Geckos

Some species of geckos are known to be parthenogenic (from the Greek parthenos, 'virgin',+ genesis, 'birth') meaning the females are capable of reproducing without copulating. This improves the geckos' ability to spread to new places.

Alchemy

Ancient alchemists believed that the substance known as the philosopher's stone could supposedly turn inexpensive metals into gold and/or create an elixir that would make humans younger. In fact, up to the 18th century, alchemy was considered a serious science with even Isaac Newton devoting his time to it. The decline of alchemy began in the 18th century with the birth of modern chemistry.

Insects

Insects are the most diverse group of animals on the earth, with around 9,25,000 species described- more than all other animal groups combined. Estimates of the total number of current species, including those not yet known to science, range from two to thirty million, with most authorities favouring a figure midway between these extremes.

Kangaroo

The word kangaroo derives from the word 'gangurru' which refers to the grey kangaroo in Guugu Yimidhirr (an Australian Aboriginal language). The name was first recorded on 4 August 1770 by British explorer Captain James Cook who is also credited with the British discovery of Australia. The collective noun for kangaroos is a mob, troop or court.

YouTube

YouTube was founded in February, 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim all ex-employees of PayPal. The site was launched later in November, 2005. As of July 2006, there are 50,000 new videos uploaded everyday with about 70 million clips watched daily.

Escribitionist

An escribitionist is a person who keeps a diary or journal via electronic means, and in particular, publishes their entries on the World Wide Web. The word was coined in June 1999 by Erin Venema, an online diarist. The word comes form a combination of the English word 'exhibitionist' and the Spanish word 'escribir', meaning 'to write'.

Heroes of Might & Magic

The first Heroes of Might and Magic game was created by Jon Van Caneghem. The game was developed and published by New World Computing in 1995 for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows-based personal computers. In 2000, it was also ported to the Nintendo Game Boy Colour handheld game console.

Al Lowe

Al Lowe, the game designer of the Leisure Suit Larry series, started his career as a music teacher in a public school. Then, in 1982, he taught himself programming and created three games for the Apple 2, which he sold to game publishers, Sierra On-Line. Sierra eventually hired him in 1983. Al worked for them as a programmer and game designer for 16 years. Al is also a profesional saxaphone player.

Vision of insects

Insects have compound eyes. Instead of one lens they see through two spheres with many lenses. But apart from that they also often have extra single lens eye on the front of the head. Each lens of the compound eye catches it's own image. The final image an insect sees is like a mosaic. The two large spherical eyes of a fly give an almost complete 360 degree vision.

7.2 kg Mac

The 7.2 kg Macintosh Portable was Apple's first attempt at making a portable Mac. Released in 1989, it was received with very poor sales. This 16MHz Mac featured a B/W LCD screen, 1MB RAM expandable to 9 MB, a full-sized keyboard and a built-in trackball. The machine was powered by a battery that provided a up to 10 hours of battery life.

Roblog

The newest version of the Sony AIBO is equipped with a camera and Wi-Fi connection that allows the robot to send the pictures it takes via email. This has spawned what is known as the 'Roblog'. Roblog is short for robot's blog wherein the robots can automatically upload the images it has taken with absolutely no human intervention.

Catfish

The Catfish gets its name because of its cat-like whiskers and is found in freshwater all around the world, except in Antarctica. These species of fish do not possess scales and almost all members of its family produce a stinging protein if it is irritated. In some, the protein is so strong that the person stung may require hospitalisation.

Space Transportation System (STS)

NASA's Space Shuttle, aka Space Transportation System (STS), is a winged orbiter that is launched vertically and usually carrying five to seven astronauts and up to 22,700 kg of playload into low earth orbit. When its mission is complete, it re-enters earth to make an unpowered horizontal landing. Each Shuttle designed for a projected lifespan of 100 launches or 10 year's operational life.

Pole Position

Pole Position was a racing game released in 1982 by Namco, the creators of Pac-Man. In Pole Position, the player has to complete a lap in a certain amount of time in order to qualify for an F1 race at the Fuji Racetrack. After qualifying, the player has to face other cars in a championship race. The game was the first true racing video game.

Ares

In Greek mythology, Ares is the Olympian god of war and son of Zeus (king of the gods) and Hera. The Roman equivalent of Ares, however, was called Mars. Ares is totally different from Aries, which represents a ram and has nothin to do with mythological gods.

Ice Age

The idea of an Ice Age was folk knowledge in the alpine regions of Europe. But between 1825 and 1833, German-Swiss geologist, Jean de Charpentier, collected evidence to support the concept and convinced American scientist, Louis Agassiz of the theory. Agassiz published it in his book Etude sur les glaciers (Study of Glaciers) of 1840 which proposed that the Earth was subjected to an Ice Age in the past.