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What makes the platypus different from most other animals?

PLATYPUS

The platypus has the most distinct features when compared to other marine animals. With a flattened head, a large bill, a paddle-like tail, and webbed feet, the platypus is perhaps one of the most visibly unique animals. And do you know what else is striking about them? They are also one of the few living venomous mammals.

The males among the semi-aquatic mammals are venomous and have a sharp set of spurs on their hind heels. These spurs are connected to the venom glands located over the thighs and are used in defense. Scientists have also found out that the venom contains a hormone that could help treat diabetes.

They are also known to use venom against other males.

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What countries make up Romania?

ROMANIA ~ LAND OF SURPRISES

Romanis is a country at the crossroads southeastern Europe. The country is brimming with natural, architectural and artistic treasures. This lesser known country is the largest of the Balkan countries. Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Moldova are its neighbours and the Black Sea is on its coastline. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest.

Brief history

The name “Romania” comes from the Latin word “Romanus” which means “citizen of the Roman Empire.” Numerous empires ruled the land, from the Romans and Ottomans to the Austro-Hungarians. Romania was part of both the world wars and got bombed severely in World War II. After the war, the country fell into communist rule for four decades, which ended in 1989 with the execution of the ruler Nicolae Ceauescu. The country went through a difficult phase during this time, transiting from communism to democracy. It signed the NATO treaty along with seven other countries in 2005. Eventually, it became part of the European Union in 2007. Today, Klaus Iohannis is the democratically elected President of Romania.

Geography

Mountains make up around a third of the country. The Carpathian Mountains are divided into three different major ranges – the Eastern, Western and Southern Carpathians (also called the Transylvanian Alps). Forests surround these Alps and the Caras-Severin county is a region full of unique landscapes. It has three national parks to its credit. The Cheile Nerei-Beusnita National Park is the most noted and the Bigar Cascade waterfalls here is a sight to behold. It is listed as the most beautiful waterfalls in the world. These forest regions are protected areas that are home to a variety of biodiversity, including many amphibians, birds, bats, and snakes. More than half of all brown bears in Europe can be found in these forests, accounting for almost 6000 in number.

There are over 3,000 lakes and many rivers. A few of them are glacial. The Scarisoara glacier underneath the Bihor mountains is more than 3,500 years old and is Europe’s second-largest underground glacier. The Danbe River, which starts in Germany, travels through seven countries and flows into the Black Sea in Romania. Before flowing into the sea, it creates a delta, which is the second largest and best-preserved in Europe. The Delta is a UNESCO Biosphere Reservation and a protected natural habitat and wetland for rare species of animals and plants. The Danube to the Black Sea canal is the world’s third-longest navigation route, after the Suez and the Panama canals. The statue of Dacian king Decebal, carved in the rocky bank of the river, is the tallest rock sculpture in Europe (135 feet tall).

Heritage

In total, Romania has to its credit around 8 UNESCO World Heritage sites.

The most iconic landmarks are the churches. Sapanta Peri monastery, carved in wood by the people from Maramure, is the tallest church in the world. The Merry Cemetery is situated in the village of Sapana and is certainly unique. It features painted crosses with satirical epitaphs that reveal the message of the deceased to the living. The Black Church of Braov is another church that got its name after it got destroyed by fire. It has a magnificent Bucholz organ and the biggest collection of oriental carpets in Europe.

Other fascinating sites are the Transfagarasan Highway, Pele’s castle, the Palace of Parliament, Astra Museum of Folk Civilization, Crtureti Carusel bookstore and many more…

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WHO CAN START A COMMUNITY RADIO?

It’s not as challenging or expensive as many people believe to start your radio station-any community can do it. A sense of community awareness and internal unity is an essential requirement for a community to launch its radio station. A radio station might not often be considered a priority in the traditional development structure, which prioritizes support for industries like agriculture, health, education, and more. However, a community that conducts an in-depth needs assessment and addresses the root causes of its challenges and disadvantages will usually discover that it needs communication methods to enable people to contribute towards shared objectives and understanding which are the first step towards starting a community radio.

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What is the significance of radio in today’s world?

