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Top 10 Amazing Plants in the World

After millions of years of evolution and development, an enormous number of different plant variations have been created. Of all the plants that have ever lived most are long since extinct, but still around a third of a million plant species are estimated to be surviving today. Evolution has created some particularly strange and tight examples, and here is STS’ attempt to compile a list of those that we find to be the most interesting.

10. Pitcher Plants (Nepenthes)

Nepenthes is a genus of carniverous plant that encompasses over 120 species, native to Indonesia, the Phillipines, and South-East Asia. This species of plant has three primary components: the lid, the rim, and the pitcher. The purpose of the lid is to keep rain water from collecting in the pitcher, and the colorful rim functions as a lure to insects. The plant produces a syrupy liquid in the bottom of the pitcher that attracts, and drowns, potential prey. The walls are coated with a waxy substance, so when an insect slips inside it can’t escape, and the plant has ample time to digest its new meal.

9. Sensitive Plant (Mimosa pudica)

The Sensitive Plant is native to Central and South America, and gets it name because its leaflets fold in and droop when they are touched. This is caused by a drop of pressure in certain cells, and leads to a very cool effect. The leaves also react to heat and light which causes the plant to fold up every evening. A video of this plant in action can be found here.

8. Aloe Plant

If you are pale and have ever been to Hawaii or Mexico, then you owe a lot to this plant. Unlike most medicinal plants that have to be processed, cooked, or dissolved to use, the Aloe Plant is naturally ready. Simply break one of the leaves in half and you will find Aloe Vera, a gel that helps relieve the pain of sun burn. Some claim that it has additional healing properties, but there have not been sufficient studies to give conclusive evidence.

7. Rafflesia arnoldii

This flower was discovered in 1822 during a jungle expedition in Sumatra, and is considered to be the largest flower in the world. It can grow to be up to one meter in diameter, and weigh as much as 25 lbs. Despite its size, it is incredibly difficult to find because it takes 9-21 months for plant to develop, and the flower lasts for a maximum of five days. Some who have been able to come in contact with the flower describe it as smelling like a decomposing carcass.

6. Sundew (Drosera)

The Sundew is a carnivorous plant that is covered in small glands that protrude from its stem and produce a viscous liquid. Insects are attracted to the secretions, and when they come in contact with them they become trapped. Over time the plant’s tendrils fold around the prey and produce enzymes that digest it.


5. Psychoactive Plants

A Psychoactive plant contains chemical substances that effect the central nervous system and can temporarily alter perception, mood, consciousness, and behavior. Traditionally shamans have used psychoactive plants to induce a psychedelic euphoria that would allow them to understand the world in new ways. More recently the plants have become more recreational, and despite all the dangers associated with plants of this type, the power they have to change reality has earned them a spot on this list.

4. Resurrection Fern (Polypodium polypodioides)

The Resurrection Fern is a normal looking fern with an incredible ability to withstand drought. During dry spells, the plant curls up into a ball, turns brown, and appears to be dead. If it comes in contact with water, it uncurls and comes back to life. It has been estimated that it can survive for 100 years without water. Between 340 and 280 million years ago these plants were 100 foot tall trees with 6 foot trunks — that would be a sight to see. If interested, you can purchase the plant.

3. Telegraph Plant (Codariocalyx motorius)

The Codariocalyx Motorius is another plant capable of rapid movement. The Telegraph Plant is much bigger than most other species of its kind; it can grow up to 2 meters high. The period of its movements is from 3-5 minutes, and when all of the leaves move at once it creates a very cool effect. The plant is native to Asia but can also be found in the South Pacific. I’m struggling to find a way to make this particular plant useful, but it is pretty awesome. Maybe as a secret alarm system… You can find a video of the plant moving.

2. Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula)

The Venus Flytrap is the most well-known carnivorous plant, and is especially amazing to watch. There are small trigger hairs on the leaves which causes them to fold together when they are touched. The leaves close in less than a second, and the teeth-like spikes on the edge keep larger insects from escaping. The Venus Flytrap is native only to the nitrogen-poor bogs and savannas in North and South Carolina, US. A video of the Flytrap catching a fly can be found here, and a live Venus Flytrap can be purchased if you are interested.

