The most beautiful fish in the world

BETTA FISH

You might have heard about designer clothes and bags, but have you heard of the 'designer fish of the aquatic world' - the Betta fish? Known for its bright colours, beautiful fins and tails, it is native to Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam etc. Also called the Siamese fighting fish, the Betta fish is a genus which has 76 species. The most common species, the Betta splendens, is a much loved aquarium fish, beautiful to look at and easy to maintain. 

The Betta fish is usually about 3 inches long and can live for 2-5 years. They have a special labyrinth organ which enable them to breathe directly from the water surface, and hence can survive in low-oxygen water pools. 

They are found in a variety of colours, including blue, red, orange, white and black. However, the most attractive part of their bodies are their fins and tales. Different Betta fish have different types of tales such as a double tail, round tail, halfmoon tail, crown tail and more. 

Interestingly, the male fish are often prettier and have longer flowing fins and tails in comparison to the female fish. Also, during hatching, it is the male fish who protects and takes care of the eggs by creating a bubble nest. 

The petite Betta fish is also called the fighter fish. Yes, you read that correctly! These small aquatic creatures get aggressive and are prone to attack each other over their territorial space. You cannot keep two male Betta fish in the same tank. A fight would soon ensue and one or even both of them could die. However, female fish are less of the fighting kind and can live together. 

Fascinating facts about Betta fish:

● The first domesticated Betta fish were found in Thailand about 1000 years ago. 

● The Betta fish are carnivores and eat brine shrimp, glassworms, daphnia, tubifex, plankton etc. 

● The Betta fish needs approximately 2 gallons of water in its fish tank. In the wild, these fish thrive best in the stagnant waters of vast floodplains, rice fields and canals. 

● The Siamese fighting fish is the national aquatic animal of Thailand. 

● The Betta fish name originates from an ancient warrior clan Known as the 'Bettah'.

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HOW DO ANTS PREVENT WATER FROM ENTERING THE ANTHILL?

Have you ever noticed large mounds standing out in your backyard, even with water all around them? Did you know that's an anthill or the home of all the ants together? That's amazing, isn’t it?

Ants are known for their remarkable resilience and adaptability. They are quite adept at surviving the most challenging conditions. When caught in a heavy downpour, it can seem like they have no chance of survival. However, the crafty bugs are safe and dry in their subterranean home. 

The ant fortresses have a number of defence systems. The first is the anthill that sits right on top of the nest. The mounds are usually made with special kinds of dirt or sand that absorbs water and dries quickly. Water hitting the convex dirt tends to bead and run off the side. 

Ants tend to burrow at least a foot underground and have an intricate system of tunnels that work like storm-water drains. When heavy rain leads to rainwater entering the tunnel, it rarely penetrates that deep into the soil. The tunnels channel water away from the colony. 

With this clever tunnelling, ants also trap air in various chambers throughout the mound, and entrances to chambers come from below, preventing rainwater from coming in. 

Some ant species dig their anthills extremely deep. The deepest anthill on record belongs to the leafcutter ant, which can be as much as 26feet deep. While that's pretty extreme, many species of ants avoid heavy rain by hiding beneath it. 

Deepest leafcutter anthill 

Oldest team sport in North America

LACROSSE

 

Lacrosse is the oldest team sport in North America, which dates back to 1100s. It was originally played by the ethno-linguistic Iroquois people from eastern North America, from what now is New York and areas in Canada bordering the state. 

The early versions of lacrosse played by Native American nations included 100 to 1,000 men or more, using wooden sticks, sometimes with net baskets made from deer's tendon, and small deer-hide-wrapped balls. 

Men from opposing villages or tribes would participate in borderless fields that spanned for miles, and the game lasted for days together. Regional variations influenced the rules of play, as there were no timekeepers, penalties or refrees. Lacrosse was played mainly to prepare them for war, and it was considered more of a social event where tribes got together for trade and sports. It was sometimes also used to settle disputes. 

While preparing for a game of lacrosse, players used paint and charcoal to decorate their faces and bodies. 

European influence on Lacrosse: In the 1600s, in Qubec, Canada, the French missionaries, who first witnessed the native Americans playing lacrosse, played the game barefoot, with no equipment and a loose set of regulations. European settlers established more stringent rules for the sport. 

Lacrosse evolved in Canada, where it was named the National Sport in 1859. In 1867, the first official rule book was published. A team of white and First Nation lacrosse players were taken to England, to play before Queen Victoria, in whose diary, the game was appreciated, according to the National Museum and Hall of Fame. 

