What was the largest amount of gold ever found in history?

Without a doubt, nothing represents wealth better than gold, especially when we're talking about a 27-kilogram nugget.

Kevin Hillier, a fellow from Australia, had a stroke of great luck. When he found a solid piece of pure gold weighing just over 27 kilograms, he did so using a rudimentary metal detector.

The piece was sold for close to one million dollars and is currently on display in Las Vegas, specifically at the Golden Nuggets casino.

It is estimated that its value has increased; they now estimate it to be worth around 40 million dollars.

What are the names of Shatrughan’s son in Ramayana?

Shatrughna and Shrutkirti’s sons were named Subahu and Shatrughati/Shrutsena (Yupaketu in Ananda Ramayana).

Shatrughna had defeated Lavanasura of Madhura (Mathura) and established region of Shurasena. His son Subahu got the region of Mathura to rule while Shatrughati/Shrutsena/Yupaketu got the region of Vidisha to rule as it's King.

Years later, Shri Krishna and Shri Bal Ram (Shri Ram and Shri Laxmana reincarnated ) were born in Vrishni Kula in Mathura and was taken to Gokul by their father Vasudev to save their lives from Kans and gave them to Nand Rai, another Vrishni leader and relative of Vasudev.

Subahu married Naga Princess Kamla and Gandharva Princess Achala.

Shatrughati married Naga Princess Malti and Princess Madansundari, daughter of King Kambhukantha of Shivkantipuri through Rakshasa Vivah. Shatrughati (Yupaketu) had fought with Madansundari’s father to marry her. She also consented to become his consort.

What are some robust examples of civil engineering? How? Why?

The Pantheon (all gods temple) in Rome, Italy. Completed in 125 C.E., it’s still used for its primary purpose 1,900 years later, and it’s still in good repair and hasn’t needed any additional buttressing. It has a well designed dome roof that is both light and strong, and it’s made of concrete which gets stronger over time.

The Cornalvo Dam in Extremadura, Spain. Also a piece of Roman work, it was constructed sometime before 200 C.E. It’s made entirely of earth covered in stone where it meets the water, and is held in place entirely by gravity. It’s still in use.

The Iron Bridge, in Ironbridge, England, which is named after the bridge. It’s the first iron bridge ever constructed. It’s been used to cross the River Severn since 1781 and is in excellent repair and daily use as a foot bridge.

Which movie director do you think was ahead of his time?

 He made a sci fi movie way back in 1991, when you could count Indian movies in that genre, on your fingers. And it remains one of the best ever to date. He made a silent movie, and it has been regarded as a cult classic to date.

Yet for all his accomplishments, this man really has not got due appreciation, Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, inspite of the fact that he made movies across all genres, using the latest techniques.

Fun fact- He worked as an assistant director for the classic Mayabazaar, and he remains to date the only surviving member of the cast and crew of that movie.

In the days, when Telugu cinema, was dominated mostly by formula commercial cinema or family dramas, he actually experimented with different themes, and integrating with the commercial elements well. Over 3 decades he came up with some really good cinema in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada.

Way back in 1987, he made Pushpak/Pushpaka Vimana, a homage to the silent movies of that era, and a brilliant black comedy, that is a cult classic even now.

His Aditya 369 remains a landmark combining two different genres- sci fi and period drama. The splendor of Shri Krishnadeva Raya's court, and Hampi is well depicted, and for a movie shot in the 90s, the special effects are quite good, though a bit tacky in places. In spite of all the advances in technology and graphics, to date no Telugu movie maker has even tried to attempt something similiar. And Balayya as Shri Krishnadeva Raya was brilliant, making you wonder why he kept wasting his talent in a whole lot of meaningless movies.

And in the 90s, he again bought back the Janapada genre, with Bhairava Dweepam, when it had faded out completely. The movie was a huge hit, and the graphics again were quite good for a movie made during that time.

He made a biopic Mayuri, featuring Sudha Chandran, a classical dancer who had lost her leg, in an accident, and then again came back. This was a biopic, where the lead role was played by the real life character herself. It was remade in Hindi later as Nache Mayuri.

He had a real good combination with Kamal Hassan, all their movies together Raja Parvai( Amavasya Chandrudu), Pushpak, Apoorva Sahodaragal( Vichitra Sodarulu) and Michael Madan Kama Raju have been some real classics that can be enjoyed even now.

