n 1853, one adobe hut(made of earth mixed

with water and an or-ganic material) stood in

Nopalera (Nopal field),named after the Mexican

Nopal cactus indigenous to the area. By1870, an agricultural community flour-ished. The area was known as Cahuen-ga Valley, after thepass in the SantaMonica mountainsto the north.

According tothe diary of HJWhitley, alsoknown as “Fatherof Hollywood”, onhis honeymoon in1886 he stood at ahilltop. Along camea Chinese man in awagon carryingwood. The Chineseman was askedwhat he wasdoing and hereplied, “I holly-wood,” meaning “haulingwood”. Whitley had anepiphany and decided to name hisnew town Hollywood.

THE FIRST FILMThe first film made in Hollywood

was a short film in 1910 titled In Old Cal-ifornia. A silent movie, it was filmedin 1910 and directed by DW Grif-fith. The film is a melo-drama about theMexican era of

California. By 1911, the firstmovie studio appeared onSunset Boulevard. By 1915,many motion-picture firmshad relocated to Hollywood.

WHAT CAUSED IT?The Dust Bowl was caused by several eco-nomic and agricultural factors, includingfederal land policies, changes in regionalweather, farm economics and other cul-tural factors. After the Civil War, a seriesof federal land acts coaxed pioneers west-ward by incentivising farming in theGreat Plains.

Rising wheat prices in the 1910s and1920s and increased demand for wheat fromEurope during World War I encouragedfarmers to plow through millions of acresof native grassland to plant wheat, corn andother row crops. But as the United Statesentered the Great Depression, wheat prices

plummeted. Farmers tore up even moregrassland in an attempt to harvest a bumpercrop and break even. Crops began to failwith the onset of drought in 1931, exposingthe bare, over-plowed farmland. Withoutdeep-rooted prairie grasses to hold the soilin place, it began to blow away. Eroding soilled to dust storms and economic devasta-tion – especially in the Southern Plains.

WHEN WAS THE DUSTBOWL?The Dust Bowl, also known as “the DirtyThirties,” started in 1930 and lasted forabout a decade, but its long-term econom-ic impacts lingered much longer. Severedrought hit the Midwest and SouthernGreat Plains in 1930, further exacerbatingthe environmental disaster.

So many extraordinary questions pop-up in our minds pertaining to the most ordinary occurrences inlife. Let us simplify the difficult processes and explain the how, why, when and where to you...

very year hundreds of millions ofmonarch butterflies undertake a

great journey of up to 3,000 milesin their annual migration from

Canada and the United States to theirwintering grounds in Mexico. Once in Mexico,the monarchs congregate in the oyamel fir treesof Michoacan and Mexico states.

Monarchs can travel between 50 and 100miles a day; it can take up to two months tocomplete their journey.The farthest rangingmonarch butterflyreportedly travelled265 miles in one day.

A butterfly beginsas an egg, laid on the un-derside of a milkweedleaf. Inside is a tiny cater-pillar, but you'll have tolook closely to see it sincethe eggs are very small –only about the size of apinhead! A femaleMonarch will lay one eggat a time, up to 500!

HOW LONG DOTHEY LIVE?

Most Monarchs live fromtwo to six weeks as anadult butterfly, but theMonarch’s migration isthe key to its yearly lifecycle. The time frame forone butterfly's life cycle(one generation) is about6-8 weeks…egg, caterpil-lar, chrysalis, butterfly. Itgrows inside the egg forabout 4 days.

SYMBOLISMThe butterfly symbolis-

es great transformationand personal growth, soseeing these creatures of-ten calls you to look with-in at areas that you canimprove upon!

DO BUTTERFLIESDIE AFTERLAYING EGGS?Female butterflies die af-ter they have laid alltheir eggs. They areready to mate immedi-ately after emergingfrom the pupa. Theymate only once in theirlifetime.

he answer to the questionlies in Greek mythology. Ac-

cording to the story, Achilleswas born to Peleus and

Thetis. Achilles was raisedby his mother, Thetis, who wanted tokeep him safe for eter-nity. In an effort to makeAchilles immortal,Thetis dipped him inthe River Styx, but sinceshe didn’t want him toget swept away by thecurrent, she held him byhis heels. Since his feetnever touched the wa-ter, he was invincibleonly above the heel.

