| Read time: 12 minute(s)

When a Virus Changed History

Gripped as we all are, in an extraordinary crisis – fearful and yet hopeful – I am reminded of an episode when a Virus changed the course of History. The year is 1521. The setting is the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City). Hernán Cortés, a Spanish conquistador has set out to conquer […]
| Read time: 3 minute(s)

Make your own colours 

How many of you raided your mom’s nail paint boxes? That was still ready made. Today we will learn to make colours of our own using natural products. Did you know in ancient times artists used to make their own paints to get that right shade of red or blue or yellow. Even in present […]
| Read time: 7 minute(s)

Books: Your picks for this month

Dragonslayer: Wings of FireAuthor: Tui T. SutherlandPublisher: Scholastic Press Ivy doesn’t trust the Dragonslayer. He may be her father and the beloved ruler of Valor, but she knows he’s hiding more than the treasure from the sand dragon he killed two decades ago.  Leaf doesn’t trust dragons. They’re the reason his favorite sister, Wren, is […]
| Read time: 3 minute(s)

And the award for the best tree goes to… 

It may sound weird but there’s a contest for the best tree in Europe.  A pine tree in the Czech Republic, known as the “Guardian of the Flooded Village”, has won the European Tree of the Year contest. The goal of the contest is to encourage people to appreciate and protect trees. Every year since […]
| Read time: 3 minute(s)

China bans consumption and trade of wild animals 

A strict ban on the consumption and farming of wild animals is being rolled out across China in the wake of the deadly coronavirus epidemic, which is believed to have started at a wildlife market in Wuhan. China’s top legislature said it will immediately ban the trade and consumption of wild animals, in a fast-track […]
| Read time: 3 minute(s)

Lego could survive for 1,300 years! 

Lego bricks are so tough they could survive in the sea for 1300 years, according to new research. And we thought only plastic was harmful! Scientists analysed blocks, made of a plastic called acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, that washed up on the coast of southwest England after being lost from a container ship that was hit by a […]
| Read time: 3 minute(s)

Chinese played polo with donkeys! 

Not all news from China is about Coronavirus, there is some discovery as well. Archaeologists in China have unearthed a tomb belonging to a 9th-century noblewoman who was buried alongside her donkeys, which she likely rode while playing an ancient version of polo. New research describes the tomb of Cui Shi, an Imperial Chinese noblewoman […]
| Read time: 2 minute(s)

Dolphins are back in Mumbai too! 

Recently, there was a glimmer of joy in Venice which has been battling the outbreak of Coronavirus. Due to lockdown, it was reported that the canals in Venice were clean again and fish and underwater plants could be seen in the canals. Not only that, there were also sightings of dolphins. But Venice is not […]
| Read time: 3 minute(s)

Ozone layer is healing, and air is getting cleaner 

The hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica is continuing to recover and it is leading to changes in atmospheric circulation – the flow of air over Earth’s surface that causes winds. Its healing is largely thanks to the Montreal Protocol agreed internationally in 1987, which banned the production of ozone-depleting substances. Before 2000, a […]
| Read time: 2 minute(s)

Closest shave with an asteroid for earth 

In a closest pass in history, an asteroid passed Earth this week at a distance of about 144,000 kilometers. The asteroid called 2020 FL2 flew past Earth on March 23, according to the International Asteroid Warning Network and the Minor Planet Center under the International Astronomical Union. Researchers at the Purple Mountain Observatory of the […]