Apoorva Sahodaragal had a standard formula story, hero taking revenge for the murder of his father, but it was the narration, that made it totally different from the routine stuff. By making the dwarf Appu as the main protagonist, who uses his brain to eliminate the villians, he ensured the movie did not become another routing formula story.

And Michael Madana Kama Raju remains one of the best madcap comedies ever, especially role of Kamal as the Brahmin cook Kama, and his Bheem Boy, Bheem Boy scene. Just watch this song, where you have 3 Kamals in one frame, the picturization is brilliant.

In Kannada he again had a great combo with Dr. Rajkumar, directing him in a whole lot of hit movies- Halu Jennu, Chalisuva Modagalu, Bhagyada Lakshmi Bharamma. He also directed his sons Shiva Raj Kumar( debut movie Anand) and Raghavendra Rajkumar.

Apart from this he wrote lyrics for Bhairava Dweepam, edited magazines in Telugu like Bharati, scripted plays, composed music for two Kannada movies both starring Dr. Rajkumar( Bhagyada Lakshmi Bharamma and Samyuktha). He also directed two animation movies Son of Aladdin(2003) and Ghatothkach(2008) which were well received.

A truly versatile movie maker, who deserves much more appreciation.

Which cricketers played extraordinary on debut, but after that failed to leave any impression further?

 Sanjay Bangar

Sanjay Bangar was one player whose talent doesn't match his records. He showed flashes of brilliance and then followed it up with horrible performances which led to an early decline of his career.

Sanjay Bangar made his debut against England in a high scoring match and he scored 36 runs. But in his second test against Zimbabwe he scored an unbeaten century making a great impact in the beginning of his career. While he struggled in the ODI’s he played some really good innings against West Indies in 2002 scoring 2 half centuries and scoring 192 runs. He also scored a half century against England. But then came the biggest test which decided his fate in the cricket. He started with a good average but this particular series badly ruined his test records as well.

He ended with an average of 29 in tests and 15 in ODIs. In the India tour of Newzealand Bangar failed miserably scoring only 21 runs in 4 innings. What was worse that he continuously failed in the ODIs. Except for a fifty against West Indies in the successful chase of 324 runs, Bangar failed to even cross double digits on most occasions. Against South Africa and Bangaldesh Tri Series and then Australia and Zimbabwe tri series Sanjay Bangar failed miserably scoring just 180 runs in his whole Odi Career of 15 matches. After this tri series Bangar never played for India again.

Not only did he couldn't prosper in batting his bowling allrounder status couldn't be justified by his records with 7 wickets in 12 tests and 7 wickets in 15 ODIs. Similarly his fielding was also lackluster with his constant catch droppings. Overall Bangar started out well and got opportunity to even open the batting but he couldn't prove his mettle when it was needed the most..

When two black holes merge, what will happen to their singularities?

 When two black holes merge, their event horizons touch first. For a fraction of a second, a single giant black hole contains two distinct singularities on an inescapable collision course.

To understand how this happens, you have to separate the "black hole" from the "singularity." The event horizon is simply the boundary where gravity becomes so strong that light cannot escape. The singularity is the actual physical object at the center—a region where, according to classical general relativity, matter is crushed to infinite density and spacetime curvature becomes infinite.

As the merging event horizons connect, they form a single, rapidly shifting, peanut-shaped boundary that quickly settles into a sphere.

Inside an event horizon, space and time behave differently. Space itself flows inward toward the center faster than the speed of light. Because all physical paths inside a black hole lead inexorably inward, the two singularities cannot orbit each other indefinitely or remain apart. They are dragged together and collide, merging into a single, more massive singularity. If the original black holes were spinning—which they almost always are—the newly combined singularity will not be a point, but a rapidly rotating ring, known as a ring singularity.

This new singularity does not contain the exact combined mass of the original two. In the final moments before they merge, the black holes whip around each other at a significant fraction of the speed of light, churning the fabric of spacetime. This violent acceleration converts a portion of the black holes' mass into pure energy, which radiates outward across the universe as gravitational waves. When the LIGO observatory detected the first black hole merger in 2015, the resulting singularity was three solar masses lighter than the two original black holes combined. Three entire suns' worth of mass had been transformed into gravitational ripples in a fraction of a second.

