It just teaches us something about life and that is what trees are all about. I personally adore nature and greenery and while surfing the net, I came across these weird but beautiful trees. So in this article I will be sharing some trees from all over the world that are simply gorgeous!

10. AXEL ERLANDSON’S CIRCUS TREE

Axel Erlandson has a passion for sculpturing tress and this is what inspired him to open up a horticulture exhibit in 1947 located in Santa Cruz. This particular talent is known as Arbor Sculpture! He created many master pieces for example the Circus Tree which attracted a lot of attention from around the world! He used the technique to graft various living plants together to make up the structure. One particular structure that is quite famous is the Basket tree for which he had grafted sycamores together in 42 different connections. It is these connections that gave it the basket shape!

9. PIRANGI CASHEW TREE, BRAZIL

This is one of the largest cashew trees in the whole world! As is evident from the picture, it looks more like a giant root than a tree or perhaps more like a bush, but it is a tree in fact and covers an area of about 8500 square meters itself! It is measured about 300 into 300 which makes it a mighty large tree. This is why it is not surprising that it bears an average of 8000 fruit every year! No picture can do justice to the enormity of this plant but you can have a clear idea!

8. TREE OF LIFE, BAHRAIN

I do not know whether you may feel this or not but looking at the picture of this tree I felt weird sense nostalgia. The fact that this particular stands alone in the middle of a desert and because of the desert, the tree hardly has any water available! I think that is sad, but it continues to stand! It is amazing how nature teaches us so much about life. This tree is known the Tree of Life and it is location in Bahrain! The tree is like four centuries old! So many of the local people believe that this was the location of the Garden of Eden!

7. CHAPEL OAK OF ALLOUVILLE

If I ever wanted to build myself a tree house and live in it, this is exactly how I would want it to be like. Looking at this tree bought back so many memories from my childhood simply because there was this book series called “The Faraway Tree” and it was about this magical tree in the middle of the forest. People lived in this tree and its top reached the clouds. This is like the real life depiction of that tree I read about when I was a child! Chapel tree as it is called, is one of the most famous trees in France! It is called so because in the year 1669, when it was decided that a chapel would be build in this tree that was made hollow due to a lightning bolt! Most parts of the tree are now dead but it continues to live on as a symbol!

6. BAOBAB, MADAGASCAR

You might not agree with me but I think Baobab is one of the most adorable names that can be given to trees. Coming back to the point, due to the characteristic shape of Baobab it is one of the most charismatic trees in the whole world! The tree that you see in picture is known as the Teapot Baobab due to its shape. The trees do not normally have leaves for the main part of a year and their trunk is so thick that it actually seems bloated! The interesting thing is that these huge trunks have the ability to store water and they are fire resistant! The trunks of some of these trees grow so thick that people actually go ahead and reside inside them! I think that is cute!

5. GERMAN SHERMAN

Located in the Giant Forest of the National Park in United States, this tree that is known as the German Sherman (funnily enough considering that it is in the US) is more than 250 feet tall and is like 2500 years old! The largest branch of this tree was broken in 2006 but that did not change the title of the tree as the largest tree in the world! The circumference of the base of the tree trunk is an amazing 102 feet! Seeing is believing in this case!

4. SILK COTTON TREES OF TAPHROM

The temple of Ta Prohm or which is also known as the Jungle temple has the most astonishing trees growing there and that too in the weirdest way which is highly unbelievable! The place is now known as Angkor Archeological Park and apparently it was left on its own for hundreds of years and what you see in the picture, is how the temple handled the loneliness (absolutely no pun intended). Their roots coil up like snakes and it seems as if the trees are spreading their skirts on the grounds! The sight is mesmerizing!

3. TULE TREE OF OAXACA

This particular tree is the most famous tree of Mexico and it is located near Oaxaca city. This is neither the oldest nor the largest tree in the world but the base trunk of the tree measures an astounding 164 feet. The tree is a part of the whole family of ancient trees that grow there!

2. DRAGON TREE, CANARY ISLANDS

The Dragon tree is known with this weird name because of a long and ancient tale that is related to Hercules and his quests. The tree is more than 1500 years old and when cut; it oozes out a red sap which the superstitious call the blood of Hercules! You are free to believe whatever you want but this is not doubt that the tree is a sight to behold and is located in Tenerife.

1. WOLLEMI PINE, AUSTRALIA

This is one tree that is not interesting or well-known because of its looks but because of its history! This tree is known to have been a living dinosaur and it was extinct. It was later discovered in the year 1994 and efforts are made to preserve it! It is also called the crown jewel of the botanical world because it was previously known only from a 120 million year old fossil!

10. ANIMAL RAIN

This is one of the most amazing science facts of all that I am sure you have not heard about. Did you know that there was a frog rain in London, Serbia, and India in the year 1998, 2005, and 2006 respectively? Then there was also a report about a frog rain in Wales in the year 2004. It might surprise you and you might think that frog rain is the name given to some kind of acidic rain but no, frog rain is what the name shows, a phenomenon where frogs actually do rain from the sky. It is scientifically proven that animal can rain down on us and the most common raining animals include frogs, fishes, and lastly, Birds. No one can exactly explain how this happens because certainly, there are no clouds that produce frogs or other animals for that matter. No this is science for you, as mysterious as ever!

9. COSMIC LATTE

There have been many instances where astronauts have explained what the universe actually looks like. In the year 2001 scientists and astronauts claimed that the color of the universe was greenish white but later they correct themselves in a paper published 2002. What they reported in that paper was that after a complete survey of the color of the galaxy, it turns out that it is in real a shade of beige white! In their survey, they included more than 200,000 galaxies just to ensure that they were on the right track and the consensus was generalized! The final color was later displayed in an article of the Washington Port. There was a joke that went around that a new name was needed for the color that was decided upon because it was neither white nor beige. Hence it was decided that universe was of a Cosmic Latte shade! I am sure that soon this would be one of the most touted colors in makeup palettes all over the world! It surely sounds very enchanting!

