General Knowledge

Benefits of Radishes Radish is a cousin of cabbage. It is replete with essential nutrients and among the healthiest veggies. But it is also quite ignored. Not much has been discussed on the health benefits of radishes. But ongoing research states interesting findings about this root vegetable. In this post, we have covered research-backed benefits that you may not have come across before. Keep reading. The goodness of radishes would only surprise you! How Are Radishes Good For You? The scientific name of radish is Raphanus raphanistrum subsp. sativus. It was first domesticated in Europe since the pre-Roman times.Today, radishes are cultivated and consumed across the world. They are mostly eaten as crunchy salad vegetables. Radishes are available in several types. These vary in shape and size and flavor and can be used in different ways. Radish is an excellent source of vitamin C – a nutrient that helps rebuild blood vessels and tissues (1). It is also a good source of o...

Benefits of Plums They contain many vitamins and minerals, in addition to fiber and antioxidants that may help reduce your risk of several chronic diseases. You can consume plums fresh or dried. Dried plums, or prunes, are known for improving several health conditions, including constipation and osteoporosis.   benefits 1. They Contain Many Nutrients Plums and prunes are impressively high in nutrients. They contain over 15 different vitamins and minerals, in addition to fiber and antioxidants. Here is an overview of the nutrition profiles of plums and prunes. Plums Plums are relatively low in calories, but contain a fair amount of important vitamins and minerals. One plum contains the following nutrients. Calories: 30 Carbs: 8 grams Fiber: 1 gram Sugars: 7 grams Vitamin A: 5% of the RDI Vitamin C: 10% of the RDI Vitamin K: 5% of the RDI Potassium: 3% of the RDI Copper: 2% of the RDI Manganese: 2% of the RDI Additionally, one plum provides a smal...

Benefits of Carrots Winters are here, and it's time for this season's favourite fruits and vegetables to take over our pantry. One such vegetable we have our hearts set on is the juicy, crunchy, desi carrots! "Carrots are good source of beta carotene which is a natural pigment that is used by the body to make Vitamin A and it has good amount of fibre", said Bangalore based nutritionist Dr. Sheela Manglani speaking about the high nutritive profile of carrots. "Raw carrots daily address the problem of constipation. Carrots also help maintain healthy cholesterol and prevent heart diseases. Being rich in potassium they help bring down cholesterol and water retention," says, Health Practitioner and Macrobiotic Nutritionist Shilpa Arora. Juice them, boil them or add them to your sabzis and chaats, but don't make the blunder of missing out on this storehouse of nutrients this winter! Here are Amazing Health Benefits of Carrots 1. Boosts eye health...

Ibn Battuta | Biography The title of “history’s most famous traveler” usually goes to Marco Polo, the great Venetian wayfarer who visited China in the 13th century. For sheer distance covered, however, Polo trails far behind the Muslim scholar Ibn Battuta. Though little known outside the Islamic world, Battuta spent half his life tramping across vast swaths of the Eastern Hemisphere. Moving by sea, by camel caravan and on foot, he ventured into over 40 modern day nations, often putting himself in extreme danger just to satisfy his wanderlust. When he finally returned home after 29 years, he recorded his escapades in a hulking travelogue known as the Rihla. Though modern scholars often question the veracity of Battuta's writings—he may never have visited China, for example, and many of his accounts of foreign lands appear to have been plagiarized from other authors' works—the Rihla is a fascinating look into the world of a 14th-century vagabond. Born in Tangier, Morocco,...

Christopher Columbus We all learned that Columbus sailed the ocean blue ... and then American history gets very murky. Though much happened before Christopher Columbus' famous journey (such as Leif Ericsson's landing in North America about five centuries prior), it remains a significant event in history and is generally deemed by historians as the start of the Colonial Period (1492-1763). The epic journey was not exactly without its problems. Early in the morning on Oct. 12, 1492, a sailor looked out to the horizon from the bow of Columbus' ship, the Pinta, and saw land. After 10 weeks at sea, from the port of Palos, Spain, Columbus and his crew had arrived ... somewhere. Columbus thought he'd found the East Indies. Truth was, he was in the Bahamas. He did a little more exploring and then returned to Spain, possibly taking syphilis with him. By 1502, the Florentine merchant and explorer Amerigo Vespucci had figured out that Columbus was wrong, and word of ...

