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Sulfur

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Sulfur

Don’t lose your senses under the smell of sulfur!

  • Sulfur is an element that is part of the periodic table, scientifically notated as ‘S’, while 16 is its atomic number.
  • The cosmos’ tenth most common element is sulfur, which can be found naturally in stars of massive size, in meteorites, and in volcanic gases.
  • Sulfur, also known and spelled as ‘sulphur’, is coloured yellow in its purist form; though it changes to a red coloured liquid upon reaching a heat of approximately 200° Celsius (392° Fahrenheit).
  • Originally, sulfur was mined in a somewhat pure form or extracted from pyrite, however in modern times the element is extracted from fossil fuels such as petroleum.
  • The identification and use of sulfur has been present throughout many ancient civilisations, including Egypt, India, Greece and China, and the element was often used for primitive medical purposes.
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Volcanic Sulfur
Image courtesy of James St. John/Flickr
  • Fertilisers, pesticides, cellophane, paper bleach, rayon, detergents, as well as preservatives purposed for dried fruit, all often make use of sulfur.
  • Sulfur is relatively safe for humans in its elemental form, however when combined with other elements, it can cause harm through breathing it in a gas form, or on contact with skin.
  • Compounds with strong smells, typically those unpleasant, generally consist of sulfur; including the odour of rotten eggs, the spray of skunks, and garlic.
  • Sulfur melts at 388.36 Kelvin (115.21° Celsius or 239.38° Fahrenheit); boils at 717.8 Kelvin (444.6° Celsius or ​832.3° Fahrenheit); and produces a flame of a blue colour.
  • Sulfur has been used as an ingredient in multiple medicines, particularly those to cure skin diseases, due to the element’s ability to kill bacteria.
Bibliography:
The Element Sulfur, n.d, Jefferson Lab, http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele016.html
Sulfur, 2015, Los Alamos, http://periodic.lanl.gov/16.shtml
Sulfur, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur

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Cassowary

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Cassowary

Don’t feed, aggravate, threaten or approach a cassowary. You may not enjoy it.

  • A cassowary is a species of flightless bird, native to New Guinea and northern Australia, that is typically hidden in tropical rainforest areas.
  • The scientific name of a cassowary is Casuarius, from the Casuariidae family, and it is the only genus of birds in the family.
  • There are three species of cassowaries still living – the northern, dwarf and southern, with the southern species being the most abundant.
  • A cassowary’s diet consists primarily of fruit, and they also eat insects, vegetation, small animals and fungi.
  • Cassowaries are large birds that range from 1.5 to 2 metres (4.9 to 6.6 feet) in height and weigh around 25 to 58.5 kilograms (55 to 129 pounds), ranking it in the top three extant birds in height, and in the top two in weight.

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Cassowary
Image courtesy of Heather Paul/Flickr

  • Cassowaries have dangerously clawed feet with three toes, which have been known to cause both animal and human fatalities.
  • The plumage of a cassowary is primarily black, while the neck is generally a mixture of blues and reds, and the bird has a horn-like protrusion on its head, known as a ‘casque’.
  • Habitat destruction and isolation, as well as hunting, have caused populations of some species of cassowary to decrease in numbers, and these are listed as vulnerable.
  • Female cassowaries generally lay from three to eight eggs, that are coloured green to blue, and reach a length of 14 centimetres (5.5 inches), making them the third largest bird eggs in the world, and they are looked after by the males before and after they have hatched.
  • A study in 2003 revealed that cassowaries expecting food from humans are most likely to attack, while 75% of all attacks on humans are a result of this, caused by their loss of shyness from humans feeding them.
Bibliography:
Cassowary, 2015, A-Z Animals, http://a-z-animals.com/animals/cassowary/
Cassowary, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassowary
Evans O, Southern Cassowary, 2015, Australian Museum, http://australianmuseum.net.au/southern-cassowary
Our Unique Big Bird, 2015, Australian Rainforest Foundation, http://www.arf.net.au/content.php?pageid=1280380330

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Corpse Flower

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Corpse Flower

You get more than you bargained for with the corpse flower.

  • Corpse flowers are large flowering plants native to the Sumatra rainforests of Indonesia, in Asia, and they may also be found in nearby areas.
  • The scientific name of a corpse flower is Rafflesia arnoldii and it is from the family Rafflesiaceae, a family of parasitic plants.
  • Corpse flowers have five large petals that can grow to be up to 1.05 metres (3.4 feet) in length and they are the largest known extant flower recorded.
  • The flower colour of corpse flowers ranges from red, oranges and browns, and is spotted with white.
  • Corpse flowers excrete an odour compared to that of a dead corpse, which serves as an attraction for flies to pollinate the plant.
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Corpse Flower
Image courtesy of Tamara Van Molken/Flickr
  • The buds of corpse flowers reach a length of approximately 0.3 metres (1 foot) and have an appearance similar to a cabbage.
  • There was a race between the French and the British to publish a scientific name for the genus of the corpse flower, as both countries obtained specimens at various times, however it was the British who named the genus in 1820, and in 1821 they named this particular species.
  • Tree shrews eat the fruit produced by corpse flowers, that contain numerous small seeds, which the shrews help to disperse.
  • Corpse flower plants do not have leaves or roots, and instead, they feed from a vine host plant as a parasite, and remain hidden until ready to bloom.
  • Corpse flowers will only bloom when ready for pollination, a period that may last for only a couple of days, though it can take months for the buds to mature and open.
Bibliography:
Rafflesia Arnoldii (Corpse Flower), n.d, KEW Royal Botanic Gardens, http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/rafflesia-arnoldii-corpse-flower
Rafflesia Arnoldii, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafflesia_arnoldii
World’s Largest Flower, Raffelsia Arnoldii, 2013, Facts List, http://factslist.net/2013/04/worlds-largest-flower-rafflesia-arnoldii/

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Spotted Lake

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Spotted Lake

Spotted Lake is coloured in polka-dots.

