We live in a scientific age. Millions of young people study science, thousands of universities teach it, and hundreds of publications chronicle it. We even have a cable channel devoted exclusively to its wonders. We are immersed in technology rooted in its discoveries. But what is science, and who was its first practitioner?
Science is the [...]

Opal:
Opal has been a mystery for centuries. No two opals look alike. The word ‘opal’ was derived from a Greek word opallos, meaning “to see changes of color”. Opal is derived as a precious gemstone which is formed from non-crystalline silica gel. It consists of 6 to 10 per cent water and small silica spheres [...]

Phloem (pronounced “flom”) bundles have become a hot topic on Google trends recently due to their mention on the quiz show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”
So what are phloem bundles?  They are the strings on a banana and are part of the system that carries nutrition to all parts of the banana.
For those who want more [...]

If you are looking for a specific breed for the dog Laika, you won’t find one. For those of you who are aware of the dog, you’ll know that she was the first living creature to be sent into space aboard the Russian spacecraft Sputnik 2. The momentous flight was launched November 3, 1957 with [...]

I’m not sure about you but I have several cans of WD-40, it is amazing stuff and I have used it for many things; although it has mostly been used with my key hole, which has the misfortune of being completely exposed by the elements and a strong blowing wind almost daily.
For those who aren’t [...]

The biggest of all cats, tigers live in the forests of eastern and southeastern Asia.  Some subspecies of tigers are already extinct, and there are less than 10,000 tigers remaining in the wild.  They can be found in countries such as Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.  The Bengal tiger is the national animal of both India [...]

Anyone who has left fruit on the counter for a little too long knows that fruit flies can appear in what seems like an instant.  The truth is that these tiny insects (they measure just .2 inches) have the ability to smell food from a very great distance.  Because they are so small, finding entry [...]

Large lumps of copper are found in the ground in the form of nuggets.  Copper, which has an important commercial use as an electrical conductor, heat conductor and building material, has been used by humans for various purposes for thousands of years.  In recent years, Chile has been the top producer of copper followed by [...]

Zinc can be found in many places including the air, soil, water and in the food we eat.  It is found most abundantly in the crust of the earth.  Zinc is important as we need zinc in our diets.  The shiny, blue/white metal also has many commercial and industrial uses such as being mixed with other [...]

Uranium was first discovered in silver mines in what is now the Czech Republic by a German chemist named Martin Klaproth.   Uranium, a dense silver-white metal, is found abundantly in the crust of the earth.  It’s also found in soil, rivers, the ocean, in the food we eat and even – in trace amounts - in human [...]