What Decides If You Will Be a Boy or a Girl?

There were two special chromosomes in you when you were just beginning life as a fertilized egg. These are called sex chromosomes. Scientist have named them the X chromosome and Y chromosome.

A woman's egg cell contains only an X chromosome, while a man's sperm cell Y contains either an X or a Y. If the woman's egg cell is fertilized by a sperm cell with an X chromosome, the fertilized egg will have two X's and the baby will be a girl. But if the sperm cell has a Y chromosome, creating both an X and a Y in the fertilized egg, then the egg will develop into a boy.

What Is a Nerve?

The billions of cells whose job it is to keep your body informed of conditions outside and inside it are called nerve cells, or neurons. Neurons transmit messages throughout the body by passing signals, or impulses, from one to the other.

Sensory neurons are nerve cells which carry impulses from the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and skin to the brain and spinal chord. They allow us to see and hear, smell and taste, and tell us whether we are hot or cold, and let us feel pleasure or pain.

Motor neurons are nerve cells which carry these impulses from the brain to the muscles in the body, telling them to sit, stand, run, or talk.

Still other neurons work automatically, without signals from the brain. These neurons keep your heart beating, your blood flowing, your lungs breathing, and your stomach digesting food — all automatically, with no command from your brain.

Some impulses travel through your body at a speed of more than 300 feet per second, while others go as slowly as 1.5 feet per second!

What Are You Really Made Of?

All living things on earth, plants or animals, have one thing in common they are all made up of cells. Your entire body, your bones, your muscles, your skin, your blood, your teeth, your nerves, your hair, contains more than 10 million million (10,000,000,000,000) cells! Most of these cells are so tiny that you can see them only under a microscope. For example, your red blood cells are so tiny that 5,000,000 of them would fit inside a drop of blood the size of this letter a.

Different parts of your body are made up of different kinds of cells, and each kind does a special job that no other kind of cell can do. For example, muscle cells in your eyeballs move your eyes across this page you are reading, than nerve cells in your eyes send messages to your brain of what you have read. Red blood cells carry oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body to help them grow as you are reading, while white blood cells are busy fighting off the bacteria that could make you too sick to go on reading.

Some cells are so tiny that even the most modern electron microscope, which magnifies 200,000 times and can enlarge an ant to a length of mile, cannot show the details of these tiny cells!

What is a frozen zoo?

The frozen zoo is a collection of biological materials from a wide variety of rare and critically endangered species. The biological material is composed of gametes (sperm and oocytes), embryos, tissue samples (cell lines), serum and other items. It represents a genetic bank vault, an archive of irreplaceable genetic information that can be preserved for perhaps hundreds of years. It is stored in specialised holding tanks filled with liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -196 degrees Celsius or -373 degrees Fahrenheit. If a species nears extinction and its genes are lost, some samples can be thawed and by using assisted reproductive techniques, offspring can be produced. The collected gametes in the frozen zoo are also used in the process of artificial insemination, embryo transfer, and invitrofertilization.

What is the 3rd Space vest?

These vests help users endure virtual blows, literally. An American surgeon has invented a vest that lets computer game users feel physical attacks like shots, stabs, etc. while playing games. The vest uses air pressure and feedback from the computer to simulate thumps on those regions of a person’s torso, which would have been hit if the person were actually fighting in a battle. It’s designed by Mark Ombrellaro and was originally intended for medical purposes.

What is quantum tunnelling?

In Physics, quantum is the particle which obeys quantum mechanics. When a quantum particle has to cross a potential barrier which has more energy than the particle, then, according to classical physics, it cannot do so. But, in quantum mechanics, it can, however small it be. This phenomenon is known as quantum tunnelling. The best example of quantum tunnelling is the emission of alpha particles from a radioactive nucleus . Although the energy of alpha particles is less than nuclear potential, they can tunnel through it.

What’s the difference between a lawyer and a barrister?

A lawyer is a person who practises law; one who conducts lawsuits for clients or advises clients of their legal rights and obligations. A barrister is a legal practitioner whose main function is to practise advocacy in court. They often have less interaction with clients. Barristers spend their working hours in chambers where they prepare their cases.

What is medical narcissism?

Medical narcissism is defined as the need for health professionals not to disclose serious medical errors to their patients for fear of losing credibility and esteem in their eyes.

What’s special about the Kew Gardens?

Kew Gardens in Thames, London, is best known for being the home of the Royal Botanical Gardens (now a world heritage site). Other points of interest include the Kew Palace and the National Archives (previously known as the Public Records Office). The Kew Gardens is special because it is an important international botanical research and education institution with a staff of over 700 people.

What are teepees made of ?

