Evolution of the Man

How does life come on the Earth in such variety. A scientist called Charles Darwin developed the Theory of Evolution, that states that Life evolved on Earth very slowly and by Natural Selection of species.

Scientists agree that human beings evolved from Apes some 5-7 million years ago (mya). Infact, Humans and Chimpanzees have the same ancestoral lineage, but followed different evolutionary paths. Our DNA is 98.4% similar to that of a chimpanzee!!

All human type of species are called Homo. There are many types of Homo creatures discovered, of which all but Homo Sapiens are now extinct. That means every human being on Earth today is a Homo Sapien. Let us follow the path of Evolution and see where we came from!

The human evolution started in Africa, and it is from there that humans spread around the world.

The earliest ancestor of Human is known to be Australopithecus – a creature half ape, half human. Full of hair, he did not know how to make any tools, but used sticks and bones as tools. Australopithecus is looks more Ape like than a human, and is not included in the Homo genre.

Around 2 mya, Homo Habilis (man with abilities) was evolved. Homo habilis could make some basic stone tools like axe-head and spears. He is also known as the Handy-Man. He lived in caves, and hunted animals. Using and making complex tools is an important sign of intelligence.

Around 1,5 million years ago, Homo Eretus evolved. Homo erectus means the man who can walk upright. The evidence was first found in Java, Indonesia, and so it is also often called as the Java Man.

Homo Neanderthalensis was the first human being in Europe. Its’ bones were found in the Neander Valley, Germany. Short, Stout and a lot like modern humans, the Neander Man probably knew the use of fire and used hide to cover themselves in the Cold.

Homo Neanderthalensis and all other species of humanoids were eventually replaced by Homo Sapiens, the man who can think. Homo Sapien evolved around 120,000 years ago. A woman skeleton found in Afria is often touted as the mother of the mankind, and is named Lucy.

The development of human brain , that consumes 20% of all enery produced in the body played a huge role in our evolution, away from the rest of the animals. The hairless body (to aid sweating) , the invention of simple tools, the control of Fire, domestication of animals and eventually Agriculture led to the modern human race.

MUSIC

Types of Music
Jazz can usually be described as smooth. Most jazzy music has a lot of brass to create that smooth, vibrating sound.
Rock is the most popular form of music. A real heavy drum beat and awesome guitar lines usually make up the best rock music.
Classical music is composed by some of the most brilliant minds in the world. Everyone knows that classical music is some of the most difficult music to perform, requiring great speed and accuracy.
Country music is easily distinguishable from other genres because of its use of the steel guitar. It also focuses on how the artist sings the tune.
The blues are so named because they are supposed to have a depressed or saddened feeling. The whole idea of playing the blues is to let other people know how the musician feels (which, if you're playing the blues, usually means you're saddened).
Reggae is one of the most unique forms out there. It uses a lot of steel drum but usually has a "happy sound".

Types of Instruments
There are a very large number of musical instruments, each with its own unique sound and quality. These musical instruments can be divided into 4 basic categories:
· String Instruments : All string instruments have one thing in common, their sound is made by a vibrating string. Strings can be made of metal, synthetic or natural materials. There are 3 basic types of string instruments, based on how you get the string to vibrate. Strings can be plucked, like on the guitar. The violin is a string instrument that uses a bow to make the strings vibrate. A piano may not look like a string instrument from the outside. The musician actually presses keys. The keys of a piano activate hammers, which strike the strings, to make a sound.
· Wind Instruments : The sound from wind instrument is made by air vibrating in a pipe or tube. The musician blows in one end, and the music comes out the other end. To change the pitch of the sound, some instruments such as the flute have holes in the tube. The musician covers the holes with her fingers. Some instruments have valves instead of the holes.
· Brass Instruments : Brass instruments, such as the trumpet, make sound as a result of a musician blowing into them. They are called brass instruments because they are made of the metal brass. Here too, the pitch of the sound is related to the size of the air chamber.
· Percussion Instruments : Percussion instruments are played by being hit or shaken. Although most people probably think of the drum, there are lots of different percussion instruments. A percussion instrument's sound is made by it vibrating, once hit or shaken. Different types of materials, such as metal, wood or vibrating membrane like on the drum, make different types of sounds. A different thickness or size of material can also make different sounds.

Rains

Meteorology - The science that deals with the phenomena of the atmosphere, especially weather and weather conditions.

