مستوى مبتدئ

We all know that life without emojis, (the small digital icons that we use ad nauseam) would be extremely boring. Hence, it is only fitting that the editors of the prestigious Oxford English Dictionary chose - The emoji with the tears of joy as its 'Word of the Year' for 2015....

A few months ago Yves Rossy and his protege Vince Reffet became the first humans to fly in a formation using Rossy's world-famous jet-propelled wings. Now the two adventures have upped the ante with a heart-stopping flight alongside the world's largest commercial airplane - The Airbus A380!...

Deserts are by definition barren areas of land with little precipitation. But few compare to Atacama Desert. Often called the world's driest non-polar desert, the 600-mile stretch of land gets an average of just 0.13 inches of rain annually, despite its location next to our planet's largest body of water, the Pacific Ocean....

On Friday, November 13th, residents of the beautiful city of Paris suffered through what will go down in history as one of the worst acts of violence in France since World War II. The orchestrated attacks were carried out by eight members of the extremist group ISIS at seven predetermined locations of the French capital. The targets that included restaurants, bars, a soccer stadium and concert theater were carefully selected to cause maximum damage....

Though the moniker 'birdman' may not conjure up images of a superhero, that is what India's Joseph Sekar is to the thousands of parakeets that he feeds daily. The 62-year-old Chennai resident says that he had always left small amounts of rice and grain out for the neighborhood sparrows and squirrels. However, things took a dramatic turn in 2004 after a 9.1 magnitude earthquake in the Indian Ocean triggered a massive tsunami that impacted many Indian cities, including Chennai....

On October 24th, a group of sailors from the RYCC Savoia yacht club in Naples, Italy were enjoying a beautiful day on the water when they noticed an animal swimming toward them. Upon getting closer, they realized it was a tiny puppy that was holding on for dear life in the freezing waters of the Gulf of Naples....

Though we always hear about how polluted our oceans, lakes and seas are, it is rare to witness the contamination without at least wading into the waters. However, such is not the case for the residents that live in the vicinity of Bangalore's largest body of water - Lake Bellandur. They get to both witness and experience the toxic effects of the pollution that spews out in the form of fluffy white foam, every single day of the year!...

On Friday, October 30th, New York City residents received an early Halloween surprise when Disney's street urchin Aladdin and his "magic carpet" came zooming down the streets. The clever stunt that appeared to be straight out of the popular movie was the brainchild of vlogger Jesse Wellens, and reality television star Casey Neistat....

For most kids, the best thing about having a birthday is the party. Unfortunately, thousands of children both in the U.S.A and worldwide who live in homeless shelters or transitional facilities never get to experience the joy of celebrating the day they were born. But that is changing gradually at least in the U.S.A, thanks to Paige Chenault and her Birthday Party Project (BPP)....

The fact that the moon's gravitational pull affects ocean tides is well-known. However, what scientists did not know is that the Earth's gravity has a similar tug on the satellite. The only difference is that the effects are much worse since the pull results in exacerbating and changing the direction of the cracks on the lunar surface....

On October 17th, 61 wingsuit skydivers from a dozen countries arrived in Perris, California for one purpose - To shatter the skydiving record for the most wingsuit divers in formation while in freefall, set by 42 jumpers in June....

In case you missed it, Wednesday was 'Back to the Future Day.' For those not familiar with the trilogy, in Back to the Future II, the film's protagonists Marty McFly and Doctor Brown travel 30 years in the future to the fictional city of Hill Valley, CA, to save McFly's yet-to-be born children. The date of their arrival, October 21st, 2015, has since been eagerly awaited by fans all over the world....

Fans of the Avengers film series will recall Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, that can only be lifted by someone 'worthy,' AKA the superhero himself. However, while the one in the movies was probably a prop, Alan Pan's Mjolnir is the real deal!...

Prosthetics have come a long way since the first known artificial limb - A wood and leather toe was created for an Egyptian noblewoman nearly 3,000 years ago. However, though they have certainly become increasingly sophisticated and nimble they remain extremely expensive, not to mention very industrial looking....

In 1920, Johnson and Johnson employee Earle Dickson created the first bandage to cover the frequent burns and cuts his wife Josephine inflicted on herself while cooking. The hand-made prototype was instantly adopted by his employer and marketed as Band-Aid, a brand that has become synonymous with the word bandage. However, while the adhesive strips may now look different from Dickson's creation they still perform the same job - Prevent bacteria from entering wounds....

Every year around this time, thousands of hot air balloon enthusiasts flock to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to participate in the city's annual International Balloon Fiesta. Now in its 44th year, the 2015 festival that took place from October 3rd -11th is the largest gathering of balloons and balloonists in the world....

Two Belgian men have come up with a way to take fine dining to a whole new level - Literally! Diners at their pop-up and franchised restaurants enjoy gourmet meals perched upon floating platforms suspended 180-feet above ground with the help of a giant crane!...

On September 25th, US first lady Michelle Obama and China's first lady Peng Liyuan announced that the recently born giant panda at Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington D.C. would be called Bei Bei. The name which means 'precious treasure' in Mandarin Chinese, was selected from a list suggested by officials at the zoo and the Wolong Nature Reserve in China....

Jules, a 20-pound French bulldog may not seem like much of a guard dog. But don't let his small size and sweet demeanor fool you. That's because when it comes to protecting his family, the tiny canine is as effective as the most aggressive dog breed....

This morning, William Campbell, Satoshi Omura, and Youyou Tu, were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine for their work on parasitic diseases. Though the brilliant scientists certainly deserve the honor for their groundbreaking research, for most of us, reading about their and the achievements of other Nobel laureates can be overwhelming and perhaps even a little boring. However, the same cannot be said about the winners of the IG Nobel Prize that celebrates 'fun' scientific research....

Stonehenge, a prehistoric monument located in Wiltshire, England, is one of the world's most well-known ancient religious and burial sites. Situated amidst a dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments, the modest looking circle of stones that are visited by millions of tourists annually were declared a World Heritage Site in 1986. Now it appears that the ancient tombstones that are believed to date all the way back to 2,000 B.C. have some bigger competitors right in their own backyard....

Some sculptors like to create clay masterpieces; others prefer metal. Then there is Theo Jansen. This Dutch artist uses PVC tubes to build giant Strandbeests (beach animals in Dutch). Part work of art, part fantastical creature, the multi-legged insect-like creations are both awe-inspiring and terrifying!...

When the team of marine biologists led by David Gruber of the City University of New York headed to Solomon Islands in the South Pacific in late July, they were hoping to film some biofluorescent sharks and coral reefs. What they had never expected to find was the world's first-known biofluorescent reptile....

The proliferation of smartphones with cameras that can take self-portraits or selfies as they are popularly called has liberated us. We can now document every moment of our life and instantly share it with the world through the myriad of social networking websites. However, some believe that the incessant quest to capture the "ultimate" selfie is causing people to take unnecessary risks that in some cases are proving to be deadly!...