Category Science

Can kangaroos swim?

Kangaroos are famous for their means of locomotion: hopping! They can reach speeds of 60kph, clearing more than 8m with a single hop!

Their muscular tail is used for balance when hopping, and as another limb when moving about. They also use their tail when swimming; that’s right – kangaroos are good swimmers! They swim to avoid predators, and can use their forepaws to drown pursuers.

Kangaroos are famous for their forward-opening pouch, where the joey (baby kangaroo) develops and suckles. A female kangaroo is known as a ‘flyer’ or a ‘doe’ and a male kangaroo a ‘buck’ or a ‘boomer’ (hence the nickname of the Australian men’s basketball team, the Boomers). They live in social groups called mobs.

 

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What is the career in social media manager?

From the moment we open our eyes to the time we fall asleep, we are constantly checking or updating information on social media. But there’s more to social media than taking selfies and creating snappy posts.

Social media has opened up newer avenues in marketing. It has immense potential because it allows companies to directly connect with their users or potential customers and understand their likes and dislikes.

How it works

Social media managers need to be constantly on their toes. They need to know everything that is happening across platforms, follow trends and news stories from around the world and see how they can tweak them to their client’s needs, almost immediately.

Well-versed with different social networking platforms used by their target audience, social media managers come up with strategies designed to suit their brand promotions on these platforms. These strategies differ from platform to platform

For instance, during the lockdown on account of the COMID-19 pandemic many brands held live interviews with celebrities on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.

Getting started

  • Handle low profile pages: Beginners usually start by handling social media pages for their school or college
  • Promote your school/college fest: On different platforms such as Facebook Twitter Instagram, etc. Come up with engaging online contests from time to time and create a campaign that will help you get hits.
  • Freelance work: You can start your carter in social media marketing Sites such as Upwork and Freelancer will help you land a freelance project to experiment a little.
  • Agencies With some experience under your belt you could choose to work in an agency handling digital marketing for multiple brands or work with a particular brand or business 
  • Specialisation: You may choose from areas such as search engine optimisation pay-per dick, web design etc.

What to study

** Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai: PG diploma in Digital Marketing.

Courses in Digital Marketing and Social Media Management are offered by many institutes. It teaches you about platforms, analytics, and essentials of framing campaign strategies.

Where:

India:

** Xavier’s Institute of Communication, Mumbai: Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Digital Marketing.

** Indian School of Business, Hyderabad: Diploma in Digital and Social Media Marketing Strategies.

Abroad:

** South New Hampshire University, the US: MBA in Social Media

** Barcelona Graduate school of Management MBA in Marketing in the Digital Era

** Concordia University, the US: MBA with a Certificate in Digital Marketing

** Excelsior College, the US: MBA with specialisation in Social Media Management.

Do animals grieve?

When we lose someone we love we grieve. But this may not be unique to humans. There’s a lot of evidence to show that animals across several species not just grieve but also have rituals around death – drawing our attention to be kind to all creatures

Elephants and others

Among the most cited examples of animal grief is that of the elephant. There are many reports of elephants mourning their deceased relatives. In one instance, when the matriarch (female head) of one group died at least three matriarchs from other groups visited the dead, constantly touching or moving around the body. Chimpanzees too have exhibited death related behaviour. For example some chimpanzees checked for signs of life in a dead family member and also tried to clean the dead animals fur. Apparently, for many days, the family members did not go to the spot the relative died in. Some cetaceans (a group of aquatic mammals) also are said to show signs of mourning. Only a couple of years ago did we read about an orca (killer whale) mother carrying her dead calf in the waters for at least 17 days across 1,000 miles before finally letting go of it Scientists called it “a tour of grief. Though some researchers have attributed animal grief to the size of the animal’s brain, this theory does not hold water in all cases because small creatures and birds too have exhibited grief related behaviour For instance, magpies – considered intelligent birds – have been known to bury the dead under twigs. grass, etc., and this is called a “magpie funeral”. Interestingly, studies say that birds such as crows hold funerals (gathering around a dead bird) more to assess the danger (such as a predator) in the area of death rather than to mourn.

Is it really grief?

A few scientists disagree with attributing grief to animal behaviour. They point out that this theory is not built on scientific evidence because while the behaviour itself is evident the motive remains unclear. The attribution is problematic because the case then is built simply on human belief systems. Some have countered this by saying that though it is good to be cautious while explaining non human animal behaviour, the lack of scientific evidence cannot discount the animal’s loss or diminish its pain. As one professor puts it beautifully, the question is not Do animals grieve? But ‘How do animals grieve?

 

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How do balloon releases harm wildlife?

Balloons, glitters and confetti add colour to our celebrations. But did you know while we treat ourselves to these small pleasures, we inadvertently pollute Earth? After all, what goes up must come down. Free-flying balloons and confetti ultimately become litter and put animals and birds at risk.

Balloons

Balloons are of two types – latex and mylar. Although latex balloons are promoted as biodegradable, they take anywhere between six months and four years to decompose. Mylar balloons are composed of synthetic nylon with a metallic coating. They are non biodegradable.