Weather changes all the time. But what brings about the weather changes in our Earth? Earth gets it weather from Sun and Wind.
The earth is slightly tilted on its axis. As the sun shines on the earth, it shines more directly on the northern hemisphere in June, and more directly on the southern hemisphere in December. That's why the seasons are different in each hemisphere. In the spring and fall, the sun shines fairly straight on the equator, giving both hemispheres equal warming.
The uneven heating of Earth by Sun produces warm air in some places, and colder in others. Warm air rises up, and Cold air moves in to fill the place left by the warm air. This causes Wind. And it is the wind (and ocean currents) that move the weather all around the Earth.
Water on the Earth: Triple Waters. Water comes in three forms. As a liquid, we see it in the lakes and oceans, we see it falling as rain, and we see it come into our home for drinking or washing. As a solid, we see water as ice and snow. As a gas, water vapor is always floating in the air. Water changes from liquid to solid by freezing. It changes from liquid to gas by evaporation. It changes from gas to liquid by condensation.

Air is full of Water. You can't see it, but the air contains a lot of water. Warm air can hold more water vapor than cold air. When air gets cold, the water vapor condenses into clouds. And when warm air holds a lot of water vapor, the air can feel sticky and damp. The amount of water in the air is called humidity.
Water Cycle : The rain that falls from the sky today has been around for thousands of years. The molecules of water in today's rainfall might have been in yesterday's cloud or last week's dew, or in a lake or ocean. Although water takes three basic forms (liquid, solid and gas) we see in many forms of it, such as frost, snow, rain, and clouds. The cycle of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation never ends.

What are clouds?A cloud is a large collection of very tiny droplets of water or ice crystals. The droplets are so small and light that they can float in the air.

Basic Cloud Types:

What causes lightning?Lightning is an electric current. Within a thundercloud way up in the sky, many small bits of ice (frozen raindrops) bump into each other as they move around in the air. All of those collisions create an electric charge. After a while, the whole cloud fills up with electrical charges. Lightning bolts are extremely hot, with temperatures of 30,000 to 50,000 degrees F. That's hotter than the surface of the sun! When the bolt suddenly heats the air around it to such an extreme, the air instantly expands, sending out a vibration or shock wave we hear as an explosion of sound. This is thunder.
Next time you see a storm, count the number of seconds between when you see the lightning and hear the thunder. Take the number of seconds and divide by 5 and that will tell you how far away the storm is in miles.

MAPS

What’s a Map?
A map is something that shows the whole or a part of some area. Maps are often flat, but globes are maps that show the whole earth. There are many types of maps. Maps can also show what's out in space, or what is inside a space as small as a cell in our bodies. In their simplest form, maps show how things relate to each other in a space. People have been making maps for thousands of years. People who make Maps are called Cartographers.

Orientation of maps
The term orientation refers to the relationship between directions on a map and compass directions. Most Maps are drawn with North on the Top.

Types of Maps.
Maps of the world or large areas are often either 'political' or 'physical'. The purpose of the political map is to show territorial borders; the purpose of the physical is to show features of geography such as mountains, soil type or land use. Maps can be thematic too, to show rainfall for example.
An atlas is a collection of maps, typically of Earth or a region of Earth,

Location on Earth
The earth is effectively a sphere, so how do we describe where a point is on its surface?
The most common way to locate points on the surface of the Earth is by standard, geographic coordinates called latitude and longitude. These coordinates values are measured in degrees, minutes and seconds.

Latitude, and the Equator
We can imagine the Earth as a sphere, with an axis around which it spins. The ends of the axis are the North and South Poles. The Equator is a line around the earth, an equal distance from both poles. The Equator is also the latitude line given the value of 0 degrees.
A line connecting all the points with the same latitude value is called a line of latitude. lines of latitude are parallel to the Equator, and they are sometimes also referred to as parallels. Parallels are equally spaced. There are 90 degrees of latitude going north from the Equator, and the North Pole is at 90 degrees N. There are 90 degrees to the south of the Equator, and the South Pole is at 90 degrees S.

Longitudes, and the Prime Meridian
Lines of longitude, called meridians, run perpendicular to lines of latitude, and all pass through both poles. Each longitude line is part of a great circle. There is no obvious 0-degree point for longitude, as there is for latitude. Throughout history many different starting points have been used to measure longitude. By international agreement, the meridian line through Greenwich, England, is currently given the value of 0 degrees of longitude; this meridian is referred to as the Prime Meridian. Longitude values indicate the distance between the Prime Meridian and points east or west of it on the surface of the Earth.


Do You Know?
All places on the same meridian would experience noon (or any other time of th day) at the same time. When we want to say the time is 10:00 in the morning, we say 10:00 am. What does am (and pm) stand for?? am means ante-meridian (before noon) and pm means post-meridian (after noon).


Location of DELHI, INDIA 28 40 N 77 14 E

The Fun Quiz in pictures