Vascoda Gama Biography Vasco da Gama, Portuguese Vasco da Gama, 1er conde da Vidigueira, (born c. 1460, Sines, Portugal died December 24, 1524, Cochin, India), Portuguese navigator whose voyages to India (1497–99, 1502–03, 1524) opened up the sea route from western Europe to the East by way of the Cape of  Good Hope. Life Da Gama was the third son of Estêvão da Gama, a minor provincial nobleman who was commander of the fortress of Sines on the coast of Alentejo province in southwestern Portugal. Little is known of his early life. In 1492 King John II of Portugal sent him to the port of Setúbal, south of Lisbon, and to the Algarve, Portugal’s southernmost province, to seize French ships in retaliation for French peacetime depredations against Portuguese shipping—a task that da Gama rapidly and effectively performed. In 1495 King Manuel ascended to the throne. The balance of power between factions at the Portuguese court shifted in favour of friends and patrons of the...

The Sunlight Speed Here’s a question… how long does it take sunlight to reach Earth? This sounds like a strange question, but think about it. Sunlight travels at the speed of light. Photons emitted from the surface of the Sun need to travel across the vacuum of space to reach our eyes. The short answer is that it takes sunlight an average of 8 minutes and 20 seconds to travel from the Sun to the Earth. If the Sun suddenly disappeared from the Universe (not that this could actually happen, don’t panic), it would take a little more than 8 minutes before you realized it was time to put on a sweater. Here’s the math. We orbit the Sun at a distance of about 150 million km. Light moves at 300,000 kilometers/second. Divide these and you get 500 seconds, or 8 minutes and 20 seconds. This is an average number. Remember, the Earth follows an elliptical orbit around the Sun, ranging from 147 million to 152 million km. At its closest point, sunlight only takes 490 seconds to reach Ear...

How Long Can Humans Hold Their Breath? As the Daily Mail explains, humans set breath-holding records in water because they “can hold their breath twice as long underwater they can on land.” The reason: the “diving reflex,” in which the body slows its heart rate and metabolism in order to conserve oxygen and energy when submerged in cold water. The pulse rate in an untrained diver, the Daily Mail says, will decrease 10 to 30 percent when underwater. But professional divers can reduce theirs by more than 50 percent. Which brings us to records. The event in question—holding one’s breath underwater for as long as possible without moving—is officially called “static apnea,” and there are two ways static apnea records are kept: for dives performed after breathing in pure oxygen, and for dives performed without pure oxygen. The Guinness Book of World Records allows divers to hyperventilate for up to 30 minutes with pure oxygen before they submerge for their record attempt. This prac...

Vitamin C Vitamin C burst into prominence back in the 1970s, when Nobel Prize-winning scientist Linus Pauling claimed that high doses could stop cancer and might be the long-sought cure for the common cold. Alas, neither claim has quite held up under scrutiny. Vitamin C doesn't prevent colds. Nor does taking large doses slow or stop cancer. But Pauling's instincts were not entirely wrong. There are still many sound reasons to get plenty of C. What It Does ? Researchers have long known that vitamin C is an essential building block of collagen, the structural material for bone, skin, blood vessels and other tissue. Failing to get enough vitamin C causes inflammation of the gums, scaly skin, nosebleed, painful joints and other problems associated with scurvy. In addition, many studies show that eating foods rich in C can reduce the risk of developing cancer, particularly cancers that strike the mouth and digestive tract, according to Jane Higdon, a nutrition scienti...

Surprising Health Benefits of B Vitamins Good nutrition is tied to good health, as well as to the prevention and treatment of many conditions. Getting the recommended amounts of vitamins each day is an important part of the nutrition equation, and B vitamins are essential for preventive care. Abundant in green vegetables, whole or enriched grains, dairy, and meats, B vitamins help promote a healthy metabolism and are also linked to a reduced risk of stroke, research shows. Take vitamin B12, for example. According to the Mayo Clinic, vitamin B12, a water-soluble vitamin, plays a significant role in nerve function, the formation of red blood cells, and the production of DNA. While most people get plenty of vitamin B12 benefits in a varied, balanced diet, if you are on a vegan or vegetarian diet, you are at risk for vitamin B12 deficiency. Also, elderly adults and people with GI disorders lack adequate B12. Signs of vitamin B12 deficiency include Anemia Confusion Dementia ...

