Lava & Plants

The many ridges and folds that form when the lava flow cools -- and eventually stops -- trap windblown dirt and seeds. Plants grow rapidly in the rich volcanic soil. In a matter of years, the entire area destroyed by a volcano can be revegetated. 

(Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia of Science Year Book)

Harvest mouse - Europe’s smallest rodent

A harvest mouse——grooms itself on a hogweed flower head in a meadow near Moulton, England. This adult was raised in captivity, microchipped, and released as part of a study on how the elusive species survives. 

(National Geographic magazine)

“Man” has always existed – even when there was no Earth

…the divinity of God, which is the totality of all perfections, reveals itself in the reality of man -- that is, the divine Essence is the sum total of all perfections, and from this station it casts a ray of its splendour upon the human reality. In other words, the Sun of Truth is reflected in this mirror. Thus man is a perfect mirror facing the Sun of Truth and is the seat of its reflection. The splendour of all the divine perfections is manifest in the reality of man, and it is for this reason that he is the vicegerent and apostle of God. If man did not exist, the universe would be without result, for the purpose of existence is the revelation of the divine perfections. We cannot say, then, that there was a time when man was not. At most we can say that there was a time when this earth did not exist, and that at the beginning man was not present upon it.

But from the beginning that has no beginning to the end that has no end, a perfect Manifestation has always existed. This Man of Whom we speak here is not just any man: That which we intend is the Perfect Man. For the noblest part of the tree, and the fundamental purpose of its existence, is the fruit. A tree without fruit is of no use. Therefore, it cannot be imagined that the world of existence, whether in the realms above or below, was once populated by cows and donkeys, cats, and mice, and yet was deprived of the presence of man. What a false and vacuous notion!

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Table talks in Akka, authenticated by ‘Abdu’l-Baha; ‘Some Answered Questions’ – 2014 revised translation by the Baha’i World Centre)

Mantis Shrimp

Mantis Shrimp, common name for a group of tropical marine crustaceans. Mantis shrimp are also called praying shrimp because they hold their large, hinged claws in a position reminiscent of hands clasped in prayer. Mantis shrimps vary in length from 6.4 to 56 cm (from 2.5 to 22 in). Their stalked eyes are borne on separate, movable segments. Mantis shrimp are nocturnal, foraging aggressively for food at night. (Encarta encyclopedia)

Peacock Bass

Fry of a Peacock Bass hover around their mom for protection against predators. Peacock Bass, part of the Cichlid family, exercise excellent parental care and will protect their young against any threat that approaches them. This tropical species from South America was intentionally introduced in South Florida during the 1980s to control the African Tilapia, another invasive species. (National Geographic)

Green Meteor

A green meteor around the Skyislands in India. The meteor’s greenish color come from a combination of the heating of oxygen around the meteor and the mix of minerals ignited as the rock enters Earth's atmosphere. (Adapted from National Geograohic)

Silversides

Silversides swirl through mangroves like a river in the sea. They are carnivorous fish with silvery band along each side of their bodies. The dense forest of roots offers welcome shelter for the finger-size fish, which form large schools to try to confuse predators. Mangroves enhance reefs by providing a nursery area for vulnerable creatures and by trapping sediment that can smother coral. They also store carbon that might otherwise contribute to global warming. 

(Adapted from Encarta encyclopedia and National Geographic magazine)

Viruses on other life-bearing planets

It has been proposed that viruses are likely to be encountered on other life-bearing planets. Efforts to discover current or past life on Mars is an active area of research. On 24 January 2014, NASA reported that current studies on the planet Mars by the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers will now be searching for evidence of ancient life, including a biosphere based on autotrophic, chemotrophic and/or chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms, as well as ancient water, including fluvio-lacustrine environments (plains related to ancient rivers or lakes) that may have been habitable. The search for evidence of habitability, taphonomy (related to fossils), and organic carbon on the planet Mars is now a primary NASA objective. 

(Wikipedia encyclopedia)

Diversity in nature

Consider the world of created beings, how varied and diverse they are in species, yet with one sole origin. All the differences that appear are those of outward form and colour. This diversity of type is apparent throughout the whole of nature.