Long before the Indians from the plains moved from place to place throughout the year, taking their homes with them, they had lightweight, comfortable, collapsible structures which they called teepees (or tepees or tipis). Teepee is a tall, cone-shaped tent dwelling used by the plains’ Indians, and was made by stretching buffalo skin over a skeleton of 20-30 wooden poles, all slanted towards a central point and tied together near the top. A flap at the top allowed smoke to escape, and a flap at the bottom served as a doorway. Water-resistant and flame-retardant teepees are even produced from the best natural cotton canvas by marquee manufactures and have withstood hard commercial use for many years. The basic design and construction methods of the teepee have also been well established over many years to increase the life of the teepee.

What is the difference between a notification and a circular?

A notification is issued by a government (central/ state) to exercise the power of a legislative enactment (Parlimentary/ Assembly). These powers are in abundance in taxation (direct/ indirect) legislations. These notifications generally lay down the law taking care of some procedural aspects of the enactment. The circulars are issued by the chief executive in charge of the taxation hierarchy, and are normally explanatory/ interpretative or relax the rigours of the law administered.

What is the pH level of a snake’s poison?

Firstly, a snake has venom and not poison. The pH level of a snake’s venom indicates the concentration level of the poison. The term pH stands for ‘potential of hydrogen’. This is the measure of how acidic or alkaline a substance is. Acids have pH values that are under 7 and alkalies have pH values over 7. If a substance has a pH value of 7, it is neutral — neither acidic nor alkaline.

What is special about University of Toulouse?

University of Toulouse is one of the oldest universities of France and is located in Toulouse, a city in Southern France on the banks of the Garonne river. It was found ed in 1229 AD as a result of the Paris Treaty marking the end of the battle between the Roman Catholic Church and its oppo nents. Foulques de Toulouse, the then bishop of Toulouse, played a major role in the setting up of the university. Now, the universi ty has an enrolment exceeding 1,00,000, and is the second largest university in France. The sixteenth century philosopher and astronomer Bruno and the Chemistry Nobel Laureate Sabatier, and the artist Dulac were some of its most illustrious faculty members.

What is steaming distance?

Steaming distance is the shortest distance between two ports, which a ship traverses while sailing from one port to another. It need not be along a straight line as, due to various physical and political constraints, it may not be always be desirable to sail along straight route.

What is a hypercube?

Hypercube is the generalisation in n-dimensions of a square in two dimensions and a cube in three dimensions. A square has four vertices (22), a cube, 8 vertices (23). Similarly, an n-dimensional hypercube has 2n vertices. In the famous painting ‘Christus Hypercubus’, Salvador Dali depicted Christ crucified on an unfolded four-dimensional hypercube. Examining the shadow of a cube reveals a square within a square. Similarly, the shadow of a four-dimensional hypercube will be a cube within a cube.

What is the difference between Marxism and Socialism?

Socialism is a modern doctrine and is Western in origin, emerging with the development of industrial capitalism at the start of the nineteenth century. Socialism denotes a broad system of ideas. Marxism is a materialistic conception of history which seeks to explain the development of all societies and furthermore, make predictions about future social change. Marxists consider the material world, nature and society as constantly moving. Whereas, the socialists emphasise the organic unity of society. Marxists consider the material world as an integrated whole in which all things and phenomena are interconnected and interdependent. Whereas, socialists believe in equality and abolition of private enterprise. Marxism provides a scientific explanation of nature and society and hence, was a powerful instrument for revolutionary transformation. The society envisaged by socialists rests on certain values: redistribution of wealth to get rid of inequality, cooperative production to get rid of selfish competitors and new patterns of work and education to promote the growth of wellrounded individuals.

What are the Special Olympics?

Special Olympics is an international organisation created to help people with intellectual disabilities develop self-confidence, social skills and a sense of personal accomplishment through sports training and competition. Among their other activities, Special Olympics conducts the Special Olympics World Games every four years. This year it is taking place in China.

What does the acronym Scuba stand for?

Scuba stands for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus: the word has become an adjective to describe the popular aquatic sport scuba diving. By carrying a source of compressed air, the scuba diver is able to stay underwater longer than with the simple breathholding techniques used in snorkelling and free diving, and is not hindered by airlines to a remote air source.

What is red corner notice?

Certain requests used by Interpol are sent in the forms of notices. The colour of each notice determines the type of information being sent or received by Interpol and its members. A red corner notice is issued at the request of a country’s law enforcement authority. The requesting country asks for a red notice to be issued when a criminal evades arrest and escapes from the country.

What is the origin of the term ‘rule of thumb’ ?

One theory about the phrase’s origin lies in the misplaced public belief that the English law allowed man to beat his wife with a stick measuring no longer than his thumb. There was actually no such English law enacted at any time This phrase has been in circulation since the 17th century. This phrase commonly refers to any means of estimation based on a practical and ready method but not on scientific measurement. Another theory concerning the phrase’s origin involves the numerous ways in which thumbs have been used for estimation. Some examples are — measurement of distance based on an estimated inch which is about the length of a thumb; judging the alignment or distance of an object by holding the thumb at eye level etc.