In 1934, people in the city of Boston in the north-eastern USA watched in amazement as clouds of choking yellow dust passed over them on their way to the Atlantic Ocean. The dust had come from the Great Plains in the American Midwest. These plains are generally tree...

Around the continents are shallow seas covering the continental shelves. These seas contain most of the world’s chief fishing ground, some of which are called banks. The Grand Banks, off the south-east coast of Newfoundland, Canada, extend across about 36...

About six million years ago, the Colorado plateau in the south-western USA was a flat coastal plain. Winding slowly across it was the Colorado River. Gradually, earth movements pushed the plain upwards, making the river run faster and faster. The force of ...

Time is measured east and west of the prime meridian (0° longitude), an imaginary line that posses through Greenwich, England. East of Greenwich, the time advances by one hour for every 15° of longitude. To the west, one hour is lost for every 15 degrees. At...

Although the remarkable properties of the rubber tree were known to the Aztecs and other South American Indians, for perhaps a thousand years, rubber was unknown in Europe until the discovery of the New World.

Pietro Martyre d'Anghiera, chaplain ...

Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants make food for themselves and indirectly, for all animals, including human beings. Without it, life as we know it on this earth would be -impossible. In photosynthesis plants combine water and salts in the soil, and c...

A forest becomes petrified or turned to stone under certain conditions, through the action over the centuries of water containing large quantities of minerals.

Tree trunks buried ages ago under mud, sand or volcanic ash have been gradual...

The breadfruit tree is found in the South Pacific islands and, to a lesser degree, in other parts of the tropics. It is an extremely handsome tree, growing up to 60 feet high. The oval leaves' are a pleasant, glossy green and quite large. There are two...

Cowrie shells are widely distributed and possibly the favourites among shell collectors because of their polished enamel-like surfaces and their beautiful coloured patterns. The cowrie appears in all the warmer seas of the globe. But the great cowries, the ti...

The sweet scent of flowers is designed to attract inset who seek food in the shape of pollen and the fragrant-smelling nectar. This nectar is a solution of sugars produced in little sacs called nectaries at the base of the flower petal.

The insects...