Behold a beautiful garden full of flowers, shrubs, and trees. Each flower has a different charm, a peculiar beauty, its own delicious perfume and beautiful colour. The trees too, how varied are they in size, in growth, in foliage -- and what different fruits they bear! Yet all these flowers, shrubs and trees spring from the self-same earth, the same sun shines upon them and the same clouds give them rain.

So it is with humanity. It is made up of many races, and its peoples are of different colour, white, black, yellow, brown and red -- but they all come from the same God, and all are servants to Him. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a talk on October 28^th, 1911, Paris, France)

Octopus releasing protective ink

This algae octopus, Abdopus aculeatus, has just inked. Octopuses release ink when they feel threatened; the ink swirls into a dark cloud that distracts predators. The adaptation is ancient: Ink sacs are present in fossils of octopus ancestors that are more than 300 million years old. 
(National Geographic magazine)

Arizona, USA: Lightning & rainbow

In the Sonoran Desert near Red Rock, Arizona, a fast-moving electrical storm and a rainbow share the sky in this composite image. Several ranges in this part of Arizona, USA—including the nearby Tortolita Mountains—help spawn thunder and lightning. 
(National Geographic magazine)

Mammals that lay eggs and suckle their young

The duck-billed platypus and the echidna or spiny anteater, indigenous to Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea, are the only two species of mammals that lay eggs (a non-mammalian feature) but suckle their young (a mammalian feature). These mammals resemble reptiles in that they lay rubbery shell-covered eggs that are incubated and hatched outside the mother's body. In addition they resemble reptiles in their digestive, reproductive, and excretory systems, and in a number of anatomical details (eye structure, presence of certain skull bones, pectoral [shoulder] girdle, and rib and vertebral structures). However they are classed as mammals because they have fur and a four-chambered heart, nurse their young from gland milk, are warm-blooded, and have some mammalian skeletal features. 

(Adapted from 'The Handy Science Answer Book', compiled by the Science and Technology department of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh)

“…every fixed star hath its own planets, and every planet its own creatures…”

Thou hast, moreover, asked Me concerning the nature of the celestial spheres. To comprehend their nature, it would be necessary to inquire into the meaning of the allusions that have been made in the Books of old to the celestial spheres and the heavens, and to discover the character of their relationship to this physical world, and the influence which they exert upon it. Every heart is filled with wonder at so bewildering a theme, and every mind is perplexed by its mystery. God, alone, can fathom its import. The learned men, that have fixed at several thousand years the life of this earth, have failed, throughout the long period of their observation, to consider either the number or the age of the other planets. Consider, moreover, the manifold divergencies that have resulted from the theories propounded by these men. Know thou that every fixed star hath its own planets, and every planet its own creatures, whose number no man can compute. 

- Baha'u'llah  (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah’)

Solar Planets

(National Geographic)

Bioluminescent Jellyfish

Bioluminescence is emission of light from living organisms, without appreciable heat. The light results from a chemical reaction mediated by enzymes (see Enzyme) and involving specialized phosphorus-containing molecules in the organisms. Bioluminescence is found in species of bacteria, algae, fungi, and invertebrate animals. Some deep-sea fish are equipped with organs that produce luminescence to which prey is attracted. The flashes emitted by male and female fireflies are used as species-specific signals for mating. 

(Encarta encyclopedia)

Hurricane

A name given to violent storms that originate over the tropical or subtropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, or North Pacific Ocean east of the International Date Line. Such storms over the North Pacific west of the International Date Line are called typhoons; those elsewhere are known as tropical cyclones, which is the general name for all such storms including hurricanes and typhoons. These storms can cause great damage to property and loss of human life due to high winds, flooding, and large waves crashing against shorelines.

The word "hurricane" comes from the Spanish "huracán," which in turn probably derived from the Native American Taino language of the Carib people. In Taino, Hurican is variously the god of evil or the god of the storm, and was imported himself from the Mayan god Hurakan.

