World's Fastest Plants

Bunchberry - World's fastest plant explodes with pollen

Cornus canadensis (bunchberry or Canadian dogwood) grow in dense carpets in the tiaga or boreal forests of the northern hemisphere. Flowers bloom in late spring and produce small, edible, red berries during the summer.

Like a medieval catapult, the bunchberry dogwood shoots pollen grains into the air faster than the Venus flytrap can snap its jaws shut, giving this launcher the speed record for plants. "Most people think of plants as stationary and sedentary," said Joan Edwards of Williams College. "We were even surprised how fast this flower opens." Using high-speed video observations, Edwards and her colleagues timed the tiny explosions of Cornus Canadensis, a species of dogwood that covers the ground of spruce-fir forests from Virginia to Canada. The flower opens its petals and fires its pollen in less than 0.5 milliseconds. This discharge is quicker than other speedy organisms: the Venus flytrap closes in 100 milliseconds; the froghopper (an insect) leaps in 0.5 to 1.0 milliseconds; the mantis shrimp (a tiny crustacean) kicks in 2.7 milliseconds.

The Most Magnificent Gardens Worldwide

These are some of the most magnificent garden layouts worldwide, some with amazing floral displays, some with fantastic architecture, fountains and much more!

Underground Sea

The Moravian Karst (Czech: Moravský kras) is a karst landscape and protected nature reserve to the north of Brno in the eastern part of the Czech Republic, located near the town of Blansko. This region is also home to one of the most important single geological features in the Czech Republic, the Macocha Abyss, a gorge 138 m deep, which was formed when the ceiling of an underground cave chamber collapsed. Macocha Abyss is also the place where the Punkva River begins to run underground through the Punkvení cave system, and two small pools of water are visible at the surface.

Unexplainable “Crop” Circle On The Ice In Norway

A 77 years old Ole Johan Hansen from Arna, outside Bergen in the west of Norway, saw a mystic light out on the lake one evening, about 6ft wide, unlike anything he had seen before. He could spot no one with his binoculars, and due to the risk of falling through the ice, he did not investigate until the day after. The following day, a strange, symmetric pattern covered the lake.

7 Secrets Only Two Living People Know (For Some Reason)

By: Kathy Benjamin

What do you suppose are the most well-kept secrets in the world? The launch codes for the American nuclear arsenal? The location of Jimmy Hoffa's bones? Not even close. Below are secrets that only two people on planet Earth know. Sometimes they have very good reasons to keep these secrets so fiercely. Other times, not so much.

Hexplane Six Engine Airplane

A design by the Oliver VTOL company.

You can lose any one engine and one entire wing section and not have any serious problems, retaining the ability to get where you need to go even with a fully loaded aircraft. Oliver says he has had the Hexplane design validated by aerospace engineering consultancy DAR and Penn State University, and is now negotiating with an investment house for the funds to build a prototype. As a starting point, Oliver says he has taken on the challenge set by DARPA for the now-cancelled Groen Heliplane high-speed VTOL – to carry a 1,000lb payload 1,000nm at 400mph. “I want to build a 12,500lb gross-weight technology demonstrator that has the capability to transition to saleable hardware,” he says. Powered by six 800shp turboprops, this aircraft would have a maximum speed of 447mph and a sea-level climb rate of more than 9,000ft/min.

Woman Drives 900 Miles Out Of Her Way After GPS Error

By Mike Krumboltz

Put too much faith in technology and you may wind up in Croatia. A 67-year-old woman from Belgium learned that the hard way after she followed (faulty) directions from her GPS device. The woman only wanted to go about 90 miles from her hometown of Hainault Erquelinnes, Belgium, to pick up a friend at the Brussels train station. Her GPS device sent her about 900 miles to the south before (during the second day of driving) she realized that something was amiss. It's unclear if she entered the address incorrectly or if the GPS was faulty.

Most Painful Cultural Beauty Practices

Author: Brooke Winsor

Most people have heard the old saying that “Beauty is Pain.” All over the globe people are striving to be beautiful every minute of every day because of the fact that humans tend to be very visual creatures and will always first observe the look of a person before finding out what is held in the other person’s heart. Many find this idea shallow and preach against it, but it does not mean that they don’t do the same thing when they first judge someone harming their natural bodies for beauty. Looking at a person from the outside and then getting to know them is just easier since we can’t read each others minds from a distance. What a particular culture designates as beautiful can vary though. When was the last time you saw an American woman following the ancient Chinese tradition of bound feet? Yet, these extreme cultural practices for beauty are a constant throughout history and geography. Let’s take a look at some extreme appearance practices from the past and present to see the bodily mutilation committed in the name of ideal beauty.

Top 11 Royal Family Conspiracies

Did Diana Know Her Killer?

