Let's learn the facts

Imagine the ground beneath your feet or your house suddenly collapsing and forming a large hole in the ground. It's a terrifying thought. Sinkholes are uncommon, but when they do develop, they can be fatal. Sinkholes form when the ground underneath the land surface is unable to support it. Sinkholes can occur for a variety of causes; continue reading to learn more about them. Sinkholes are widespread in areas where the geology beneath the land surface contains limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds, or rocks that can be dissolved naturally by groundwater passing through them. Underground caves and caverns form as the rock degrades. Sinkholes are spectacular because the land normally remains intact for a long time until the subsurface areas get too large. A abrupt collapse of the ground surface can occur if there is insufficient support for the land above the voids. Formation of sinkhole; Image credits - cartleton.edu What is a "sinkhole"? When it rains, water stays inside t...

Daytime and nighttime crashes are the two most common types of window collisions. Birds smash into windows in the daylight because they perceive greenery reflected in the glass or look through the glass to potted plants or vegetation on the other side. Nocturnal migrants (which include most songbirds) smash into illuminated windows at night. Lights, for unknown reasons, divert nocturnal migrants from their intended course, especially in low-ceiling or foggy environments. They mill about in the lit space, occasionally bumping with one another or the lighted structure. As a result of being thrown off course by urban illumination, migrants may roost safely nearby, only to be exposed to daytime reflections in windows the next day. More information on this subject can be found in the Bird Cast initiative and the Fatal Light Awareness Program. Birds crashes into glass windows, Image credits; Sweet Bela Vita Another reason is that birds will sometimes attack their reflection in a glass. This ...

Even if the driver secured properly, an accident would occur at high speeds if there was no airbag. It is a significant engineering challenge to bring the human body to a stop from a high speed in less than 100 milliseconds without causing significant bodily harm. Let's have a better grasp of this life-saving technology by looking at the mechanism of airbag inflation, which is triggered by chemical explosions. Seatbelts are meant to keep the human body from moving, but they can cause internal organ injury if they apply too much stress on the chest area during an accident. Modern seat belts use a torsion bar to slightly release the seat belt in the event of a large impact on the chest. This action causes the upper body to move forward somewhat, but as the torsion bar is released, the upper body's movement is stopped. Working Mechanism of Airbags, Image credit; whyflies.org Please notice that the sear belt only arrests the motion of your upper body, omitting your neck and head, w...

Peering into the eyes of different animals, you’ll see some extraordinarily shaped pupils. why?  Cat with vertical pupil, Image credits: catster.com It turns out that the shape of an animal's pupils is a good indicator of its ecological role. The hollow aperture in the iris, the eye's band of pigmented muscle, is marked by pupils. They're the openings via which light enters the eye, strikes the retina, and activates light-sensitive cells, triggering the visual process. Because most of the light that enters them is absorbed, pupils are black. Their size changes in reaction to light, medications, and emotional and mental states, although their basic shape differs widely between species. House cats, for example, have vertically enlarged pupils and are nocturnal predators. These formations expand dramatically in the dark, absorbing all available light. They shrink into slits when the light is bright. Cat pupils are so adaptable that their maximum area is 135 times larger than t...

For instance, you're at the playground and you get sand in your eyes. How do you know the sand is there? You obviously can't see it, but if you are a normal healthy human, you can feel that the sensation of extreme discomfort, also known as pain. Now, pain makes you do something, in this case, rinse your eyes until the sand is gone. How do you know the sand is gone? Exactly, because there's no more pain. There are persons who are unaffected by pain. That may appear to be cool, but it isn't. If you can't feel pain, you may unintentionally injure yourself or others. Your body's early warning system is pain. It shields you from the outside world as well as from yourself. Pain detectors are installed in most places of our bodies as we grow. These detectors are nociceptors, which are specialized nerve cells that run from your spinal cord to your skin, muscles, joints, teeth, and some internal organs. Working mechanism of pain relievers, Image credits: getbodysmart.co...

Monosodium glutamate MSG is a flavor enhancer that is commonly used in restaurant dishes, canned vegetables, soups, deli meats, and other foods. MSG has been designated as a generally recognized as safe food additive by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, its application is still up for discussion. As a result, the FDA requires MSG to be stated on the label when it is added to food. For many years, MSG has been utilized as a food ingredient. During this time, the FDA has received numerous reports of alarming reactions that have been linked to MSG-containing foods. The MSG symptom complex includes the following reactions: Headache Flushing Sweating Face pressure or tightness Lack of feeling (numbness), tingling or burning in the face, neck and other areas Quick, fluttering heartbeats Chest pain Feeling sick (nausea) Weakness However, no conclusive evidence of a relationship between MSG and these symptoms has been discovered by experts. However, researchers acknowledge th...

The first known pregnancy test was created in ancient Egypt around 1350 BC.  According to Egyptians, all you have to do is urinate on wheat and barley seeds and wait. If either sprouts, you're pregnant. If wheat sprouts faster, it's a girl but if barley, it's a boy.  In 1963, a small research replicated the test and discovered that it accurately predicted pregnancy with a 70 percent accuracy, albeit it couldn't consistently determine the baby's sex. The test worked, according to scientists, since pregnant women's urine includes more estrogen, which promotes seed growth. Within minutes, modern pregnancy tests provide highly accurate findings. How do they work? Working mechanism of pregnancy test kit, Image credits: nippongene.com Over  the counter pregnancy tests are all designed to detect one things: a hormone called HCG. HCG is created in the early stages of pregnancy and initiates a telephone call to the body, telling it not to shed the uterus' inner linin...

A earth intercept a lot of solar power (173 thousands terawatts). That's ten thousand times more power than the planet's populations uses. So, is it possible that one day the world could be completely reliant on solar energy?  To answer that question, we first need to examine how solar panels convert solar energy to electrical energy. Solar panels are made up of smaller units called solar cells. The most common solar cells are made from silicon, a semiconductor that is second most abundant element on Earth. Crystalline silicon is placed between conductive layers of a solar cell. Four strong connections connect each silicon atom to its neighbors. This holds the electrons in place, preventing current flow.  Here's the key, a silicon solar cell uses two different layers of silicon. Working mechanism of solar panels, Image credits: acs.org N-type silicon has extra electrons, while p-type silicon has extra electron gaps, known as holes.  When two types of silicon meet at a p/n...

After reaching the lowest extent ever measured in the satellite record in late February 2022, sea ice around Antarctica began to rebuild. On a smaller scale, however, the transition from melting to freezing can be abrupt. In March, for example, a patch of old sea ice near the Land Glacier in West Antarctica broke away as new ice formed. Part of the glacier's ice tongue crumbled at the same moment. Recent status of glacier, image credits: Nasa earth  Michael Lowe, an analyst at the United States National Ice Center, has been keeping a careful eye on this stretch of the Antarctic coast known as Marie Byrd Land. Lowe stated, "I've been keeping a watch on that area for the previous two months as a significant section of extremely old fast ice began to break apart." "I saw the tip of the Land Glacier was starting to break off while comparing two SAR photographs from consecutive days." The changes may also be seen in this set of natural-color photos taken by the M...