There are 5 categories of hurricanes based on their sustained wind speeds:

Category 1          74-95 mph          

Category 2          96-110 mph

Category 3          111-129 mph

Category 4          130-156 mph

Category 5          157 mph or higher

(Encarta encyclopedia and Internet resources)

Baha’i Principle of: Harmony of Science and Religion

It has become customary in the West to think of science and religion as occupying two distinct -- and even opposed -- areas of human thought and activity. This dichotomy can be characterized in the pairs of antitheses: faith and reason; value and fact. It is a dichotomy which is foreign to Bahá'í thought…. The principle of the harmony of science and religion means not only that religious teachings should be studied with the light of reason and evidence as well as of faith and inspiration, but also that everything in this creation, all aspects of human life and knowledge, should be studied in the light of revelation as well as in that of purely rational investigation. In other words… when studying a subject, [one] should not lock out of his mind any aspect of truth that is known to him. 

(Memorandum from the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, accompanied by a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice dated 3 January 1979; ‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-1986’)

The “perfections of the spirit…appear in this world”

…it is necessary that the signs of the perfection of the spirit should be apparent in this world, so that the world of creation may bring forth endless results, and this body may receive life and manifest the divine bounties. So, for example, the rays of the sun must shine upon the earth, and the solar heat develop the earthly beings; if the rays and heat of the sun did not shine upon the earth, the earth would be uninhabited, without meaning, and its development would be retarded. In the same way, if the perfections of the spirit did not appear in this world, this world would be unenlightened and absolutely brutal. By the appearance of the spirit in the physical form, this world is enlightened. As the spirit of man is the cause of the life of the body, so the world is in the condition of the body, and man is in the condition of the spirit. If there were no man, the perfections of the spirit would not appear, and the light of the mind would not be resplendent in this world. This world would be like a body without a soul. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Compilation: ‘The Baha’i Faith’)

Central Asia: Tian Shan - "Sky-Mountain"

As the largest system of mountain ranges in Central Asia, Tian Shan—which translates to “sky-mountain” in Chinese—has one of the best collections of natural landscapes in the world and is considered a paradise for outdoor adventures. Thanks to the richness of the land’s sediments, compounded by the power of erosion caused by rivers flowing down the mountains, the north face of Tian Shan is carved into stunning plateaus and colorful canyons hundreds of meters deep, resulting in this surrealist painting in nature. 
(The National Geographic)

God’s creation has no beginning … and no end

God’s “creation… hath had no beginning, and will have no end. All that is created, however, is preceded by a cause. 

- Baha'u'llah  (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah’)

Life on Top of the World

Several kinds of animals live or travel high on the mountains, where only shrubs and grasses grow. They include the snow leopard, which hunts wild goats, and the yak. A yak is a large, long-haired ox native to the high plateaus and mountains of Central Asia, where the climate is cold and dry. Some Himalayan people keep yaks as pack animals and for their milk and meat.

The wild yak, considered to be an endangered species, is a massive animal, blanketed with a thick coat of long, blackish-brown hair. The males, which are larger than the females, may be more than 2 m (more than 6.6 ft) high at the shoulder and weigh up to 1000 kg (up to 2200 lb). The back of the yak is humped at the shoulders. The horns are long and spread outward and upward, and the tail is long-haired and bushy.

The domestic yak is of various colors, including red, brown, black, and white, and of smaller size than the wild animal as a result of crossbreeding with cattle. Yaks are valuable as beasts of burden. Their milk is rich and yields excellent butter and curd, and the flesh, eaten roasted or dried, is of high quality. The hair is spun into rope and woven into cloth, and the hide is used for leather. Instead of lowing like an ox, the yak utters a low, guttural sound; hence it is called the grunting cow, or grunting ox. 

(Adapted from Encarta Encyclopedia) 

Orangutan

Orangutan in Bali, Indonesia, protecting himself from the rain! 

(National geographic)

The world’s highest peak on land

The world's highest peak on land is Mount Everest in the Himalayas. It is 8,850 meters (29,036 ft) tall – almost 5.5 miles.  The top 14 highest mountains in the world are also found in the Himalayas. 

(Internet sources)

Worldwide Distribution of Brown Bear

('Brown Bears', by Melissa Gish)

Ant's eyes and antennae

Most ants have two compound eyes, which are made up of light-sensitive compartments called ommatidia. These compartments work together to generate an image in the ant’s brain. Some types of ants have three simple eyes, called ocelli, at the top of their heads. Ocelli can detect light, but they do not form images. Different species of ants vary in their ability to see: Some have well-developed sight, but others are entirely blind. Sight is of little importance to those ants that spend all or much of their lives underground.

