Charles Darwin sketched the first phylogenetic tree in 1837. A single trunk on a phylogenetic tree represents a common ancestor and the branches represent the divergence of species from this ancestor. Prokaryotes are assumed to evolve clonally in the classic tree model. Who proposed the phylogenetic tree for living things?Read More →
In 1986, while still a student of the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, Campbell was scouted by Beth Boldt, head of the Synchro Model Agency, while window-shopping in Covent Garden. Her career quickly took off—in April, just before her 16th birthday she appeared on the cover of British Elle.Read More →
Christopher Columbus did not “discover” the Americas, nor was he even the first European to visit the “New World.” (Viking explorer Leif Erikson had sailed to Greenland and Newfoundland in the 11th century.) However, his journey kicked off centuries of exploration and exploitation on the American continents. Which explorer discoveredRead More →
Mahatma Gandhi ingenously deployed the charkha or spinning wheel as an important tool for political emancipation, by using it as a metaphor of ‘ancient work ethics’ and as a symbol of economic and social reaction to the British Rule. Who gave first charkha to Gandhiji? The charkha (spinning wheel) usedRead More →
Positions are shown every three days with stars to magnitude 6. With this in mind, let’s take a look at the upcoming apparition of Comet Leonard (C/2021 A1). Senior research specialist Greg Leonard at Mt. Lemmon Observatory discovered the 19th-magnitude speck on January 3, 2021, exactly one year before perihelion.Read More →
Harmon Northrop Morse synthesized paracetamol at Johns Hopkins University via the reduction of p-nitrophenol with tin in glacial acetic acid in 1877, but it was not until 1887 that clinical pharmacologist Joseph von Mering tried paracetamol on humans. What was used as antipyretic drug? The most common antipyretics in theRead More →
The Turkana Boy or ‘Nariokotome Boy’ as he is sometimes called, lived about 1.5 million years ago. He was about 8 to 10 years of age when he died but was already 1.6 metres tall and may have reached 1.85 metres as an adult. Why are we celebrating the TurkanaRead More →
The xylophone gained popularity internationally in the 1800s when the Russian musician Michael Josef Gusikov toured with his instrument. Between 1910 and 1940 the xylophone was popular in vaudeville acts. What is an interesting fact about the xylophone? The xylophone is a wooden percussion instrument with a range of fourRead More →