1. Romanesco Broccoli

Romanesco Broccoli is an edible relative of the cauliflower. It was discovered in the 16th century in Italy, and has become a fixation of mathematical types. For some reason, the plant grows in a self similar shape that spirals logarithmically towards the center. The design is similar to a fractal which is a complicated design produced by simple mathematic rules. This plant fascinated the STS staff so much that we acquired some seeds of our own, and we will be growing a dozen of these plants shortly. A more detailed picture of the design as well as a picture of a fractal from the Julia Set are shown below. You can purchase seeds for the plant off of Amazon.com.
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Amazing Toilet Restaurant

Toilet Restaurant located in Hangzhou, China. It is developed by the inspiration of The first Toilet Restaurant, from Taipei, Taiwan had on the public. Now, the company is thinking of opening a network of Toilet Restaurants across the world.Toilet Dining concept is about sitting on a toilet seat, serving your food from a toilet bowl or a bidet and wiping your mouth with toilet paper-looking napkins, practically everything you see around you has nothing to do with a real restaurant or kitchen, it’s all toilet-wear.












Top 10

Top 10 Fastest Trains in the World

Trains is one of the most popular land transportation means. With the development of technology, people can make High Speed Rail that used for fastest train in the world. Several countries in the world are trying to make the fastest train in the world. Some of the trains is still in service but some of them become a failure for the company that invested on the development of the railways. Here’s 10 fastest trains in the world today:

10. HSL 1, Belgium, 300 km/h (186 mph)
HSL 1 is a Belgian High speed rail line from Brussels to LGV Nord. It’s 88 km (55 mi) long. 71 km is the high speed tracks. This service was began on December 14th, 1997. The electrification is using 25 kV 50 Hz OHLE with Operating speed 300 km/h (186 mph). This line was shortened the journey from Paris to Brussels. Now It’s just 1 hour 22 minutes to go from Paris to Brussels.


HSL 1


9. ETR 500, Italy: 300 km/h (186 mph)
ETR 500 or Elettro Treno Rapido 500 is Italian high-speed train introduced in 1993 and it is now operated by Trenitalia on RFI tracks. The maximum speed it can reach is 300 km/hour (190 mph). It just take 1 hour from the downtown of Milan to the center of Bologna. THe electric system used by this train is 3000 V DC, 25 kV AC (+ 1500 V DC for ETR.500 F).


ETR 500


8. Eurostar, UK: 300 km/h (186 mph)
Eurostar is High Speed Train that connect London, Paris and Brussels. They transport through Channel Tunnel between Britain and France. The current Eurostar e320 can run at the speed of 320 km/hour (199 mph).The electric systems used is 25 kV 50 Hz. This train can bring 900 passengers.

Eurostar



7. AVE Talgo-350, Spain: 330 km/h (205 mph)
The AVE Class 102 is a class of AVE high-speed trains for the Spanish state-run railway company RENFE that connect Madrid – Málaga Madrid – Valladolid and Madrid – Huesca. It’s using Talgo 350 train that can run at the speed 330 km/h (205 mph). The train is using 25 kV 50 Hz AC Overhead electric system and can be used to bring 318 passengers. They are in service since 2005.


AVE Talgo-350



6. THSR 700T, Taiwan: 335.50 km/h (208 mph)
The THSR 700T is a high speed train Operated in Taiwan and was derived from Japanese Shinkansen. The top speed of this train basically can reach 335.50 km/h (208 mph) but It’s usually run at the top speed of 300 km/hour (186 mph). The train was first operated on January 5, 2007. The electric system used is 25 kV/60 Hz AC catenary. The line served is Taipei–Kaohsiung while it can bring 989 passengers.


THSR 700T

5. KTX 2, South Korea: 352.4 km/hour (218 mph)
KTX II or KTX-Sancheon is high speed train built in South Korean by Hyundai Rotem. It is now operated by KOrail since March 2009. The train was designed and tested can run at the speed of 352.4 km/hour (218 mph) but for safety reason the top speed of this train become 305 km/h (190 mph). The electric system by this train is 25 kV/60 Hz AC catenary. The train serve several route in South Korea and can bring 363 passengers.


KTX 2


4. TGV Réseau, France: 380 km/hour (236.12 mph)
The TGV Réseau (TGV-R) are high speed trains SNCF and were built by Alstom between 1992 and 1996. These TGV trainsets are based on the earlier TGV Atlantique. The train basically can run up to 380 km/hour (236.12 mph). But the approved top speed is 320 km/h (199 mph) while it’s in service. The electric system used by this train is 25 kV AC, 1500 V DC and 3000 V DC. The train can bring 377 passengers.