8. DANCING POISON

There was a weird phenomenon that occurred in middle Europe from the 14^th to the 17^th century. What happened was that people danced through the street of the towns and even of the cities. They kept on twitching and even had foam coming out of their mouths but they simply could not stop dancing. When their bodies got completely exhausted they would fall down on the floor and even then they kept on twitching! The dancers were seen screaming about wild visions and their bodies writhing in what seemed like pain inflicted by some invisible force! This scenario was first observed in 1374 in Germany. Later on, it spread through France and all of the Low Countries! This whole situation reached its peak in 1418. People were either dancing, or had fallen due to extensive dancing, or were assisting the dancers who had fallen, or were simply watching the dancers, all in all, everyone was involved in this.

Later they found out the cause of this weird happening and came to know that this happened when someone consumed rye that was infected with a small fungus known as Claviceps purpurea! This, although, is not a real consensus and is just what doctors found true in some affected parts!

7. GRADUAL INCREASE IN THE MOONS ORBIT

There have been many apocalypse theories that are related to the orbits of the earth changing their position. Some theories even suggest that the whole galaxy is shifting in position. Well I can’t really say for sure if that is true or not but get this, the Moon’s orbit is expanding at the rate of 3.8 centimeters every year! It is expected that this gradual increase in the size of the orbit will halt in around 1.5 billion years and it would be 1.6 times its present size! This would mean that a normal earth day would be 55 days long (the amount of time it will take for the Moon to orbit the earth)!

I hope the scientists are wrong about his one but then again, who will live to see 1.5 billion years eh?

6. BELLY BUTTON LINT

Ok so this one is a pretty gross one and I would leave out the finer details for you guys to Google later. I will merely skim through the fact that I found really shocking and which is that sometimes the collection of lint and what not that you find in your belly button, actually travels up from your boxer shorts instead of travelling down from your vest or your shirt! Mind boggling right? Feel free to Google it please! It is pretty harmless though so no need to worry!

5. FLY LARVAE HEALS WOUNDS

Remember how sometimes we have heard about people putting live larvae or maggots (that have been disinfected of course) on their wounds to help the healing process. Well this was discovered long ago by doctors that the soldiers who had live maggots on their wounds seemed to heal earlier than those who did not use the maggots. It was found that the maggots seemed to eat away the dead skin and also the bacteria that had accumulated! So if you introduce live and disinfected maggots or fly larvae onto a wound that is not healing, it can actually help! This was used long before the invention of antibiotics in case you are wondering

4. ANIMALS CAN EXPLODE NATURALLY

Another gross science fact coming up! Apparently animal explosions can occur anytime anywhere. And mostly it happens because of gases that are left off of a decomposing sperm! Major “ew” factor because where normal humans fart or burp, animals explode (pardon the pun please) !

3. AN ERECTION WHEN DEAD

Please do not be disgusted or think that the writer must be a major pervert. This is actually true for male patients who die facing downwards because after the heart stops, the natural distribution of blood also stops and thereby the force of gravity acts upon it. This explains about everything about this whole scenario! It cannot happen if a male dies in a position other than the one mentioned before!

2. MALE SEA HORSES GET PREGNANT

Remember in FRIENDS when Rachael is pregnant and Ross tries to comfort her by saying that “I wish I was a sea-horse”! Rachael looks at him in a WTF way and he explains by saying, “You see in sea horses, it is the male that gets pregnant”! So yes, it is true that with the sea horses, it IS the male that gets pregnant! I know some of you will have a lot of weird wished while reading this!

1. A FETUS CAN CARRY ITS TWIN

Fetus in fetu is a very rare medical case (only 91 in the whole world) where one fetus absorbs the other one into itself. The host fetus can actually grow into a normal human being the absorbed fetus still inside. It becomes very parasitic after a while which is when doctors normally intervene. The absorbed fetus cannot grow on it own because it does not have a brain but is touted to have organs and other things (albeit very weird and bizarre)!

10. BRAIN ACTIVITY WHEN YOU DREAM

Have you ever heard that a person died of fatal insomnia, a problem where the patient cannot sleep at all! Well that is due to the reason that the brain decides not to shut off at all, not even if coma is induced! The amazing thing that most of you might not have known before is that a lot of portions of the brain are actually active while we sleep. There are different stages of a human sleeps where different parts of the brain are involved specially the visual areas of the human cortex and the limbic system that is responsible for our emotions. The human cortex is, in some cases, more active during the sleep than it is while a human is awake!

9. ANIMALS AND DREAMS

Doctors are not a hundred percent sure that dogs can dream but they have been diagnosed as entering into an REM sleep which by definition is the Rapid Eye Movement sleep. This kind of sleep occurs in all kinds of mammals. The mammals basically use this as defense mechanism because they can wake up as soon as they enter the REM phase, as concluded by the doctors. This whole pattern varies from animal to animal and of course it is different for birds altogether!

8. MARIJUANA AND DREAMS

You know how some people say that after they had taken Marijuana, they could not dream at all! Even people who are regular smokers of Marijuana said the same thing which causes doctors to realize that perhaps Marijuana messes with the REM sleep. The reason is that all those people who reported a lack of dreams also reported that when they stopped taking Marijuana, they had very vivid dreams which can only happen during REM sleep! After research doctors have concluded that Marijuana actually does affect the REM sleep of many (and this was concluded after a lot of test were done on smokers and non-smokers). So the next time you take some drugs and wonder why you have no dreams, this will give you an idea!

7. EPIC DREAMS

They are known as dreams that are completely life changing and can alter the whole perspective of life for the one experiencing this. Before I get into further details I would like to tell you that people actually fall asleep in an epic dream after which they experience a dream within a dream! Back to the feeling of having an epic dream, they are very influential and people who have seen such dreams have woken up feeling completely changed as far as their life is concerned. Opinions have changed via such dreams. They give the dreamer a fresh new take on life that is refreshing and healthy. I am sure right now you might be wishing to see such a dream, aren’t you?

