Module Book 1

BOOK ONE01

GeneralKnowledge

NATIONAL ACADEMICDECATHLON MALAYSIA

CHAL

LENG

E

INDIVIDUAL

GROUP

CONTENT

12 Innovations Change WorldPage 3-14

10 Highest Grossing MoviesPage 25-34

10 Endangered SpeciesPage 15-24

10 Natural Wonders WorldPage 35-44

Writing DebatePublic SpeakingGroup Challenge

Brain QuizWriting

Whether its early mans rst use of re or the birth of the space

shuttle, innovations have always been the major catalysts behind humankinds success. Some of these breakthroughs brought

about immediate change, while others humbly laid the

groundwork for important developments down the road. From pioneering inventions to

bold scientic and medical advancements, here are the 12 innovations that have changed the course of human history.

2

Prior to the rise of the Internet, no innovation did more for the spread of knowledge than Johannes Gutenbergs printing press. Developed around 1440 in Mainz, Germany, Gutenbergs machine improved on already existing presses through the use of a mould that allowed for the rapid production of lead alloy type pieces. is assembly line method of copying books enabled a single printing press to create as many as 3,600 pages per day. By 1600 they had created over 200 million new books.

e printing press not only made books aordable for the lower classes, but it helped spark the Age of Enlightenment and the spread of new and often controversial ideas. e printing press proved so inuential in prompting revolutions, religious and scientic thought, that Mark Twain wrote, What the world is today, good and bad, it owes to Gutenberg.

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PRESS PRINTING

12 INNOVATIONSCHANGE WORLD

Copyright 2015 by Malaysian Institute for Debate and Public Speaking. All rights reserved.


Magnetic compasses may have been made somewhat obsolete by satellites and global positioning systems, but their impact on early navigation and exploration was inestimable. Originally invented in China, by the 14th century, compasses had widely replaced astronomical methods (looking at stars) as the main navigational instrument for mariners.

e compass provided explorers with a reliable method for traversing the worlds oceans, a breakthrough that ignited the Age of Discovery and won Europe the wealth and power that later fueled the Industrial Revolution. Most importantly, the compass allowed for interactionboth peaceful and otherwisebetween previously isolated world cultures.

4

COMPASS


While they are easy to take for granted, all it takes is a short power outage to remind us of the importance of articial lights. Pioneered in the early 19th century by Humphry Davy and his carbon arc lamp, electric lights developed throughout the 1800s thanks to the eorts of inventors like Warren de la Rue, Joseph Wilson Swan and omas Alva Edison. It was Edison and Swan who patented the rst long-lasting light bulbs in 1879 and 1880, liberating society from a near-total reliance on daylight.

Electric lights went on to be used in everything from home lighting and street lamps to ashlights and car headlights. e complex networks of wires erected to power early light bulbs also helped lead to the rst domestic electrical wiring, paving the way for countless other in-home appliances.

5

THE ELECTRIC BULB



While early human societies made extensive use of stone, bronze and iron, it was steel that fueled the Industrial Revolution and built modern cities. Evidence of steel tools dates back 4,000 years, but the alloy was not mass-produced until the invention of the Bessemer Process, a technique for creating steel using molten iron, in the 1850s.

Steel then exploded into one of the biggest industries on the planet and was used in the creation of everything from bridges and railroads to skyscrapers and engines. It proved particularly inuential in North America, where massive iron ore deposits helped the United States become one of the worlds biggest economies.

6

STEEL




Magnifying lenses might seem like an unremarkable invention, but their use has oered mankind a glimpse of everything from distant stars and galaxies to the minute workings of living cells. Lenses rst came into use in the 13th century as an aid for the weak-sighted, and the rst microscopes and telescopes followed in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

Figures like Robert Hook and Anton van Leeuwenhoek would go on to use microscopes in the early observance of cells and other particles, while Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler employed the telescope to chart Earths place in the cosmos. ese early uses were the rst steps in the development of astonishing devices like the electron microscope and the Hubble Space Telescope. Magnifying lenses have since led to new breakthroughs in an abundance of elds including astronomy, biology, archeology, optometry and surgery.

7

MAGNIFYING GLASS



e telegraph was the rst in a long line of communications breakthroughs that later included radio, telephones and email. Pioneered by a variety of inventors in the 18th and 19th centuries, the telegraph used Samuel Morses famous Morse code to convey messages by intermittently stopping the ow of electricity along communications wires.