TGV


3. Shinkansen, Japan: 443 Km/hour (275.3 mph)
The Shinkansen or bullet train of Japan is a network of high speed railways in Japan. It’s connected several cities in Japan and still expanded to more cities. The test run of the train can reach the speed of 443 km/h (275 mph). The Shinkansen are using 25,000 V AC overhead power supply. The latest version of Shinkansen E5 Series are running at the top speed of 320 km/h (200 mph) while it’s in service.


Shinkansen


2. TR-09, Germany: 450 km/hour (270.3 mph)
Transrapid or TR is a German high-speed monorail train using magnetic levitation. The current application-ready version, the Transrapid 09, has been designed for 500 km/h cruising speed but it’s somehow will be 450 km/hour (270.3 mph) for safety reason. The normal energy consumption of the Transrapid is approximately 50–100 kW per section for levitation and travel, and vehicle control.


TR-09


1. CRH380A, China: 487.3 km/hour (302.8 mph)
The CRH380A is a Chinese high speed train manufactured by CSR Qingdao Sifang Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co., Ltd. This train was replaced CRH2 foreign technology. This train is designed to operate at the speed of 380 km/h while in operation and 480 km/h while it’s in testing. The train use 25 kV AC Overhead electrical system while can bring 494 passengers. The main route served are Shanghai–Nanjing and Shanghai–Hangzhou.


CRH380A


Top 10 free email providers


When choosing a free email provider you must consider that what’s best for you may not be great for someone else. Therefore your free email account may have all the features you need but it may not be so great for your mother who wants something a lot simpler. Choose one that fits with your needs, a computer scientist has different needs to the rest of us and he will understand some of the complicate jargon that goes with some of the free email providers. There are over 1400 providers, to go through them all could take a life time below are my Top 10 email providers. Remember read all of them before you make your choice.Please note the below is not in order of preference.




10) Gmail:
The search giant released gmail to try and conquer our email addresses and a good job they did of it. Nowadays many people have a gmail account. The name is memorable the storage space incredible but the interface is a little slow and bulky as far as Im concerned,

9) Yahoo:
ahoo free mail offers unlimited storage space one of the few companies to do so. Its control panel is fairly straight forward and it has a number of nice features such as its integration with calendars and maps. However some users find all the dragging of files a little tiresome.

8) Hotmail:
Hotmail from MSN is my personal choice. It offers more space than you could possibly ever use. It’s accessible and now has the live version. However people often complain about the large banner ads at the side of the screen. Something I never even noticed.

7) Email:
The biggest advantage of email’s free web mail service is in the name. It’s not easy to forget an email that ends in email.com. This clever marketing is leading to many people signing up to the email. However it doesn’t have the power or storage space of some its large rivals.

6) Lycos:
 Lycos was once a popular email provider, however as time passed by it has been over taken by its more sophisticated rivals. One of lycos biggest advantages is that it can block span. No more junk mail in your in box.

5) AOL :
Aol is a company that has been providing free email since the dawn of the internet. No doubt they have learned a lot from their time in the ecommerce business. Although AOL is known as one of the most secure providers and for given there users unlimited storage space they fall down when it comes to ease of use.

4)Goowy :
Goowy is certainly one of the lesser known providers. It’s for been cool and customizable. It’s ideal for artists or those who like things that are aesthetically pleasing. It offers extra widgets such as games and calendars. It may be considered a little complicated and over excessive for beginners.

3)Care2 :
Care2 is a free email provider with a conscience. Originally it was a community site to help to meet via the internet and to approach social issues. However it introduced a free email service from it donates 10% of its advertising revenue to charity.

2)Gawab :
Gawab is a free email provider that is easy to use and gives you 10GB of storage. It’s safe reliable and easy to use, its kind of like the Volkswagen of cars reliable but with nothing to fancy going on.

1)Fast mail :
It’s a fast affective service that gets a lot of interest from regular web users. It has many useful features and doesn’t over do it on the advertising. However it does let itself down a bit when it comes to spam filtering.

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Most Beautiful Woman in World


I don't think Angelina Jolie and Aishwarya Rai are the only most beautiful women in the world. Just because they are celebrities doesn't mean they are top gorgeous in the world. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. My eyes and brain liked very much the unique face of Fathima Kulsum Zohar Godabari. Fathima Kulsum Zohar Godabari once a royal princess is now an official Queen of Saudi Arabia. Few days ago her photos (without niqab covering her face) were leaked on the internet and the world luckily noticed her for the first time. Her fair skinned face with grey eyes, red lips and sharp eyebrows is in a perfect symmetry. For me, she is probably the most beautiful woman in the world. Her face is simply a miracle of nature. Check out some rare photos of the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life.