6. DREAMS OF MEN AND WOMEN

Ok now this particular fact might be of interest to both males and females. The thing is that as per the research that has been conducted, men and women dream differently. They are nearly as different as men and women are in real life. For example, women’s dream tend to last longer where as men’s dream are shorter. Similarly, a women’s dream involves many emotions where as a man’s dream does not have that many (which makes their dreams quite lame actually). The most interesting thing to note might be that nearly 8% of people’s dreams include sexuality where in, men normally dream about random places and strangers and women tend to dream about known places and people who are close to them!

5. CONSISTENT DISTURBED SLEEP LEADS TO PSYCHOSIS

It has been observed that students who whose REM patterns are disturbed frequently get very irritated and short-tempered. And doctors have researched that if the REM patterns and this the dream patterns are disturbed frequently, it might eventually lead to psychosis, which is an extreme possibility but never the less, it is possible!

4. BLIND PEOPLE CAN DREAM TOO

You might be thinking that for blind people it is impossible to dream but the thing is that even if one is blind by birth, even then the dreams are as vivid as a normal human being. The only difference is that we can see images while they only dream on sense and sounds! Which I think is quite spectacular. For a person who was not blind at birth but was so later in life, can dream images even when they cannot see in their real lives!

3. SOME GREAT INVENTIONS WERE CONCEIVED IN DREAMS

Vincent Van Gogh once said and I quote, “I dream my paintings and then I paint my dreams”. And this is true for a lot of inventions and master pieces scattered throughout the world. There are many scientists, Newton and Graham bell for example, dreamed the solutions to the toughest of problems and even came up with a few inventions!  That is how powerful dreams are!

2. 90% OF DREAMS ARE FORGOTTEN

It is very insightful to note that you forget nearly 50% of your dream within five minutes of waking up and the remaining 90% is forgotten within ten minutes of waking up! Even if you think you remember your dream vividly, give it like a few moment and you will not be able to think clearly and eventually you will forget it all! Of course you can always make it up from the bits and pieces you do recall!

1. CHILDREN HAVE MORE NIGHTMARES THAN ADULTS

Believe it or not, children seem to have more nightmares than a normal adult, especially when they are at an age where they cannot speak at all. Some people even say that infants normally cry when they see people or when they are around people because they seem to know the future of each and every one. But when they start speaking and interacting, they lose that power! Now that is awesome!

10. Protect Young Plants

If the majority of you are those who like to plant gardens or flowers and are avid admirers of nature then surely you would love this particular idea. See what you can do if that for all those small plants of yours that need protection from worms and other tiny insects of the earth, you can now make a protection round for them. What you need to do is cut out the top and the bottom of the cans and press the cans into the earth around the plants. This will create a protective barrier within the earth for the plants and will not let random insects and worms to reach the plant. Do remember that this only works for the tiny little plants and not for the big ones! A very handy idea that I myself have tried quite a few times specially in the kitchen garden!

9. Create a Decorative Snowman

We have seen all kinds of snowmen before and most of them are made out of snow. The sad thing about such snow mans is that they hardly last. Well I have an idea that might as well spike up the snowman outside your front door and if all goes well, it might just last the whole winter for you. Not if you live on the Arctic Pole though! So what you need to do is wrap an empty can with white tape and use a foam ball for the head of the snow man! You will then have the basic structure which you can design as per your will. Wrap it with white cloth so that it remains durable or else you can cover it with ice. The aluminium can will provide a strong base for your snowman to stay in tact!

8.  Project Ideas

If you are the kind of person who like to try out different ideas, hand-made decorations, and carious ornaments for your house with the stuff that is lying around then you can certainly attempt this! Trust me, aluminium cans can be used to ever from handbags, wallets, painting, and what now. You just need to have the interest and the patience of a saint!

7. Create a Simple Chinese Lantern

This is one idea that I came up with on my own. So what you need to do is cut off the top part of the can and then make incisions into the can itself! (I do admit that I do kind off sound like a doctor when I sat stuff like this, anyhow) After making the incisions (and yet again!) you need to put a tea light inside the can! Now it depends on your own skills what kind of cuts you make on the can because those will be the only points from where the light will escape! Make a lot of them and hang them onto a string. Tie that string up across your room and turn off all the lights after lighting the tea lights of course! The ambiance would throw you off-balance, I can guarantee you that much!

6. Soda Can Mini Golf

This is another very interesting idea that you are certainly going to adore specially if you are a golf fan! This can be tried over regular get-togethers as well as holiday afternoons! What you need to do is remove the top and bottom lids of the cans. You will need several cans for this purpose. Push them into the earth in your lawn in various spots and remove the dirt from the middle! You have your very own golf pots in your own backyard! Play with your pals, your kids, or your neighbours and enjoy the evening away! No need to go to that expensive golf club!

5. Make Planters More Portable

If you are a person who is very fond of those huge ceramic potters that looks absolutely lovely on the sides of the gate, the corners of your lawn, or somewhere near the front door, or even around the rockery, then boy do I have an idea for you! The biggest strain of the big potters is that they are not that portable since they are so heavy and need to be filled completely bore they can be planted otherwise the plants will not be visible (Duh!) Instead of filling them up with soil and making them even more heavy, you can fill the base up with empty can which act as excellent drainers as well!

4. Repoussé Christmas Decorations

Like I said before, old and used cans can be used for a variety of home decoration ideas. I have another one for you for which you might need to use more than one cans which is actually good cause what else would you do with them anyway right? So start by taking out the top and the bottom of the can. Then you need to flatten them out completely and on the printed side, draw out various shapes for example Christmas Repousse’. You can cut these out suing a carving knife and then hang them around to make christmas decorations. You can even re-decorate them after cutting them out like painting them and then glittering them for the shimmer shiny effect! Cool eh!