Over 2 billion radio receivers and over 20,000 radio stations exist worldwide. There is no truth about the notion that radio will be replaced by TV or other modern communication technologies, as it continues to expand Being the most economical electronic medium to broadcast and receive in, it breaks down barriers of illiteracy and isolation, making it the preferred electronic medium of the underprivileged. In radio broadcasting, community radio is a significant third tier that is different from commercial and public service radio.

What is a Community Radio?

 

Community Radio Stations (CRSs) are low-power radio stations designed for local communities to own and run. Local perspectives on topics related to health, nutrition, education, agriculture, and other topics are provided in a forum by Community Radio. People may immediately relate to the Community Radio broadcast because it is in their native language. A source of regional folk music and cultural legacy, the radio is especially important in a country like India where each state has its own language and unique cultural flavour. Community radio stations have grown significantly in popularity and number in the last 20 years. The social and economic advantages that arise from providing regular people with access to relevant information are now becoming more widely recognized.

The history of community radio

It was in Latin America, around 50 years ago, that the groundbreaking experiences that have given rise to community radio. The initial experiences-known the Miners’ Radios in Bolivia in 1947 and Radio as Sutatenza in Colombia that same year were sparked by poverty and social injustice. Community radio emerged as a significant phenomenon in Europe, serving as an opponent or substitute for mainstream broadcast media, despite the breakthrough work being done in Latin America. Following the fall of the colonial government in South Africa, community radio stations across the continent were established and eventually evolved into a social movement.

The Indian government published the first set of community radio guidelines and the necessary equipment in early 2003, but limited the eligibility to educational institutions alone. The goal of establishing community radio stations that would involve local communities in the content production process has just recently expanded to include non-profit organizations, agricultural research institutes, and educational institutions.

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What is a real life example of extinction?

We are in the middle of a mass extinction brought about by human activity.

What is mass extinction?                       

A vast number of species going extinct at one period in time is called mass extinction. It is also known as a biotic crisis, as it leads to a decline in the world’s biodiversity. In a mass extinction, species disappear faster than they are replaced by new species.

What are the causes of mass extinction?

Earlier extinctions took place due to natural causes like global climate change, fluctuating sea levels and catastrophic events like volcanic eruptions or asteroid impacts. However, the ongoing extinction is the result of human actions.

How many mass extinction events have occurred on the Earth?

The Ordovician-Silurian extinction, 444 million year ago; the Devonian extinction, 360 million years ago; the  Permian extinction, 250 million years ago; the Triassic-Jurassic extinction, 201 million years ago; and the Cretaceous extinction, 65 million years ago. The first eliminated marine invertebrates, the second, tropical marine species. The third and the largest decimated most of the marine species and many terrestrial vertebrates, and the fourth destroyed all the Triassic reptiles. The fifth last was most likely caused by an asteroid hitting the Earth. It killed off dinosaurs of all species, including the remaining non-avian dinosaurs.

Are we facing a sixth mass extinction?

At present, we are in the middle of the sixth mass extinction, the Holocene extinction, which is entirely caused by the humans. It started 10,000 years ago with the beginning of agriculture and industrialization. Human activities like deforestation, climate change, and pollution have been major contributors.

These events wipe out numerous species, reshaping ecosystems and allowing the evolution of new species. They can disrupt habitats, biodiversity, ecological stru and food chains.

What is the impact of mass extinctions?

These events wipe out numerous species, reshaping ecosystems and allowing the evolution of new species. They can disrupt habitats, biodiversity, ecological structure and food chains.

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What will replace the ISS in 2031?

The International Space Station or ISS is to be deorbited by 2031. Where will it go? Satellites and spacecraft are machines, similar to washing machines and vacuum cleaners. They will not last forever. It doesn’t matter what job they do, whether it’s to observe weather, measure greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, or study the stars. All space machines grow old, wear out and die.

For satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), engineers use the last bit of fuel to slow it down. When the fuel runs out, it falls out of orbit and burns up in the atmosphere. The satellites in very high orbits are sent even further away from Earth, since more fuel is required to bring them down! These satellites are sent into a so-called ‘graveyard orbit, almost 36,000 km above Earth. Space stations and large spacecraft that are in LEO are too large to incinerate entirely on re-entry. So the deorbiting is monitored closely to ensure the debris falls on a remote, uninhabited area. There is an area like this. It’s nicknamed ‘spacecraft cemetery’ and it lies in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean at a spot called Point Nemo. (‘Nemo’ is Latin for ‘nobody’.) Point Nemo is so remote that the ISS will meet its watery grave there. It is considered ideal for dumping space debris as the waters are said to be poor in nutrients and biodiversity. No one has really studied the marine life or lack of it in Point Nemo. Environmentalists fear that in addition to the space junk already present in Point Nemo, the ISS debris will add tons of experimental equipment, materials and even traces of altered human DNA.  

Which church was built by British in Mumbai?

One of Mumbai’s oldest and most iconic church has made headline by announcing plans to become a recycle hub. Let us find out more about it.

St. Michael Church commonly known as Mahim Church – is one of Mumbai’s oldest and most iconic places of worship. Built in 1534, when the city was under the control of the Portuguese, the church now serves about 10,000 people in the Mahim area.

St. Michael’s is more than a sacred place for Catholics. Its special prayer services every Wednesday, called ‘novenas,’ draw people of various faiths who come to seek favours from the divine (e.g. cure for a sick relative, a good job, etc.) Many of the novena devotees bring floral garlands, candles, or other offerings. The candle wax and flowers are recycled.

The church, in fact, has become a recycling hub for a wide variety of wastes: plastic, tetra pak containers, electronics and other items. The Green Cell of the church, in partnership with other local organizations, helps with the recycling. In 2021, St. Michael Church made headlines by announcing plans to become the first place of worship to achieve carbon neutrality in two years. Of considerable importance is the 2 cubic-meter biogas unit set up on the terrace of the church building that is run on flower waste. This is the only biogas unit run on flower waste in the city. Mumbai produces an estimated 200 tons of this waste, most of which winds up in landfills. The church’s weekly feed of 35-50 kg of flowers into the biogas unit is tiny compared to the waste in the city, but it has shown the path for adding value to waste recycling.

Fertiliser production

The biogas that the unit produces is equivalent to three LPG cylinders per year (worth Rs 4.500). However, the real value to the church is not the gas, but the liquid slurry that oozes out of the biogas unit. The slurry arry is used to fertilise over a hundred plants in the church compound.

“We receive a lot of flowers as offerings. Especially on Wednesdays, when around 50,000 people come for novena prayers. Earlier, the flowers used to go to the trash cans and get added to the waste piles in landfills,” says a church spokesman. “We thought of doing something in which the flower wastes could be used to help the environment and so we decided to install a biogas plant,” he adds.

Good example

The Mahim Church’s good example could be followed by other places of worship. Collectively, they can provide an excellent platform for effecting a change in thinking and followed up by action among the millions of devotees. For example, the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple in Tirupati Andhra Pradesh generates about seven tones of floral waste, 30-50 tones of food waste, and three tonnes of animal waste from the goshala, daily. It has been estimated that if all of these organic wastes are converted into compressed biogas, this could power some 100 local buses that carry devotees from Tirupati to Tirumala, where the temple is located, a distance of 18 kilometers. The temple authorities have begun to turn cow dung and food wastes into biogas and compost as a first step. In future, they might be able to turn biogas into compressed gas for motor vehicles.

ITC Limited, one of India’s corporate giants headquartered in Kolkata, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Tamil Nadu government to provide technical assistance to temples in waste management. As part of its ‘Green Temple Initiative’, ITC is helping 182 temples in the state to turn their flower waste into organic manure. Additionally, around 400 kg of cow dung from goshalas are turned into biogas to fuel the kitchens that prepare prasadam. This also helps the temples remain clean. A management team from ITC visited the Mahim Church to study its waste management system.

Hopefully, other corporate houses will start similar initiatives, as part of their corporate social responsibility, to assist other places of worship in addressing the challenge of managing the growing waste in the country.

Picture: credit Google

What’s a frilled lizard?

A type of reptile found in Australia and New Guinea, the frilled lizards or “frillnecks,” are members of the dragon family

Remember Dilophosaurus? That dinosaur in the first Jurassic Park movie which would unfurl its extendible neck frill and spit venom when intimidated?