Attached to the front of the head is a pair of flexible, segmented appendages called antennae, which contain organs of taste, smell, and touch. Each antenna is shaped like a human arm that is bent at the elbow. This antennae shape is an identifying feature of ants. Antennae are an ant’s main source of information about the world. When an ant is active, its antennae are in nearly constant motion—tapping the ground or vegetation, other ants, and food sources, or sampling odors from.

(Encarta Encyclopedia)

Bees

It’s a warm summer afternoon in a park or garden bees are buzzing around the flowers. You might be sitting in the sun and feeling kind of lazy. But the bees are very busy doing work that is important to you.

The bees are going from flower to flower. They are collecting a liquid called nectar and yellow grains called pollen. The bees use nectar and pollen as food. They also do something wonderful as they go about collecting. The bees take pollen from one plant to another. Some pollen sticks to a bee’s legs and body. It rubs off when the bee visits another plant. In this way bees pollinate, or fertilize, plants.

Plants need pollen in order to reproduce. We would not have many kinds of flowers, fruits, or vegetables if bees did not carry pollen to plants.

Kinds of Bees

There are about 20,000 species, or kinds, of bees. Bees live everywhere in the world except on high mountains, in the Arctic and Antarctic, and on some small islands in the ocean.

Earth is born…

More than 4.5 billion years ago, an ancient star exploded in a supernova. The heavy elements it created were spread around the blast zone in their pure form, as well as in cohesive little groups of atoms called molecules. At first, this debris existed only as a vast cloud of gas and dust called a nebula. Over time, though, gravity and the random motion of particles produced clumping, which led to the formation of a new solar system. At the center of the cloud, a new star began to coalesce. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the nebula, other clumps of matter came together, condensing under their own weight and combining with other clumps in their vicinity to form planets in orbit around the new star. This is how our solar system began.

Lighter elements in the outer nebula condensed to form the four gas giants - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. At the same time, heavier elements, upon which the Sun's gravity had a more pronounced effect, remained within the inner solar system. These came together to form the four terrestrial planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

The attribute of God as the “Creator” necessitates the continuing existence of creation

If we acknowledge that there is a beginning for this world of creation, we acknowledge that the sovereignty of God is accidental -- that is, we admit a time when the reality of Divinity has been without dominion. The names and attributes of Divinity are requirements of this world. The names the Powerful, the Living, the Provider, the Creator require and necessitate the existence of creatures. If there were no creatures, Creator would be meaningless. If there were none to provide for, we could not think of the Provider. If there were no life, the Living would be beyond the power of conception. Therefore, all the names and attributes of God require the existence of objects or creatures upon which they have been bestowed and in which they have become manifest. If there was a time when no creation existed, when there was none to provide for, it would imply a time when there was no existent One, no Trainer, and the attributes and qualities of God would have been meaningless and without significance. Therefore, the requirements of the attributes of God do not admit of cessation or interruption, for the names of God are actually and forever existing and not potential. Because they convey life, they are called Life-giving; because they provide, they are called Bountiful, the Provider; because they create, they are called Creator; because they educate and govern, the name Lord God is applied. That is to say, the divine names emanate from the eternal attributes of Divinity. Therefore, it is proved that the divine names presuppose the existence of objects or beings. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a talk, 5 July 1912, New York; ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by 'Abdu'l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912’)

Clouds

Clouds are condensed form of atmospheric moisture consisting of small water droplets or tiny ice crystals. Clouds are the principal visible phenomena of the atmosphere. They represent a transitory but vital step in the water cycle, which includes evaporation of moisture from the surface of the earth, carrying of this moisture into higher levels of the atmosphere, condensation of water vapor into cloud masses, and final return of water to the surface as precipitation.