Lacrosse, at present: Lacrosse was played at the Olympics in 1904 and 1908 and as an exhibition sport in 1928, 1936 and 1948. In 2021, the International Olympic Committee granted the sport a full recognition, paving the way for a possible Olympics return in 2028.

Some of your favourite foods created by accident

ACCIDENTALLY DELICIOUS 

Have you ever been really hungry, but there wasn’t much to eat in your kitchen? Did you throw together a bunch of stuff you had on hand and were pleasantly surprised when it tasted good? You aren’t alone. Some of our favorite foods were created by accident. Here’s a sample menu of some familiar foods that might never have happened if someone hadn’t created them by mistake.

Ice cream cone: Before the ice cream cone, people ate their ice cream out of dishes or paper wrappers. This changed at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair in Missouri. A vendor, the story goes, ran out of dishes to serve his ice cream. Luckily, Ernest A. Hamwi was set up next to him and was selling crisp waffle-like pastries called zalabia. The quick-thinking Hamwi rolled a zalabia into a cone shape. It cooled quickly, and the ice cream vendor filled it with ice cream for his customers. He was able to continue selling ice cream, and customers got a second treat when they realized they could eat the cone. 

Chocolate Chip Cookies: Chocolate chip cookies are a favorite all over the world. But the baker who might have invented them likely was trying to make a different kind of cookie. In 1930, Ruth Graves Wakefield and her husband were running the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts. One day, Wakefield was making cookies for her guests, but she was out of baker’s chocolate to melt and add to the dough. Instead, she chopped up a block of semi-sweet chocolate and added the pieces. She thought the pieces would melt and make the entire cookie chocolate. But the chocolate pieces stayed intact, melting into gooey little bits inside the cookie. The chocolate chip cookie was born. These cookies are often called Toll House cookies because of where they were first made popular.

Potato Chips: One of the world’s favorite snacks might have been the result of a complaint. In 1853, a man was eating dinner at Moon’s Lake House in Saratoga Springs, New York. He ordered fried potatoes, a popular side dish. But when they came out of the kitchen, he didn’t think they were crispy enough. He sent them back to the kitchen, where chef George Crum was so angry at having his cooking criticized that he sliced the potatoes really thin, put lots of salt on them, and fried them. Not only did the diner love them, but everyone else did, too. They soon became a specialty of the restaurant. 

Tofu: Tofu, or bean curd, is made by curdling fresh soy milk, pressing it into a solid block, and then cooling it. Tofu was accidentally invented in China 2,000 years ago, when a cook added seaweed to soy milk, which made it curdle. This is the same process that is used for making cheese. Like cheese, tofu is a great example of how really messing up a recipe can create something unexpectedly good.

Cheese Puffs: Who in the world could have thought up cheese puffs? you ask. The company that invented them wasn’t even trying to make food for people. It was producing animal feed. In the 1930s, the Flakall Company of Wisconsin made food for livestock from small, flaked pieces of grain. One day, an employee, Edward Wilson, watched workers pouring cornmeal into the flaking machine, moistening it to keep it from clogging. Because the machine was hot, the wet cornmeal came out of it in puffy ribbons that hardened when they hit the air. Wilson took some of the ribbons home, added oil and flavoring to them—and voilà: cheese puffs!

Popsicles: On a hot day, nothing tastes better than an icy-cold popsicle. This summer treat was invented by an 11-year-old boy. In San Francisco in 1905, Frank Epperson mixed some sugary soda powder into a glass of water, but then he left it out on his porch with the wooden stirring stick still in it. That night, temperatures dropped so low that the mixture froze. The next morning, Frank took the frozen mixture out and used the wooden stick to hold it while he licked it. Frank knew he’d made something special, and soon he was selling the frozen treat to people in his neighborhood. He named it the “Epsicle.” (“Sicle” was a shortened version of “icicle.”) As an adult, he patented the frozen treat. His kids convinced him to change the name to what they called it: “Pop’s Sicle,” which soon became the popsicle.

Trains or trailers of the animal kingdom

 CENTIPEDE AND MILLIPEDE

Trains or trailers of the animal kingdom, centipedes and millipedes, both belonging to the class Myriapoda, are arthropods with fascinating mechanisms.

Despite their similar segmented bodies and numerous legs, these two creatures exhibit distinct styles of movement, driven by their differing anatomies and evolutionary adaptations. Understanding how centipedes and millipedes move provides insight into the complexities of their behaviour, ecology, and evolutionary history.

A 'hundred' legs: With their flat bodies and typically fewer legs (ranging from 15 to 191 pairs), centipedes are fast, agile predators. Their locomotion is characterised by a smooth, sinuous, and coordinated movement, which allows them to navigate quickly through their environments, usually in search of prey. Centipedes have one pair of legs per body segment, and their movement is primarily powered by alternating waves of leg movements.

