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On the ball

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup was the most attended edition of the competition ever held. Read on.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup, one of the most prestigious international football competitions, has wrapped up. It was held across two countries – Australia and New Zealand. And, the winner is Spain, taking home the world title for the first time.

From July 20 to August 20, the world’s best female footballers competed in the ninth edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. For the first time, Oceania hosted the tournament.

The first FIFA Women’s World Cup took place in 1991 with China as the host nation. The United States claimed gold by defeating Norway 2-1 in the final.

USA and Germany are the only nations to have won multiple World Cup titles. Japan and Norway have each lifted the trophy once with Spain as the most recent addition to the select club.

Circle of life

What is a food chain? Is it as simple as it sounds? Read on to learn more about it.


A food chain refers to events of a certain order that occur in an ecosystem, where one living organism eats another organism, which, in turn, is consumed by a larger organism. The flow of nutrients and energy from one organism to another, at different trophic levels, forms a food chain. Trophic level refers to the stages of sequence in a food chain, beginning with producers at the bottom, followed by primary, secondary and tertiary consumers. In other words, every level in a food chain is known as a trophic level. A food chain primarily comprises:

The Sun: The initial source of energy for everything on the planet.

Producers: The first stage of the food chain, plants, algae, autotrophs (organisms that make their own food) like the phytoplankton, are referred to as the producers. They make use the sun’s energy to make food.

Consumers: All organisms that depend on plants or other organisms for food form the consumers, and it is the largest part of a food web, as it contains almost all living organisms. It includes herbivores, carnivores, parasites, and scavengers. Here, herbivores are known as primary consumers and carnivores, secondary consumers, and so on.

Decomposers: Organisms that get energy from dead or waste organic material are referred to as decomposers, and form the last stage in a food chain. They are an integral part of a food chain, as they convert organic waste materials into inorganic materials, which enriches the soil or land with nutrients. They complete a life cycle.

Here is a fun game to help you apply what you have read, so far. Put the images in order of the food chain, beginning with producers.

Let’s go moon gazing

Are you ready for the super blue moon of August 2023? Play this game and find out.

When something happens rarely, we say it’s ‘once in a blue moon’. Did you know that the moon that rises on August 30, 2023 will literally be a blue moon? Well, it won’t appear blue in colour, if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s called a blue moon because it’s the second full moon of the month.

Now, do you know what’s rarer than a blue moon? A super blue moon! The full moon of August 30 will be a supermoon because the moon will be at or near its closest point to Earth. This means that it will appear brighter and slightly larger than usual.

How often do we get to see a super blue moon? It usually happens about every 10 years, but the next super blue moons will occur only after 14 years, in January and March 2037.

Here’s a game to get you in the mood for moon-gazing. You know how to play a Sudoku, but this is a Picdoku, which means we have used pictures instead of numbers. These are the different phases of the Moon. Complete the grid in such a way that every card appears only once in each row, in each column and in each block of 2×3.

Quiz Whizz: August 28, 2023

Yet another round of your favourite quiz. How many of these answers do you know?

Up your GK quotient with these six questions.

Quiz Whizz – August 26, 2023

A little bit of trivia and a little bit of current affairs…this quiz will get you thinking.

A weekly quiz to test your general knowledge, with six quick questions. Get started now!

Hello, Moon!

India has scripted history with Chandrayaan-3’s successfully soft landing on the surface of the Moon. Read on.

On August 23, 2023, India scripted history by becoming the fourth country – after Russia, the U.S. and China – to land on the Moon and also the first to land on the moon’s South Pole. Chandrayaan-3’s successful landing is an incredible moment, and it filled Indians around the world with pride.


Photos: AP, ISRO, Bhagya Prakash K.

At the warm heart of Africa

Zambia is a country of spectacular natural wonders and incredibly welcoming people. Read on to discover more.

At the crossroads of central, southern and eastern Africa lies a landlocked country that abounds in wildlife and wilderness — Zambia. It is surrounded by Zimbabwe, Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, and Tanzania. Its capital is Lusaka and its currency is the Kwacha.

Landform

A large portion of the country is covered by a central plateau featuring undulating flat lands with gentle hills. The Luangwa Valley in the east, called the honey-pot of Zambia, has an abundance of wildlife. The northeastern part has rising highlands known as the Muchinga escarpment. In the west, along with the border with Angola, are sandy plains that are not suitable for agriculture. In the south is the Zambezi Valley, formed by the Zambezi river, the longest east-flowing river in Africa. Lake Kariba, the world’s biggest reservoir by volume, lies on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

People

Zambia comprises 72 ethnic groups, many of whom are Bantu-speaking. The official language is English, which is used in business and education. Seven other indigenous languages are also officially recognised — Bemba, Nyanja, Lozi, Tonga, Kaonde, Luvale, and Lunda. Zambia is also one of the youngest countries in the world by median age, and more than 50% of the people are below the age of 18.

Cuisine

The staple food here is maize, and the main meal is usually nshima, a thick porridge made from pounded white maize. Other popular dishes include Ifinkubala (caterpillars), Inswa (flying insects), Chikanda (dried and pounded orchid), Ifishashi (peanuts and rapeseed), Vitumbuwa (fritters), Munkoyo (a fermented drink), Michopo (roasted meat) and several types of fish.

Wildlife

With diverse habitats and an abundance of water sources, the country is a paradise for wildlife enthusiasts. It is rich in a large variety of creatures, including the Big Five – the lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and African buffalo. The riverbanks and floodplains of the Luangwa Valley in particular are densely packed with mammals and birds. Several creatures are endemic to this region, such as Ansell’s Shrew, Black Lechwe, Cookson’s Wildebeest, Zambian Mole-rat, Black-cheeked Lovebird, White-chested Tinkerbird, Zambian Barbet, and Schmitz’s Legless Skink.

Celebrating teachers

A crossword to celebrate the world of teachers. How many answers can you get right?

September 5 is Teachers’ Day, and what’s a more fun to celebrate all things to do with them than a crossword? Try your hand at this one and see how many you can get right. Get, set, solve.

Missing the green cover

A country without forests or trees? Strange thought it may seem, there are some places on Earth that have no forests. Learn more about them…

They are among the most important ecosystems in the world, as they hold a diverse range of species — both plants and animals — and are also crucial in maintaining the water cycle. Yes, we are talking about forests.

What constitutes a forest? According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, any area of land over 0.005 sq.km. that is covered by trees that rise upto a height of at least five metres can be called a forest. If we go by this definition, Europe has the most forest cover and Asia the least. Strange, isn’t it? That the second-smallest continent has the most forests and the world’s largest continent has the least?

Today, there is much talk about the need to increase forest cover to fight climate change. But did you even think there could be places that do not have forests? Well, it’s true. There are some countries that don’t have any forests. One reason is that many are situated in desert regions and, therefore, tree cover is not possible. In a few cases, the countries are so small and so densely populated that there is no space for trees or forests. Here are the names of nine countries that have 0% forest cover. Can you find the names in the grid?