Balloons (when released into the sky, say as part of events or campaigns) travel thousands of miles, capable of polluting the most remote and pristine places. Deflated balloons that settle on land and sea surface are mistaken for food and eaten by animals and birds. They get lodged in their digestive tract, causing obstruction, loss of nutrition, internal injury, starvation, and death. String or ribbon often found attached to balloons can cause entanglement in animals, again leading to their death. Animals such as sea turtles are at special risk because the balloons resemble their favourite food – jellyfish. Seabirds are not safe either. According to a study released in 2019, if a seabird swallows a balloon, it’s 32 times more likely to die than if it had gulped down a piece of hard plastic.

Glitter and confetti

Confetti has been used for thousands of years. The tradition can be traced back to the pagan times when people tossed grains and sweets during weddings and festivals. It has been adopted by many cultures around the world. But in recent years, it has taken a different form. We toss confetti and glitter at weddings and stage performances today, which simply disperse microplastics everywhere. Because confetti and glitter are made of plastic – polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), respectively.

Microplastics are plastic particles that are less than 5mm in diameter and are an emerging environmental issue. Glitter is usually less than 1mm in diameter and is used in a wide array of products, including cosmetics. It leads into the environment and often ends up in the oceans. It can be accidentally consumed by plankton, fish, shellfish, seabirds, and other marine life. When microplastic builds up in their systems, it can lead to death.

Further, PET, the plastic most glitter is made from, can break down and release chemicals that can disrupt human and animal hormones.

 

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How did scientists estimate Sun’s age?

The Sun’s age

Scientists say our Sun is four-and-a-half billion years old but how did they estimate its age?

To predict the age of the Sun, scientists looked at the age of the whole solar system because it all came together around the same time.

To find out the solar system’s age, scientists looked for the oldest things they could find. And, Moon rocks, meteorites and Earth rocks worked perfectly well for this. Scientists extensively studied these objects, and after much research came to the conclusion that each of the objects were approximately four and- A-half billion years old, and hence, the Sun is likely to be of the same age.

How long will it shine?

Now that we know how old the Sun is, how much longer will it shine upon us?

Scientists believe that stars such as our Sun usually burn for about nine or 10 billion years. This means our Sun is halfway through its life and will last for another five billion years at least.

Once five billion years are up, the Sun will become a red giant. The Sun will become bigger and cooler at the same time and it will be a lot different than the Sun we know today. As a red giant our Sun will become 2,000 times brighter than it is now. Wonder what would happen to our solar system at that time – will there be new life?

 

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All about element No. 85

At any given point of time, there is only about 25 g of astatine that occurs naturally on our planet. If that doesn’t wow you, then it’ll help to nudge you along by mentioning that that is less than two tablespoons of naturally occurring astatine on Earth at any given instant!

When there is so little of something around, it surely is difficult to find it – even when its existence has been revealed. For astatine, it was the periodic table of elements created by Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869 that predicted its existence. It would be over 70 years later that the element is first successfully discovered.

Properties predicted

Mendeleev’s periodic table predicted properties of what was then an unknown element. It was to fill in the blank space left for element number 85 on the periodic table. Positioned right below iodine in the halogen group, Mendeleev called it eka-iodine.

Among the first claims for the discovery of this element came in November 1931. A physicist with controversial methods, American Fred Allison at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute said that he found the element. He even called it alabamine (after Alabama), but as his results couldn’t be replicated and his equipment and methods were shown to be faulty, his claim bit the dust.

Breakout of WWII

Two groups next came close to discovering the element in mineral samples in the 1930s. Horia Hulubei and Yvetter Cauchois were researchers at the Sorbonne in Paris and they used a high-resolution X-ray apparatus to analyse mineral samples. They believed they detected the as-yet-undiscovered element, but World War II put paid to their research.

The other group to suffer a similar fate was headed by Swiss chemist Walter Minder. After observing the radioactivity of radium, Minder suggested that it appeared to have another element present. The chemical tests that he undertook suggested properties like iodine for the element, but he was never able to categorically make a claim.

Produced, finally!

The first recognised discovery of astatine finally came about in 1940. It wasn’t identified in nature, but instead was successfully produced at the University of California Berkeley by researchers Dale R. Coson, Kenneth Ross Mackenzie and Emilio Segre.

Using a particle accelerator, this group of scientists bombarded bismuth with alpha particles to produce an isotope of astatine. Noting that the element produced was both highly radioactive and unstable, they named it astatine – derived from the Greek word astatos meaning unstable.

Even though they reported their discovery, they weren’t able to continue their research much further. This was owing to the demands of World War II, which diverted all the resources devoted to the study of radioactive materials towards the making of nuclear weapons.

Found in nature

Astatine was found in nature for the first time a few years later by Austrian physicist Berta Karlik and her assistant Traude Bernert. While the war was still raging, Karlik was able to identify astatine as an intermediate in radioactive decay chains.

With news not flowing freely during the war, Karlik was under the impression that they were the first to discover element number 85, and they even reported their results along with a name for the element. When made aware of the results from the Berkeley group, Karlik continued to study astatine and was able to expand on the subject of decay chains that form the element.

Astatine, with the symbol At, is the heaviest-known halogen, and is also the least reactive and most metallic within the halogen group. Decades have now passed since astatine was finally discovered, but the element continues to be steeped in mystery. With the longest-known isotope having a half-life of eight hours and only tiny amounts of the element ever produced, studying the element hasn’t been easy.

 

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