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Blood

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Blood

Blood is thicker than water…

  • Blood is a liquid solution that every animal or person needs that transports oxygen, nutrients for cells, and body waste in the body.
  • Blood contains mainly 55% plasma, which is mainly water, white blood cells and 45% red blood cells.
  • Blood is pumped throughout the body by the heart muscle, and blood vessels burst if they are hurt or cut, which is called ‘bleeding’.
  • Often blood terms use the prefixes ‘haemo-’ or ‘haemato-’, which comes from the Greek word for blood, ‘haima’, such as ‘haematology’, the study of blood.
  • Blood makes up 7 to 8% of the weight of a human’s body and is little denser than water.

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  • Human blood is always red, due to the protein haemoglobin, although animal’s blood can be blue or green, but deoxygenated blood is a darker red, even though some people think it is blue, which is the way it is often depicted in diagrams.
  • ‘Blood’ comes from the word ‘bluot’, which is an Old High German word for blood.
  • A healthy adult has approximately 5 litres (1.3 gallons) of blood circulating in their body, although their will generally be less blood in someone who is dehydrated, since the water in the fluid is diminished.
  • Blood forms in the bone marrow, typically in the leg bones in children and in the spine and central bones in adults.
  • Only a few animals drink blood for nutrients, and these include female mosquitoes, ticks, leeches and vampire bats.
Bibliography:
Blood, 2013, Kids Health, <http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/body_basics/blood.html>
Blood, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood>


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Diosma

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Diosma

Teensy little diosma flowers.

  • Diosma is a woody shrub that is used to decorate gardens and can be also used as lovely filler in flower arrangements.
  • The scientific name of diosma is ‘Coleonema pulchellum’, which comes from the Greek words ‘koleos’ and ‘nema’ meaning ‘sheath’ and ‘thread’ respectively and the Latin word ‘pulchellum’ means ‘pretty’.
  • Diosma is also known as ‘confetti bush’, ‘breath of heaven’ and ‘buchu’ and was once named ‘Coleonema pulchrum’.
  • Diosma blooms in late autumn to spring, with small flowers 7-8 mm (0.275 – 0.3 inch) that have five petals, and are pink, white, mauve and red in colour.
  • Diosma is native to South Africa and likes to grow in warm areas.

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  • Once a diosma bush has finished flowering, they develop small capsules that contain, small black seeds.
  • Diosma is from the family Rutaceae, which is the family of rue and citrus.
  • Diosma grow from 0.5 to 2 meters (2 to 6.5 feet) in height.
  • Diosma has small, needle shaped leaves that are typically green in colour.
  • Insects including butterflies and bees come for the nectar of diosma, while ants transport the black seeds which can grow into new plants.
Bibliography:
Diosma, 2013, Burke’s Backyard, <http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/factsheets/Flowering-Plants-and-Shrubs/Diosma/1682>
Coleonema Pulchellum, 2004, Plantz Africa, <http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantcd/coleonpulchell.htm>

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Paramount Pictures

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“Famous Players in Famous Plays” – Paramount’s slogan.

  • Paramount Pictures is a motion picture film company and has its film studio in Hollywood, California, United States.
  • ‘Paramount Pictures’ is also known as ‘Paramount Pictures Corporation’ and ‘Paramount’.
  • Paramount Pictures was founded by Adolph Zukor, a Hungarian, in 1912, originally named the ‘Famous Players Film Company’ which merged to form Paramount in 1916.
  • Paramount Pictures bought DreamWorks SKG, in 2005, for $1.6 billion, although DreamWorks became independent only a few years later.
  • The mountain featured on the Paramount Pictures’ logo, has been used in some form in the company’s logo since it was founded, and is the longest, existing, original icon in Hollywood film industry.
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Logo
Image courtsey of Paramount Pictures
  • There are only four other studios on earth that are older than Paramount Pictures, that are still in operation.
  • Paramount Pictures hold two-hour tours every day of the week, with visits around the studio premises, and four and a half hour tours are also offered with a more extensive look into its history and current production processes.
  • Paramount Pictures celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2012, which is a milestone that no other significant Hollywood studio had obtained by that time.
  • Since the economic difficulties of Paramount Pictures in the 1960s, the film company has produced some of the best films, including Titanic (1997) and the Transformers series.
  • The first Paramount Pictures film was a French silent film named The Loves of Queen Elizabeth, in 1912.
Bibliography:
2012 Years of Paramount, 2013, Paramount Pictures, <http://www.paramount.com/100-years-paramount>
Paramount Pictures, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramount_Pictures>

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Paramount Picture Motion Films

Celery

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Celery

Green, long celery sticks.

  • Celery is from the family Apiaceae, which is the family of carrots and parsley, and its scientific name is Apium graveolens.
  • Celery is a crunchy and crisp vegetable that can be green, yellow green, white or reddish purple in colour, and can be eaten raw or cooked.
  • Celery is a biennial plant that grows up to one metre (3.3 feet) tall and generally has green, leafy tops, and is said to help keep one’s mouth and teeth clean.
  • There are three main types of celery – leafy celery, that has lots of leaves that are used and small stalks that are not generally eaten; stalk celery, where the stalks are mainly used and the leafy parts are generally not eaten; and root celery, known as celeriac, that is mostly grown for its edible roots.
  • Celery has white or cream coloured flowers that produce small edible seeds.

