Seven Wonders of the Natural World

GRAND CANYON:
The Grand Canyon is a rocky gorge (ravine) in Arizona, USA. It was created by millions of years of wind and water erosion from Colorado River, which cut through layer after layer sediment. The rocks of the canyon walls range from 250 million years old at the top to over 2 billion years old at the bottom. Each layer of rock represents a distinct geological period of earth's past.

PARICUTIN VOLCANO
It erupted out of a cornfield on February 20, 1943, located just outside a city called Michoacan, about 200 miles of mexico city, Paricutin grew to 10,400 feet in just nine years, making it the fastest growing volcano ever recorded in history.

THE HARBOR AT RIO DE JANEIRO
On the east coast of Brazil lies a picturesque scene of towering mountains and beautiful beaches. Portuguese explores were the first Europeans to see the harbor, also known as Guanabara Bay, on January 1, 1502. They thought they had reached the mouth of an immense river and named it Rio de Janeiro which means River of January
.
NORTHERN LIGHT
Northern lights, also called Aurora Borealis, are nature's fireworks. This spectacular light show takes place in the northern regions, but can be seen from many parts of the world. They occur when solar particles from the sun collide with gases in earth's atmosphere. The collision energy between the solar particle and the atmospheric gas is emitted as a photon (light particle). When there are many collisions, you have an aurora,- lights that seem to dance across the sky.

VICTORIA FALLS
On the African border of Zambia and Zimbabwe, the tranquil Zambezi river suddenly plummets 420 feet over a cliff to form the world's largest waterfall. David Livingstone, a Scottish missionary was the first white man to see the waterfall in 1855. Although he named it after the queen of England, native Africans continue to call it Mosi-ao-tunya which means the smoke that thunders, because the water makes thunderous spray clouds as it falls.

MT EVEREST
About 60 million years ago, India was a separate continent that rapidly moved northward and collided with Asia. The crash pushed up the northern rim of India to create the highest mountain range in the world known as the Himalayas (Mt Everest). It stands above the other mountains at 29,035 feet, making it the tallest on the planet.

GREAT BARRIER REEF
The world largest coral reef is located in the coral sea off the coast of Queensland in Australia. It stretches over 1,400 miles in length and can be seen from space. An estimated 1,500 species of fish and 350 types of coral live and grow on the Great barrier reef.

Seven Super Healthy Foods!

These 7 superfoods are proven, expert- beloved disease fighters and energy boosters. Add them to your meals and get on the fast track to a super healthy body.

LEMONS
Just one lemon has more than 100 percent of your daily intake of vitamin c , which may help increase 'good' HDL cholesterol levels and strengten bones.
Citrus flavonoids found in lemons may help inhibit the growth of cancer cells and act as an anti-inflammatory.

BROCCOLI
One medium stalk of broccoli contains more than 100 percent of your daily vitamin k requirement and almost 200 percent of your recommended daily dose of vitamin c - two essential bone building nutrients.

DARK CHOCOLATE
Just one fourth of an ounce daily can reduce blood pressure in otherwise healthy individuals. Cocoa powder is rich in flavonoids antioxidants shown to reduce 'bad' LDL cholesterol and increase 'good' HDL levels.

POTATOES
One red potato contains 66 micrograms of cell building folate-- about the same amount found in one cup of spinach or broccoli. One sweet potato has almost eight times the amount of cancer-fighting and immune boosting vitamin A you need daily.

SALMON
A great source of omega-3 fatty acids which have been linked to a reduced risk of depression, heart disease, and cancer. A 3-ounce serving contains almost 50 percent of your daily dose of niacin, which may protect against alzheimer's disease and memory loss.

SPINACH
Spinach contains lutein and zeaxanthin, two immune-boosting antioxidants important for eye health. Recent research found that among cancer fighting fruits and veggies, spinach is one of the most effective.

GARLIC
Garlic is a powerful disease fighter that can inhibit the growth of bacteria including E.coli. Allicin, a compound found in garlic works as a potent anti-inflammatory and has been shown to help lower cholesterol and blood pressure levels.