  • Spotted Lake is a drainage basin with no outflow, located in British Columbia’s Similkameen Valley, in Canada.
  • The water of Spotted Lake is high in sodium and magnesium sulphate, and calcium, as well as a number of other minerals.
  • During summer, the evaporation of water in Spotted Lake leaves numerous water pools that contain significant quantities of mineral deposits, and as such, the lake looks spotty.
  • ‘Spotted Lake’ is also known in the indigenous language of the area as ‘ktlil’xWW‘ (Ha? Ki lil xw), or ‘sacred medicine lake’, and it is also known as ‘Chliluk’, ‘Khiluk’ and ‘Kliluk’.
  • Spotted Lake has been considered a sacred area by native communities, especially the local Okanagan people, with the ability to heal illness and damage to human skin.
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Spotted Lake
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
  • Minerals of Spotted Lake were extracted during World War I, for the manufacture of explosives.
  • Spotted Lake can reach 700 metres (765 yards) at its longest point and 250 metres (273 yards) at its widest.
  • Spotted Lake is designated as a protected area and has been owned by the Canadian government and indigenous communities since 2001, though it was privately owned prior to this.
  • There are said to be 365 individual pools of water in summer at Spotted Lake, that range in colour from yellow, orange, green, purple and blue, depending on the mineral content.
  • The pathways between the pools of water of Spotted Lake occur due to the hardening of minerals, however walking in the lake area is prohibited.
Bibliography:
10 Things to Know About Khiluk – The Spotted Lake of British Columbia, 2014, CryptoVille, http://visitcryptoville.com/2014/01/30/10-things-to-know-about-khiluk-the-spotted-lake-of-british-columbia/
Discover the mystic ‘Spotted Lake’: A sacred site producing therapeutic waters near Osoyoos BC Canada, 2013, Strange Sounds, http://strangesounds.org/2013/04/discover-the-mystic-spotted-lake-a-sacred-site-producing-therapeutic-waters-near-osoyoos-bc-canada.html
Spotted Lake (Khiluk), British Columbia, Canada, 2014, Globetrotter’s Wanderlust, http://globetrotterswanderlust.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/spotted-lake-khiluk-british-columbia.html
Spotted Lake, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_Lake
Spotted Lake, n.d, British Columbia, http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/16532.html

 

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Langsat

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Langsat

Langsats are just one of those many exotic fruits from Southeast Asia.

  • Langsat is the edible fruit of a tree that originates from countries of Southeast Asia, and it is commonly eaten raw, but can also be cooked.
  • The scientific name of the tree bearing langsats is Lansium parasiticum, also known as Lansium domesticum, and it is from the family Meliaceae, the family of mahogany.
  • ‘Langsat’ fruit is also known as ‘lanzone’, ‘lansone’, ‘langsak’, ‘longkong’, ‘duku’, and other names, depending on the country and language.
  • The langsat tree typically grows to a height of 10 to 20 metres (33 to 66 feet), and the trees may bear fruit twice a year, depending on the climate.
  • Langsat fruit are usually around 2 to 5 centimetres (0.8 to 2 inches) in length and ovoid or spherical in shape, and they grown in bunches of two to thirty.
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Langsat
Image courtesy of Yun Huang Yong/Flickr
  • The flavour of langsats is sweet to sour, and is often compared to a blend of grape and grapefruit.
  • The flesh of langsats is a translucent white colour, while the skin is a yellow or brown colour and can either be thick or thin, depending on the variety, and is usually peeled off before eating.
  • Each individual langsat contains five or six segments, and one to three seeds that expel a taste of bitterness once eaten.
  • Langsats are high in vitamin B, phosphorus and vitamin A, and they contain other beneficial vitamins and minerals.
  • When ripe, langsats can drop from their host tree with ease, even with just a few shakes, and once picked, they are best stored in cool conditions, or eaten soon after ripening.
Bibliography:
Health Benefits of Langsat Fruit, 2015, Medindia, http://www.medindia.net/patients/lifestyleandwellness/top-9-health-benefits-of-langsat-fruit.htm
Langsat and Duku, 1982, The Archives of The Rare Fruit Council of Australia, http://rfcarchives.org.au/Next/Fruits/LangsatDuku/LangsatDuku5-82.htm
Lansium Parasiticum, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansium_parasiticum
Morton J, Langsat, 1987, Purdue Agriculture, https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/langsat.html
Nelson B, 15 Fruits You’ve Probably Never Heard Of, 2010, Mother Nature Network, http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/photos/15-fruits-youve-probably-never-heard-of/langsat

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