The formation of clouds caused by cooling of the air results in the condensation of invisible water vapor that produces visible cloud droplets or ice particles. Cloud particles range in size from about 5 to 75 micrometers (0.0005 to 0.008 cm/0.0002 to 0.003 in). The particles are so small that light, vertical currents easily sustain them in the air. The different cloud formations result partly from the temperature at which condensation takes place. When condensation occurs at temperatures below freezing, clouds are usually composed of ice crystals; those that form in warmer air usually consist of water droplets. Occasionally, however, supercooled clouds contain water droplets at subfreezing temperatures. The air motion associated with cloud development also affects formation. Clouds that develop in calm air tend to appear as sheets or stratified formations; those that form under windy conditions or in air with strong vertical currents have a towering appearance.

Where do seeds come from?

Many kinds of plants have male and female parts. These plants reproduce, or make seeds, sexually. In flowering plants, the male and female parts are in the flowers. In pine trees and other conifers, the male and female parts are in the cones. Conifers have male and female cones.

The male part of a flower is called the stamen. It gives off a powdery substance called pollen. The female part is called the pistil. The top of the pistil is called the stigma, and is often sticky. Seeds are made at the base of the pistil, in the ovule through pollination. Pollination leads to the creation of new seeds that grow into new plants. Pollination occurs when some of the pollen gets to the pistil. A pollen grain joins with an egg. When this happens, a seed begins to grow.

In some species, the pollen and egg can come from the same plant. In other species, they must come from different plants. But how does pollen move? Insects, wind, and water can all help move the pollen.

Have you seen bees or butterflies around flowers? Bees and butterflies like to drink nectar from the flowers. As they enjoy their tasty treat, some of the pollen sticks to their bodies. They carry it with them to other flowers, leading to pollination. 

(Encarta Encyclopedia and Internet sources)

Human Cerebrum

Place your hands on top of your head. The part of your brain below your hands is the cerebrum. The cerebrum is the brain's largest part. It makes up 85 percent of your brain's total weight! Scientists often divide the cerebrum into different parts, called lobes. The lobes are the frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal lobes. The cerebrum has many functions. It controls your sense of touch, smell, hearing, taste, and sight. It also controls your feelings. When you are happy or angry, this is your cerebrum at work. The cerebrum oversees movement and voluntary actions, or actions you control. The cerebrum is also in charge of thinking and learning. 

- Shannon Caster  (‘Brain’)

Mammals - 4600 species

Animals that raise their young on milk. Most mammals are covered with hair or fur, and most have specialized teeth that help them to cut or chew their food. Compared to other vertebrates (animals with backbones), mammals have highly developed nervous systems, and they show an intelligence and resourcefulness that few other animals can match. Mammals include some of the most familiar members of the animal kingdom, such as cats, dogs, elephants, and whales, and also human beings — a species that now dominates life on earth.

With the exception of three highly unusual mammals called monotremes, all mammals give birth to live young. Some young mammals are completely helpless when they are born, while others are relatively well developed. Despite these differences, all young mammals initially rely on their mothers for food, and stay with them until they are ready to fend for themselves. This close link between mother and offspring produces strong family ties, and allows young mammals to learn by copying their parents' behavior. 

(Encarta Encyclopedia)

Some amazing facts about human eyes

• The eyes are the second most complex organ in the body, after the brain.
• Sight is such a demanding activity that it involves almost half the brain to accomplish.
• Eyes start to develop two weeks after conception.
• Newborns don’t produce tears. They may cry, but tears don’t start flowing until somewhere between 4 and 13 weeks old.
• Each of your eyes has a small blind spot in the back of the retina where the optic nerve attaches. You don’t notice the hole in your vision because your eyes work together to fill in the other’s blind spot.
• The cells in your eyes come in various shapes. Rod-shaped cells allow you to see shapes, and cone-shaped cells allow you to see color.
• Of all the muscles in your body, the muscles that control your eyes are the most active.
• Eyelashes having a life span of about 5 months, after which time, they fall out.  If you added the length of all those eyelashes together, it would be over 98 feet.

