What is The Point in Learning Biology?
Last time we looked at uses of English, both in day-to-day life and in careers. Today we will focus on Biology – the study of life and living organisms in more detail that you could ever think necessary. So how is Biology useful in our day to day lives? How can we put the skills learned in Biology to use?
Here is where to find BIOLOGY … every day and everywhere
New Horizons – the Pluto flyby
On Tuesday July 14th at 12:49 BST, the New Horizons spacecraft will fly past Pluto, the ninth planet in our solar system. But why is it there and what is it looking for?
Does Atlantis Exist, and Where Does the Name Originate?
Around 350 BC, the Greek philosopher Plato wrote about an island situated in front of the Pillars of Hercules, that disappeared under the sea in one day and one night. According to Plato, the capital of Atlantis was built on a hill and surrounded by rings of water, which were joined by tunnels large enough for a ship to sail through. A huge canal connected the outer rings of water to the ocean.
The possible existence of the island of Atlantis has intrigued scholars and scientists over the centuries.
In 1800s a man called Ignatius Donnelly wrote a bestselling book called Atlantis, the Antediluvian World. After studying flood history, Ignatius put forward the suggestion that Atlantis was not fiction, but the recording of a natural disaster.
Most modern academics insist that Plato created the story, and was perhaps inspired by events that happened during his lifetime, but that the island never existed.
The subject of dreams, of magical tales and many a search, Atlantis has long captured our imagination. But where did all of this spring from?
SCIENCE NEWS – Discovery of An Underground Ocean
Earth’s Underground Ocean
In 1864 the French author, Jules Verne, published his novel “Journey To The Interior of the Earth”. In this book 3 men explore volcanic tunnels that lead miles beneath the Earth’s surface, and have a number of strange encounters along the way. One of these is the discovery of a massive ocean, deep underground. Now, 150 years later, it seems that Monsieur Verne’s imagination may have been more accurate than he knew.
An enormous reservoir of water, roughly 3 times bigger than all of the Earth’s oceans put together, has been detected 400 miles below the surface. The water is trapped inside a layer of blue rock called ringwoodite, in the layer of hot rock between the Earth’s core and its surface) that is known as the mantle.