3. Kitchen Pots

Another idea for the plant lovers! I personally am one so I know how much I adore potting little plants and putting them up on the kitchen sill or my bedroom window, or even along the railing on the terrace! So what need to be done is that carefully cut out the top of the can and wash it clean. Fill it up with fresh earth and fertilizer and then pot the plant. Put it where ever it is that you want to place it. They are easy to maintain, they are not messy, and they are easy to water! What more would you ask for? These little cans are a blessing in disguise!

2. Pencil Holders

Being a study and book freak myself, I admit that this my personal favorite usage principle for the empty cans that are lying around in my house! What you do is, you take of the top of the can (apparently I have no use of the top of the cans – the poor things) and wrap the whole can with a decorative sheet, lace cloth, or paper of your choice! Then you can tie ribbons around it or even paint it, what ever you desire actually! You can even turn around and convert them into makeup brush holder!

1. A new whole new take on aluminum siding

This idea on the number is actually one that has been tried out and can even be googled so i just took inspiration from it and decided to share it with you! There is an Architect who goes by the name Richard Van Os Keuls, living in Maryland!  He did the entire side of his house with aluminium cans cut outs and it actually did look pretty ok! Then again it is entirely your own choice, you can experiment as much and how ever you want and come with a design of your own!

]]> http://www.thelisticles.net/health-and-food/things-to-do-with-used-aluminium-cans/feed/ 0 http://www.thelisticles.net/science-and-nature/amazing-things-that-the-human-mind-is-capable-off/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=amazing-things-that-the-human-mind-is-capable-off http://www.thelisticles.net/science-and-nature/amazing-things-that-the-human-mind-is-capable-off/#comments Sun, 06 May 2012 21:00:09 +0000 Zehra http://www.thelisticles.com/?p=4060 It is a true fact that a human brain can do a lot of amazing things which is the prime reason enabling humans in turn to do amazing things. Take as an example that we accept light rays into our eyes and our brains percepts these light rays via the optic nerves and the nerve signals thus sent, and analyzes it. After analyzing it, the required signals are sent to various parts of our body to generate the correct responses. And all of this is done in a span of time. This example can be included in the things that are known to every one and each and every one of us is aware that the brain is a powerful organ.

There are, however, certain things that the human mind has been known to do that most of us are unaware about. This list that I compiled for you, is a summarization of such things. The cases presented below are a rarity and we do not find a lot of people suffering from such phenomenon but feel free to divulge in the information presented below.

10. Pam Reynolds’ Experienced Life After Death

She is a blues singer belonging to Atlanta. What happened was that she under went a surgery that is known by the name of an aneurysm. While the surgery is being performed, the brain is drained of all the blood which obviously renders it inactive for almost 45 minutes. The amazing thing is that she remembered everything that was performed during the operation.  The fact that the whole procedure was done by expert physicians and the brain actually was unable to accept any kinds of signals (should have been actually), even then she could re-tell most of the things. Which makes her one of the very few people in the world who have experienced a Near Death Experience.

9. Henry Molaison’s Couldn’t Form New Memories

Henry Molaison has the kind of brain issue that no one in the entire world has. He underwent a radical procedure that is no longer performed on any one any more. What they do in the procedure is to remove the temporal lobe (the medial one) to control often occurring seizures. After the procedure was done, the patient stopped suffering from the aforementioned seizures but when the doctor saw what had become of his memory, he vowed never to do this procedure again. The patient now has anterograde amnesia. This difficult to pronounce or even spell disorder, did not allow Henry’s brain to form ANY new memories. What he had eaten, where he had been, whom he had met, nothing! He did have memories from the past but that was it! He lived like this for 52 years dying at the age of 85 eventually!

8. Robin Jenks Vanderlip’s Adopted a Russian Accent

Robin Jenks Vanderlip lived nowhere near Russia and had not even visited the place in her entire life but once she fell down a stair case and hit her head. When she woke up she found out that she was unable to speak. She slowly started regaining her power of speech but that was in a Russian accent! She is one out of sixty people in the whole world who seem to have the “foreign Accent Syndrome”. It is as weird as it sounds because for someone who had never spoken in Russian before, to suddenly start speaking in it, is bound to be a little alarming and makes one think, how do we have accents in the first place!

7. Howard Engel’s Can Write but Can’t Read

Howard was a Canadian Novelist and after having a stoke he realized that he had completely lost his power to understand or comprehend written English! He said that to him it looked like some foreign print in some weird language that he had no clue about. I am sure for a writer it was absolutely alarming. To him, none of the letters or the words made any sense. The good thing is that he eventually figured out a way to make himself understand and then write. When ever he is faced with a written script he would trace the shape of the letters with the help of his tongue on the roof of his mouth and the brain then helped him translate them into what they actually meant. Pretty amazing isn’t it!

6. A German Girl’s Sees Just Fine with Only One Hemisphere

All of those who have read Biology to some extent are aware of the fact that we are able to see properly because of the two hemispheres of the brain. And as per that knowledge, if one of the hemispheres is absent, we should not be able to see with one eye. The reason is that the nerves of the right eye communicate with the left hemisphere and those of the left eye communicate with the right hemisphere. In this girl’s case, however, her left hemisphere was absent since birth, so technically she should only be able to see with her right eye which is not true. She can see perfectly well the reason being that somehow, via nature, the nerves of her left eye automatically transferred to her right hemisphere and there the data from them is processed separately. The brain truly is a never-ending maze of mysteries and perhaps that is why brain surgeons are so highly paid!

5. Baby Z’s Nearly Melted Brain

Baby Z is a name given to an Australian baby who was suffering from a rare genetic disease called molybdenum cofactor deficiency within three days of her birth. Ordinarily, as per medical knowledge, she should have died due to the reason that her brain should have melted because of toxic amounts of sulphite that builds up. But her brain kind of like absorbed all of it and she continues to live. She was obviously treated for this disease after which her brain became able to process sulphite.

4. A Pittsburgh Woman’s Thought Her Friends Were Posing as Strangers

She was a 22-year-old woman who suffered a weird kind of problem after she had been in a car accident. She was fine for two years after the accident but then she started having seizures. She began thinking that all the strangers around her were actually her own friends and family posing as other people. She was suffering from what happens to be the Frigoli syndrome. She was cured and then she had no recollection of the whole disorder.

