Rebeca Rojas

Bumblebee bat is world’s smallest It’s a hummingbird… it’s a bumblebee… it’s Kitti’s hog-nosed bat. Yes, seriously, look at it: it’s a bat. A teensy, tiny, teeny, weeny bat. Kitti’s hog-nosed bat (Craseonycteris thonglongyai) is debatably the world’s smallest mammal and most definitely the world’s smallest bat. Informally known as the bumblebee bat, Kitti’s hog-nosed bat is about the size of a large bumblebee, weighing in at just two grams — about the weight of two Skittles. Again, seriously. It’s also just one of around 440 bat species found in Asia — a continent that houses more than one third of the world’s 1,200 bat species. “It is [an] incredibly tiny creature — even smaller than my thumb (though I have small hands already),” researcher Pipat Soisook told Mongabay.   A well-known bat expert (a chiropterologist), Soisook is the mammal curator at the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Natural History Museum in Thailand, one of only two countries where Kitti’s hog-nosed bat, o...

  What Is the Big Bang? In 1927, an astronomer named Georges Lemaître had a big idea. He said that a very long time ago, the universe started as just a single point. He said the universe stretched and expanded to get as big as it is now, and that it could keep on stretching. The universe is a very big place, and it’s been around for a very long time. Thinking about how it all started is hard to imagine. Just two years later, an astronomer named Edwin Hubble noticed that other galaxies were moving away from us. And that’s not all. The farthest galaxies were moving faster than the ones close to us. Galaxies separating and saying goodbye to each other. This meant that the universe was still expanding, just like Lemaître thought. If things were moving apart, it meant that long ago, everything had been close together. Hubble looks into a big telescope and says wowza. Everything we can see in our universe today—stars, planets, comets, asteroids—they weren't there at the beg...

  What Are Lunar Phases? Our Moon doesn't shine, it reflects. Just like daytime here on Earth, sunlight illuminates the Moon. We just can't always see it. When sunlight hits off the Moon's far side — the side we can't see without from Earth the aid of a spacecraft — it is called a new Moon. When sunlight reflects off the near side, we call it a full Moon. The rest of the month we see parts of the daytime side of the Moon, or phases. These eight phases are, in order, new Moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full Moon, waning gibbous, third quarter and waning crescent. The cycle repeats once a month (every 29.5 days).

Athens 1896 Olympic Games Athens 1896 Olympic Games, athletic festival held in Athens that took place April 6–15, 1896. The Athens Games were the first occurrence of the modern Olympic Games. The inaugural Games of the modern Olympics were attended by as many as 280 athletes, all male, from 12 countries. The athletes competed in 43 events covering athletics (track and field), cycling, swimming, gymnastics, weightlifting, wrestling, fencing, shooting, and tennis. A festive atmosphere prevailed as foreign athletes were greeted with parades and banquets. A crowd estimated at more than 60,000 attended the opening day of competition. Members of the royal family of Greece played an important role in the organization and management of the Games and were regular spectators over the 10 days of the Olympics. Hungary sent the only national team; most of the foreign athletes were well-to-do college students or members of athletic clubs attracted by the novelty of the Olympics. The athletics (track...

Frank Lloyd Wright “The mission of an architect is to help people understand how to make life more beautiful, the world a better one for living in, and to give reason, rhyme, and meaning to life.” Philosophy Design for Democracy Wright always aspired to provide his client with environments that were not only functional but also “eloquent and humane.” Perhaps uniquely among the great architects, Wright pursued an architecture for everyman rather than every man for one architecture through the careful use of standardization to achieve accessible tailoring options to for his clients. Integrity and Connection Believing that architecture could be genuinely transformative, Wright devoted his life to creating a total aesthetic that would enhance society’s well being. “Above all integrity,” he would say: “buildings like people must first be sincere, must be true.” Architecture was not just about buildings, but about nourishing the lives of those within them.   Nature’s Principles and Struc...