Telegraph lines multiplied throughout the 1850s, and by 1902 transoceanic cables encircled the globe. e original telegraph and its wireless successors went on to be the rst major advancements in worldwide communication. e ability to send messages rapidly across great distances made an indelible impact on government, trade, banking, industry, warfare and news media, and formed the bedrock of the information age.

8

TELEGRAPH



Cars, airplanes, factories, trains, spacecraftnone of these transportation methods would have been possible if not for the early breakthrough of the steam engine. e rst practical use of external combustion dates back to 1698, when omas Savery developed a steam-powered water pump. Steam engines were then perfected in the late 1700s by James Watt, and went on to fuel one of the most momentous technological leaps in human history during the Industrial Revolution.

roughout the 1800s external combustion allowed for exponential improvement in transportation, agriculture and manufacturing, and also powered the rise of world superpowers like Great Britain and the United States. e steam engines basic principle of energy-into-motion set the stage for later innovations like internal combustion engines and jet turbines, which led to the rise of cars and aircraft during the 20th century.

9

STEAM ENGINE


A giant step forward in the eld of medicine, antibiotics saved millions of lives by killing and preventing the growth of harmful bacteria. Scientists like Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister were the rst to recognize and attempt to combat bacteria, but it was Alexander Fleming who made the rst leap in antibiotics when he accidentally discovered the bacteria-inhibiting mold known as penicillin in 1928.

Antibiotics proved to be a major improvement on antiseptics. Nowhere was their eect more apparent than on the battleeld: While nearly 20 percent of soldiers who contracted bacterial pneumonia died in World War I, with antibiotics that number dropped to only 1 percent during World War II. Antibiotics like penicillin, vancomycin, cephalosporin and streptomycin have gone on to ght nearly every known form of infection, including inuenza, malaria, most STDs, meningitis and tuberculosis.

10

ANTIBIOTICS



roughout much of human history, money took the form of precious metals, coins and even raw materials like livestock or vegetables. e inception of paper money ushered in a bold new eraa world in which currency could purchase goods and services despite having no intrinsic value. Paper currency was widely used in China in the ninth century, but did not appear in Europe until the late 1600s. Spurred on by frequent shortages of coins, banks issued paper notes as a promise against future payments of precious metals.

By the late 19th century many nations had begun issuing government-backed legal tender that could no longer be converted into gold or silver. e switch to paper money not only bailed out struggling governments during times of crisisas it did for the United States during the Civil Warbut it also ushered in a new era of international monetary regulation that changed the face of global economics. Perhaps even more importantly, paper currency was the vital rst step in a new monetary system that led to the birth of credit cards and electronic banking.

11

PAPER CURRENCY



Nuclear technology uses the energy released by splitting the atoms of certain elements. It was rst developed in the 1940s, and during the Second World War to 1945 research initially focussed on producing bombs by splitting the atoms of particular isotopes of either uranium or plutonium. In the 1950s attention turned to the peaceful purposes of nuclear ssion, notably for power generation.

ere are over 435 commercial nuclear power reactors operable in 31 countries, with over 375,000 MWe of total capacity. About 70 more reactors are under construction. In addition to commercial nuclear power plants, there are about 240 research reactors operating, in 56 countries, with more under construction. ese have many uses including research and the production of medical and industrial isotopes, as well as for training. Nuclear power stands on the border between humanity's greatest hopes and its deepest fears for the future.

12

NUCLEAR POWER



A criminally underappreciated innovation, the transistor is an essential component in nearly every modern electronic gadget. First developed in 1947 by Bell Laboratories, these tiny semiconductor devices allow for precise control of the amount and ow of current through circuit boards.

Originally used in radios, transistors have since become an elemental piece of the circuitry in countless electronic devices including televisions, cell phones and computers. e amount of transistors in integrated circuits doubles nearly every two yearsa phenomenon known as Moores Lawso their remarkable impact on technology will only continue to grow.

13

TRANSISTORS



Conceived by the US Department of Defense in the 1960s, the internet, together with the World Wide Web, invented in 1989 by Brit techie, Tim Berners-Lee, has shrunk the world like no other invention.

