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What is the theory of land bridges between continents?

Before Alfred Wegener, other scientists also tried to unravel mysteries of Earthโ€™s geology.

In the mid-1800s an Austrian geologist Eduard Suess (1831-1914) tried to solve how mountain ranges form and was tipped off by similar fern fossils found in South America, India and Africa.

Suess developed a theory of sea level rise and regression over time that would have linked together the southern hemisphere continents with land bridges.

This theory is only partially correct because there are land bridges on Earth, e.g. the Bering land bridge between Russian Siberia and American Alaska, but there isn't one between South America, Africa, and India, the ocean depths in those areas being too deep to support the land bridge idea of Suess.

Nevertheless, Suess first hypothesized the existence of a supercontinent Gondwana or Gondwanaland, which name he got from the Gondwana region of central India, and the Tethys Ocean.

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When and what would be the next supercontinent?

Scientists believe that supercontinents form on a cycle every several hundred million years or so, and we should expect another one in 200-250 million years.

There are currently 4๏ธโƒฃ theories/models on the subject, shown at the video โฌ†๏ธ.

Novopangaea (the antipodes of Pangea): if the Atlantic keeps opening and the Pacific keeps closing, the Americas would collide with the northward drifting Antarctica, and then into the already collided Africa-Eurasia.

Pangea Proxima: with the Atlantic Ocean closing, the Americas, Europe and Africa are brought back together and would be surrounded by a super Pacific Ocean.

Amasia: all the continents, except Antarctica, keep drifting north and and merge as the Arctic Ocean closes.

Aurica: if both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans are closing, the European and African plates would then rejoin the Americas.

โ„น๏ธAccording to some experts, Novopangaea is the most likely future supercontinent.

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Why is July 23 important for whales and dolphins?

๐Ÿณ๐Ÿฌ 23 July is World Whale and Dolphin Day.

This date was chosen in 1986 by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) because on July 23, 1982, for the first time, a total ban on commercial whaling was declared.

Today, this day still raises awareness about the issues facing these beautiful marine mammals.

This decision of the IWC has been successful. The killing of whales has declined precipitously; more than 2 million whales were killed in the century before the moratorium, a small fraction of that since. The reduced hunting pressure has allowed stocks of most whale species to rebound. E.g., since 1986, the western South Atlantic stock of humpback whales, has increased from 1,000 to nearly 25,000.

Except Japan, Iceland and Norway, most countries respect the commercial whaling moratorium. However, the ban on commercial whaling still allows whale harvest by aboriginal peoples in Alaska, Canada and Russia.

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How many wild tigers are left in the world ?

๐Ÿ… There are around 5,000 tigers left in the wild today, according to different scientific sources.

๐Ÿ…๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณIndia is home to some 3,700 wild tigers โ€“ approximately 75 per cent of the worldโ€™s wild tiger population. Since 1973, the Indian government is implementing Project Tiger โฌ†๏ธ, an ambitious tiger conservation program.

๐Ÿ…๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ The second largest wild tigerโ€™s population tiger is found in Russia and northeastern China. Only in Russia, the number of the Amur/Siberian tiger โฌ†๏ธ may now reach 600-700 animals.

๐Ÿฏ The International/Global Tiger Day is observed every year on July 29.

The day was established in 2010 at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia that brought 13 tiger range nations to address the alarming revelation that 97 per cent of wild tigers had vanished since the beginning of the 20th century.

The nations came together to join Tx2, intending to double the tiger population from 3,200 to at least 6,000 tigers.

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What is pareidolia?

Pareidolia (pronounced "par-i-DOH-lee-a") is a brain phenomenon in which a person or even a group of people see or hear something significant in a random image or pattern.

The word is derived from the Greek words para, meaning something faulty, wrong, instead of, and the noun eidลlon, meaning image, form or shape.

Face pareidolia occurs when humans see faces in inanimate objects, e.g. in a tree trunk or a piece of burnt toast.

According to researchers:
๐Ÿ”บ the human brain can see not only facial features, but also emotion in inanimate objects
๐Ÿ”บ humans are likelier to see male, rather than female faces, in inanimate objects
๐Ÿ”บ feminine-looking illusory faces are recognized as happy faster
๐Ÿ”บ masculine-looking illusory faces are perceived as angry quicker
๐Ÿ”บ face-like patterns activate similar socio-cognitive processes as real faces
๐Ÿ”บ humans have stronger face-like patterns than animals, which shows how important such social information is to humans.

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Why does Earth appear blue from space?

๐Ÿ›ฐ๐Ÿš€ From space, satellites and astronauts mostly see the Earth as a blue globe.

๐Ÿ”ต The color is produced because the blue part of the Sunโ€™s light is scattered in all directions by air moleculesโ€”eventually reaching our eyes from so many angles that the entire sky looks blue. That blue light is reflected back into space by oceans that cover about 71% of our planet.

๐ŸŒ The entire planet isnโ€™t blue, of course. The clouds themselves are white, reflecting the white, direct sunlight back out at any onlookers. Iceโ€Šโ€”โ€Šsuch as the caps on our planetโ€™s polesโ€Šโ€”โ€Šappears white for the same reasons. The continents, similarly, appear either brown or green from a great distance, depending on the seasons and how covered-in-plants the terrain is.

โšซ๏ธ The Earth only appears blue if you are looking at it from outer space on the side that is being lit by the sun. It will appear black when orbiting around a part of the Earth that is experiencing night.

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What is a blue planet where it rains molten glass?

๐ŸŒ Earth is called the 'Blue Planet'.