The key to centipede locomotion is the coordination of their legs. When a centipede moves, the legs on one side of the body move in a synchronised fashion, followed by the legs on the opposite side. This creates a wave-like movement that propels the centipede forward. The legs move in a complex, sinusoidal pattern that provides stability and speed.

Each segment of the centipede's body is highly flexible, allowing it to bend and twist as it moves, helping it navigate through tight spaces, such as cracks and under debris.

Centipedes rely on their speed and agility to capture prey, typically small insects and other invertebrates. The rapid, coordinated movement is enhanced by the centipede's specialised legs in the front, which are modified into venomous fangs that immobilise their prey.

Power in a 'million': In contrast to centipedes, millipedes have cylindrical bodies and typically more legs, with some species having up to 400 pairs, which are spread across a greater number of body segments, with two pairs of legs per segment. This anatomy results in a different style of movement compared to centipedes. Millipedes are slower movers, and their primary defence mechanism is not speed, but rather their ability to secrete toxic fluids to deter predators. Millipede locomotion involves a more deliberate, wave-like pattern, but with a distinct rhythm due to their two pairs of legs per segment.

As they move, the pairs of legs on one side of their body alternate with the corresponding pairs on the opposite side. This coordinated movement generates a smooth, undulating motion that helps millipedes crawl along the ground. Unlike centipedes, millipedes do not rely on flexibility to the same degree.

Instead, their cylindrical bodies roll in a way that allows the legs to move in a synchronised, coordinated fashion, propelling the millipede slowly forward.

This slower, more methodical movement is suited to the millipede's herbivorous diet, as they typically feed on decaying plant material and detritus, moving through leaf litter and soil in search of food. Their legs, though numerous, are not designed for rapid bursts of speed, but instead for providing a stable, efficient movement across the substrate.

Evolutionary adaptations: The contrasting locomotion strategies of centipedes and millipedes reflect their evolutionary niches. Centipedes are evolved to be fast and efficient predators, with their quick, coordinated leg movements aiding in capturing prey. Millipedes, on the other hand, are adapted for slower, deliberate movements, which are more suited to their role as decomposers.

Over millions of years, both creatures have evolved intricate ways of using their many legs to navigate through their environments, but the differences in their locomotion highlight the diverse strategies that arthropods use to survive and thrive in their respective habitats. There are nearly 3,000 known species of centipedes, and over 12,000 millipede species, making both creatures evolutionary success stories.

First woman Prime Minister in the world

SIRIMAVO BANDARNAIKE

Sirimavo Bandarnaike became the first woman Prime Minister in the world, when she was chosen to head the government of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1960, following the assassination of her husband. 

Sirimavo Bandarnaike was born in 1916, to an aristocratic family. She was married to Solomon Bandarnaike in 1940 when he was a minister in the government of Ceylon, then a British colony. Solomon Bandarnaike became the Prime Minister of Ceylon in 1956. In the same year, he was assassinated. Then, Sirimavo Bandarnaike became the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. And, in July 1960, she became the first woman Prime Minister in the world. Her party lost the 1965 elections. 

Sirimavo Bandarnaike was back as the Prime Minister in 1970 elections. Her second term was difficult, with a rebellion in 1971, as well as the establishment of a new republican constitution in 1972. She was deprived of her civil rights in 1980. In 1994, she was re-elected as Prime Minister. Her daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga, who was also briefly Prime Minister in 1994, later became the President. 

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WHY DO MEDICINES COME IN DIFFERENT FORM?

Medicine is given in different forms because of the necessity for convenience or speed. It can be given by mouth (orally) in the form of tablets, capsules or draughts. It can be inhaled in the form of gases, fine aerosols, or very rarely, exceedingly fine powder. Injections of medicines are given subcutaneously (beneath the skin), intramuscularly or intravenously. Sometimes solid implants in the form of tablets may be placed subcutaneously. Injections may also be given in the spine or brain. 

Medicines can be given through the rectum as solids or enemas. Finally, they are solutions, powders, creams and ointments which are placed locally on the skin. 

Convenient medicines are those which can be taken or administered easily by the patient himself. Oral medicines and inhalation are convenient and a great deal of research is carried out to make these more palatable. 

Manufacturers prefer oral preparations because they can be attractively coloured and flavoured and made impressively mysterious in size and shape. They can also be code-stamped or named for identification. Injections have to be sterile and kept in appropriate containers and are therefore relatively expensive.