3. Orlando Serrell’s Started Remembering Dates

He is a gifted person of sorts. The reason is that after being hit by a baseball bat in 1979, he got a bad headache. The headache cleared after a few weeks but he found out that he could name any day of the week at any time starting from the day he got hit. Sometimes he could not only remember the day but also the kind of weather it was that day! Brilliance of the mind I say because he says that he could see the calendar in his mind’s eye!

2. Michael Corke’s Brain Wouldn’t Let Him Sleep

Till the year 1990, the record of staying awake for two hundred and seventy hours (276). The record was later removed from the Guinness Book of World Records due to obvious health issues. Well the poor man died after remaining awake for the said number of days and even though the doctors did sedate him enough to induce a coma, nevertheless, his brain stayed awake. He had a disease called fatal insomnia which took his life.

1. Sam’s Brain Grew a Foot

If his mom had gotten labor induced and would not have gone through the last ultrasound, no one would have been able to see the tumour that was growing inside his brain. When he was operated upon, the tumour turned out to have grown a foot. Two types of cases were diagnosed, one in which there might have been a twin baby which the fetus of sam had swallowed, and the other case was of a rare tumour that was often shaped like various organs! It was however removed and the little guy was perfectly fine.

10. GAMBLER’S FALLACY

The Gambler’s fallacy is the phenomenon where the mind thinks that a probability of the future is altered by some of the past events. This may be true in some cases but most of the times, the probabilities remain the same no matter what the result of the previous events have been. For example, when you flip a coin and it turns up heads more than ten times, you automatically start thinking that since it was heads so many times, then the probability of a tail is more now. This is however, is not true because no matter how many times you flip the coin and no matter what the result is, the probability of a head and a tail remain the same! This is the confusion due to which a lot of gamblers lose a fortune! You can easily guess how I am sure!

9. REACTIVITY

Reactivity is known as the tendency of a person or a group of people to react differently when they know that they are being watched. For example, an experiment was conducted in the 1920′s by Hawthorne Works where they observed a few people under various strengths of light and it appeared that their behavior changed. Also, they studied that their behavior changed mostly because they knew that they were being observed, not because there were various levels of lighting!

8. PAREIDOLIA

I am sure that most of you have had the opportunity to observe that there are some pictures that appear to be something else. This phenomenon is known as Pareidolia and it makes random images and sounds appear to be what they actually are not. Some people perceive clouds to be in the shape of dinosaurs, and some people hear messages in the already recorded tracks. This phenomenon has been used to test various patients, where the patients are shown images and then their mental state is judged by how they perceive the images. It is known as the Rorschach Inkblot test, which was developed only to tap into the mental states of people. They show the inner thoughts of people!

7. SELF FULFILLING PROPHECY

The prophecy that comes true because one indulges in behavior that complements it. In simple words, you engage in behavior that help towards obtaining results that will confirm the existing set of attitudes. The biggest example of this particular psychological behaviour is seen in relationships. Sometimes people reach a low point in their relationships and then think that perhaps this relationship is not going to work. Based on this, they stop paying attention to their relationship and this eventually the relationship does end up failing, which in turn fulfills the prophecy that the relationship might not work! This is known as the phenomenon of self-fulfilling prophecy! This is also known as one of the common reasons of a chain recession reaction. Technically speaking you cannot find out about a recession until you are six months into it already. But media starts making reports of a recession and thus eventually people panic and start a chain reaction that causes an actual recession phase! Interesting to know, is it not!

6. HALO EFFECT

The Halo effect is the phenomenon where a few certain good or bad aspects of a person’s personality determine their over all personality. Take as an example, the fact that an employee is late for work for three consecutive days and the manager thinks that he is a lousy worker and does not give any importance to his job. On the other hand, he might have been late due to a few reasons like his car breaking down perhaps, and it might not be a regular part of his work ethics. It is interesting to note that some people assume that good-looking people are given a higher importance. Well keeping this in mind they change their over all attitude towards them and when they eventually get better job opportunities, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy!

5. HERD MENTALITY

Herd mentality is one of the most commonly observed phenomenons in the world. It refers to the fact that people start following something that seems to be in trend. Suppose someone finds out that these days people are washing there cows with shampoo, you will find that after a few months, everyone who has the resources and the means have started washing their cows with shampoos. It is also known as mob mentality and can also explain why somethings catch so much popularity all of a sudden! Some say that it also happens because of peer pressure and some do not agree and say that it is just something psychological. Things that are actually weird and uncool have gained so much popularity due to this particular trend!

4. REACTANCE

Reactance is basically the strong urge to do the opposite of what someones wants you to do. It is mostly observed in children, if you really force them to do something, they will have the strong tendency to do the opposite. It is also one of the techniques used by psychologists around the world when dealing with very tough patients, and also by parents. What they do is that they enforce the kind of behavior that they do no want the subject to exhibit which obviously makes the subject do the exact opposite and thus mission accomplished.

3. HYPERBOLIC DISCOUNTING

Have you ever accepted a small but immediate payment rather than waiting for a bigger payment after a long time. The tendency to accept 20 dollars right now rather than a hundred dollars a year later is known as hyperbolic discounting. People prefer smaller immediate pay offs rather than one big pay off later!

2. ESCALATION OF COMMITMENT

A lot of people invest in various ventures and a lot of them actually end up as failures. The ventures I mean. So when that happens people tend to move in towards different ventures. In some cases however, people feel the need to keep investing into the failed venture just because of a vast amount of initial investment makes them feel that they should invest more and that would probably aid it to improve and they will get their initial capital back. This is known as an escalation of Commitment which is also a very commonly observed phenomena!