Fast forward a fewyears. Achilles grew tobe one of the dominantwarriors. The TrojanWar broke out, and withthe help of Achilles, theGreeks ravaged several cities aroundTroy over the first nine years of thewar. In the 10th year, a quarrel withthe Greek commander Agamemnonled Achilles to stop fighting. Achilles’closest friend, Patroclus, imperson-ated Achilles on the battlefield, butwas struck down by Hector, the eld-est son of the King of Troy.

Saddened and enraged that Pa-troclus had been killed, Achilles chal-lenged Hector to a battle, and the Greekwarrior came out victorious. Despitefelling Hector, the war was far fromover. The war continued, and Achillesbecame public enemy for Paris, broth-er of Hector. As the legend goes, while

the Greeks were attemptingto take Troy, Paris saw an op-portunity to exact his re-venge. No other man hadbeen able to strike down

Achilles in battle, soParis readied a poison

tipped arrow anddrew his bow.

Guided by GodApollo, the

a r r o w

struck Achilles in the heel, the spot wherehe was vulnerable. The poison had an ef-fect, and Achilles died a short while lat-er.

Achilles tendon is a strong tendon

at the back of the heel that connects thecalf muscles to the heel. The contract-ing calf muscles lift the heel by this ten-don, thus producing a foot action that isbasic to walking, running and jumping.Achilles tendon is the thickest and mostpowerful tendon in the body.

WHENT

WHATwas a Dust Bowl?

can I see

Idid Hollywood begin?

HOWamels can travel

hundreds of miles,over several days,

without stopping todrink. How is that possible?Let’s start with the hump.Contrary to what you might haveheard, camels do not store extrawater here. The hump (or humpsdepending on the type of camel)

stores fat. That provides energyfor long, desert treks.This fat can also help keep a camelfrom getting thirsty. As the fat isburned, water is produced as oneof the byproducts. This extrawater enters the camel’s blood-stream to add to its water supply.Camels can also conserve water bynot sweating as much as humans.

C

T he Dust Bowl wasthe name given to the

drought-strickenSouthern Plains re-

gion of the UnitedStates, which suffered

severe dust storms dur-ing a dry period in the

1930s.As high winds and chok-

ing dust swept the regionfrom Texas to Nebraska,

people and livestock werekilled and crops failed across

the entire region. The DustBowl intensified the crushing

economic impacts of the GreatDepression and drove many

farming families on a desper-ate migration in search of work

and better living conditions.

E

is it called Achilles Heel?WHY

WHERE

If temperatures aretoo cold, they can

freeze to death. Wet,cold Monarchs are in par-

ticular danger. Ice crys-tals that form on the butterflycan kill it. Monarchs can’t flyunless they can warm their mus-cles to 55°F. They can’t evencrawl below 41°F.

Monarch butterflymigration?

The tendon was first credited toAchilles in writing in 1693 by Dutchanatomist Philip Verheyen. In his text‘Corporis Humani Anatomia’,Verheyen referred to the cord ofAchilles as “tendo achilles”.

The first studio inHollywood, the Nestor

Company, was established bythe New Jersey–based CentaurCompany in a roadhouse at 6121Sunset Boulevard (the corner ofGower), in October 1911. Fourmajor film companies —Paramount, Warner Bros., RKO,and Columbia — had studios inHollywood, as did several minorfirms and rental studios. In the1920s, Hollywood was the fifth-largest industry in the nation.By the 1930s, Hollywood wasproducing 600 films per year.

DREAM FACTORY

do camels conserve water? Camels are also covered with heavy fur whichkeeps the daytime heat out. Dromedary camels

always have this layer of fur. Bactrian camels willgrow an even heavier coat of fur in the winter tosurvive the harsh cold of the Gobi Desert. This iswhy a camel can travel a long way without sweatingmuch.

Another reason is their nasal passage. When peo-ple exhale, they lose water vapour. Camels have avery dry nasal passage; this recondenses the waterout of each breath, allowing much less to escape.

HEAVY FUR, DRY NASAL PASSAGES

Photos: Getty images

06 SCIENCE OF EVERYTHINGThe only true wisdom is in knowing you

know nothing.Socrates