Well, in reality, there is no evidence that the dinosaur had the neck frill. But meet Australian frilled lizard, the closest you will ever get to watching something as bizarre as the Dilophosaurus’ defence strategy.

Any time the frilled lizard feels threatened, it puts on the greatest show in the wild. It is also perhaps the most dramatic sight you will ever witness in the animal kingdom.

When the lizard feels intimidated, the first response is to scare the other creature away. So it will stand on its hind legs, open its mouth wide, and hiss. But this is not all. A bright-red neck frill, a pleated skin flap around its head, would unfurl as it strikes the intimidating pose, giving the creature a very grotesque appearance. This is a potential gimmick to scare off the opponent. (When unopened, the scaly neck frill lies as a cape over the shoulders of the lizard.)

If this stunt fails, and the attacker doesn’t flinch, the lizard has another trick up its sleeve. It will quickly turn, and bolt, running on its hind legs, its yellow mouth wide open, legs flailing, and will not stop until it ambles up a tree for safety.

The frilled lizards or “frillnecks,” are members of the dragon family. It is a type of reptile found in Australia and New Guinea. its size and color may vary from region to region. This creature spends a large part of its life on the trees. It is seen to descend to feed on lizards, small mammals, and ants.

These lizards can be classified into three different genetic groups. The main predators include birds of prey, larger lizards, snakes, and so on. The lizard lives in the tropical and warm temperate forests and savanna woodlands of northern Australia.

The eggs are laid in underground nests and hatchlings are independent, able to hunt as they emerge and adept at using the neck frill. The color of the frill of the lizard varies and is a result of carotenoids, which it acquires from the insect diet.

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WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PHYSICAL COPY OFMARTIN LUTHER KING’S I ‘’HAVE A DREAM’’SPEECH?

African American civil rights activist Martin Luther King’s speech “I Have a Dream” emphasized the unrealised promise of economic freedom for black Americans – and the White House dreaded the consequences. The physical copy of this speech is widely regarded as one of the most influential documents in American history. Read on to discover the surprising journey of this historic document In the annals of history, August 28, 1963, stands as a pivotal moment-a day when Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his timeless oration, “I Have a Dream,” to a crowd of nearly 2,50,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Little did anyone know, amidst the fervor of that day, that the physical copy of this iconic speech would embark on a journey of its own, passing through the hands of an unlikely guardian.

George Raveling’s brush with history As King concluded his speech and stepped away from the podium, he found himself face to face with George Raveling, a former Villanova University basketball player assigned to provide security. In a serendipitous moment, Raveling, moved by the speech, asked King if he could have the folded papers (that had the written oration). Without hesitation, King handed over the speech to the young volunteer, unaware of the significance of this exchange.

The speech finds its voice

For nearly two decades, the speech remained tucked away in a Harry Truman biography, as Raveling pursued his career in NCAA basketball coaching. It wasn’t until 1984, during a conversation with a journalist, that Raveling revealed his possession of the historic document. Prompted by the journalist’s interest, Raveling retrieved the speech and had it professionally framed.

Safeguarding a national treasure As Raveling began to grasp the importance of the speech, he decided to secure it in a bank vault in Los Angeles. Despite receiving lucrative offers from collectors, including a staggering $3 million bid in 2014, Raveling remained steadfast in his decision to preserve the speech’s integrity. Instead, he entrusted Villanova University with the responsibility of safeguarding this invaluable piece of history.

A homecoming

In August 2021, Villanova announced its role as the custodian of King’s speech, which made its public debut at the National Museum of African American History and Culture later that month. Commemorating the 60th anniversary of the march in Washington, the speech returned to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture on August 7, 2023. This temporary exhibition provided an opportunity for visitors to connect with the speech’s profound impact on American history. As the world continues to cherish and commemorate King’s legacy, the physical copy of his iconic speech remains a poignant reminder of the power of words to inspire change and unite humanity.

DID YOU KNOW?

• It was actually gospel singer Mahalia Jaskson’s cry “Tell them about the dream, Martin!” that prompted King to improvise the line I have a dream.

• In 2003 Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous words were inscribed into the spot where he gave the iconic speech.

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