Many of us around the world will enjoy a firework display tonight (or have already); but what are the mechanisms behind the magnificent spectacle?



The story behind fireworks begins about 2000 years ago in China. Alchemists at the time were in search for an elixir which made them immortal. Obviously, they did not find this- what they did find however was a substance consisting of potassium nitrate, charcoal and suphur; or gunpowder,as we know it. The evolution of fireworks from gunpowder took another 1000 years until a monk named Li Tian realised that if you placed gunpowder into a bamboo tube and ignited it, an impressive explosion on sound and light ensued. Fireworks were born!

The gunpowder is responsible for the trajectory of the firework, ...

Octopus reproduction is fairly uniform across species. When a female is ready to mate, she releases a chemical into the water that attracts males. They follow this chemical to the female, where they will often fight one another for the right to mate with the female. Sometimes the female will mate with more than one male. The same chemical that attracts the males stops the males from eating the female - cannibalism is common amongst octopodes.

Once it has been decided who will be mating, the male transfers packages of sperm called \"spermatophores\" to the female using his third right arm (which typically has no suckers). The female stores these, and then builds a den. She then seals the entrance. Once this is complete, she lays the eggs and ...

The kakapo is a strange little flightless bird native to New Zealand. Sadly there are now only 126 kakapo left in conservation areas, where they eat a range of plants. But researchers who have been studying ancient poo samples have recently found that around 900 years ago kakapo ate a lot of pollen from a root parasite known as Hades flower. The two no longer exist in the same place and Hades flower is also rare, which begs the question - were the birds responsible for pollinating it?

Further research needs to be done, but it is an interesting conservation link. ...

This is the pink-necked green pigeon (Treron vernans) and it is honestly not Photoshopped. They\'re found in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

This fantastic minifox is a desert dweller who weighs in around 3 lb. (1.4 kg) and stretches just beyond a foot (30 cm), not counting its uniquely gigantic ears, which can measure almost half its body length. The smallest of all the world\'s foxes, the fennec burrows away during the day and scavenges for insects and fruit at night. Its huge ears emit body heat and help it keep cool among the dunes of the Sahara and elsewhere in North Africa. Some locals hunt the fennec for its fur, while others capitalize on its cuteness in the pet trade. ...

Sunda pangolins have become the most frequently seized mammal in the illegal wildlife trade in Asia, as smugglers sell the creatures to meet culinary and medicinal demand. These gentle insectivores are now on the endangered species list.

This is an Armadillo girdled lizard (Cordylus cataphractus). It is found exclusively in the deserts of southern Africa.