The "temple of the world" has been "fashioned after the image and likeness of the human body"

…as the human body in this world, which is outwardly composed of different limbs and organs, is in reality a closely integrated, coherent entity, similarly the structure of the physical world is like unto a single being whose limbs and members are inseparably linked together.  Were one to observe with an eye that discovereth the realities of all things, it would become clear that the greatest relationship that bindeth the world of being together lieth in the range of created things themselves, and that co-operation, mutual aid and reciprocity are essential characteristics in the unified body of the world of being, inasmuch as all created things are closely related together and each is influenced by the other or deriveth benefit therefrom, either directly or indirectly. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (The Compilation of Compilations vol. I, Conservation of the Earth's Resources) 

How hot is the Sun?

The temperature at the surface of the Sun is about 10,000 Fahrenheit (5,600 Celsius). The temperature rises from the surface of the Sun inward towards the very hot center of the Sun where it reaches about 27,000,000 Fahrenheit (15,000,000 Celsius). The temperature of the Sun also rises from the surface outward into the Solar atmosphere. The uppermost layer of the Solar atmosphere, called the corona, reaches temperatures of millions of degrees. The corona is the bright halo of light that can be seen during a total Solar eclipse. (http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/)

The temperature of the air around a bolt of lightning is 100 times hotter than a kitchen oven

The temperature of the air around a bolt of lightning is about 54,000 Fahrenheit (30,000 Celsius), which is about five and half times hotter than the surface of the sun.

(The Handy Science Answer Book, compiled by the Science and Technology department of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh)

Which one is more: the number of cells in human body or stars in Milky Way galaxy?

Some human cells
magnified 10 million times

Milky Way Galaxy

The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy 100,000–120,000 light-years in diameter containing 200–400 billion stars. The human body … consists of an estimated 20 to 30 trillion cells. This means there are approximately 75 times more cells in a human body than stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Amazing! 

(Adapted from Wikipedia Encyclopedia and Encarta Encyclopedia)

Our Milky Way Galaxy

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Earth. This name derives from its appearance as a dim "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky, in which the naked eye cannot distinguish individual stars. The Milky Way appears like a band because it is a disk-shaped structure being viewed from inside. The fact that this faint band of light is made up of stars was proven in 1610 when Galileo Galilei used his telescope to resolve it into individual stars. In the 1920s, observations by astronomer Edwin Hubble showed that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies. 

The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy 100,000–120,000 light-years in diameter containing 200–400 billion stars. It may contain at least as many planets, with an estimated 10 billion of those orbiting in the habitable zone of their parent stars. The Solar System is located within the disk, around two thirds of the way out from the Galactic Center, on the inner edge of a spiral-shaped concentration of gas and dust called the Orion–Cygnus Arm. The Galaxy rotates differentially, faster towards the center and slower towards the outer edge. The rotational period is about 200 million years at the position of the Sun. The Galaxy as a whole is moving at a velocity of 552 to 630 km per second, depending on the relative frame of reference. It is estimated to be about 13.2 billion years old, nearly as old as the Universe. Surrounded by several smaller satellite galaxies, the Milky Way is part of the Local Group of galaxies, which forms a subcomponent of the Virgo Supercluster.

(Adapted from Wikipedia Encyclopedia)

How the world of existence came into being

The world of existence came into being through the heat generated from the interaction between the active force and that which is its recipient. These two are the same, yet they are different. Thus doth the Great Announcement inform thee about this glorious structure. Such as communicate the generating influence and such as receive its impact are indeed created through the irresistible Word of God which is the Cause of the entire creation, while all else besides His Word are but the creatures and the effects thereof. Verily thy Lord is the Expounder, the All-Wise. 

- Baha'u'llah  (‘Tablets of Baha'u'llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)

Lightning

It’s the form of visible electric discharge between rain clouds or between a rain cloud and the earth. The discharge is seen in the form of a brilliant arc, sometimes several kilometers long, stretching between the discharge points. The discharge also sets up a sound wave that is heard as thunder. How rain clouds become charged is not fully understood, but most rain clouds are negatively charged at the base and positively charged at the top.

Studies with high-speed cameras have shown that most lightning flashes are multiple events, consisting of as many as 42 main “strokes,” each of which is preceded by a “leader” stroke. All strokes follow an initial ionized path, which may be branched, along with the current flows. The average interval between successive lightning strokes is 0.02 sec and the average flash lasts 0.25 sec. Because the duration of one powerful stroke is no more than 0.0002 sec, the intervals between strokes account for most of the duration of a lightning “flash.” So-called sheet lightning is simply the reflection of an ordinary lightning flash on clouds. Ball lightning is a rare phenomenon in which the discharge takes the form of a slowly moving, luminous ball that sometimes explodes and sometimes simply decays.

