Vanilla – delicious thing

Vanilla is used as a flavoring in ice cream, cakes, cookies, and many other types of food.
Vanilla beans grow on certain types of orchids in warm places of the world – Mexico, Ecuador, Madagascar, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Uganda, China, India, Tahiti, and the Philippines.
A vanilla orchid has a long climbing stem that attaches itself to a tree trunk or pole. The fruits that develop from large yellowish flowers are long pods (or beans) with seeds. Beans may grow to 20 centimeters long. Vanilla beans are processed by drying and storing them. Fermentation creates crystals of a chemical called vanillin.
The Aztec of Mexico flavored their chocolate drinks with vanilla for hundreds of years before the Spanish arrived in their lands in the 1500s. The Spanish introduced it to other Europeans.
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Tardigrada – water bear

Earth’s inhabitants do not stop thinking about the colonization of the surrounding space. To find a way to adapt to life on other planets, scientists is studying the amazing creature with fantastic qualities, and the most important is invulnerability to any aggressive environment.
Tardigrada, or water bear, is a unique creature. There is no other living being in the world which can survive under extreme conditions. It easily withstands the temperature from absolute zero to 100 ° C. It is afraid neither high blood pressure nor radiations that are dangerous to other living organisms. During the experiment, water bears survived -273°C without losing the ability to move and reproduce. They were put into alcoholic solution and liquid helium. Gas attacks of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide water bear did not even notice. It was not afraid the pressure to 6 atmospheres, six times greater than the pressure in the Mariana Trench – the deepest point of the oceans. They live up to 200 years and are able to survive without food and water for a long time. And they can easily do even without air up to a few weeks!
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Dangerous and mysterious alchemy

Alchemist and swindler have long been synonymous. In fact, there were many crooks among them. But the most famous of them believed that the philosopher’s stone could help to create an elixir of youth and precious metals. And their experiences enriched human knowledge. They say that the Egyptian queen Cleopatra even dabbled in alchemy and wrote a treatise.
Alchemy was the first science in human history which combined theory and experiment.
In ancient times people practiced various forms of alchemy in China, India, Greece, and the Middle East.
In Europe, alchemy spread in the XII century. At the beginning of the XIV century English King Edward promised Ramon Llull to send a fleet to the holy war against the infidels, if he provided expedition with gold. And Llull produced 60 thousand pounds of gold from mercury. It was used to mint coins with the image of the king and the inscription: “Edward, King of England and France.”
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Babylon – ancient city

According to the legend, the people who lived more than four thousand years ago in Mesopotamia, near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, after the Flood spoke the same language. They were complacent and proud. And they decided to build a tower up to the sky. God learned about this, became angry and gave them different languages. And people didn’t understand each other, quarreled, abandoned the building and went to the different ends of the earth. The tower remained unfinished, but the city where it was erected, gained popularity. It was named Babel.
Until the end of the XIX century the Tower of Babel was considered a biblical legend. There was no physical evidence of construction of the tower.
The Bible says that the builders made the tower of mud bricks, as there were not enough stones. These giant bricks (6 m long) were burned and resin was used as a binder between them. The descendants of Noah, as the Bible said, spent three years searching for materials and about twenty-two years to build the tower.
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Beautiful and Unusual Nests

Birds are well known for building nests for their eggs. Some fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and insects also build nests. Some fish hollow out nests in underwater gravel or sand. Frogs make nests out of mud or hardened froth. Alligators build mounds of grasses and mud. Cobras push together nests of leaves. Rabbits, mice, moles, and gophers make their nests underground.
Birds build nests in trees, in bushes, in caves, on buildings, on the ground or underground. They use a wide range of building materials: twigs and grass, mud, feathers, plant fuzz, and bits of spiderweb. Some birds use their saliva to bind the materials together.
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How people saw the future in the past

In 1900, American engineer John Elfreth Watkins wrote an article in Ladies’ Home Journal on what would happen in 100 years. Now it turned out that the author had made some interesting predictions. In particular, he was able to describe mobile phones, TV, digital photo, aircraft, tanks and even more. Nevertheless, in his article, which was entitled “What can happen in the next century,” Watkins made several predictions that had not come true.
John Watkins worked for the magazine Saturday Evening Post, which was published by the same publisher as the Ladies’ Home Journal. The editor of the historical department of Saturday Evening Post Jeff Nilsson saw an old article and decided to publish it after 112 years.
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Interesting about chimney sweeps

Chimney Sweeps’ Day is celebrated annually on May 1 in the UK. There is a grand colorful show, like a carnival, in Rochester, Kent. People smeared with soot are marching through the city, and then arrange a variety of games, contests, or acrobatic shows.
Why does this festival take place in Rochester? After all, this profession was not only very popular, but also demanded all over Europe. It turned out that four hundred years prior to 1900 a professional chimney sweeps holiday with a concert and a festive parade was held in this city. Chimney sweeps across England not only met the spring, but also celebrated their only day off. Over time, this cheerful holiday was forgotten.
Local businessman Gordon Newton was interested in history of his native land and revived the festival. Since 1981 the businessman spent his own money on the festivals. And then the city authorities took care of all the expenses because they saw that the festival attracted a lot of tourists from all over Europe. And now on May days Rochester turns into a fairy-tale city.
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