๐Ÿ”ต There's another "blue marble" alien planet about 60 light-years from Earth, where the world is anything but friendly to life. Known as HD 189733b, this planet โฌ†๏ธ is a giant, gaseous world resembling Jupiter, but much hotter. With a surface temperature of 980ยฐC (1800ยฐF) and winds that reach 6,400 km/h (4,000 m.p.h.), itโ€™s not even remotely likely to be home to flora and fauna.

๐Ÿ’ฆ Moreover, on HD 189733b there are rainstorms of glassy silicate particles, because of which, according to researchers, it appears blue.

โ„น๏ธ HD 189733b is one of so-called hot Jupiter alien planets that are large, roughly Jupiter-sized planets and become very hot by circling tight around their stars. Hot Jupiters are easy to spot from a distance because as they pass in front of a star, their disc blots out a large portion of the star's light; HD189733b causes a three per cent drop in its star's light, for example.

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Where were the worldโ€™s first traffic lights installed?

๐ŸšฆEvery year on August 5th, International Traffic Light Day is observed and highlights the importance of the traffic light.

๐Ÿšฅ The world's first traffic light was a manually operated gas-lit signal installed in London, Great Britain, in 1868 โฌ†๏ธ. It showed a red or green light at night. In 1869 a gas leak caused an explosion, injuring its policeman operator, and the same year this traffic light was removed.

๐Ÿšฆ The history of the first electric traffic light starts with the installation of the first electric traffic signal system in Cleveland, USA, on August 5, 1914. That first traffic light signal only had two colors โ€“ green and red โฌ†๏ธ.

๐Ÿšฅ In 1920 the first three-coloured traffic lights with red, yellow and green lights were put to service in New York and Detroit, USA.

๐ŸšฆThe first electric traffic lights in Europe were installed in the 1920s. Traffic lights returned to London in 1926.

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Why is World Day for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons observed on August 6?

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ’ฅโ˜ข๏ธ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต Also known as Hiroshima Day, World Day for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is observed on August 6th every year as a solemn commemoration of the atomic bombing by the United States of America of the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945.

โœ”๏ธOn August 6th 1945, during World War II, a U.S. B-29 bomber named Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb (codenamed "Little Boy") on Hiroshima. It was the first ever use of atomic weapons in warfare.

โœ”๏ธ The bombing of Hiroshima and that of Nagasaki on August 9th resulted in immense destruction and loss of life. The immediate aftermath saw these Japanese cities engulfed in a massive firestorm, with a large area reduced to ruins. The estimated death toll was up to 150,000 people.

๐Ÿ•Š World Day for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons serves as a reminder of the devastating impact of nuclear weapons and advocates for peace and the abolition of nuclear armaments.

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How many facial expressions do cats have?

๐Ÿˆ Cats display at least 276 different facial expressions, according to a study.

๐Ÿ˜บ๐Ÿ˜พ๐Ÿ™€ About 46% of these expressions are friendly, nearly 37% are aggressive and roughly 17% are ambiguous. Each expression combines about four of 26 unique facial movements, including various ear positions, parted lips, jaw drops, dilated or constricted pupils, blinks, pulled lip corners, nose licks, protracted or retracted whiskers.

๐Ÿ˜ฝ The findings show cats are more articulate and affectionate than previously thought.

๐Ÿˆโ€โฌ› Although the researchers havenโ€™t been able to compare their results with those of wild felines, they do know that all close relatives of the domestic cat are ferociously solitary animals. Pet cats might have retained some of that defensive โ€œwildโ€ communication, but they probably started to pick up friendly facial expressions over the course of their 10,000-year history with humans.

โ„น๏ธ๐Ÿ˜ป International Cat Day takes place on August 8.

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Which planet may hide a real treasure?

Mercury, the smallest planet in the solar system, may hide an all-diamond layer up to 18 kilometers (10 miles) thick at the boundary between the core and the mantle, new research suggests.

Scientists used data collected by MESSENGER spacecraft to inform their theories about the structure of the planet's interior.

When the planet was formed around 4.5 billion years ago, the metal core was entirely liquid which progressively crystallized over time.

Two processes could have resulted in the diamond layer:
1๏ธโƒฃ the crystallization of the magma ocean that likely contributed to forming only a very thin diamond layer at the core/mantle interface
2๏ธโƒฃ the crystallization of the metal core of Mercury.

The study suggests that under extreme pressure, the carbon in the mantle turned into diamond.

According to scientists, the results could point to differences between the formation of Mercury and other planets, including Earth and Mars.

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How did ancient people call Mercury?

Mercury has been known since ancient times since it is visible to the naked eye.

โœ๏ธ The Babylonians called it "the jumping planet" and later Nabu, for the messenger to their gods.

โœ๏ธ In ancient China, the planet was Chen-xing, meaning โ€œthe Hour Star.โ€

โœ๏ธ In Hindu mythology, the name Budha was used for Mercury โ€“ the god that was thought to preside over Wednesday.

โœ๏ธ The same is true for the Germanic tribes, who associated the god Odin/Woden with the planet Mercury and Wednesday.

โœ๏ธ The Maya may have represented Mercury as an owl โ€“ or possibly four owls, two for the morning aspect and two for the evening โ€“ a messenger to the underworld.

โœ๏ธ The ancient Greeks called Mercury variously "Stilbon" ("the gleaming"), Hermaon, and Hermes, the swift-footed messenger of the Greek gods.

โœ๏ธ The Romans continued this tradition, naming the planet Mercurius after Mercury, a counterpart of Hermes.

Itโ€™s an apt name, since Mercury is the fastest planet โฌ†๏ธ

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