Vitamin A Vitamin A, along with other vitamins, minerals and other compounds, is an essential micronutrient. This means that our bodies cannot manufacture it and therefore it has to be included in our diet. Vitamin A from food is stored in the liver until required by the body and is bound to protein before being transported to where it is needed. Vitamin A is essential for many physiological processes, including maintaining the integrity and function of all surface tissues (epithelia): for example, the skin, the lining of the respiratory tract, the gut, the bladder, the inner ear and the eye. Vitamin A supports the daily replacement of skin cells and ensures that tissues such as the conjunctiva are able to produce mucous and provide a barrier to infection. Vitamin A is also essential for vision under conditions of poor lighting, for maintaining a healthy immune system, for growth and development and for reproduction. Vitamin A supports many systems in the body. For this reas...

Causes and Symptoms of Vitamin D Deficiency Vitamin D is an extremely important vitamin that has powerful effects on several systems throughout your body (1Trusted Source). Unlike other vitamins, vitamin D functions like a hormone, and every single cell in your body has a receptor for it. Your body makes it from cholesterol when your skin is exposed to sunlight. It's also found in certain foods such as fatty fish and fortified dairy products, though it's very difficult to get enough from diet alone. The recommended daily intake (RDI) is usually around 400–800 IU, but many experts say you should get even more than that. Vitamin D deficiency is very common. It's estimated that about 1 billion people worldwide have low levels of the vitamin in their blood (2Trusted Source). According to a 2011 study, 41.6% of adults in the US are deficient. This number goes up to 69.2% in Hispanics and 82.1% in African-Americans (3Trusted Source). Here are 7 common risk facto...

Thai Elephant Eat in a Day Jay Simpson is a Digital Storyteller and National Geographic Young Explorer researching our relationship with wildlife and interventions in human-wildlife conflicts. This story comes from Thailand, during a trip exploring ecotourism and wildlife that was completed in collaboration with Rafa Salvador. Read more of Jay’s stories and follow him on Instagram and Twitter. If you... Jay Simpson is a Digital Storyteller and National Geographic Young Explorer researching our relationship with wildlife and interventions in human-wildlife conflicts. This story comes from Thailand, during a trip exploring ecotourism and wildlife that was completed in collaboration with Rafa Salvador. Read more of Jay’s stories and follow him on Instagram and Twitter. An elephant takes in a meal at Elephant’s World. (Photo by Jay Simpson. If you love elephants, traveling to Thailand can take you up-close and personal with the objects of your affection. The elephants here are d...

How Long Can a Person Survive without Food? The duration of survival without food is greatly influenced by factors such as body weight, genetic variation, other health considerations and, most importantly, the presence or absence of dehydration. For total starvation in healthy individuals receiving adequate hydration, reliable data on survival are hard to obtain. At the age of 74 and already slight of build, Mahatma Gandhi, the famous nonviolent campaigner for India's independence, survived 21 days of total starvation while only allowing himself sips of water. In a 1997 article in the British Medical Journal, Michael Peel, senior medical examiner at the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, cites well-documented studies reporting survivals of other hunger strikers for 28, 36, 38 and 40 days. Most other reports of long-term survival of total starvation, however, have been poorly substantiated. [Editor's Note: Reports of the 1981 hunger strike by politica...

Types of Pests  Ants, Bees and Wasps Wasps, bees and ants (collectively known as hymenopterods) are one of the largest orders of insects. There are over 130,000 species described with many others remaining to be. It is yet unknown how many species exist in the Maltese Islands … more → Bed Bugs Bedbugs are small, elusive, and parasitic organisms all belonging to a family of insects called Cimicidae. They live strictly by feeding on the blood of humans and other warm-blooded animals (such as other mammals and birds). The name ‘bed bug’ … more → Cockroaches This order of insects, scientifically known as Blattaria, consists of around 4,000 species worldwide, of which 30 species are associated with human habitations and about 4 species are well known as pests. Although worldwide these insects have a bad reputation, … more → Fleas ‘Flea’ is the common name for insects of the order Siphonaptera, which are wingless insects with mouthparts adapted for piercing skin and sucki...