Facts To Boggle Your Brain!

The brain is one of the most complex and magnificent organs in the human body. It processes a constant stream of sensory data and controls our muscle movements, the secretions of our glands, and even our breathing and internal temperature. Every creative thought, feeling, and plan is developed by our brain. The brain’s neurons record the memory of every event in our lives.

Here is a look at some brain facts that will amaze your brain!!!

* We have approximately 70,000 thoughts per day, although many will be the same ones looping round and round on our grooved cranial highway.

* The brain is very poor at concentrating for long periods of time and needs to clear it’s head so to speak about every 90 minutes or so.

* An adult human’s brain weighs 3 pounds. The heaviest on record weighed 5 pounds.

* The human brain is over three times as big as the brain of other mammals that are of similar body size.

* Despite weighing only about 3 pounds, the brain consumes as much as 20% of the oxygen and glucose taken in by the body.

* 15-20% of all blood pumped out of the heart goes directly to the brain.

* Brain is composed of 75 to 80% water. Dehydration can affect proper functioning of brain.

* The right side of the brain interacts with the left side of the body, and vice versa.

* A person who is "left-brained" is often said to be more logical, analytical, and objective, while a person who is "right-brained" is said to be more intuitive, thoughtful, and subjective, but this has been proved to be a myth.

* Even if you consider yourself a left-brained person, your brain will still switch over to the right side every 90 to 120 minutes and then back again.That’s why even left-brained people can have times of the day when they are more creative and right-brained people can sometimes get their taxes in order.

* The brain itself is incapable of feeling pain. Once the skull is opened it is possible to operate on the brain with the patient awake. 

* It is a myth that humans use only 10% of their brains.Modern MRI scans proved that people use just about their entire brain even when they are sleeping.

* The human brain is capable of executing 10 quadrillion calculations per second--no computer today can match the human brain!

* If you were to measure your brainwave activity you wouldn’t see any drop off when you’re asleep.The brain is more active at night than during the day. 

* By age 18, the human brain stops growing. 

* After age 18, the human brain begins to lose more than 1,000 brain cells each day. Do not fear, since the fully developed brain has over 100 billion cells, at the rate of losing 1,000 cells each day, it will take 300,000 years before your brain is out of cells.

* Nerve Impulses from your brain and back travel at over 400 km/hr (250 mi/hr).

* The higher your IQ, the more you dream.The average person has at least seven dreams a night.

* You can’t feel your own tickle either. The brain is smart enough to neutralize the sensation. The cerebellum sends a signal to rest of the brain of your intentions and as a result the sensation is ignored.

* Men's brains are indeed bigger. Does this mean they're smarter? Not necessarily, as in women's brains, the neurons are packed in tightly, so that they're closer together and more compact.

* Researchers from Harvard found that parts  responsible for problem-solving and decision-making, and  for regulating emotions, were larger in women. 

* In men, the parts of brain involved in space perception, and which regulates sexual and social behavior, were larger.

* Men also have approximately 6.5 times more gray matter in the brain than women. Women have about 10 times more white matter than men, which may allow a woman's brain to work faster than a man's.

* Reading out loud to kids accelerates their brain development.

* Our brain never loses the ability to learn and change because it’s effectively plastic and constantly rewiring itself.

* Our brain doesn’t record memories like video. It takes snapshots of the more important bits and then when you recall the event it guesses what happened in between based on prior experience.

TURTLES - An Endangered Species

Turtles and Tortoises are some of the most amazing and endangered animals on the planet.World Turtle Day was started on May 23rd every year to increase respect and knowledge for the world’s oldest creatures and to help people protect turtles and tortoises and their disappearing habitats around the world.

           Things we can do to save turtles and tortoises for the next generation:

• If you are looking for a pet, purchase a captive bred animal from a reputable store or breeder. Do not take home a wild turtle as a pet.
• Never release a pet turtle into the wild. Turtles kept in captivity may not have the important nutrients they need to survive through the cold winter. In addition, pet turtles may not be native to your area and should not interbreed with wild turtles.
• Join a local Turtle and Tortoise club to learn more.
• Never remove turtles or tortoises from the wild unless they are sick or injured.
• If a tortoise is crossing a busy street, pick it up and take it in the same direction it was going – if you try to make it go back, it will turn right around again.
• Help keep beaches and other natural habitats clean. Never leave trash and pick up garbage left by others.
• Write letters to legislators asking them to keep sensitive habitat preserved or closed to off road vehicles, and to prevent off shore drilling that can lead to more endangered sea turtle deaths.

Fun With Roller Coasters

Roller coasters!!! Doesn't the word conjures up thrilling images in your mind and butterflies in your stomach!

Today , I will explore the world of roller coasters, right from their conception to how they are made, to why we love them.

And you can even try your hand at building your own roller coaster!

I would love to see and post your roller coaster photos or trivia here so do share it with me.

