Compiled by CArOLIne C. D’SOUZA
d.y.K.
The Bhimbetka Rock Shelter
has the oldest known rock art in
India, and is one of the largest
prehistoric complexes in Asia.
Located in Raisen, Madhya Pradesh,
the UNESCO world heritage site
consists of seven hills and over 500
rock shelters distributed over 10
kilometres. They contain evidence
that people inhabited these shelters
and caves as far back the Lower
Paleolithic period, more than 200,000
years ago. The shelters are painted
with scenes depicting local birds and
animals, mythological figures, and
everyday scenes of people hunting,
playing, and carrying weapons.
The earliest paintings date from
the Upper Paleolithic Period about
30,000 years ago, through to the
medieval era in India. One of the
Pandava brothers, Bhim, was said to
have stayed in these caves after he
and his four brothers were banished
from their kingdom. “Bhim betka”
means “the place where Bhim sat”.
St Lucia is the only country in
the world named after a woman.
St Lucia has more Nobel Prize
winners per head of population
than any other country. The island’s
two Nobel laureates are Arthur
Lewis (1979, Economics) and Derek
Walcott (1992, Literature).The average person blinks around
15-20 times per minute — so
frequently that our eyes are closed
for roughly 10% of
our waking hours
overall. Although
blinking has a clear
purpose — mostly to
lubricate the eyeballs,
and occasionally
protect them from
dust or other debris,
scientists say that we
subconsciously use
blinks as a sort of mental resting
point, to briefly shut off visual
stimuli and allow us to focus our
attention.The Miracle Fruit berry, when
eaten, causes sour foods (such as
lemons and limes) subsequentlyconsumed
to taste
deliciously
sweet.
Native to
West Africa,
it utilizes
a molecule
called
miraculin to
change the
shape of the
sweetness
receptors on
our tongues,
activating
them to respond to acids, too.
Suddenly, sour tastes register as
sweet ones.The number 4 is the only number
with the same number of letters
as the meaning of its name.Our oceans hold an estimated 20
million tonnes of gold, suspended
in seawater, according to the
National Ocean Service (Maryland,
USA). But this gold is spread
throughout the normal mineral
content of seawater to the tune of
“parts per trillion.” Each litre of
seawater contains, on average, about
13 billionths of a gram of gold. There
are also gold deposits within the
seafloor, but profitably mining them
is far beyond our current abilities.Octopuses have
been documented
changing colour 177
times an hour. An
octopus’ camouflage
reaction time is
faster than any other
animal’s, occurringin one-fifth of a second. Despite their
miraculous colour-changing abilities,
octopuses are colour-blind. scientists
aren’t sure if the octopus is even
aware of what its skin is doing
when it transforms from
one colour and texture
to the next.