There is one major caveat to this process: quantum physics. Most physicists believe that true singularities—points of literally infinite density—do not actually exist. The concept of a singularity is likely just a placeholder indicating where current mathematical models of gravity break down. If modern theories like string theory or loop quantum gravity are correct, the centers of black holes might actually be hyper-dense quantum states, such as fuzzballs or Planck stars. If so, those two exotic objects simply smash together to form a larger, immensely dense core.

An artist's illustration of gravitational waves radiating from the merger of two massive objects. Photo by NOIRLab is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

What would happen if an undersea volcano were to have a big eruption?

 We have at least two examples of this happening in historic times

Krakatoa

Krakatoa is the most powerful volcanic event in recorded history, the explosion being heard almost 3,000 miles away. The people living in the area knew that the land they were living on was volcanic, but it seemed to have a small caldera. What they didn’t realize was that the caldera was actually hidden underwater and what appeared above water was just the eroded edges of the caldera.

70% of that land collapsed into the underwater caldera when it finally erupted after several months of smaller earthquakes in August 1883.

The largest explosions are estimated to have been several times larger than the largest nuclear device ever used, and caused tsunamis.

The group of islands has been changing ever since with new islands being formed, but ones made up largely of ash disappearing after a short period of time. A new island appeared above the main cone about 40 years ago and is still growing slowly.

Surtsey

Surtsey is one of the best documented underwater eruptions of all time, although it’s not nearly as impressive as Krakatoa.

Surtsey in 1963. 16 days previously, there was nothing but sea there. It’s likely that the eruption started before that and went unnoticed until it reached the surface.

The eruption continued until 1967. Since then, the island has been slowly eroding away, even though its peak is still 500 feet above sea level.

Surtsey in 1999.

How close are we to developing technology that could actually reach nearby star systems?

 Current rockets would take 70,000 years to reach the nearest star. But by shrinking the spacecraft to the size of a postage stamp, engineers plan to make the trip in just 20.

Alpha Centauri is 4.24 light-years away. Voyager 1, the fastest outward-bound probe ever built, is currently traveling at 38,000 mph. At that speed, traversing the 25 trillion miles to the next star system is a geological epoch, not a mission timeline. Chemical rockets simply cannot carry enough fuel to achieve interstellar velocities without becoming too heavy to launch.

To send heavy payloads or humans, researchers would need a complete revolution in propulsion physics. Concepts like nuclear pulse propulsion—where a ship rides the shockwaves of atomic bombs dropped out the back—or continuous fusion drives remain deeply theoretical. Designing a self-sustaining fusion reactor light enough to fly, let alone building the massive infrastructure required to assemble it in orbit, places human interstellar travel centuries in the future.

By removing heavy payloads from the equation, interstellar travel becomes a near-term engineering problem. The Breakthrough Starshot initiative, backed by $100 million in initial research capital, is actively developing directed energy propulsion. This approach removes the fuel from the spacecraft entirely.

Instead of carrying propellant, the payload is a "StarChip"—a microscopic camera, transmitter, and navigation system attached to an ultra-thin, highly reflective light sail. A massive, ground-based laser array on Earth would fire a 100-gigawatt beam at the sail for a few minutes in the vacuum of space. This intense burst of light would accelerate the probe to 20 percent the speed of light, cutting the transit time to Alpha Centauri down to two decades.

The primary hurdle is no longer the propulsion physics, but the material science of the sail. It must be thin enough to weigh mere grams, yet reflective enough that the immense laser energy does not instantly vaporize it. If engineers can solve that specific thermal bottleneck, a fleet of nano-probes could begin the journey to another star within a few decades.

An illustration of a light sail deployed in Earth orbit. Photo by Kevin Gill is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Do we know what the actual land of Antarctica would look like if all the ice was gone?

 

This map was created by using a combination of radar echo data, satellite data, and existing maps of ice free areas of Antarctica.

Red is peaks and green is land that’s just above the current average sea level. Light blue is what would be shallow seas.

As you can see, Antarctica is mostly a continental shelf with an archipelago of islands that rise above sea level. The water between the islands is relatively shallow, so it’s a bit like the shelf New Zealand sits on.

How did Kusha become the King of Ayodhya, and what was his rule like after Rama left for Vaikuntha?

Maharaja Kusha

Kusha was the eldest son of Shri Ram and Mata Sita. In original Valmiki Ramayana it's simply written Shri Ram gave North Kosala to Lava and South Kosala to Kusha to rule as it's Kings. Their married life or their life after Vaikuntha Gaman of Shri Ram is not mentioned.