Newspaper, book, and other print publishing are adapting to website technology, or are reshaped into blogging and web feeds. e entertainment industry, including music, lm, and gaming, is now the fastest growing online segment. e Internet has enabled and accelerated new forms of human interactions through instant messaging, Internet forums, and social networking. Online shopping has grown exponentially both for major retailers and small artisans and traders. Business-to-business and nancial services on the Internet aect supply chains across entire continents at a touch of a button.

By 2010, 22 percent of the world's population had access to computers with 1 billion Google searches every day, 300 million Internet users reading blogs, and 2 billion videos viewed daily on YouTube. In 2014 the world's Internet users surpassed 3 billion or 43.6 percent of world population. e fact you are reading this on the Internet says it all.

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INTERNET



REASON ENDANGERED :

Continuing deforestation and rampant poaching could push some tiger populations to the same fate as its now-extinct Javan and Balinese relatives in other parts of Asia.

Tigers are poached for their body parts, which are used in traditional Asian medicine, while skins are also highly prized. Additionally, sea level rise, due to climate change, threatens the mangrove habitat of a key tiger population in Bangladeshs and Indias Sundarbans.

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TIGER (PANTHERA TIGRIS)

New studies indicate that there may be as few as 3,200 tigers left in the wild. Tigers occupy less than seven per cent of their original range, which has decreased by 40 percent over the past ten years.

CURRENT EFFORTS:

World Wildlife Federation:

1972 Operation Tiger: Global program to fund conservation eorts for the tiger in the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, and Indonesia

1973 - Indonesia, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and ailand ban tiger hunting and created new protection zones.

1993 Global Conservation Strategy (GCS) is a captive management program that captures endangered tigers to ensure their survival and/or the recovery of wild populations in the future. is program decides how the world captive community can assist with the transfer of captive management information and technology to other countries. GCS works with zoos around the world.

10 ENDANGERED SPECIES


REASON ENDANGERED :

Global warming changes their habitat by causing ice platforms to move farther apart and swimming conditions more dangerous. is results in scarcity in food and led to lower population numbers.

e polar bear species will be extinct within the next 50 years if warming trends in the Arctic continue at its current pace.

CURRENT EFFORTS:

WWF is supporting eld research to better understand how climate change will aect polar bears and to develop adaptation strategies.

WWF also works to protect critical polar bear habitat by working with governments and industry to reduce threats from shipping and oil and gas development in the region and with local communities to reduce human-bear conict in areas where bears are already stranded on land for longer periods of time due to lack of ice.

16

POLAR BEAR (URSUS MARITIMUS)

e Arctics polar bears have become the iconic symbol of early victims of climate-induced habitat loss. Designated a threatened species for protection by the Endangered Species Act in the US.



REASON ENDANGERED :

Global Warming - e extent and thickness of the pack ice has reached unusually low levels in several recent years. e walrus relies on this ice while giving birth and aggregating in the reproductive period. inner pack ice over the Bering Sea has reduced the amount of resting habitat near optimal feeding grounds.

is more widely separates lactating females from their calves, increasing nutritional stress for the young and lower reproductive rates. Reduced coastal sea ice has also been implicated in the increase of stampeding deaths crowding the shorelines of the Chukchi Sea between eastern Russia and western Alaska.

CURRENT EFFORTS:

September 2009 - the US Fish and Wildlife Service added the walrus to the Endangered Species Act under warranted but precluded status..

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PACIFIC WALRUS(ODOBENUS ROSMARUS DIVERGENS)

e Arctics Bering and Chukchi Seas are home to the Pacic walrus, one of the latest victims of climate change. In September 2014, up to 200 dead walruses were spotted on the shore of the Chukchi Sea on Alaska's northwest coast



REASON ENDANGERED :

Once threatened primarily by oil spills, Magellanic penguins, now face a larger threat as sh are displaced by warming ocean currents, forcing the birds to swim farther to nd food. Last year hundreds of Magellanic penguins washed up on beaches around Rio de Janeiro, many emaciated or dead.

Scientists have speculated that changes in ocean currents or temperatures, which may be related to climate change, could have been responsible for their movement more than a thousand miles north of their traditional nesting area in the southern tip of Argentina. Twelve out of the 17 penguin species are currently experiencing rapid population decline.