Seven Things About Nigeria!!!

The highest point in Nigeria is the Chappal Wadi Mountain in Taraba State (which means mountain of death). It is 2419m high.
The lowest point is the Atlantic ocean.

The town Gembu in Sardauna Local Government Area is the coldest in Nigeria, and arguably in West Africa. Gembu is nestled in the Mambilla Plateau in Taraba State. The average day temperature is 21.1 Degrees Celsius, and it hardly ever exceeds 25 Degrees. In August the temperature is usually 11 degrees.

The lowest temperature ever recorded in Nigeria was 2.8 degrees Celsius in Potiskum. The highest temperature recorded was 46 degrees Celsius at Yola in 2010. The lowest Temperature recorded in Jos is 4.4 Degrees.Check for more details here.

The National Animal for Nigeria is the black crowned crane. In some places the crane is considered a symbol of good luck. Due to many environmental problems, the Black-Crowned Crane is considered an endangered species.

The exact geographic centre of Nigeria is said to be at Minna, Niger State. Not even Abuja. Exact coordinates  Latitude: 9°38'08.87"N, longitude: 6°30'58.76"E (of Greenwich).

The Jos Plateau Indigobird (Vidua maryae), a small reddish-brown bird, is found nowhere else on the planet but Plateau state, Nigeria.The Jos Plateau Indigo bird is a species of bird in the Viduidae family. It is endemic to Nigeria. It lays its eggs in the nest of the Rock Fire finch which is also restricted to Nigeria.

The Anambra waxbill (Estrilda poliopareia), a small bird of many beautiful colours, is found only in Southern Nigeria and nowhere else on earth. The Anambra Waxbill is a species of estrildid finch found in wetter land of southern Nigeria. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 38,000 km²

Seven Animals You never Knew Existed!

ZEBRA DUIKER
The Zebra Duiker is a small antelope found in Ivory Coast and other parts of Africa. They have gold or red brown coats with distinctive Zebra stripes (hence the name). Their prong-like horn are about 4.5 cm long in males and half that in females. They live in lowland rain forests and mostly eats leaves and fruits.

PANTAGONIAN MARA
The Pantagonian Mara is a relatively large rodent found in parts of Argentina. This herbivorous somewhat rabbit like animal has distinctive long ears and long limbs and its hind limbs are longer and more muscular than its forelimbs.

THE MANED WOLF
The maned wolf is the largest Canid in South America resembling a large Fox with reddish fur. It's the tallest of the wild canids and its long legs are most likely an adaptation to the tall grasslands of its native habitat.

SUNDA COLUGO
Also known as Sunda flying lemur, it is not actually a lemur and does not fly. Instead it glides as it leaps among trees. Its strictly arboreal..it can be found throughout southeast Indonesia, Thailand , Malaysia and Singapore.

THE GERENUK
The Gerenuk, also known as the water gazelle, is a long necked species of antelope found in dry thorn bush scrub in eastern Africa  The word Gerenuk comes from Somali language meaning 'giraffe-necked'. They can reach higher branches and twigs than other gazelles and antelope by standing erect on their rear legs and stretch their elongated necks.

LAMPREYS
lampreys are a type of jaw-less fish that live mostly in coastal and fresh waters. The adults are characterized by a toothed , funnel like sucking mouth. They attach themselves to fish and suck their blood. Lampreys have been around for nearly 300 million years and their body structure has remained unchanged.

IRRAWADDY DOLPHIN
It is a species of oceanic dolphin found near sea coasts , in estuaries and rivers in parts of bay of Bengal in southeast Asia. Genetically the Irrawaddy dolphin is closely related to the killer whale.

Seven Things About Our Planet Earth

As usual here are Seven things about the Earth you never knew.



EXPLOSIVE FACTS
An amazing feature of the earth is that it has almost 500 volcanoes worldwide. About 80% of the earth, that which is found above and below the surface, are made of volcano soil.

