In this spot the difference activity, go into the micro-organism world to get a better look at cells and the different forms they come in.
A microscope is a device that magnifies tiny objects, or makes them look larger. They are used to see objects that are too small to be seen with the eye alone. Such objects include cells, tiny living things, grains of sand and so on.
Bacteria is one of the many ‘invisible’ things that we can’t see with out eyes but with the help of really powerful microscopes we have been able to get a better idea of what they look like and identify what they are made out of.
Here’s a simple activity for you. Can you spot all the 8 differences between the closeups of these cells? Click on the second image to find them.
There are many books and movies where the a pet plays a big part to the story. Do you know who some of these famous fictional pets are?
Galas, carnivals and fiestas…highly enjoyable, yet some of them are so off the wall that it will make your head spin.
Festivals are great fun, but what happens when some of them are just way out of the ordinary? Read, crazy may be. We know about La Tomatina where everyone goes berserk throwing tomatoes at each other or the Night of the Radish that celebrates the specially grown, over-sized radishes and the Argungu in Nigeria, when local men compete to see who can pull the largest fish out of the river with just their hands. Here are a few more yet nutty as fruit cake jamborees ever from around the globe.
Give an informative and colourful start to the year! Download your copy of the January 2020 monthly planner and learn about constellations.
These micro forests are a hidden world full of life and their own mysteries. Learn more about moss and how fascinating they really are…
Imagine you have entered the woods, dark and deep, the canopies of the dense trees filtering off much of the sunlight. The air is humid and every now and then clouds of mist swirl around. Where the veil of mist parts, you see that the trunks and branches are festooned with a green, velvety growth – moss. Strangely, the green velvet
seems to cover only one side of the tree trunk. It is the side the rain comes from. The sound of your footsteps is muted by the carpet of green moss under your feet.
Moss? What is moss? Here’s a little more about them. Once, done continue down below to read more about the world that mosses can actually contain.
Imagine if, quite by magic, you shrink until you are smaller than an ant.
Now you can enter a different forest — the micro forest of mosses. You find that all around are green shoots bearing leaves that absorb whatever sunlight is available and drink in the moisture. Some stalks that grow straight up without branching, bear capsules. They all look exceedingly pretty. The air above these mossy forests seems to be permanently turbulent owing to the rough surface they form. This is how the moisture from the higher reaches of air gets trapped into this special forest.
It gets more intriguing as you explore further. Suddenly, a foul smell penetrates your nostrils. It comes from a different moss plant. Before you can retreat from it, a monster-like arthropod – a springtail – rushes to the malodorous female moss plant as if it found the smell divine. The springtails carry out the job of what bees do to pollinate plants: they carry sperm from the male moss plant to the smelly female moss plant, just as bees help carry pollen to the stigma of flowers.
Watch out! A capsule just bursts open, shooting out tiny spores with great force that defies gravity. These spores will give rise to new moss plants.
Now, what if you exit this micro forest, turn into your normal self and go 470 million years back in time when the seed-producing plants you see today were not yet in existence? The landscape would be very different. Barren and rocky. But the mosses, one of the first land plants, would be there. You would see them clinging on to rocks with their root-like rhizoids, near streams and lakes. The rhizoids secrete organic acids that would actually dissolve rocks over the years, creating nutrient-rich soil and paving the way for the more complex seed-producing plants to evolve.
Think out of the box and come up with the answer. These brain teasers are a sure way of to exercise your mind and on the game. Go ahead and get cracking.
Rebus is an engaging method of depicting words or phrases with illustrations, pictures, word(s), or even a combination of them.
For example, Right = Right depicts Equal rights.
Have you got the hang of it? Then, try to solve these.
Pat Cummins turned out to be the most expensive overseas player ever in IPL history after he was bought for 15.50 crore by Kolkata Knight Riders. That and more as we take a look at all that happened in the auctions…
The player auction for IPL 2020 was held on December 19, 2019. With only 73 spots to be filled in by the eight franchises put together, it was given that some of the 338 players going into the auctions were going to hit the jackpot, while many were going to go unsold.
A total of ₹ 1,40,30,00,000 was spent on 62 players who were sold on the day, 29 of which were overseas cricketers.
Photos: The Hindu
Here is a quiz featuring some people and events that made news in 2019. How many can you get right?
Have you been paying attention to the news in 2019? If you have, this quiz should be a breeze! Give it a go…
Rearrange the letters to guess the words which were chosen as the Word of the Year in this decade.
Every year, Oxford University Press selects a word as the Word of the Year, which would predominantly reflect the year’s mood, ethnic appeal and so on.
Before the turn of the decade, look back and put your vocabulary to test by unscrambling these words that were each chosen as the Word of the Year from 2010 to 2019. The meanings are your clues. Get solving!
