A basking Komodo dragon

The Komodo dragon is a species of lizard that inhabits the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang, and Gili Dasami, in central Indonesia. A member of the monitor lizard family (Varanidae), it is the largest living species of lizard, growing to an average length of 2–3 meters (approximately 6.5–10 ft) and weighing around 70 kilograms (154 lb). Their unusual size is attributed to island gigantism, since there are no other carnivorous animals to fill the niche on the islands where they live, and also to the Komodo dragon's low metabolic rate. As a result of their size, these lizards are apex predators, dominating the ecosystems in which they live. Although Komodo dragons eat mostly carrion, they will also hunt and ambush prey including invertebrates, birds, and mammals. Mating begins between May and August, and the eggs are laid in September. About twenty eggs are deposited in abandoned megapode nests and incubated for seven to eight months, hatching in April, when insects are most plentiful. Young Komodo dragons are vulnerable and therefore dwell in trees, safe from predators and cannibalistic adults. They take around three to five years to mature, and may live as long as fifty years. In the wild their range has contracted due to human activities and they are listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. They are protected under Indonesian law, and a national park, Komodo National Park, was founded to aid protection efforts. (more...)

Elimia virginica

... that the snail Elimia virginica (pictured) newly colonized the Oswego River but was out-competed from there by another non-indigenous snail?
... that during World War II Robert Furman served as director of intelligence and espionage for the American atomic bomb project?"
... that Sunday Island in Victoria, Australia is a private game reserve surrounded by the Nooramunga Marine and Coastal Park?
... that the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired Massaro House has an 18-foot-high living area illuminated by 26 triangular skylights?
... that Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty established the Crescent, the first Indian-owned newspaper in Madras Presidency in the year 1844?
... that Father Nelson Baker, founder of the Basilica of Our Lady of Victory in Lackawanna, New York, is buried in a grottohewn from Vesuvian black lava in the basilica'stransept?
... that the fishing industry in New Zealand works an exclusive economic zone fourteen times larger than the land area of New Zealand itself?
... that the Black-throated Finch has a black-rumped and a white-rumped subspecies?
... that Larry McCall was released by the Baltimore Orioles and was signed with the New York Yankees as a free agent both on the same day?

A group

A group, in mathematics, is a set together with an operation that combines any two of its elements to form a third element. To qualify as a group, the set and operation must satisfy a few conditions, called group axioms, that are familiar from number systems. The ubiquity of groups in numerous areas—both within and outside mathematics—makes them a central organizational tool in contemporary mathematics. The concept of a group arose from the study of polynomial equations, starting with Évariste Galois in the 1830s. After contributions from other fields such as number theory and geometry, the group notion was generalized and firmly established around 1870. Today, group theory is a very active mathematical discipline that studies groups in their own right. Symmetry groups are widely applied in molecular chemistry and various physical disciplines. (more...)
Recently featured: John McCain/Barack Obama – Delhi – Attack on Sydney Harbour

Barack Obama

Barack Obama (born 1961) is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2008 United States presidential election. Obama is the first African American to be nominated for president by a major political party. Obama graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, serving as the president of the Harvard Law Review. He served three terms in the Illinois Senate and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School. Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and was elected to the Senate in November 2004. (more...)

John McCain

John McCain (born 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Arizona and presidential nominee of the Republican Party in the 2008 United States presidential election. During the Vietnam War, he nearly lost his life in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire. In October 1967, he was shot down and held as a prisoner of war until 1973, experiencing episodes of torture; his war wounds have left him with lifelong physical limitations. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, he served two terms, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, and was re-elected in 1992, 1998, and 2004. (more...)

Barakhamba road, Delhi

Delhi is the second largest metropolis of India, and the eighth largest city in the world by population, with a population greater than 18 million. It is a federally-administered union territory. Located on the banks of river Yamuna in northern India, archaeological evidence suggests that Delhi has been continuously inhabited since at least the 6th century BC. In 1639, Mughal emperor Shahjahan built a new walled city in Delhi which served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1649 to 1857. A new capital city, New Delhi, was built during the 1920s. When India gained independence from British rule in 1947, New Delhi was declared its capital and seat of government. As such, New Delhi houses important offices of the federal government, including the Parliament of India. Owing to the immigration of people from across the country, Delhi has grown to be a cosmopolitan city. Its rapid development and urbanisation, coupled with the relatively high average income of its population, has transformed the city. Today, Delhi is a major cultural, political, and commercial center of India. (more...)

Hijazi Railway

that during World War I, the German Army produced shale oil from Yarmouk oil shale deposits in Jordan to operate the Hijazi Railway (pictured)?
... that Daryl Veltman was the first overall selection in the 2008 Entry Draft by the Boston Blazers of the National Lacrosse League?
... that in order to get her first and only film role, actress Phyllis Welch MacDonald had to sign a contract pledging not to marry or become engaged for six months?
... that in 1929, Western Australia celebrated its Centenary of foundation, which included dances, race meetings, an air race and other sporting events?
... that the Wingspread Conference on the Precautionary Principle established the internationally accepted definition of the precautionary principle?
... that the blue trevally, a popular gamefish in South Africa, was first described in 1775 based on a specimen taken from the Red Sea?
... that pitcher Jackson Todd threw 13 complete games during the 1973 college baseball season, a University of Oklahoma record which still stands?
... that in Hopi mythology, the Kachina Nataska enforces good behavior among children?
... that Australian politician Lynda Voltz's step-father and grand step-father were also politicians?