11 items in this section. Displaying page 1 of 2
The Desert Creature
This happened thousands of years ago. Life was hard as people had to do all the work by themselves. A large number of people were nomads – they would travel from one place to another in search of food and shelter. While travelling one day, a man arrived at the edge of a desert. He was walking in the sands, when suddenly, he came across a frightening creature – it had extremely long, thin legs, a giant hump and a long neck....
What is a Tsunami?
Last year there were three more fishing villages in the Pacific island country of Papua New Guinea than there are today. You might ask why. The answer is that these three villages were washed away by an ocean wave that was more like a giant wall of water. It goes by the name tsunami, a Japanese term meaning a harbour wave. Ocean that Becomes a Giant Wall [Illustrations by Kusum Chamoli] A tsunami is caused by a disturbance in the sea floor, just like the disturbances on land....
How Will our Sun Die?
Everything that is born must die. Not only living beings, but inanimate objects like stars too. The birth of a star The universe has massive clouds of hydrogen floating around. Sometimes, these clouds come together and form very dense and huge balls of hydrogen gas. As the clouds come close, their temperature increases. This is called a proto-star (original star). The increase in temperature triggers off nuclear reactions at the core of the star. Nuclear reactions inside the star occur when the nucleus of two hydrogen atoms fuse to produce a helium atom....
Do centipedes really have 100 feet?
They are called centipedes because it is believed that they have 100 feet. Actually, they don’t. Of the 3,000 different types of centipedes on our planet, none have 100 feet. Some have 50 and some as much as 350. The extremely venomous Peruvian Giant Yellow-leg or Amazonian Giant Centipede. These eat everything from insects to birds! All centipedes have an odd number of body segments, and each segment has two legs attached to it....
What are Volcanic Tubeworms?
In order to raise chicks the farmer keeps the eggs warm and is careful not to crush them. But when scientists in the University of Southern California rear tubeworms, they keep the immature worms very cold and under high pressure. You would think the scientists are being cruel by subjecting these little worms to such extreme conditions. They are not. The worms can thrive only under these circumstances, because they live in the deep sea where it is very cold....
Anacondas
You might have seen the recent English film Anaconda, where these snakes are shown as giant man-eating monsters. Well, that’s not all that can be said about these mighty creatures. Eating is but necessary for survival — and you never know, Anacondas might eat humans too, if one goes near them! But apart from their strange eating habits, these snakes are amazing in a lot of other ways too. Anacondas [Illustrations by Amarjeet Malik] The Anaconda (Eunectes murinus) is a semi-aquatic snake found in Central America and mostly in tropical South America....
The Friends of Custard House
Robert Custard was a gentleman to be sure. Though he was only three-and-a-half feet off the ground and sometimes he even sported a milk moustache, he was still, quite definitely, a gentleman at the age of nine. Now, you must consider that we are talking about the India of the 1930s. The British were ruling the country. Little boys and girls were expected to behave in a certain way. They were never to be seen covered in dirt....
Temper, Temper!!
Temper, Temper!! [] The Giant who Looked for his Temper Written by Santhini Govindhan Illustrated by Jagdish Joshi Published by Scholastic India Pvt. Ltd. Boomba is the name of the giant who lives in a cave on the mountain all alone, in The Giant who Looked for his Temper. He has no friends. Everyone is scared of him because he has a temper which bursts like a balloon at every small incident, and very frequently....
Distress Signals the Leafy Way
Wondered how plants talk to each other? They do not have the same language as humans but they have their own ways. Recent research by scientists at Kyoto University, Japan, describes how the Lima bean plant protects itself and its neighbours from the spider mite or the red spider. It sends out clear distress signals. Its not like they make weird noises to attract attention, though. It does it very silently. The Lima bean plant emits chemicals to send the message of a troublesome intruder to all its neighbours....
Woes Beat Foes!
Vikram and his friends were in the land of giants! “That must be a giant’s house! " said Vikram, shading his eyes and peering into the distance. “Let’s say hello to him!” giggled Anshul. “Don’t be silly!” retorted Ajit. “Want to be gobbled up?” Vikram was already making his way towards the building. “FEE! FO! FUM!” roared someone. “Who’s there? I smell the blood of man! Be he alive or he dead, I’ll have him with my bread!...
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