What is neuroscience? At its most basic, neuroscience is the study of the nervous system – from structure to function, development to degeneration, in health and in disease. It covers the whole nervous system, with a primary focus on the brain. Incredibly complex, our brains define who we are and what we do. They store our memories and allow us to learn from them. Our brain cells and their circuits create new thoughts, ideas and movements and reinforce old ones. Their individual connections (synapses) are responsible for a baby’s first steps and every record-breaking athletic performance, with each thought and movement requiring exquisitely precise timing and connections. Human brains have 86 billion neurons (8.6 x 1010); neuroscientists investigate how these connect with each other and with other parts of the nervous system and the rest of the body. King’s Neuroscience seeks to understand the brain in health and disease. We want to find out how our nervous systems develop, and what ca...

The International Space Station has hosted more than 250 people since 1998. The International Space Station (ISS) is a multi-nation construction project that is the largest single structure humans ever put into space. Its main construction was completed between 1998 and 2011, although the station continually evolves to include new missions and experiments. It has been continuously occupied since Nov. 2, 2000. The ISS is not owned by one single nation and is a "co-operative programme" between Europe, the United States, Russia, Canada and Japan, according to the European Space Agency (ESA). The International Space Station costs about $3 billion per year for NASA to operate, roughly a third of the human spaceflight budget, according to(opens in new tab) the agency's office of the inspector general. The International Space Station location is in orbit around the Earth, at an average altitude of 248 miles (400 kilometers). It circles the globe every 90 minutes at a speed of ab...

  What is a smart building? A smart building is one that uses technology to enable efficient and economical use of resources, while creating a safe and comfortable environment for occupants. Smart buildings may use a wide range of existing technologies and are designed or retrofitted in a way that allows for the integration of future technological developments. Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, building management systems, artificial intelligence (AI), and augmented reality are amongst some of the mechanisms and robotics that may be used in a smart building to control and optimize its performance.   Ways of utilizing smart building technology For automation To integrate with different building systems For space optimization For preventative maintenance The benefits of smart building analytics Increased productivity Reduce energy consumption Reduce operating costs Smart building examples To show how smart building features can be utilized in the real w...

  What is a collocation? A collocation is two or more words that often go together. These combinations just sound "right" to native English speakers, who use them all the time. On the other hand, other combinations may be unnatural and just sound "wrong". Why learn collocations? ·          Your language will be more natural and more easily understood. ·          You will have alternative and richer ways of expressing yourself. ·          It is easier for our brains to remember and use language in chunks or blocks rather than as single words. Types of collocation There are several different types of collocation made from combinations of verb, noun, adjective etc. Some of the most common types are:   ·          adverb + adjective: completely satisfied (NOT downright satisfied) ·     ...

  Her: Film Review   Visionary and traditional, wispy and soulful, tender and cool, Spike Jonze‘s Her ponders the nature of love in the encroaching virtual world and dares to ask the question of what might be preferable, a romantic relationship with a human being or an electronic one that can be designed to provide more intimacy and satisfaction than real people can reliably manage. Spike Jonze's drama, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson, ponders the nature of love in the encroaching virtual world. A sensitive and soulful man earns a living by writing personal letters for other people. Left heartbroken after his marriage ends, Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) becomes fascinated with a new operating system which reportedly develops into an intuitive and unique entity in its own right. He starts the program and meets "Samantha" (Scarlett Johansson), whose bright voice reveals a sensitive, playful personality. Though "friends" initially, the relation...

  Burj Khalifa: The tallest building in the world Since its completion in 2010, the world's tallest skyscraper has been Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The building, which was designed by the architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, is a mighty 828 meters tall and has 163 floors. Burj Khalifa is one of Dubai's most famous buildings. Its potential successor, Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, is however already in the starting blocks: At a kilometer in height, this ambitious construction project, which was started in 2013, is due to surpass the current record holder by some distance. Everything about the Burj is superlative and involves huge numbers: there were more than 12,000 people from all over the world who worked on the construction of the Burj Khalifa.