Watermelon

A succulent fruit of the gourd family, native to tropical Africa, but under cultivation on every continent except Antarctica. Its vines grow prostrate, with branched tendrils, deeply cut leaves, and flowers borne singly in the axil of a leaf. Each light yellow flower produces either pollen or fruit.

The sweet, juicy flesh may be reddish, white, or yellow. Flesh colour, shape of the fruit, and thickness of the rind depend on the variety. Weight varies from 1 to 2 kg (2.5 to 5 pounds) to 20 kg or more. The number of fruits per vine varies from 2 or 3 to 15. There are about 145 varieties of watermelon – based on their sweetness, color, weight, and days to maturity.

Watermelon contains vitamin A and some vitamin C. It is usually eaten raw. The rind is sometimes preserved as a pickle.

The history of watermelons is a long one; there is a Sanskrit word for watermelon, and fruits are depicted by early Egyptian artists, indicating an antiquity in agriculture of more than 4,000 years. 

(Adapted from Britannica encyclopedia and Online resources)

Angel Waterfall

It is the world’s highest uninterrupted water fall. It’s located in southeastern Venezuela, on the Rio Churún. It has a height of 979 m (3,212 ft) and a plunge of 807 meters (2, 648 ft). It was discovered in 1935 by the American aviator and adventurer James C. Angel, after whom it is named. 

(Adapted from Encarta and Wikipedia encyclopedias)

Hyperion: the world's tallest living tree

The tallest tree in the world is a coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), named Hyperion after a person in Greek mythology. The tree is no less than 115.72 m (379.7 feet) tall! This enormous tree was discovered only in August 2006 in a remote part of Redwood National Park, California by naturalists Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor. Their first preliminary measurements were done with professional laser measurement equipment based on goniometry.

In September 2006 the tree was remeasured by Steve Sillett. This was done in the most accurate way: he climbed to the top of the tree to drop a tape from there straight to the ground. This tape drop was filmed for National Geographic.

In July 2006 some other record tall trees were discovered: "Helios" (named after the Greek God of the sun), the world's tallest known tree as of June 2006 (114.09 m), "Icarus" (113.14 m), and "Daedalus" (110.76 m). 

(Source: Monumental Trees)

Bees

There are about 20,000 species, or kinds, of bees. Bees live everywhere in the world except on high mountains, in the Arctic and Antarctic, and on some small islands in the ocean.

Some bees are as small as 0.08 inch (2 millimeters). Some bees are as big as 1.6 inches (4 centimeters). Bees come in many colors—black, gray, yellow, red, green, or blue. Most bees live alone. They are called solitary bees. Some bees live in groups called colonies. They are social bees. 

(Encarta Encyclopedia)

Canadian Rockies

A segment of the Rocky Mountains, extending southeastward for about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from northern British Columbia, Canada, and forming to the south nearly half of the 900-mile (1,500-kilometre) border between the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. The Mackenzie and Selwyn mountains farther north along the border between the Northwest and Yukon territories are often included in the Canadian Rockies. To the west, the Rocky Mountain Trench (a geologic depression) separates the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies from the Columbia Mountains, which include the Cariboo, Selkirk, Monashee, and Purcell mountains and are also often considered part of the Rocky Mountain system.

Acacia tree

The genus Acacia is any of about 800 species of trees and shrubs native to tropical regions of the world particularly Australia (there called wattles) and Africa. Acacias' distinctive leaves take the form of small, finely divided leaflets that give the leafstalk a feathery or fernlike appearance. Acacias are also distinguished by their small, often fragrant flowers, which are arranged in compact globular or cylindrical clusters. The flowers are usually yellow but occasionally white and have many stamens apiece, giving each one a fuzzy appearance. About 600 species are native to Australia and various Pacific Ocean islands, with the rest native to either Africa or the Americas. Acacias are especially numerous on the plains of southern and eastern Africa, where they are well-known landmarks on the veld and savanna.