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Shamim Ansary:
How Do Elephants Communicate With Each Other and Why Do They Make Loud Trumpet Noises?

Elephants make several sounds when communicating, and are famous for their trumpet calls made by blowing through its nostrils.

elephants communicate with low frequency sounds

Trumpeting is often made when an elephant is excited or startled.

Researchers have known for years that elephants use their trunks to interact socially. However, they’ve more recently discovered that elephants use low-frequency verbal communication as well.

These low frequency sounds can be felt by the sensitive skin of an elephant’s feet and trunk, which can sense the resonant vibrations.

To listen attentively, members of the herd will often lay their trunks on the ground, and lift one front leg off the ground.

Researchers at Cornell University took recordings of elephant sounds and raised them to frequencies that can be heard by the human ear.

They discovered that herds of elephants also sing to each other, and although the research is still in its infancy, it is helping to solve many mysteries.

These include how elephants can find distant potential mates, and how social groups are able to coordinate their movements over long distances.

Shamim Ansary:
Has an Hour Always Had 60 Minutes?

Since ancient times, though the day has been divided into 24 hours, each hour has not always had 60 minutes, as we measure them.

The ancient Greeks divided the daytime into 12 hours, but they measured a day from sunrise to sunset. So, the longer a day was, the longer was each hour in it.

In Rome, too, there were no minutes, and each hour varied with the length of the day. On the shortest day of the year, a daytime hour had only about 441/2 minutes, while a night hour had about 751/2 minutes.

And on the longest day of the year, the measurements were reversed, and each daytime hour had 75.5 minutes!

Shamim Ansary:
Where Does the Word Kindergarten Come From and What Does Kindergarten Mean In German?

The word kindergarten is German in origin, and means “garden of children.”

Educator Friedrich Froebel coined the term, but only after trying to coin another one: Kleinkenderbeschaftigungsanstalt.

Although its meaning was clear, “institution where small children are occupied”, its pronunciation was quite a feat.

Public rejection of the term persuaded Froebel to make the switch to Kindergarten.

In most countries kindergarten is part of early childhood education, and children are taught to develop basic skills and knowledge through creative play and social interaction.

Shamim Ansary:
Why Is Play So Important for Children?

Psychologists have studied children for many decades and have found that early problems in play have a strong negative impact on social relationships. This is the case not only during childhood— there are lasting negative effects on adult relationships.

While play may seem to be simply a source of fun, it is actually a crucial aspect of children’s development. Through play, children develop complex social skills that allow them to interact with others, form friendships, develop empathy, and resolve conflicts, skills they will use throughout their lifetime. By the end of preschool, most children have acquired complex social skills that will serve as a foundation for future relationships.

These early skills are displayed in cooperative play, an advanced form of play that involves sophisticated cognitive, emotional, and social skills where the children must respond to one another’s actions, words, and behavior. Emotions are a large part of cooperative play, and children must understand and respond to their playmate’s feelings as well as regulate their own. They resolve differences and disputes through negation, a key skill in getting along with others.

The solitary and rigid play patterns of Asperger’s Disorder children interfere with the natural course of using play to develop proper social skills.

Shamim Ansary:
Why Is Blood-Typing Important and How Is Mixing Incompatible Blood Types Dangerous?

Mixing incompatible blood quickly creates a sea of red dumplings swimming in yellowish liquid, bringing on instantaneous death.

In 1900 Dr. Karl Landsteiner discovered the A, B, and 0 blood groups and demonstrated that blood could be successfully mixed within the same group.

He named the differences the “Rh factor.”

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