Transcript

The flower colours are not random! The flowers have evolved to have the colours that are necessary to promote their reproduction. The color of a flower correlates with the quality of the nectar inside. Insects look at the colours when looking for nectar. Hotter flowers or warm nectar attracts bees, as they need energy to pollenate the flowers. If a bee is presented with two flowers, both with the same quality and quantity of nectar, the bees will be attracted towards the ones with warmer colours. So, now you know why flowers have the colours they do! They have evolved to attract the bees.

Keywords

flower, temperature, nectar, bees

Sample response

The colors of flowers correlate with the quality of their nectar, which influence insect choices. Insects such as bees prefer to inhabit in hotter flowers as they seek energy infusion while pollenating. Given the same quality and quantity of nectar, bumblebees will choose warm over cooler colors, so flowers evolve to warmer colors to attract bees.

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Products are manufactured in factories but sold in board rooms and strategy rooms filled with marketing and sales gurus. Though often paired with sales, marketing is an entirely different branch. It is the magical glue which takes a product or service from the manufacturer to the customer. Marketing is what identifies a market for a product and then ensures the product reaches that market and is accepted by the people in that market. It is only successful when it creates a win all situation – works for the company of course, but also works for the customer. The marketing strategies have to ultimately fit within the business model of a company and ensure a good return on investment is made. A marketing campaign is successful only when it leads to an increase in sales and more profit for the company.

Keywords

marketing, goods, services, profits, revenue

Sample response

Marketing is the process and activity that transfers goods and services from the suppliers to the end user or customer. Marketing aims at creating a win-win situation for the company and the consumers. All of this is done as per a specific business model to ensure profits. Therefore, companies can generate more return capital. So marketing equals to increasing in sales.

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Two of the most revered but controversial political ideologies of the last couple of centuries have been socialism and communism. Similar in many ways, they are about the divide between an ideological left and an ideological right. Communism started a few decades before socialism, in 1840s, while socialism took shape in 1880s. French revolution is thought to have influenced the movements. It was in this revolution that the left was pitched against the right for the first time. Right represents the nationalistic elements, aggressive in nature and drawn by political fervour, while left is more about the common man and his concerns with equality.

Keywords

origin, communism, socialism, French revolution

Sample response

Socialism traces its roots back to 1880s, while communism started in 1840s. Both the movements were influenced by French revolution which pitted the political left against the political right. Right means aggressive and nationalistic while the left represents conservative elements more linked to the common man and his issues such as equality and justice.

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Consumers are very smart! They want the best of everything and rightly so. The companies which fair well in the market do this and incorporate it in their product design and development process. Nowhere is this seen more than when consumers are out there looking to purchase delicate products. They don’t want to compromise on anything – they want the softness, but also want the product to be durable. Companies which understand this consumer expectation invariably do well. Of course, it leads to several engineering challenges – how to make things which are soft but also tough and long lasting.

Keywords

delicate, soft, products, careful customers, engineering

Sample response

Consumers are very careful when buying delicate soft products. They want products which are not only soft, but which also last a long time. It is important for businesses to understand that softness does not mean lack of durability. This poses an engineering challenge – to make soft products tough and long lasting.

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Human rights, a hot topic these days, but you will be surprised, it is something which was unheard of about a century ago. During the second world war, when the world was undergoing a transformation, the question of what exactly are human rights and what can be done to safeguard them, was raised by the government of United Kingdom. Subsequently, in 1958, more laws were created, to guarantee every citizen some basic freedoms and rights, including the right to practice any religion of their choice. This was what setup a baseline and later on became the minimum standard against which all human right laws were measured in the world.

Keywords

human rights, UK, second world war, laws

Sample response

During the second world war, UK government was the first government in the world that raised the question of human rights among other countries. Later in 1958 it created more laws guarding freedom, conventional human rights and religious freedom. It set up a baseline and minimum standards for human rights.

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Epidemics are tough to stop once started. By a conservative estimate a disease epidemic in a global city can cost the country upwards of a billion dollars. Not a surprise then that so much effort is put in to prevent the epidemics from spreading in first place. United States leads the world with the help of this special device, which is essentially administered like an antiviral drug. The device is expensive and has significant logistics and handling challenges, due to which it is not currently suitable for use by developing countries.

Keywords

epidemic, transmission, prevention, device, affordable, other countries

Sample response

Epidemics are better prevented than stopped. United States uses the device under discussion, to prevent epidemic transmission. It is used as an antiviral drug. However, it can’t be easily used by developing countries because of lack of resources and lots of other big challenges, such as in the logistics and handling.

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Scientific thought should not be limited just to textbooks, but applied to everyday problems as well. The foundation is trying out various scientific solutions to solve the problem of water purification. Millions each year, in the developing world, fall ill due to impure water. The world is not as lucky as us, who can easily get purified bottled water. The solution uses nanotechnology to remove the water impurities and make it portable and safe for drinking.

Keywords

water, purification, health, technology, global, problem

Sample response

We all want to learn science to deal with problems and make our world better. The foundation is mainly working on purification of water and improving human health. People from developed countries are lucky to drink bottled water, but water purification is a major global problem. Naontechnology can be used to find solutions.

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Tree rings are used not just to guess the age of trees, but to get specific climate information during that period in the tree’s life. Dendron-chronology, the technique which deals with the study of tree rings, can be inaccurate at times, but still provides a lot of useful data. How wide the rings are tells us what the climate situation was at that time – how was the rain during the time or was there a draught going on which influenced the tree growth or rather the lack of it. It is almost like a morse code. Morse code is dash and dots, tree rings have narrow and wide patterns, even richer than morse code. If carefully studies, they can provide a lot of information.

Keywords

tree, rings, weather, patterns, past rains, seasons

Sample response

Dendron-chronology indicates the age of trees through rings, but it could be ambiguous. The width of rings illustrates the climate situation of rain and drought that affects tree growth. The sequence message of narrow and wide represents hidden information like Morse code. The information is even richer and more diagnosable for it provides more  possibilities than dash and dot.

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What causes weight loss? Is it diet? Is it exercise, or is there a magical third ingredient? Well, some Canadian researchers wanted to get a definite answer, and conducted a body fat experiment. A group of thirty one women were made to participate in the six month long experiment. No changes were done to their diet. All that the group focused on was exercise. When the results came out, what did they see? Some women had lost a significant weight, while others didn’t. This can only mean one of the two things or both – one, that exercise leads to weight loss, and second, some unknown psychological factors also play a role in weight loss.

Keywords

body, fat, experiment, exercise, reasons

Sample response

Canadian researchers did a body fat experiment to understand what causes weight loss. A group of 31 women participated in this six month long experiment. They were made to exercise with no changes in the diet. At the end of the experiment, some women reported weight loss, while other didn’t lose any. This led to the conclusion that weight loss also depends on some psychological factors.

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So, what exactly is risk? As it turns out there are several definitions. Of course, it is the condition when you are in danger. That is definitely risk. Risk also means the chance of being in danger or dealing with the consequences of danger. Not taking risk is what staying safe is. Not to be confused with safety, which is essentially the preparation or steps you take to stay safe.

Keywords

definition, risk, safe, safety

Sample response

If we look up the dictionary there are different literal definitions of risk. One means the situation of being in danger. The other means the consequences or the chance of being in danger. The speaker also compares the definition of safe and safety. Safe means being out of a dangerous situation, while safety is a condition of being safe.