Why Do We Dream?

Overview Dreams are hallucinations that occur during certain stages of sleep. They’re strongest during REM sleep, or the rapid eye movement stage, when you may be less likely to recall your dream. Much is known about the role of sleep in regulating our metabolism, blood pressure, brain function, and other aspects of health. But it’s […]

Where is the Bermuda Triangle?

The Bermuda Triangle (a.k.a. the Devil’s Triangle) is a triangular area in the Atlantic Ocean bounded roughly at its points by Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Legend has it that many people, ships and planes have mysteriously vanished in this area. How many have mysteriously disappeared depends on who is doing the locating and counting. […]

When do we hallucinate?

Hallucinations are those created by the mind and are not really occurring. The hallucinations that commonly occur have the feeling of bodily sensation, that something is creeping on your skin, and that internal organs are moving. Hallucinations make us hear the sounds like music, footsteps, banging of windows or doors and so on. If you […]

What is time?

Everyone knows what time is. We can practically feel it ticking away . . . To many people, throughout history, time would have been one and the same with the rhythms of nature; the passing of the seasons and the cycles of the celestial bodies. However, modern clocks are more accurate time keepers than the […]

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing is a concept surrounded in myth and confusion. Various businesses and their marketing departments continue to try and define ‘cloud’ but become all the more confusing even to an informed customer. Cloud computing is the use of computing resources – hardware and software – that are provided as a service over a network, […]

What is the history of anaesthesia

In olden times the Chinese used to give patients a mixture of strong wine and herbal drugs derived from the mandrake plant, to alleviate the excruciating pain of surgery. The Greeks and Romans also used mandrake extracts. Opium and alcohol were the most commonly used natural anaesthetics in ancient Europe. In 1844, an American dentist […]

When did plastic first come into being?

The word plastic originates from the Greek language; it means ‘fit for moulding’ in Greek. Material with naturally plastic qualities have been used for thousands of years. Some historians trace the invention of modern plastic to the English chemist Alexander Parkes, when he made imitation ivory combs. His experiment began by adding nitric acid to […]

Where does vanilla come from?

Vanilla comes from something called a “vanilla bean” or a “vanilla pod”. While they don’t look very much like other fruits that you’re used to seeing, these very special vanilla pods are the fruit of a type of orchid plant! Inside of a vanilla pod are small vanilla beans. These beans become the flavour and […]

Tips to ace revision just before your exams

It’s that time of the year when students spend more time with books than at play or with friends. Exam season is back. While some students have their game plan on and are well-prepared to face the examinations, others are nervous, finishing their last-minute revisions. It’s important to ensure that the last minute efforts are […]

50 MORE AWESOME FACTS (ABOUT EVERYTHING)

ISTOCK We can’t put down National Geographic Kids’ new book 5,000 Awesome Facts (About Everything) 2. Here are 50 more of our favorite awesome facts from its pages. 1. Black bears sometimes hibernate in the tops of trees. * 2. The first organized baseball game was played in Hoboken, New Jersey, U.S.A., in 1849. * 3. Tokelau, […]