Category Archive: Nature

Moss can be found in any forest. It covers the ground, the trees, stumps and other wet places in tropical and equatorial forests. Simultaneously, mosses somehow survive on almost bare rocks and in cold climates. What strange organisms are these mosses?
This is an ancient group of plants that appeared about 500 million years ago. It has no flowers. Scientists who study mosses are called bryologists.
Mosses absorb water with the entire surface of the body, and therefore they can live almost everywhere where there is enough moisture in the air. They live on all continents of the Earth. You know, they are one of the pioneers of the land, giving rise to new habitats for phytocenosis.
During prolonged drought and lack of soil water, mosses can dry out and thus experience an unfavorable period for them. As soon as moisture appears, they come to life again. They accumulate a large amount of water in special cells, thereby helping the soil to get rid of its excess. Sphagnum contributes to the swamping of the occupied territory.
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The official homeland of pineapples is Brazil. There, this plant can be found in the wild: a short trunk (up to a meter high) becomes thicker every year and sometimes reaches two meters in diameter. At the top is a rosette of hard leaves, and inside there is a large fruit.
Ananas means “excellent fruit” in an Indian language from South America.
In the world there are more than eight dozen varieties of pineapples. The shape of the fruits is the same for everyone, but the weight varies from half to 4 kilograms.
Pineapple was brought to Europe by Christopher Columbus, because he really liked the appearance and taste of this fruit. And now, pineapple is firmly rooted in the traditions and customs of many countries. So, in Germany, a glass of champagne with a slice of pineapple is considered a traditional drink for the New Year.
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Owing to their special nature and origin, meteorites have long been endowed with great power and often served as objects of worship. People saw in them the personification of infinity, a piece of celestial matter that fell on our planet. Even today, despite the fact that modern science has been able to reliably establish their true nature, they still remain something mysterious and alluring.
The ancients called meteorites “stones that fell from the moon.” The Chinese gave them the name “stars that fell from heaven and turned into stones.” The Greeks regarded them as burning clots of air. Almost every ancient civilization had its own, as a rule, mystical and religious explanation of what “shooting stars” are.
It is curious that in the history of the development of science there was a period of official rejection of “heavenly stones”. Rationalism categorically refused to accept the fact of their existence. The generally accepted opinion at that time was that stones cannot fall from the sky, since they are not there. In their defense, supporters of this hypothesis made a rather dubious argument: they say that meteorites cannot be “fallen stars,” since no one has ever seen a star disappear from heaven.
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Baikal is one of the oldest lakes located on Earth and it is the largest storage of fresh water. Its water is very clear and clean. The taste of water from this lake is similar to distilled liquid. It contains a small amount of organic impurities, as well as suspended and dissolved minerals. The amount of water here exceeds the great lakes of the northern part of America.
What is more, it is the lake with the greatest depth. The average depth of the lake is 730 meters (the deepest point is 1642 meters). And the water is very clear that even at a depth of 40 meters stones and other objects are visible.
Each year, approximately 5 tons of oil is produced from the bottom of the lake. 13,300 rivers flow into Baikal, and only 1 river flows out of it.
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Pepper is the king of spices. The first mention of pepper is found in Indian literature written in Sanskrit more than 3,000 years ago. There are more than one and a half thousand various types of peppers.
The days when spices were a symbol of wealth have sunk into oblivion. Their production and consumption have increased many times since the Middle Ages.
Pepper, which we call black, grows in East India and on the islands of the Malay Archipelago, now part of Indonesia. The black pepper plant is a special type of shrub and its branches even climb very tall trees. The fruits are picked at the beginning of ripening, dried until the crust becomes hard, and then it is separated. Unripe berries retain their aroma for a long time, while ripe ones lose their smell and taste literally within a few days.
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The healing properties of juniper have been known since ancient Rome, Egypt and Greece. During various epidemics, doctors advised fumigating the premises with juniper branches. And the Indians of North America for the treatment of patients with tuberculosis and skin diseases settled them in juniper thickets.
Juniper is considered a very strong plant in energy terms. If you walk through the woods or simply place a twig in a vase the juniper will clean the room and will nourish you with positive energy. Moreover, even in a cut form, this plant does not lose its positive qualities.
People make spoons, pipes from juniper. It is recommended to have juniper products in any house, they will protect you from negative energy. Even sorcerers and magicians use juniper oil in their rituals. It is believed that it repels snakes and protects people from their bites.
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The fantastic speed of a swordfish is still a mystery to scientists.
At the very end of World War II, the British tanker Barbara sailed on the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The weather was calm. And suddenly the sailor on duty noticed that a long torpedo was flying at a huge speed right toward the tanker, leaving a foamy mark on the surface of the ocean. The sailor raised the alarm, but after a few moments the torpedo had already reached its target, hit the tanker, but … there was no explosion. And the “torpedo” quickly turned around and again rushed at the ship. It turned out that it was a swordfish. At the second attempt to ram the ship, the fish broke its weapon – a sword, and was stuck in a hole. When the aggressive fish was pulled out onto the deck, it turned out that the length of the sword exceeded one and a half meters, the body was five meters, and the weight of the live torpedo was 660 kilograms.
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