an exquisite spaceship named Moya that perfectly balances tension, emotional drama and historical accuracy. Jodie Foster plays Ellie Arroway, an SETI astronomer who is determined to discover extraterrestrial radio signals. Carl Sagan inspired this film…
No doubt about it: blue is an enchanting hue–think sky-blue hydrangeas, faded denim jeans and Provencal architecture–but learning French will help you express yourself more vividly when speaking about all the hues of blue. Keep in mind that French colors as adjectives usually adapt to match the gender and number of the noun they describe;…
Spacecraft are one of the biggest stories of 2022, from lunar missions to an unprecedented asteroid encounter. But do you know whether the term refers to a singular or plural term? Like Latin and other languages, English forms the plurals of some words by duplicating letters; for instance processes can be distinguished from axes (/’aeksi:z/)….
Mars (Mangal) symbolizes masculine characteristics like strength of body, assertiveness, courage, and confidence. It rules over two sidereal signs – Aries and Scorpio. Being of tamas guna energy type it provides tremendous amounts of vitality and energy to both signs. Hindu mythology recognizes Mars as one of the nine planets or navagrahas. Alternatively known as…
