How to Identify A Liar

A new study in London has suggested that a person could differentiate between a lie and the truth by looking into the eyes of the speaker.

The Journal of Non-verbal Behaviour revealed that people blink less than normal when they lie and then follow it up with a flurry of blinks that's upto eight times faster than usual.

The scientist's reasoning for the rare blinking is that greater mental efforts are required for lying as the unreal stories have to be created on the way and expressed in such a way that the listener is convinced. The flurry of blinking was reasoned out to be the real of energy after the tension of lying.

This varying rate of blinking is found only in liars, while the ones who tell the truth have a consistent blink rate. In the coming days, professionals could use blink rates to catch liars.

Is time flying too fast or too slow at times?

Do you get the feeling that time isn't fair at times? When you're in a boring meeting or classroom, fifteen minutes seems like an hour and when you're in a conversation with a loved one or surfing the net, one hour feels like fifteen minutes.

Time, believed to be universal, no matter the situation, day or place, time would be same for everyone although it is known that clocks aren't perfect and are subjected to errors.

Albert Einstein coined the term time dilation, that is, different speeds of time at different areas. The was known when two atomic clocks were placed at the top and bottom of a water tower. The clock at the top seemed to run fast whereas the one closer to the centre of the earth (the one at the bottom) moved slower.

Another theory by Paul Langevin, called the twin paradox, stated that if a pair twins, in which one of them lived at the top of a mountain and the other and the foot, they would age differently. The one at the top would age quickly while the one at the foot would age slower.

So, just in case you're doing something you like and want it to last, stay as close to the ground as possible. And during boring meetings, try having it in the room and the highest level.

C-4 Explosions

You read it in the news almost everyday. Bomb blasts occur very frequently in recent times especially in Central Asia. I'm sure you've heard of an explosive "C-4" playing a part in these explosives.

Firstly, explosives are substances which burn quickly producing a lot of heat and light. Most explosives have a detonator which produces shock waves to induce the combustion of the material to emit high amounts of pressure causing heat and light.

Talking specifically about what C-4 is, the 'C' stands for 'Composition'. The C-4 is mainly composed of cyclotrimethylene-trinitramine, popularly known as RDX which makes up 91% of the explosive. RDX is mainly available in the powdered form.

Large amounts of energy is required to set of the explosive. Lighting it with a match stick would take more time than you would imagine to set it of. Even using a gun to trigger it of would not do much. Use of a detonator or a blasting cap is compulsory.

The detonator transfers the shock from the control to the explosive to set it of. The explosion is caused by the expansion of gases mostly nitrogen and carbon dioxide. The gases expand at the rate of a whooping 26,400 feet per second (approximately).

Unfortunately, ever since the discovery of C-4, it's been continuing to make the headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent years.

New Species found off Antarctica

Scientists from Australia, France and Japan say that they have found living species which have never been known before.

Big-eyed fish, giant worms and sea-spiders "the size of dinner plates" have said to be included among these. Also included are a new species of plankton and jellyfish having tentacles up to 6 metres long.

The scientists are amazed by their survival as the carbon concentration is pretty high there which results in difficulty in the growth of skeletons. The scientists however did hint that the climatic change could result in their extinction.