1. PLACEBO EFFECT

There are some people in the world who believe that there is something or the other wrong with them medically and until and unless they are given a medicine for it, they will continue to believe that they are indeed sick. For such people, a placebo pill was invented (which is called so because this psychological effect is known as the placebo effect), which is basically composed of nothing but is shaped to look like a medicine pill. It is given to such people to cure them of their non-existent disease or illness! This brain of ours has some really weird happenings going on doesn’t it!

10. NORWAY RATS

The most common rats known to human kind is Norway Rat. Some refer to them as the brown rats. They probably originated in China and they can gain up to 2.2 pounds in weight. They plague cities such as New York and London. Their population can vary from a few hundred thousand to a few hundred million of course, that depends on your locality. They can be found nearly in every corner of the globe except the Arctic and Antarctic regions and some areas of Canada and New Zealand. If you domesticate these species, you get the albino rats that are used in laboratory experiments.

9. BLACK RATS

Black Rats do not exist in the huge quantities as before. Their population has been decreased by the Brown Rats. Black Rats used to be the dominant species in Europe. The Black Plague happened because of these rats and million fell as its victims. The black rat is an excellent tree climber and can usually be found in an empty bird nest.

8. HOUSE RATS

There is no such thing as completely ridding your house of rats. No matter what you do, there will still be some, lurking in some pipe. Your average rat has teeth that are harder than iron or steel (according to some researches) therefore, making it a piece of cake for them to gnaw through wood. Once your house has a couple of rats in, there’s no stopping them. You can use poison, but you see, the poison is dangerous for your pets and your children.

7. ZOMBIE RATS

There is a protozoan parasite whose life-cycle can only reach maturity in the body of a cat. That parasite is called Toxoplasma Gondii. This parasite travels from the rat to the cat (hopefully). If the rat is infected by this parasite, their brain chemistry changes and because of this change, they are actually attracted to the scent of a feline rather than being afraid and therefore presenting themselves to a particular feline. It is known to exist in humans as well. It is said that one-third of the humans are affected by this.

6. RATS ARE TOUGH

They may be small and many different animals will hunt them, but make no mistake. These little guys are actually very tough. They can adapt to different environments and climates without much difficulty. Rats can outlive camels when it comes to survival without water. They can swim for about half a mile in water and can even take huge exposure to radiation. They have been known to build up immunities to certain poisons and in a match between your biggest sewer rat and you average cat, the rat will win.

5. RAT HUNTERS 

Rats have evolved (kind of) and can now evade the household cats pretty much every time they attack. But rats are a prey to a lot of other creatures for example snakes, hawks and owls. If you must know, special dogs are bred just for the purpose of hunting rats since they are difficult to catch and are somewhat of a food item in many parts of the world for example, China and many countries of Africa. In certain areas of India, rats are actually considered a delicacy while in others they are worshipped. Weird, but true.

4. LAB RATS

Well, most of you would consider this to be utter violence but it also is very necessary. A lot of great researches have been made on the laboratory rats. Lately, rats have been used for tissue engineering. It is controversial process where these rodents can actually grow skin and cartilage for human transplantation.

3. GIANT RATS

If you are afraid of these guys than you definitely will be scared ‘breathless’ if you see the Gambian Pouched Rat. They look like the Norway Rat but they can grow up to weight around 15 pounds; that’s huge. They are eaten in Africa as bushmeat. This particular rat is actually very intelligent and is sometimes used to sniff out mines as well. They are also used to detect the TB virus in a human and can actually do that faster than the scientific machines can. Another thing you should know is that these rats are quite friendly.

2. BABY BOOM

Rats can reproduce at astonishing rates. An active mating pair can have almost 5 clusters of 7 to 15 baby rats in a year. These baby rats become ready for mating in five weeks after their birth. So if you put two rats in a controlled environment, you could end up with hundreds of thousands of rats in a year. In a rat’s first few weeks of life, the mortality has been found to be around 95% which is quite high so such a fast reproduction rate actually makes sense.

1. RAT KING

This is an interesting phenomenon. It’s actually an accident where the tails of many rats get entangled. Most of the Rat King accidents happened in Germany after their discovery in the Middle Ages. The rats get entangled, unable to move and therefore eat, they die at of starvation. The largest Rat King to date was a cluster of 32 rats. They were all mummified and were found in a fireplace in Buchheim, Germany back in 1828. They were preserved and can now be seen at the Mauritianum Museum in Altenburg, Germany.

There you go guys, bet you didn’t know all this about rats, unless of course you are researcher in this field. Hope you enjoyed the read.

10. ELEPHANT SPECIES

Until 2010, only two different species of elephants were recognized. There are new reports now that say that there are at least three different species of these creatures; The Asian Elephant (Alphas Maximus), the African Bush Elephant (Loxodonta Africana) and the African Forest Elephant (Loxodonta Cyclones). The Asian elephant is the smallest and therefore smaller tusks. The African Forest Elephant has straighter tusks while the Bush Elephant has beautifully curved tusks.

9. REPRODUCTION

Homosexual elephants mate all year long. An elephant cow (female elephant) is only fertile for a few days in a year. During this time, the males ‘hit’ on her. They use various affectionate gestures and nuzzle in the process. If she agrees, she will respond in a similar manner. The elephant cow is usually pregnant for 22 months and the new-born is around a 100 kg and blind. Infants are then taught by their mother the basic survival course and the rest they learn as they grow up.

8. SOCIAL LIVES

Males are usually solitary and move from herd to herd. A female elephant however, stays in a herd of around 10 elephants with the leader being the one with the most experience. Elephants communicate between herds or other elephants miles away using sounds. These sounds are often too low for human ears to understand. Another way elephants communicate is by the stamping of their huge feet. An elephant herd is said to be one of the most gelled up herd in the animal world.

7. DEATH

Normally an elephant can live to 80 years. Humans, Neanderthals and Elephants are the only creatures known to have death rituals. If an elephant is sick, the members from its herd would bring him food. If it dies, elephants will try and revive it with food but once it is clear that the elephant is dead, the herd will quiet down. It has been reported that they often dig up a small grave. The elephants are reported to have shown signs of depression even. There have been reports of elephants burying dead humans.