The road to Princess Diana's death in a 1997 car crash may have begun long before she even got into that Mercedes. Sources say that the real cause of the crash was actually the Royal Family and that the driver, Henri Paul, could have been drugged, and that bright flashing lights were used to impair the driver's vision of the dangerous, paparazzi-filled streets. Then came what could be incontrovertible proof of a plot: a rumored letter, written by Diana to her butler, Paul Burrell, claiming that the Royal Family saw her as an "inconvenient woman" and that they were planning some sort of car accident, which would pave the way for Charles to marry again. Burrell admitted to copying passages from Diana's private correspondence but denied secretly holding onto the note, according to The Daily Mail. Though an inquest into Di's death offered no definitive proof of foul play, Burrell's note hangs in British minds. 

What Happens In The Microwave?

Curiosity killed the cat? But Peter Vidani didn’t care, he brought the results of the experiments with food and another stuff in microwave. Check out of how everything looks like before, and then, after being in this machine. It’s a surprise.

World's Worst And Ugliest Cars

This is a compilation of the world's worst and ugliest looking cars!  This is a list of cars from all over the world, including some cars recently launched in India!

Incredible Air Tsunami In Florida

At first glance, it may appear as though tsunami is poised to crash over the Florida coastline. But much to the relief of Panama City residents, this breath-taking series of photographs shows a natural phenomenon far less destructive - waves of clouds. Helicopter pilot JR Hott captured these breathtaking images, which show the low-lying haze swooping over high-rise buildings down the coast.

Sea-City, A Home From Our Dreams

If you are fed up with crowded places, stressed up with the traffic, noise, air pollution and all that come with the big cities, think about this solution. A world on its own without the problems mentioned before, away from the crowds.

Story Of The 12 Animals In The Chinese Zodiac

Author:  Wong Yee Lee

One day, Tian Di (The God Above) wanted to manage all animals on earth. He took out 12 chairs and told the cat to tell 11 other animals to go to the sky palace. When the cat told the ox about it, the rat overheard the news. The rat was very angry and he ran as fast as he could to the palace. As a result he got there before the ox. Tian Di then let him sit on the first chair. The ox took the second seat. Then the tiger, the rabbit all came and settled on the chairs. From then onwards, the rat comes the first in the zodiac cycle. The cat was not in the cycle because he went to tell other animals. Ever since, the cat is not in the zodiac cycle.
(You may read more about The Great Race at the end of this posting)

The Nazi’s Greatest Inventions

Fliegerfaust

The Fiegerfaust was designed by HASAG (Hugo Schneider AG) of Leipzig in the year 1944; the Luftfaust was shaped in two diverse accounts. The first version was called the Fliegerfaust A, had four 20 mm caliber barrels. These fired 20 mm projectiles weighing 90 g which contained 19 g of explosive, impelled with the help of a small rocket. The second type was named as the Fliegerfaust B in which the Germans improved the first type with increasing the length of the barrels, and by adding another 5 barrels, for a total of 9 barrels. The weapon had a total length of 150 cm and weighed 6.5 kg. First 4 rounds from every second barrel were fired immediately and the remaining five 0.1 second later to avoid damaging the projectiles themselves by the rockets’ exhaust fumes and from interfering with their courses.

Most Durable Car In The World

The Marauder is an armoured, mine-protected vehicle that is produced by Paramount Group in South Africa. It was launched during the 2007 International Defence Exhibition (IDEX) and Conference in Abu Dhabi, the largest arms exhibition in the Middle East. The Marauder was developed for reconnaissance and peacekeeping missions. It carries a crew of up to ten, including a driver and commander. Originally designed to operate in urban, built-up and confined areas it is smaller in both size and weight than the Matador, a similarly armoured vehicle.

The Nopili Rock-Climbing Goby And How It Climbs And Feeds

Gobies (family Gobiidae) have the most members in its family of fish. There are about 2000 species of gobies. Mudskippers are part of the family. These fish stand out as they can crawl on land using their fins as legs. Despite this, they still have to return to water from time to time to keep their gills and fins moist.

Top 9 Most Dangerous Birds

When you think about birds, you probably think of small, cute animals flying through the air, swooping down to reach their nest. Maybe you think of those “pretty” song birds in the morning. I, personally find them annoying. In any case, the image of a bird generally doesn’t produce anything terrifying. However, not all birds are cute, and not all of them are nice, so to speak. There are hundreds of birds that could attack a human, and do a lot of damage. Here is a list of nine most dangerous bird.

Earthquake In Japan: 12 Months Later

1. A year ago, on March 11, 2011, northeastern Japan was hit by a magnitude 9 earthquake, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, the Great East Japan Earthquake. A combined photo showing the consequences of the tsunami which hit the Japanese city of Miyako, top, on March 11, 2011, and the very same area 12 months later.

The World's 10 Cleanest Countries

Researchers at Yale and Columbia ranked countries' environmental performance based on 25 metrics, including water and air quality, habitat protection and the impact of the environment on the health of the population. European countries make up more than half of the top 30, while the U.S. ranks 61st.