HISTORY OF ROLLER COASTERS

In the 1600s in Russia, the forerunners of present-day roller coasters were huge blocks of ice that were fashioned into sleds, with straw or fur on the icy seat for passenger comfort. Sand was used to help slow down the sled at the end of the ride to keep it from crashing. 

America's amusement park history begins on Coney Island in 1875.  in 1884, the first gravity switchback train was introduced. This was the first true roller coaster in America.

In 1912, the first underfriction roller coaster was introduced by John Miller. This design held the coaster train on the track and allowed for more speed, steeper hills, and less drag. 

The 1920s saw the building of some of the best roller coasters of all times. 

In 1955, the nation's first theme park opened: Disneyland.

In 1959 Disney introduced the Matterhorn, the first tubular steel coaster. The exciting features we expect from today's coasters--loops, a corkscrew track, and stability--can be traced back to this first steel coaster.

The first successful inverted coaster was introduced in 1992, and now you can find passengers riding in coasters with their feet dangling freely below them (and occasionally above them) 

HOW DOES A ROLLER COASTER WORK

At its most basic level, a roller coaster is a machine that uses gravity and inertia to send a train along a winding track.
The purpose of the coaster's initial ascent is to build up a sort of reservoir of potential energy. 
The concept of potential energy, often referred to as energy of position, is very simple: As the coaster gets higher in the air, gravity can pull it down a greater distance. The potential energy you build going up the hill can be released as kinetic energy -- the energy of motion that takes you down the hill.Once you start cruising down that first hill, gravity takes over and all the built-up potential e­nergy changes to kinetic energy. Gravity applies a constant downward force on the cars.

THE FUNNY FEELINGS ON BOARD A ROLLER COASTER

THE PUSH BACK FEELING

Your body feels acceleration in a funny way. When a coaster car is speeding up, the actual force acting on you is the seat pushing your body forward. But, because of your body's inertia, you feel a force in front of you, pushing you into the seat.

THE FEELING OF WEIGHTLESSNESS

It constantly changes its acceleration and its position to the ground, making the forces of gravity and acceleration interact in many interesting ways. When you plummet down a steep hill, gravity pulls you down while the acceleration force seems to be pulling you up. At a certain rate of acceleration, these opposite forces balance each other out, making you feel a sensation of weightlessness -- the same sensation a skydiver feels in free fall. 

THE SINKING FEELING - BUTTERFLIES IN YOUR STOMACH

Normally, all the parts of your body are pushing on each other because of the constant force of gravity. But in the "free-fall" state of plummeting down a hill, there is hardly any net force acting on you. In this case, the various pieces of your body are not pushing on each other as much. They are all, essentially, weightless, each falling individually inside your body. This is what gives you that unique sinking feeling in your stomach -- your stomach is suddenly very light because there is less force pushing on it. 

OUT OF CONTROL SPEED

On a roller coaster, this full-body sensation is complemented by all sorts of visual cues -- the upside-down turns, dizzying heights and passing structures. Visual cues are an important part of the ride because they tell you that you are going fast.

THE WORLD'S FAMOUS ROLLER COASTERS

I have given an entire page to the world's famous Roller Coasters and what they are known for. 

Follow this link http://amazingnatureandscience.blogspot.in/p/blog-page.html or click on this page icon on the right.

MAKE YOUR OWN ROLLER COASTER

I found this great interactive site that allows you to build your own roller coaster. Try it and have fun!

To make your own roller coaster click on this link : build your rollercoaster

Formula 1 Car Racing - Interesting Facts

• Approximately 80,000 components come together to make an F1 car. The cars have to be assembled with cent per cent accuracy. If it were assembled 99.9% correctly, it would go on the track with 80 components wrongly placed.
• F1 car engines complete their life in about two hours of racing, compared to normal engines which last for about 20 years.
• The retardation experienced by an F1 driver while braking can be compared to a regular car driving through a brick wall at the speed of 300kmph.
• An F1 engine usually revs up to 18000 rpm. This means that the piston travels up and down 300 times a second. 
• The brake discs in an F1 are made of carbon fibre which is much harder than steel and can withstand the operating temperature of approximately 1000 degrees Centigrade. 
• An F1 car can accelerate from 0 to 160 kph and decelerate back to 0 in just four seconds.
• An F1 car weighs around 550 kg.
• Gear cogs or ratios are replaced after each race.
• Most racing cars have their tyres filled with nitrogen because it has a more consistent pressure compared to normal air.
• Road car tyres can last 60 000 to 100 000 km while racing tyres are designed to last only 90 to 120 km.
• In a GP each tyre loses about 0.5kg in weight due to wear.
• The cars can be refueled at 12 liters per second. The rig used would take just 4 seconds to fill the tank of an average road car.