 Celery, Stick, Long, Leafy, Green, Vegetation, Australia, Ten Random Facts

  • Celery was first named in 1664, ‘celery’ coming from the French word ‘céleri’, which originally came from the Greek word meaning parsley, ‘selinon’.
  • Celery leaves and seeds are often used as herbs or spices while the stalks and leaves can be used as a vegetable in salads or main dishes.
  • Celery seeds can lower a rat’s blood pressure, and women should not consume large amounts of the seeds if they are pregnant.
  • All parts of celery, most notably the seeds, can cause an anaphylactic reaction in those people who are allergic to the vegetable,  that cannot be removed by cooking, and is not uncommon in some parts of Europe, where it is mandatory to label products that have or may contain celery.
  • Celery contains significant portions of vitamin A and folate, and is high in vitamin K, with one serve containing approximately 2/5 of the recommended daily intake.
Bibliography:
Celery, 2011, Fresh for Kids, <http://www.freshforkids.com.au/veg_pages/celery/celery.html>
Celery, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celery>

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Salar de Uyuni

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Salar de Uyuni

Salt, salt and more salt at Salar de Uyuni.

  • Salar de Uyuni is also known as Salar de Tunupa which can be translated from Spanish as ‘salt flat enclosure’.
  • Salar de Uyuni is the world’s biggest salt flat with a measurement of 10,582 km squared (4,086 miles squared), which can be found in Bolivia, South America.
  • Salar de Uyuni has a salt crust that ranges between a few centimetres up to 10 metres (32 feet) thick, that covers the area of a salt water lake that ranges from 2 to 20 meters (7-66 feet) in depth.
  • Salar de Uyuni contains a large amount of chemical metals including sodium, magnesium, potassium, and 50 to 70% of the world’s lithium resource that is extracted to make batteries.
  • Salar de Uyuni has little wildlife, but has 80 species of visiting and migrating birds, including three species of flamingos, as well as a few islands, where the main foliage is cacti, as well as hot springs and geysers.

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Salar de Uyuni
Image courtesy of Ronan Crowley/Flickr
  • Whilst some salt is extracted from Salar de Uyuni, it is estimated that the flat contains 10 billion tonnes (11 billion tons) of salt.
  • Salar de Uyuni has a train cemetery, where trains were used in mining industries until 1940, and this has become one of the most popular attractions on the salt flat.
  • Salar de Uyuni was originally believed to be completely flat, and can make photographs look distorted, but GPSs have shown it has some tiny undulations in the surface.
  • Salar de Uyuni is sometimes covered in clear water, making the salt flat also the largest natural mirror.
  • NASA uses Salar de Uyuni, since it is unmoving and easily spottable, to figure the positioning of NASA’s satellite.
Bibliography:
Salar de Uyuni, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salar_de_Uyuni>
Salar de Uyuni Facts, 2011, Travel Unearthed, <http://www.travelunearthed.com/salar-de-uyuni-facts>

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Stingray

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Stingray

Lightning fast reflex stingrays.

  • Stingrays are from the family Myliobatiformes, which is the family of fish, known as rays with a cartilage structure, and stingrays have no bones but instead have cartilage and are related to sharks.
  • There are more than 60 species of stingray, and they are typically found in warm, coastal waters throughout the world, although they can be seen in some other areas.
  • Stingrays can feel the electrical currents a fish produces when it swims, using its electroreceptors and its sense of smell to catch prey.
  • Stingrays can camouflage themselves by laying their flat body, coloured similar to the seabed, in the sand and partially burying themselves.
  • Stingrays often feed at high tide in reefs with their cousins the sharks, and once they have found their food, they crush their prey of clams, mussels, crabs and shrimps with their super strong teeth.

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Stingray
Image courtesy of National Geographic
  • Stingrays typically have a litter of between 2 and 13 babies per year that are born as mini versions of an adult.
  • Stingrays do not normally attack people unless aggravated by being stepped on or are feeling threatened, although many people are afraid and suspicious of them, particularly since a stingray killed the legendary wildlife protector, Steve Irwin in 2006.
  • Stingrays usually have a barbed stinger, that sometimes contains venom, and if stung, it is not normally fatal unless stung near vital organs, but it can be extremely painful and may cause swelling and muscle cramps.
  • Stingrays are commonly eaten in Malaysia and Singapore served with a sambal sauce, and they have wing like fins that are served as a delicacy in some countries.
  • A stingray swims through the sea by moving side to side or flapping its fins up and down to glide, and they can weigh up to 358 kg (789 pounds) and grow up to 2 meters (6.5 feet) in length although some species grow up to twice that in length.

 

Bibliography:
Hughes C, Stingrays, 2013, National Geographic Kids, <http://kids.nationalgeographic.com.au/kids/animals/creaturefeature/stingray/>
Stingray, 2013, National Geographic, <http://animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/fish/stingray/>
Stingray, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray>

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