CURRENT EFFORTS:

Wildlife Conservation Society:WCS has been working with local partners in coastal Patagonia since the 1960s, helping to create coastal protected areas and advance scientic research that help support the health of the Patagonian Sea, one of the most productive bio-regions in the Southern Hemisphere.

In 2008, WCS played an instrumental role in two conservation gains for the Magellanic penguin in Argentina: A ban on commercial shing at Burdwood Bank and the creation of a marine park at Golfo San Jorge. Both are key habitats for Magellanic penguins and their prey.

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MAGELLANIC PENGUIN(SPHENISCUS MAGELLANICUS)

is medium-sized penguin makes its home along the coastlines of South America, on both the Atlantic and Pacic shores. ese seabirds, also called Patagonian penguins, breed in Argentina, Chile, and the Falkland Islands, and spend the winter o the coast of Brazil, Uruguay, and Northern Argentina.



REASON ENDANGERED :

Atlantic turtle populations are more stable but scientists predict a decline due to the large numbers of adults being caught as bycatch and killed accidentally by shing eets. Additionally, rising sea levels and higher temperatures on Atlantic beaches pose a new threat to turtles and their ospring. Nest temperature strongly determines the sex of ospring, and a nest warming trend is reducing the number of male turtles.

CURRENT EFFORTS:

WWF aims to conserve leatherback turtle migratory pathways - by working with sheries to decrease bycatch, by protecting critical nesting beaches, and by raising awareness so that local communities will protect turtles and their nests


19

LEATHERBACK TURTLE(DERMOCHELYS CORIACEATHE)

e largest marine turtle and one of the largest living reptiles, the leatherback turtle, has survived for more than a hundred million years, but is now facing extinction. Recent estimates of numbers show that this species is declining, particularly in the Pacic where as few as 2,300 adult females now remain, making the Pacic leatherback the world's most endangered marine turtle population.


REASON ENDANGERED :

Bluen tuna sheries are near collapse and the species at serious risk of extinction if unsustainable shing practices in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean are not stopped.

CURRENT EFFORTS:

A temporary ban on the global trade of bluen tuna would allow the overexploited species to recover. WWF is encouraging restaurants, chefs, retailers, and consumers to stop serving, buying, selling, and eating endangered bluen tuna until this amazing species shows signs of recovery.

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BLUEFIN TUNA (THUNNUS THYNNUS)

e Atlantic bluen tuna is a large migratory sh found in the western and eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. Bluen tuna is the source of the highest grade sushi.



REASON ENDANGERED :

War has been waged in areas around the park, with gorillas subject to related threats such as poaching and loss of habitat. More than 200 live in the Virunga National Park, located in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, bordering Rwanda and Uganda.

CURRENT EFFORTS:

Conservation eorts have led to an increase in the Virunga population by 14 per cent in the last 12 years, while the mountain gorillas other home, the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda, has experienced population increases of 12 per cent over the past decade. Despite this success, the mountain gorillas status remains fragile, and WWF is working to save the great apes forest habitat in the mountains of the heart of Africa.

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MOUNTAIN GORILLA(GORILLA BERINGEI BERINGEI)

Scientists consider mountain gorillas to be a critically endangered gorilla subspecies, with about 720 surviving in the wild.



REASON ENDANGERED :

Climate change threatens to disrupt the monarch butterys annual migration pattern by aecting weather conditions in both wintering grounds and summer breeding grounds.

Loss of high-altitude pine and r forest in Mexico.

CURRENT EFFORTS:

WWF, in collaboration with the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature, has designed an innovative conservation strategy to protect and restore the Monarch butteries wintering habitat in Mexico, so butteries are protected from extremes weather and other threats.

WWF is also supporting local communities to establish trees nurseries that are reintroduced to the monarch buttery reserve, creating at the same time new sources of income for the owners of the monarch forests.

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MONARCH BUTTERFLY(DANAUS PLEXIPPUS)

Monarch butteries embark on a marvelous migratory phenomenon. ey travel between 1,200 and 2,800 miles or more from the United States and Canada to central Mexican forests. ere the butteries hibernate in the mountain forests, where a less extreme climate provides them a better chance to survive.



REASON ENDANGERED :

Highly prized as a commodity in traditional Asian medicine, Javan rhinos have also been brought to the verge of extinction by the conversion of forest habitat to farmland.