6. EXTINCT ELEPHANTS

Proboscidea has only three members today but it used to have over forty. Most of these lived until the end of the last glacial period some 12,500 years ago. They were almost similar in size to today’s Asian Elephants however, there were dwarf elephants and then there were giant elephants reaching 4.5 meters in height and weighing in on 14 tones. The largest elephant recorded was 4 m tall. Then there were mammoths and the last one to go extinct in their race was the woolly mammoth.

5. JUMBO

You must know of a lot of famous elephants and Jumbo was one of them. He was named so because of his size. He was an African Bush Elephant who was born in 1861. He was taken to a French zoo as an infant where later, he was transferred to a British zoo. Jumbo’s caretaker would often give him a gallon of whiskey and believed that it was good for his health. Jumbo was later sold and exported to the USA. Many children wrote to the queen and asked her to keep Jumbo in England. He died at the age of 24 and was 4 meters tall at the time of his death.

4. TEETH AND TUSKS

We are born toothless and age brings is a perfect set of teeth (most of the times). Elephants go through the same process with tusks. Elephants use these tusks to dig, carry heavy weight and sometimes as a part of mating rituals. It is illegal now, but elephants were constantly hunted for their tusks. Poaching the elephants is considered to be one of the prime reasons for decrease in the length of tusks. Elephants can eat about 150 kg of vegetation each day and such heavy eating causes their teeth to wear out quickly, which is why they have around 6 or 7 sets of teeth.

3. TRUNKS

The elephant’s trunk is actually a nose. The trunk allows them to manipulate different objects to a higher degree. There are some elephants that have been taught to paint using their trunks. They can learn to open locks. There have been instances where two elephants have worked together to escape; one faked a collapse while the other opened the locks for both of them to escape. That’s interesting isn’t it?

2. FEET

Every elephant has five toes however, not all the toes have a nail. This is an easy way to differentiate between the two elephant species in Africa. The African forest and Asian elephants both have around 5 toenails on the front feet and 4 on the back feet, while the African Bush elephant has 4 to 5 toenails on the front and 3 on the back. They have a large pad of gristle underneath each feet to absorb shock. Their feet are built to carry heavy weights for larger distances. They can develop leg problems if they walk less.

1. INTELLIGENCE

Elephants have one of the more intelligent animal brains on this Earth. Their brain weighs in on a whopping 5 kilos. That is more than the brain of any other land animal. Only whales beat them when it comes to the complexity of the folds in the brain; the more complex the folds, the more intelligent the animal. Elephants can show grief, compassion and self-awareness. They can understand the use of tools and be cooperative and they have shown excellent learning abilities. Studies have shown that these guys are more capable than humans when it comes to keeping track of multiple objects in 3D space.

10. GRAY FOX

This cute little guy is usually found in Northern and Central America. It is known for his fast hunting speeds. The gray fox is not a very big animal weighing in on around 10 pounds and that’s one of the reasons that can achieve such speeds. If the gray fox feels the need to, it can run at around 42 miles per hour. Unlike most animals in the wild, this fox likes to hunt alone which I think is pretty brave on its party considering its small size.

9. COYOTE

A coyote is very persistent which is why you find humans using ‘coyote’ as a simile in routine conversations. A coyote can be found all the way from Panama to Canada in the Northern and Central parts of America. This guy can grow up to around forty inches in length and can weigh around 40 lbs. It can run slightly faster than the gray fox at 43 miles per hour. Some run slower but since 43 mph has been clocked on a coyote, I will go ahead and give it the number nine spot. It usually eats mice and rabbits.

8. AFRICAN WILD DOG

The African wild dog can only be found in Africa which is why it earned the name in the first place. This fellow here is also known as the Cape Hunting Dog. An African Wild Dog can grow as tall as 30 inches till the shoulder and weigh in on 70 pounds. With these specifications, an African Wild Dog can run as fast as 45 mph. it is reported that only 3000 of these poor guys are left which is why they have been classified as endangered. So I you are in Africa and this guy is after you; just run and don’t kill it.

7. ELK

This guy is a specie of deer and it is one of the largest at that. It is also known as a Wapiti. You can find them in Eastern Asia and Northern America. Considering the size and weight of this guy it is quite astonishing that it can run at around 45 mph, the same as the African Wild Dog. Elk can maintain its top speed for longer periods of time. At times these creatures are bred for their meat which, by the way, is delicious.

6. THOMSON’S GAZELLE

This agile little thing is one of the favorite preys of a Cheetah. It is hoofed animal most commonly found in Africa in the grasslands. It’s agile running consists of several jumps and its maneuvering ability is just fantastic. If threatened, the gazelle makes high and powerful jumps which are usually for the purpose of intimidating the enemy. This is called pronking. A gazelle can run as fast as 50 miles an hour.

5. LION

The King of the jungle, the lion is one of the most powerful and fastest animals on land. They usually live in groups and hunt in groups as well. Their group is called a pride. A pride is led by one male lion. This guy can weigh in on around 550 pounds. Considering that it can chase its prey at 50 mph wearing that much weight is a feat in itself which is why I gave it the fifth position and not the sixth. It usually feeds on gazelle or elks.

4. WILDEBEEST

A wildebeest is also commonly known as a Gnu and is native to African grasslands. They can reach a height of 4 and half feet to the shoulders. They can weigh around 500 pounds. At its full speed, it can reach up to a little more than 50 mph. Since they are more commonly hunted by lions and cheetahs, I think such a speed is an absolutely necessity for their survival.

3. QUARTER HORSE

Horses are very graceful animals and I am sure you will agree with me here. One of the more popular horses are the Quarter Horses. They are usually used in racing so you can imagine that it will be fast. They can sprint for about quarter a mile. The average speed of this beautiful animal is around 55 mph. they are also used in horse shows and rodeos.

