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, ...

This is the regal ringneck snake (Diadophis punctatus regalis), a subspecies of ringneck snake endemic to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.

Unlike other subspecies of ringneck snakes, the regal ringneck is almost exclusively ophiophagous, meaning that it has a diet that consists almost entirely of other snakes.

They have a weak venom that serves to immobilize their small prey, but is harmless to humans.

According to scientists at The Keck Institute for Space Studies in California, NASA is seriously considering capturing an asteroid to put in a high orbit around the moon. If the idea is implemented, we could be looking at a manned mission to "capture" an asteroid in the 2020s. This idea is thought to tie in with the Obama administration's enthusiasm for sending a manned mission to a near-Earth asteroid. If NASA were able to capture an object and lock it into an orbit around the moon, it could be safely used as a practise mission without the need for astronauts to move beyond the range of a rescue mission. ...

A new study from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) estimates that our galaxy contains at least 100 billion planets. The team made their estimate while analysing planets orbiting a star called Kepler-32 - planets that are representative, they say, of the vast majority in the galaxy and thus serve as a perfect case study for understanding how most planets form.

A student in my class once asked, do fish ever get thirsty? I was 15 at the time, and I remember my science teacher struggling to answer the question.

Here's the best possible answer I can give you -- it all depends whether the fish is a saltwater fish or a freshwater fish.



Notice how the fresh water fish actually obtains H2O via the food it consumes, not through drinking. Whereas the saltwater fish actually drinks the water can hence has highly concentrated urine. ...

This guy brings new meaning to the phrase “A rolling stone gathers no moss.”


The Venezuela Pebble Toad is a strange creature. It is typically found in mountainous regions, with many slopes and inclines. The toad is only about the size of a fingertip. As such, it is vulnerable to attacks from even a spider, like a tarantula.

The Pebble Toad has an ingenious defence mechanism. When faced with a danger, it tucks its limbs and head under its body and tenses its muscles. Forming a ball shape, it begins to roll down whatever slope it happens to be on. This allows it to evade whatever predator may be pursuing it. Since they are so tiny and their muscles are so rigid, they take no damage from the bouncing and rolling.

The Pebble Toad was featured in t ...

Bulletproof glass manufacturer 3M Security Glass placed this advertisement at a bus stop. There's apparently $3 million in cash inside there, behind their bulletproof glass. If you can break it, it's yours.


Here's how bulletproof glass works...

At first glance, bullet-resistant glass looks identical to an ordinary pane of glass, but that's where the similarities end. An ordinary piece of glass shatters when struck by a single bullet. Bullet resistant glass is designed to withstand one or several rounds of bullets depending on the thickness of the glass and the weapon being fired at it. So, what gives bullet-resistant glass the ability to stop bullets?

Different manufacturers make different variations of bullet-resistant glass, but it is basic ...