THE COLOUR OF THE EARTH
The earth is popularly dubbed as the blue planet. Astronauts who first went to space described the entirety of earth as blue. This is due to the fact that 71% of the planet is covered by bodies of water.

THE EARTH IS HOT
Aside from the sun as earth's main source of heat energy , humans could theoretically survive without the sun's heat as the planet's inner core is hot enough to supply energy to its inhabitants. It is estimated that the core temperature is between 5,000 to 7,000 degrees Celsius. It's just as hot as the sun's surface too!

UNIQUE TECTONICS
Planet earth is the only planet of the milky way which features tectonic plates.

SPACE DUST
 There are approximately 30,000 space particles and dust that enter the earth's atmosphere annually. Fortunately, the majority of this debris burns up when it enters the earth's atmosphere ,resulting in shooting stars instead of giant craters.

SPEEDS OF EARTH
The earth surface rotates on it's axis at 1,000 miles per hour. Consequently, the planet travels through space at 66,700 miles per hour. But how come we do not feel that our planet is moving at a dizzying rate? This is due to the fact that the earth is rotating at a constant speed and is partly due to the gravitational pull of earth.

THE BRIGHTEST OF THEM ALL
Although it is known that Venus is the brightest celestial body in the sky, earth is comparatively brighter when observed from outer space. The factor which makes our planet brightest among all the planets of the milky way is water. The oceans which cover almost 71 percent of the earths surface, contain close to 20 million tons of gold.


Thanks to Debby for these facts.

Seven Things You Never Knew About Your Brain

NERVE IMPULSES TO AND FROM THE BRAIN TRAVEL AS FAST AS 170 MILES PER HOUR
Ever wondered how you can react so fast to things around you? Its due to the super-speedy movement of nerve impulses from your brain to the rest of your body and vice versa, bringing reactions at the speed of a high powered luxury sports car.

MASS STORAGE
The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as the encyclopedia Britannica any other encyclopedia for that matter,the storage capacity in electronic terms is thought to be between 3 or even 1,000 terabytes. The national archives of Britain containing over 900 years of history only takes up to 70 terabytes making your brain memory power pretty darn impressive.

IT CAN FEEL NO PAIN
Your brain can feel no pain because it has no brain receptors, you may have heard when people feel a headache, they say its the brain which plagues them, but really, the nerve impulses which transmits the pain.

GREAT ENERGY SOURCE
Your brain is a great energy source while your awake it generates 20-23 watts of power more than enough to power a light bulb.

BRAIN NEURONS
The human brain consists of approximately 100 billion neurons (which is as many cells as there are stars in milky way). Each neuron has somewhere between 1,000 and 10;000 synapses , equaling about 1 quadrillion synapses. If all the neurons in the human brain were lined up, they would stretch 600 miles. Neurons continue to grown throughout human life ( women have more brain neurons).

80 % OF THE BRAIN IS WATER
Your brain isn't the firm, gray mass you've seen on TV. Living brain tissue is a squishy pink and jelly-like organ thanks to the loads of blood and high water content of the tissue. So the next time you're feeling dehydrated get a drink to keep your brain hydrated.

IT FEELS NO PAIN
The brain can feel no pain because it has no pain receptors or sensory system of any kind. Therefore any changes in temperature,pressure or even damage to brain tissue would not be detected by your brain unless it has affected an area connected to the nervous system. When people experience headache the pain is actually resulting from pressure on nerve tissue or blood vessels that surrounds the brain, not the brain itself.

YOUR BRAIN CAN CREATE STRANGE ILLUSIONS AT GREAT HEIGHTS
 When you climb over 8,000 ft likely on the mountain, your body will start to feel an oxygen deprivation . It affects your brain cells which are responsible for the visual and facial identification processing. As a result , your naked eyes will see very strange illusions like kind of light that emanates from yourself or others. Even you can see the second body of your own. Really strange.

Extra fact: Your mind is somewhere in your brain.