• Pit stop crews take only 3 seconds to refuel and change tyres.
• F1 drivers have prolonged exposure to high G forces and temperatures. This results in an average F1 driver losing about 4 kgs of weight after just one race.
• The drivers have to remove the steering wheel to get inside the car. A latch behind the steering wheel releases it from the column.
• Before race, drivers drink lot of water to avoid dehydration.The drivers can lose approximate 2 to 3 litres of water during a race.
• The F1 cockpits have drinking bottle installed for the drivers. The water in it also has mineral salts. The drivers can drink water from it via a pipe.
• Numbers are assigned to all F1 drivers. The previous season's champion is given number 1, and his team-mate is designated number 2.
• The number 13 is not designated to any driver.
• The aerodynamics elements in the cars are tested in wind tunnels. After thorough testing, final production starts.
• Small planes can take off at slower speeds than F1 cars travel on the track. However, the downforce provided by their wings keeps them on the track.
• Without aerodynamic downforce, racing cars have sufficient power to fly once they exceed 160 kph. The cars usually race at over 300 kph.
• When a car is traveling over 160 kph, it car can generate enough downforce to hold itself to the ceiling of a tunnel and drive upside down.
• During street course races, the manhole covers on the streets have to be welded down because the downforce of the cars can lift manhole covers.

• The first auto race was held in 1894.
• Formula 1 World Championship has been held continuously since 1950.
• German Michael Schumacher holds the record for most titles, at seven.

Auroras - The Dancing Lights

Auroras

Commonly called The Northern Lights in the northern hemisphere and Southern lights in the southern hemisphere, an aurora is a natural light display in the sky, especially in the Arctic and Antarctic regions in a band known as the auroral zone, which is typically 3° to 6° wide in latitude.

How are Auroras formed?

During large solar explosions and flares,  huge quantities of particles (ions) are thrown out of the sun and into deep space.The ions present in the solar wind are trapped by the magnetic field of the earth and they collide with the atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, releasing energy that is seen as auroras.

The colours of Auroras

The color of the aurora depends on which atom is struck, and the altitude of the meeting.

Green - oxygen, up to 150 miles in altitude
Red - oxygen, above 150 miles in altitude
Blue - nitrogen, up to 60 miles in altitude
Purple/violet - nitrogen, above 60 miles in altitude

Aurora Facts

Green Auroras are the most common.

The lights are at their most frequent in late autumn ( August to November) and winter/early spring ( February / March). 

Magnetic midnight, that occurs about an hour before actual midnight is the best time to spot them.New Moon, Clear, dark sky between 9 PM to 2 AM away from the city lights are ideal, along with a solar maximum.

Types of Auroras

Arc Auroras arc over the night sky like a rainbow

Corona Auroras appear as a crown of diverging rays of light.

Drapery Aurora is the most common and ripple like a curtain.

Diffuse Aurora is the rarest and has a featureless glow.

The Hubble Telescope-Our window to space

The Hubble Telescope is probably one of the most important inventions in the field of space exploration, that has helped unravel many mysteries of our universe. Here is a low down of the Hubble...

Launched in 1990 Hubble is one of NASA's most successful and long-lasting science missions.

The telescope was named after American astronomer Edwin Hubble. 

The Hubble Space Telescope is a type of telescope that uses mirrors and lenses to capture and focus the light that it picks up from the various objects in our universe. 

NASA and the European Space Agency sent it out to space because Earth's atmosphere can distort the things that telescopes can see, so from on orbit, Hubble can see much clearer and farther than a similar-sized Earth-based telescope.

It has beamed hundreds of thousands of images back to Earth. Hubble transmits about 120 gigabytes of science data every week. That's equal to about 3,600 feet (1,097 meters) of books on a shelf.

Its gaze has helped determine the age of the universe, the identity of quasars, and the existence of dark energy.

Hubble Can't Observe the Sun or Mercury, which is too close to the Sun.

The Hubble Telescope is 43.5 feet long and 14 feet wide. It weighs 24,500 pounds and cost $1.5 billion initially.

The Hubble Telescope receives its energy from the sun through two 25-foot solar panels while orbiting about 353 miles above Earth.

The telescope is expected to remain operational until 2014, about 24 years after its launch. It will then be replaced with the James Webb Space Telescope.

I have some beautiful images from the Hubble Telescope that I have put up on the Hubble Images page. Check it out !!

If you would like to know more about this amazing telescope, you may visit the official hubble site http://hubblesite.org/

The Indian Lotus

The Indian Lotus or Nelumbo nucifera is an aquatic perennial plant. Native to Tropical Asia and Queensland, Australia, it is commonly cultivated in water gardens.The roots of lotus are planted in the soil of the pond or river bottom, while the leaves float on top of the water surface.

The leaves may be as large as 60 cm in diameter, while the showy flowers can be up to 20 cm in diameter.

The lotus has the remarkable ability to regulate the temperature of its flowers to within a narrow range just as humans and other warmblooded animals do.

Under favorable circumstances its seeds may remain viable for many years, with the oldest recorded lotus germination being from that of seeds 1,300 years old recovered from a dry lake bed in northeastern China.

It is the national flower of India and Vietnam.

The Famous Bahai Temple in New Delhi, India is in the shape of a lotus too.