CURRENT EFFORTS:

1998: WWF has been involved in protection and conservation of the Javan rhino supporting forest rangers to undertake increased patrolling and protection activities, conducting surveys of the rhino population, raising awareness of the importance of the rhinos to local communities, and supporting park management.

Dec 2010: Highly trained snier dogs were used to search for traces of the extremely rare Javan Rhinoceros to better understand their optimum survival conditions.

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JAVAN RHINOCEROS(RHINOCEROS SONDAICUS)

Listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List (2009), the Javan rhino is considered to be one of the most endangered large mammals in the world with only two populations existing in the wild, for a total number of less than 60 animals.



REASON ENDANGERED :

Habitat Loss:Chinas Yangtze Basin region, which holds the pandas primary habitat, is the geographic and economic heart of this booming country. Roads and railroads are increasingly fragmenting the forest, which isolates panda populations and prevents mating.

Forest destruction also reduces pandas access to the bamboo they need to survive. e Chinese government has established more than 50 panda reserves, but only around 61% of the countrys panda population is protected by these reserves.

CURRENT EFFORTS:

WWF has been active in giant panda conservation for nearly three decades by working working with the Chinese government to protect habitats through the creation of reserves and to help local communities become less dependent on forest resources. Over half of the habitat where pandas live is now protected, and corridors are being established to connect key panda populations. e 1,600 remaining wild pandas are still living in over 20 geographically separate areas, and infrastructure development is on the increase, so theres still much more to be done.


24

GIANT PANDA(AILUROPODA MELANOLEUCA)

An international symbol of conservation since WWFs founding in 1961, the giant panda which numbers around 1,600 in the wild, faces an uncertain future. Its forest habitat in the mountainous areas of southwest China has become fragmented, creating a number of small and isolated populations.


A Paraplegic Marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home.

AWARDS

Won 3 Oscars. Another 73 wins & 101 nominations.

25

AVATAR (2009)

$2,782,275,172James Cameron

Worldwide Gross

Director

10 HIGHEST GROSSING MOVIES OF ALL TIME


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A seventeen-year-old aristocrat, expecting to be married to a rich claimant by her mother, falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.

AWARDS


TITANIC (1997)

$2,185,372,302James Cameron

Worldwide Gross

Director



27

Earth's mightiest heroes must come together and learn to ght as a team if they are to stop the mischievous Loki and his alien army from enslaving humanity.

AWARDS

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 31 wins & 65 nominations

THE AVENGERS (2012)

$1,511,757,910Joss Whedon

Worldwide Gross

Director



28

Harry, Ron and Hermione search for Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes in their eort to destroy the Dark Lord as the nal battle rages on at Hogwarts.

AWARDS

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 48 wins & 75 nominations

HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 (2011)

$1,341,511,219David Yates

Worldwide Gross

Director



29

When Tony Stark's world is torn apart by a formidable terrorist called the Mandarin, he starts an odyssey of rebuilding and retribution.

AWARDS

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 21 wins & 40 nominations

IRON MAN 3 (2013)

$1,215,439,994Shane Black

Worldwide Gross

Director



30

e Autobots learn of a Cybertronian spacecraft hidden on the moon, and race against the Decepticons to reach it and to learn its secrets.

AWARDS

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 10 wins & 36 nominations

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON (2011)

$1,123,746,996Michael Bay

Worldwide Gross

Director



31

Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.

AWARDS

Won 11 Oscars. Another 153 wins & 88 nominations

LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING (2003)

$1,119,929,521Peter Jackson

Worldwide Gross

Director



32

When the newly crowned Queen Elsa accidentally uses her power to turn things into ice to curse her home in innite winter, her sister, Anna, teams up with a mountain man, his playful reindeer, and a snowman to change the weather condition.

AWARDS


FROZEN (2013)

$1,112,629,935Chris Buck

Jennifer Lee

Worldwide Gross

Director



33

Bond's loyalty to M is tested when her past comes back to haunt her. Whilst MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.

AWARDS

Won 2 Oscars. Another 66 wins & 93 nominations

SKYFALL (2013)

$1,108,561,013Sam Mendes

Worldwide Gross

Director



34

Eight years after the Joker's reign of anarchy, the Dark Knight is forced to return from his imposed exile to save Gotham City from the brutal guerrilla terrorist Bane with the help of the enigmatic Catwoman.

