Interesting News & Facts (Everyday)

Television sets receive and display broadcasts of moving images.

Televisions also produce sound through speakers.

The images on a TV screen refresh fast enough to appear as smooth motion to the human eye.

Televisions first went on sale in the late 1920’s.

Early television was displayed in black and white.

Although the technology was developed earlier, color television sets didn’t become widespread until the 1970’s.

The 1980’s saw the arrival of remote controls.

Television sets are also used to watch DVD’s and Blu-ray discs, as well as play video games through the use of a console.

Video cassettes were used before DVD’s and Blu-ray discs but have been phased out in favor of new technology since the late 1990’s.

Early monitors used cathode ray tubes (CRT) but they have since been replaced by thinner screens that use liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma.

Similar to radio, television broadcasts are transmitted at specific frequencies.

More recently there has been a change from analog transmissions to digital. The 0’s and 1’s of a digital transmission are like the information stored in a computer, making them more reliable than traditional analog broadcasts.

Television broadcasts feature a wide range of programming, everything from news to sports, documentaries, sitcoms, reality TV, drama, movies and commercials.

The most watched TV broadcasts are typically global events such as the Olympics and Football World Cup.

Broadcasting companies use commercials and subscriptions to earn revenue and pay for the costs of production.

Although the World Wide Web is often referred to as the Internet, the two are not the same thing. The Internet is a huge network of networks that links computers together all over the world using a range of wires and wireless technologies. The World Wide Web is the collection of linked pages that are accessed using the Internet and a web browser.

English physicist Sir Tim Berners-Lee is regarded as having invented the World Wide Web in 1989. Since then he has continued the development of web standards and other web related projects.

Website addresses such as http://www.sciencekids.co.nz are known by the term Uniform Resource Locater (URL).

The domain name system of the Internet includes top level domains such as .com, .info, .net, .org, .edu, .mil and .gov as well as country specific domains and more.

As well as the World Wide Web, the Internet is used for such application as email, file sharing, online chat, phone and video calls, online gaming and more.

Thanks to the increasing accessibility of the Internet, the popularity of the web has exploded over the last 10 years. The web is now used for a number of different purposes including online shopping, social networking, games, news, travel information, business, advertising and much more.

Thanks to the increasing accessibility of the Internet, the popularity of the web has exploded over the last 10 years. The web is now used for a number of different purposes including online shopping, social networking, games, news, travel information, business, advertising and much more.

Social networking websites such as Facebook, Google+ and Twitter have become popular over the last few years. People now spend a large amount of their time online keeping in touch with each other through these applications and services.

Security and privacy concerns have always been a problem on the Internet with many people often unaware of the potential risks they take when inputting confidential data, passwords and personal information into various websites. Viruses and spam emails are other sources over security concerns which frequently cause disruptions and headaches for users of the web.

One of the best and most common ways of finding information on the web is through the use of search engines such as Google and Bing. Google is currently the most popular search engine, receiving hundreds of millions of search queries every day.

The brain uses over a quarter of the oxygen used by the human body. More human brain facts.
Your heart beats around 100000 times a day, 36500000 times a year and over a billion times if you live beyond 30. More human heart facts.

Red blood cells carry oxygen around the body. They are created inside the bone marrow of your bones. More blood facts.

The colour of a humans skin is determined by the level of pigment melanin that the body produces. Those with small amounts of melanin have light skin while those with large amounts have dark skin. More skin facts.

Adult lungs have a surface area of around 70 square metres! More lung facts.

Humans have a stage of sleep that features rapid eye movement (REM). REM sleep makes up around 25% of total sleep time and is often when you have your most vivid dreams. More eye facts.
Most adults have 32 teeth. More teeth facts.
The smallest bone found in the human body is located in the middle ear. The staples (or stirrup) bone is only 2.8 millimetres long. More ear facts.

Your nose and ears continue growing throughout your entire life. More nose facts.
Infants blink only once or twice a minute while adults average around 10.
As well as having unique fingerprints, humans also have unique tongue prints.

The left side of your body is controlled by the right side of your brain while the right side of your body is controlled by the left side of your brain.

Antibiotics are only effective against bacteria, they won't help in fighting off a virus.
It takes the body around 12 hours to completely digest eaten food.
Your sense of smell is around 10000 times more sensitive than your sense of taste. More senses facts.

Your nose and ears continue growing throughout your entire life.
Infants blink only once or twice a minute while adults average around 10.
As well as having unique fingerprints, humans also have unique tongue prints.

The left side of your body is controlled by the right side of your brain while the right side of your body is controlled by the left side of your brain.

Antibiotics are only effective against bacteria, they won't help in fighting off a virus.
It takes the body around 12 hours to completely digest eaten food.
Your sense of smell is around 10000 times more sensitive than your sense of taste. More senses facts.

Magma is the hot liquid rock under the surface of the Earth, it is known as lava after it comes out of a volcano.

Natural gas doesn't have an odour, strong smells are added to it by humans so it can be detected when there are leaks.

Hawaii is moving towards Japan at the speed of 10cm a year. This is because they are on different tectonic plates.

The world's largest desert (outside of the polar regions) is the Sahara, it covers about one third of Africa!

Stretching out to an impressive length of 6696 kilometres (4160 miles) long, the Nile River is the longest river on earth.

The volcanic rock known as pumice is the only rock that can float in water.

Mt Everest is the highest mountain on earth, its peak reaches 8,848 metres (29029 feet) above sea level. Check out the highest mountains on each continent of the Earth.

On average the Atlantic Ocean is the saltiest of Earth’s major oceans.

Earthquakes that occur out at sea can cause huge tsunamis capable of reaching land and endangering people.

Metamorphic rocks are formed by extreme pressure and heat. Read more about metamorphic, igneous and sedimentary rocks, find information on rocks and minerals or check out our interesting fossil facts.
The Earth isn't perfectly round, it is slightly flattened at the north and south poles. Learn about the polar regions with our Antarctica facts and Arctic facts.

Scared of the Bermuda Triangle? Despite its reputation it is actually part of a commonly sailed shipping route.
Scientists have the dated the Earth as being between 4 and 5 billion years old!
The Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical rainforest on Earth. Enjoy more rainforest facts or learn about jungles.
Talc is the softest mineral found on Earth, reaching just 1 on Mohs scale of hardness, it is often used to make talcum powder.
The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the largest living structure in the world.
The Niagara Falls are located on the border of the USA and Canada.
Rock found at the bottom of the Grand Canyon is around 2 billion years old.
Although earthquakes can be deadly, most are very small and not even felt by humans.

Hydrogen is the first element on the periodic table. It has an atomic number of 1. It is highly flammable and is the most common element found in our universe.
Liquid nitrogen boils at 77 kelvin (−196 °C, −321 °F).

Around 1% of the sun’s mass is oxygen.

Helium is lighter than the air around us so it floats, that's why it is perfect for the balloons you get at parties.

Carbon comes in a number of different forms (allotropes), these include diamond, graphite and impure forms such as coal.

Under normal conditions, oil and water do not mix. More oil facts.

Although it is still debated, it is largely recognized that the word 'chemistry' comes from an Egyptian word meaning 'earth'.

The use of various forms of chemistry is believed to go back as long ago as the Ancient Egyptians. By 1000 BC civilizations were using more complex forms of chemistry such as using plants for medicine, extracting metal from ores, fermenting wine and making cosmetics.
Things invisible to the human eye can often be seen under UV light, which comes in handy for both scientists and detectives