However, as Kusha was the one who inherited the throne of Ayodhya, he is mentioned in detail in Ananda Ramayana, Raghuvansh and his genealogy is mostly present in Puranas and Shrimad Bhagwatam.

In Raghuvansh written by Kalidas, it's mentioned that when he was ruling in Kushavati, he was visited by deity of Ayodhya who pleaded him to return back as the glorious city got dilapidated after Shri Ram.

Now that powerful King Kusha, who was the banner of his family, who had implanted arrowheads in the hearts of his enemies, and who was a friend to his subjects, encamped on the outskirts of the city those armies which had waving banners. [16-37]

King Kusha, the son of Maithili, living in the residential city of Raghu-s which had been restored to its former splendour, did not covet for the city of the lord of heavens, namely amarAvati of Indra, or even for the city of god of wealth, namely alakA-puri of Kubera. [16-42]

Kusha eventually returned after discussing with his ministers and rebuilt the city to its former glory and became the most illustrious king in Aryavarta. He is called King of Kings and even Devtas in Ananda Ramayana.

• Lines shaped like the Srivatsa mark, thunderbolt (Vajra), discus (Chakra), lotus, fish, bow, and mace (Danda) are marked on his hands, indicating that he will be a king even among the gods. || 41 ||
• He has a complete set of thirty-two teeth in his mouth. His neck is beautiful like a conch shell. His voice is deep and resonant like that of a Krauncha bird, a kettle-drum (Nagada), a swan, and a thundercloud. From this, it is known that he will surpass all the kings of the world. || 42 ||

Mahadevi Champika

Champika, daughter of Maharaja Bhurikirti was his first wife and she chose Kusha in Swayamvar.

• Hearing these words of Nanda, Champika, with a smiling face, happily placed the bridal garland around Kusha's neck with her own hands.
• At that moment, various divine drums resounded, and the bards and panegyrists sang praises. Sitting in that assembly with his head bowed down out of shyness, the young Kusha looked exceedingly handsome.

Rishi Agastya told Shri Ram that Champika won't be having any sons but daughters only and therefore when he had left for Vaikuntha, Kusha would get a second wife named Kumudvati and she will give him sons. After that they had nine daughters together.

Kumudvati

After he became King of Ayodhya, Kusha got married to Naga Princess Kumudvati, sister of Naga King Kumud in a peace alliance when he had almost annihilated Nagas due to Kumudvati taking his lost golden arm- bracelet mistakenly when he was sporting in Sarayu river with Champika (and his junior wives in Raghuvansh).

The king did not bear loss of bracelet because it was the charm securing victory; further it was worn by his father Rama before him, but not because he was avaricious for gold pieces; for a firm-minded person, as the king was, equally valued perishable flowers and variable ornaments. [16-74]

Kumuda who spoke in this manner, and who returned the ornament to the king who in turn replied "you are praiseworthy and a relation of mine from now on..."; then accompanied by his kinsmen Kumuda formed an alliance with the king by procedurally giving over the jewel of his dynasty which was no other than his sister Kumudvati.

In this manner the Naga king Kumuda got the direct son of Seetha and Rama, the legitimate descendant of the ruler of the three-worlds, as his kinsman whereby Kumuda gave up the fear from the bird-vehicle of Vishnu, namely Garuda, who had been his enemy in consequence of the death of Kumuda's father; and Kusha too got Kumuda who was the fifth descendant of Takshaka, a legendary serpent king, as his kinsman whereby the vexatious problem with serpents is obliterated on earth and the king Kusha ruled the country to the utmost delight of his subjects. [16-88]

Kusha and Kumudvati (in Ananda Ramayana) had eight sons and a daughter named Champakmalini. In Raghuvansh their eldest son Atithi is mentioned who inherited the throne after Kusha died and Kumudvati followed him in death as she couldn't live without her husband.

Sources: Raghuvansh by Kalidas and Ananda Ramayana

What microscopic photos have made us rethink reality?

 It's really interesting that there's a whole world around me that I can't see. That's incredible.

When I look at photos like these, I realize there's so much more to life than what I can see.

"Everyday things that look completely different under a microscope."

April 17, 2019

Microscopic photography allows us to see objects in new ways that the human eye never could.

There are microscopic things all around us. When these tiny organisms that we ignore every day are placed under a microscope, their intricate details are astonishing.

These are some of the strangest things to see. Who knew dust could look so colorful? Here are 30 cool photos of amazing things under a microscope.