AWARDS

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 43 wins & 82 nominations

DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012)

$1,084,439,099Christopher Nolan

Worldwide Gross

Director



KNOWLEDGE OF WONDER

e Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres. e reef is located in the Coral Sea, o the coast of Queensland, Australia.

e Great Barrier Reef can be seen from Outer Space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. is reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. It supports a wide diversity of life and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981. CNN named it one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

e Queensland National Trust named it a state icon of Queensland.

35

GREAT BARRIER REEF, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA


KNOWLEDGE OF WONDER

36

e Namib is the oldest desert in the world estimated to be 80 million years old.

Lying between a high inland plateau and the Atlantic Ocean, the Namib Desert is home to huge sand dunes with some measuring up to 380 metres high. roughout this vast and unforgiving landscape, a number of animals and plants have adapted to life here, including the mountain zebra, gemsbok, short-eared elephant shrew and Grant's golden mole.

ere is also an extraordinary diversity of succulent plants, as well as the shrub-like Welwitschia Mirabilis, which has only 2 leaves and can live for over 1,000 years!

NAMIB DESERT, NAMIBIA


KNOWLEDGE OF WONDER

37

A mysterious 50km wide geological feature in the Sahara Desert. e Richat Structure, also known as the Eye of the Sahara or Guelb Er Richat, is a prominent circular feature in the Sahara desert near Ouadane, westcentral Mauritania. is structure is a deeply eroded, slightly elliptical, 40 km in diameter dome. e sedimentary rock exposed in this dome ranges in age from Late Proterozoic within the center of the dome.

Frequently photographed by astronauts because it forms a conspicuous 50-kilometer wide bulls-eye on the otherwise rather featureless expanse of the desert. Initially interpreted as an asteroid impact structure because of its high degree of circularity, it is now argued to be a highly symmetrical and deeply eroded geologic dome.

Spectacular hydrothermal features can be found at the Richat Structure.

RICHAT STRUCTURE, MAURITANIA


KNOWLEDGE OF WONDER

38

Jejudo is a volcanic island, 130 km from the southern coast of Korea. e largest island and smallest province in Korea, the island has a surface area of 1,846 sqkm. Known as Island of the Gods, it contains the natural World Heritage Site Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes.

A central feature of Jeju is Hallasan, the tallest mountain in South Korea and a dormant volcano, which rises 1,950 m above sea level. e island's mixture of volcanic rock, frequent rains, and temperate climate, make it very similar to the Hawaiian Islands in the U.S. e island oers visitors a wide range of activities: hiking on Halla-san (South Korea's highest peak), catching sunrises and sunsets over the ocean, viewing majestic waterfalls, riding horses, or just lying around on the sandy beaches.

According to CNN, Jeju Island is home to the Manjang Caves which is actually an extinct lava tube -the longest tube on Jeju Island, to be specic, at 13 kilometers long. It encases the largest recorded lava column in the world, which stands at 7.6 meters tall.

JEJU ISLAND, SOUTH KOREA


KNOWLEDGE OF WONDER

39

e mystical Maliau Basin is one of Malaysia's nest remaining wilderness areas. Maliau means Land of the Giant Staircase in Murut language.

e reason Maliau Basin is called Sabahs Lost World is because of its almost circular outer rim, with steep slopes and clis range, creating a natural barrier that isolates the basin from the world. An impressive list comprising some 270 bird, 82 mammal and 32 amphibian species have been recorded in the rich ecosystem of Maliau Basin.

Some ora and fauna, which are trapped in the basin for millions of years, may have evolved into new species. Amongst the multitude of invertebrates, at least two; a water beetle Neptosternus thiambooni and a crab elphusula hulu, have been conrmed as new discoveries in biological science. Maliau Basin now in the process of seeking World Heritage status. Keen visitors must obtain permission to enter the Maliau Basin in advance from Yayasan Sabah.

MALIAU BASIN,SABAH


KNOWLEDGE OF WONDER

40

e Grand Canyon is one of the most remarkable natural wonders in the world. Located in the state of Arizona, USA, it is one of the deepest gorges on Earth with an average depth of 1.6km and an average width of 16km. e canyon was carved over the past 17 million years by the Colorado River as it drops over 670m along the 277- 446 km length of the gorge.

