The Great Meteor Procession of 1913
Kaushik Patowary
Feb 11, 2022
On the night of February 9, 1913, inhabitants of a large portion of the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada witnessed a meteo...
Showing posts with the label Natural Wonders
Kīpuka: A Different Kind of Volcanic Island
Kaushik Patowary
Feb 10, 2022
Sometimes when a volcano erupts and the subsequent lava flows engulf the mountain slope and the surrounding terrain, some pieces of the land...
The 477-Mile Lightning Bolt
Kaushik Patowary
Feb 3, 2022
How far can a lightning bolt travel? Awfully far, as revealed by the World Meteorological Organization recently. In a press release publi...
The Florescence of Lignum Nephriticum
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 13, 2021
The Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III once received a gift from Athanasius Kircher, a German Jesuit scholar, sometime in the middle of the 17...
The Village Where Girls Turn Into Boys
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 15, 2021
Johnny was a brought up a girl. There was no reason not to. He had what appeared to be a vagina. So he wore little red dresses and went to s...
Itacolumite: The Flexible Rock
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 6, 2021
Ever seen a piece of rock bend? Itacolumite is unique kind of sandstone that does when cut into thin strips. If a foot-long piece, a few cen...
The Great Vine of Hampton Court Palace
Kaushik Patowary
Sep 6, 2021
The Great Vine of Hampton Court Palace, on the River Thames in London, is the largest and the oldest vine in the world, having being planted...
Whiffling: The Art of Flying Upside Down
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 6, 2021
This image of a goose flying upside down captured by photographer Vincent Cornelissen has created a buzz online. In the viral photo, the g...
The Colors of Hormuz Island
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 21, 2021
Off the Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf, about 8 km from the mainland, lies Hormuz Island, a small, teardrop shaped mound of rock salt, gy...
Gympie-Gympie: The Stinging Plant Which Can Inflict Pain For Months
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 24, 2021
Gympie-Gympie sounds adorable, but if you pay any attention to its scientific name Dendrocnide moroides , you would know its to be avoided. ...
King’s Holly: The 43,600 Year Old Plant
Kaushik Patowary
Apr 7, 2021
Lomatia tasmanica, commonly known as King's lomatia or King’s Holly, is an unusual plant. It bears flowers, yet produces neither fruit n...
Pisonia: The Tree That Kills Birds
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 4, 2021
An overwhelming majority of plants depend upon birds and insects for seed dispersal. Plants attract pollinators by releasing aromatic compou...
Hells Bells
Kaushik Patowary
Jan 11, 2021
Deep down El Zapote cenote, a 50-meter-deep water-filled sinkhole in Quintana Roo, Mexico, on the Yucatan Peninsula, stalactites take a diff...
The Granaries of Acorn Woodpecker
Kaushik Patowary
Jan 5, 2021
Woodpeckers are fascinating creatures. They hammer their bills into wood with force so ferocious that it would lead to concussion in any ani...
Gara Medouar: The ‘Spectre’ Crater
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 3, 2020
The 1999 Hollywood movie The Mummy is set in Egypt, but was filmed largely in Morocco. Marrakech became the Cairo of 1926, the year the sto...
Australia's Great Artesian Basin
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 13, 2020
Australia is dry, hot, unimaginably infertile and the most inhospitable of all inhabited continents. Yet, underneath the parched land, lies ...
Glacier Birds
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 9, 2020
High in the Andes among frozen glaciers, where virtually nothing survives, a small and plump, blue-gray feathered bird lays eggs and raises ...
Turlough: Ireland’s Disappearing Lakes
Kaushik Patowary
Sep 2, 2020
Many lakes whose existence depends wholly on rainwater runoffs are seasonal. The phenomenon is not particularly mysterious—the lake forms wh...
Graft Chimera
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 4, 2020
On a small traffic island on Rodney Road, in Backwell, in the English county of North Somerset, stands a horticultural curiosity—a cherry tr...
Astola Island: Pakistan’s Hidden Gem
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 23, 2020
About 25 km off the coast of Balochistan, in the Arabian Sea, lies a large uninhabited island about 7 km long and 2.5 km wide, with sheer wh...
