Author Archives: John Pullen

Over Christmas 1968, Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to orbit the Moon. The command module pilot on this three-man mission was William Anders. Amongst all his other duties, he took an exceptional photograph. It has been calculated that more people have seen this than any other image of the Moon. It was entitledContinue reading “How the Moon is Helping in the Search for ET”

Two of the vital things we need to survive on our planet are Oxygen, which makes up about 21% of our atmosphere, and the Earth’s magnetic field. Oxygen, along with around 75% of nitrogen and tiny amounts of rare gases, allows us to breathe. If all of the atmosphere were made up of oxygen, theContinue reading “Oxygen and the Laws of Attraction”

It is often said, by Captain Kirk amongst others, that the final frontier is outer space. Another common saying is that we know more about the surface of the Moon than we know about the deep ocean floor. Both are true. But first, let us be clear on what we mean by the deep oceanContinue reading “The Final Frontier is Below You”

Many of us are aware of how mountains are formed over millions of years. The movement of tectonic plates beneath the surface of this planet can sometimes push upward and create mountain chains. Mount Everest and the Himalayas are a good example of this mechanism. However, things may not be as simple as we firstContinue reading “South Africa is Growing Up”

Our teeth are very strong. They need to be judging by some of the hard and crunchy food we eat from time to time. But a new study has come up with a report that not only says why our teeth are so strong, but also what they have evolved from. Our teeth are alsoContinue reading “Our Teeth are Fishy”

Hundreds of millions of years ago, the Earth looked very different. The continents we know today were joined into two supercontinents called Laurasia and Gondwana. From the picture, you can see that Laurasia accounted for many of the countries now found in the Northern Hemisphere, while Gondwana held those in the Southern Hemisphere. Over millionsContinue reading “Antarctica’s Great Lost River”

Many people have heard of King Midas and the very unlikely power he had. For those of you who do not know the story, everything he touched turned to gold. This obviously led to a big problem at meal times! It is important to state that King Midas is likely a mythical figure of GreekContinue reading “Relative of King Midas Discovered”

From this date, each new article in the blog, “Feeding the Curious Mind”, will appear on Saturday evenings at 1900 UK time. This is so that Europe, the USA and many other parts of the world will be able to receive it at a reasonable time. But the same eclectic stories about many subjects willContinue reading “Is Africa Going to Split into Two?”

In 1571, one of history’s great artists was born. His name was Michaelangelo Merisi but he became known as Caravaggio. He was a remarkable painter and brought dramatic lighting to many of his works. Some works were also known for their homoeroticism which has led historians to debate whether Caravaggio was homosexual himself. He cameContinue reading “The Mysterious Life and Death of Caravaggio”