2. PRONGHORN

A pronghorn is also a hoofed animal and it can be found in the grasslands of the west part of Northern America. If you compare this guy with the other members of its family, they cannot jump all that good. But in compensation they were provided with agility. The Pronghorns can run at around 61 mph and the plus part is that they can maintain this speed for longer periods of time which helps them to outlast their predators in most occasions.

1. CHEETAH

I am sure you all know this one. Personally, I think the cheetah takes ‘class’ to another level. Just look at the aerodynamics on this guy, pure genius. It comes from the family of cats called Felidae. They usually live in the African savanna and is, to date, the fastest animal on land. The average speed of this guy is around 70 to 75 mph, which in my opinion is very impressive. They don’t use force to annihilate the enemy; instead they just rush at them at astonishing speeds. The only drawback is that if a cheetah runs at its top speed for more than 90 seconds, it actually risks dying. So if it can capture the prey in 90 seconds or less, then it’s dinner time, otherwise they try again later.

10. BLACK WOLVES

So did you know what they say about black wolves not occurring naturally? Well there was a study that was conducted in the year 2008 to investigate thissame statement. If they do not occur naturally how come they exist at all? Soas per the studies conducted at Stanford university, only dogs have themutation that is required for black fur. So it turns out that wolves mate withcanines and since the mutation responsible for the dark hair is more dominantthan the others, it is passed on. Black wolves are more common in North Americathan any where else in the world. The backward matting that gives them blackhair also additionally gives them some immunity to a certain diseases. Butapart from that there is nothing so special that they get. And NO they do notturn into humans if that’s  what you are thinking.

9. HYBRID WOLF

So not only do wolves mate backwards with canines, it is also a fact thatmost of the coyotes that we see are actually hybrids from wolves. In Maine theycarried out some genetic tests on coyotes and found that nearly twenty percentof them had wolf ancestry. There are many areas of the world from where wolveshave disappeared and coyotes are still living. There has been a trend that hasbeen observed that large populations have moved to sub-urban areas and majorcities like New York. The hybrids are slightly bigger than regular coyotes butsmaller than wolves. They seem not to fear human civilization, they arecunning, and they hunt in packs like wolves. Thus proving to be true hybrids ofboth the types!

8. CANNABLISM

This fact might not come as a big shock that wolves sometimes eat up otherwolves and their offspring’s might just eat their own guardians up. This istrue and the most evident reason for this is that fact that wolves live inneglected and cut off areas where there is basically any foor for survival. Soif there is another injured or dying wolf around, they will tear it up and eatit. This is the reason that hunters are advised to pick up their hunt from thesnares quickly or it might get eaten up. Wolves are extremely opportunisticcarnivores, and they will not miss a chance at a meal.

7. EXTREME WEIGHT

This is another interesting fact that a wolf drastically increase in weight.This increase is directly proportional to the distance from the equator. Wolvesare normally equal in size to big dogs but those that are further away from theequator can be nearly 60 kgs heavier. It is reported that the largest wolf thathas ever been hunted down was one in Alaska who weighed around 60 kgs.Furthermore, there was an even heavier wolf they found in Ukraine who was morethan a 100 kg’s. Places which have a steady supply of prey have had wolves thatweighed more than 200 pounds normally known as the Alpha Males.

6. RABID WOLVES

People say that Rabid wolves are very dangerous. Well jokingly enough, anyanimal with rabies is dangerous so I’m guessing they meant that wolves areperhaps more dangerous. Other animals might stay on hold for a while aftercatching rabies but wolves are come over with an enormous rage immediatelyafter they catch a disease. They tend to bite near a person’s head or neck dueto which the disease reaches the brain sooner than medical help can be provided.

5. AMERICAN WOLVES

The fact states that the wolves that are found in America are less dangerousas compared to their counter parts in other areas. For example, a statisticalsurvey found that more than 3000 people were killed in France due to this. Whenthe Black Plague has struck, highways were bordered to keep wolves at bay.Similarly this trend of fearsome wolves also exists in India and Russia. Ishould also add to your knowledge that during the World War 1, opposing teamshas to sometimes join together to fight off wolves that were attracted by thesmell of blood.

4. DOG EATERS

Like I have said before, black wolves are not natural, they get black hairafter mating with canines. So this establishes the fact they readily interbreed. But did you know that wolves consider dogs to be a very delicious preyas well. Well it is quite interesting because even thought you can find largerdogs, they cannot necessarily kill an equally large wolf he would bound to havemuch larger and more devastating teeth. OUCH!

 3. HUMANS AS THE MEAL

During the Middle ages, the Black Plague had devastated the whole of Europeand that is primarily what bought on the tension in the relationship amongstthe wolves and mankind. See what happened was that there were so many deadpeople that bodies were stacking up on the outskirts of the cities much morequickly than they were being laid to rest. This led the ever-hungry wolves tostart feeding on them. Thus started this ritual that wolves eat men alive! But quitehonestly I do not think they were left with much of a choice.

2. SMALL POX

What the Black Plague did to Europe, Small pox did to the east coast inAmerica. It was a disease that was bought in by the European settlers inAmerica. The Americans had no previous encounter with such a disease andtherefore their immune systems were caught off guard. More than 90% of thepeople who were diagnosed with the disease gave way to death. Those whoremained were really weak and were not able to help themselves. The wolves,like all hunting animals, sensed something amiss and came over to feed on thesick and the helpless. A lot of American natives now live in fear of wolvesspecially in wooded areas and forests where the encounter can be sudden and ata close range.

 1.      EATEN ALIVE

I have already mentioned that wolves live in deserted and often prey less areas and therefore they do not even show any mercy to their own clan andmostly it is the Alpha males that get killed. I know I know you are thinking toJacob from Twilight but get this. Wolves eat their prey alive. First off, theget lucky to find food and they do not have any preferred choice. Any deer,moose, and elk would do. Bears and even big cats have a way of hunting but withWolves, they just keep looming around the prey, biting here and ripping theretill the prey falls apart helpless. They begin eating immediately and moreoften than not the prey is still breathing.