1. Wood ant holding a microchip in its mandibles.

2. Butterfly eggs on a raspberry plant.

3. A microcrack in the steel

4. household dust

5. Needle and thread

6. E. coli bacteria in lettuce

7. Beard hairs under a scanning electron microscope: razor cut (left) and electric shaver (right)

8. A butterfly wing

9. Head of an embryonic zebrafish at 500x magnification.

10. This image shows the consequences of the reaction of fayalite with gaseous CO2 to form siderite, thus trapping the CO2 in a solid and stable form.

Why did Sri Krishna never go back to Vrindavan after conquering Kansa?

 If that were the case, it would mean that Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa lied when He said to the Vrajavāsīs that He would soon return. When Śrī Kṛṣṇa was departing from Vraja for Mathurā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam records that Śrī Kṛṣṇa promised:

āyāsya iti

I shall return.—Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.39.35

Not only this, even when Nanda Mahārāja and the other Vrajavāsīs were returning to Vraja after the killing of Kaṁsa and the crowning of Ugrasena as king, Kṛṣṇa again promised Nanda Mahārāja:

vayaṁ ca ... draṣṭum eṣyāmo

We shall come to you and become the object of your vision.—Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.45.23

Would Śrī Kṛṣṇa lie on both occasions? One of the names of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa given in a nāma-stotra in the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa is:

satya-vāk satya-saṅkalpaḥ

Kṛṣṇa's speech is truthful, and His resolve or undertaking is unfailingly accomplished.—Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa

Even if someone says that perhaps Kṛṣṇa did not lie consciously, but due to circumstances He could not fulfil His promise, that is not possible because He is satya-saṅkalpaḥ. His resolve never fails. No circumstances can thwart the plan of Bhagavān and make His statement go untrue.

Furthermore, in the Hari-vaṁśa Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛṣṇa declares to Nārada Muni:

nānṛtaṁ hi vaco vipra! proktapūrvaṁ mayānagha!

O brāhmaṇa! O sinless one! I have never previously spoken an untruth.—Hari-vaṁśa Purāṇa 125.37

According to the Viṣṇu-yāmala, quoted in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 2.1.247–248, conditioned mortals have eighteen defects, one of which is the tendency to speak lies (asatyam). Bhagavān, however, is completely free from such defects:

aṣṭādaśa-mahā-doṣair rahitā bhagavan-mūrtiḥ

Bhagavān is free from the eighteen great defects.—Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 2.1.246

In fact, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the crest jewel of all Vedic literature, begins by glorifying Śrī Kṛṣṇa as:

satyam paraṁ dhīmahi

We meditate upon the Supreme Truth.—Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.1

So how could Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa ever lie?

Even if one were to say that Kṛṣṇa lied despit

e being satya-vāk, then could even His best devotee, Śrī Uddhava, also lie? Uddhava said to the Vrajavāsīs:

āgamiṣyaty adīrgheṇa kālena vrajam acyutaḥ

Acyuta will soon return to Vraja.—Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.46.34

Acyuta means One who never fails to keep His promises or fails in His commitments to His devotees. After all, how could Bhagavān, who is satya-vāk, who never speaks an untruth at any time or to anyone, speak such an untruth to those who are most dear to Him—the Vrajavāsīs?

yaḥ kadācid api kutrāpy anṛtaṁ na vakti, so ’tipriyeṣu kathaṁ tad vaded iti

He who never speaks an untruth at any time or anywhere—how could He speak such an untruth to those who are especially dear to Him?—Śrī Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa’s Sāraṅga-raṅgadā-ṭīkā on Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta 1.5.478

Thus, the fact is that Śrī Kṛṣṇa indeed returned to Vraja. After killing demons such as Śālva, Dantavakra and Vidūratha, Kṛṣṇa did come personally and stayed with the Vrajavāsīs for two months before He made His manifest līlā unmanifest. This has been explained by our ācāryas in their granthas such as Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta and others, quoting pramāṇas from the Padma Purāṇa, Bṛhad-Viṣṇu Purāṇa and others.

In fact, even before Śrī Kṛṣṇa physically returned to Vraja, while He was still situated in Mathurā and Dvārakā, He manifested to the Vrajavāsīs in the form of visphūrti (a special manifestation of His presence), and also through sudden āvirbhāva (direct manifestation), appearing before those devotees whose hearts were overwhelmed by the intense distress of separation.