For thousands of years, the area has been continuously inhabited by Native Americans who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves. e Pueblo people considered the Grand Canyon a holy site and made pilgrimages to it. e Colorado River continues to erode and form the canyon to its present-day conguration.

e Grand Canyon is one of the most complete geologic columns on the planet.

GRAND CANYON, ARIZONA, USA


KNOWLEDGE OF WONDER

41

More than 30 million years ago, the legend of Waitomo began with the creation of limestone at the bottom of the ocean. Now these limestone caves stand as one of New Zealand's most inspiring natural wonders and a must-see destination. e cave is a habitat for a certain glow worm species found in New Zealand only. e glowworms of the Waitomo caves are closely guarded by a Scientic Advisory Group.

e journey through the Waitomo Glowworm Caves brings the visitor through three dierent levels and begins at the top level of the cave and the Catacombs. e levels are linked by the Tomo, which is a 16m vertical shaft made of limestone. e second level is called the Banquet Chamber. e tour concludes with a boat ride through the Glowworm Grotto. e boat takes the visitor onto the underground Waitomo River where the glow worms create a spectacular tunnel of living light.

THE WAITOMO GLOWWORM CAVES, NORTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND.


KNOWLEDGE OF WONDER

42

Auroras are one of the greatest natural wonders in the world. ey are also known as the Northern Lights, are naturally occurring lights that create intriguing and spectacular displays in the sky. e aurora lights frequently appear as diused glow lighting up the horizon.

Auroral displays appear in many colours although pale green and pink are the most common. Shades of red, yellow, green, blue, and violet have been reported. e lights appear in many forms from patches or scattered clouds of light to streamers, arcs, rippling curtains or shooting rays that light up the sky with an eerie glow.

e lights of the Aurora generally extend from 80 kilometres (50 miles) to as high as 640 kilometres (400 miles) above the earth's surface.

AURORA BOREALIS


KNOWLEDGE OF WONDER

43

e Catatumbo Lightning is an atmospheric phenomenon in Venezuela. It occurs only over the mouth of the Catatumbo River where it empties into Lake Maracaibo. is relatively small area is considered to be the world's largest single generator of tropospheric ozone.

Lake Maracaibo basin is surrounded by mountains that trap warm trade winds coming o the Caribbean. ese winds crash into cool air spilling down from the Andes, forcing them up until they condense into thunderclouds creating an average 28 lightning strikes per minute across a wide area - an energy burst that could power all the light bulbs in Latin America.

After appearing continually for centuries, the lightning ceased from January to April 2010, apparently due to drought. is raised fears that it might have been extinguished permanently. e phenomenon reappeared after several months. Catatumbo Lightning was approved for inclusion in the 2015 edition of Guinness World Records, dethroning the Congolese town of Kifuka as the place with the world's most lightning bolts per square kilometer each year at 250 bolts.

CATATUMBO LIGHTNING, VENEZUELA


KNOWLEDGE OF WONDER

44

An extremely isolated land form around 37% of its plant life is found nowhere else on earth. It has been described as "the most alien-looking place on Earth.

UNESCO reports that 37% of Socotras 825 plant species, 90% of its reptile species and 95% of its land snail species do not occur anywhere else in the world. e entire ora of the Socotra Archipelago is so rare that it has been assessed for the IUCN Red List, with 3 Critically Endangered and 27 Endangered plant species recognised in 2004.

e site also supports globally signicant populations of land and sea birds (192 bird species, 44 of which breed on the islands while 85 are regular migrants), including a number of threatened species. One of the most striking of Socotra's plants is the dragon's blood tree (Dracaena cinnabari), which is a strange-looking, umbrella-shaped tree. Its red sap was thought to be the dragon's blood of the ancients, sought after as a dye, and today used as paint and varnish. Also important in ancient times were Socotra's various endemic aloes, used medicinally and for cosmetics. e island was recognised by UNESCO as a world natural heritage site in July 2008.

SOCOTRA ARCHIPELAGO, YEMEN


KNOWLEDGE OF WONDER

45

SOURCE

www. history.comwww.world-nuclear.org

internetsociety.org


Module Book 1

Documents

Transcript of Module Book 1