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POPSYak Cheese Is a Miracle The yak is a long-haired type of cattle, bred from Himalaya (Nepal) to Tibet, Mongolia and surrounding regions. This is an animal perfectly adapted to high altitudes and cold. The yak is an excellent labor and burden animal. That's why, in lower altitudes, people prefer a hybrid yak-cattle called zopkio, more docile and better standing with those conditions. Yak meat is slightly tough. In Chinese traditional medicine, sliced and pickled ox or yak penis, which has bland and rubbery texture, is considered a general energizer. In Tibetan monasteries, lamps on the shrines function on yak fat. The spun yak wool is extremely warm. The braided wool is used for getting solid ropes. In Tibet and high Himalaya, the local common clothing, called chuba, is made by men who braid it from yak wool. The yak wool is also used for making mantles and blankets.
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POPSMystery of the Himalayas solved Scientists can't even be sure how high the land was before India crashed into Asia, obliterating the Tethys Ocean which used to separate them. Like western South America, the coast could have been lined by mountains.Some scientists have even suggested that the rise of the Himalayas could have triggered the Ice Age by increasing the total amount of global rain and removing vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the air.By pushing the Himalayas to their current altitude, more than 8,000m above sea level, and raising the Tibetan plateau to 5,000m, the detachment of the block was responsible for both the monsoon rains that make south Asia so fertile and the Gobi desert in central Asia. Warm winds blowing from the Pacific Ocean cool as they rise over the mountains, releasing the moisture they contain as torrential rains, leaving almost no water to fall on the arid interior of the continent.
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POPSGecko Remains - One Hundred Million Years Old I like the comment right at the end: "The fossil tree resin preserved the gecko's sticky toe hairs, called lamellae, which are also found on modern-day geckos. Such hairs enable the small reptiles to hang on to vertical surfaces or walk upside down--and have even inspired an artificial "gecko tape" that could someday give its users Spider Man-like clinging powers. "
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POPSNepal Donors Pass the Buck After successfully waging people's movement and eschewing the cold-war era advice of outside countries like the US, Nepal has attempted what few other nations have - to come to terms with Communists. In this time where there is the potential for tolerance and progress, many of the countries who were too eager to offer aid to Nepal when the government openly suppressed democracy are now weaseling out. It is sadly typical in this era that compromise and reconciliation are frowned on and that absolutist campaigns that create conflict and social divide are favored all in the name of 'peace.' I will not glorify the Maoists and the violence they used but the response of the international community to this delicate time is appalling. This also raises the question of the ethics of international aid. Nepal has long relied on it, and now when it is needed most it dries up. Is the international community responsible?
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POPSSacred river endangered by global warming:GANGES RIVER Quoted;"While India is one of the world's top producers of greenhouse gas emissions -- along with the United States, China, Russia and Japan -- it argues that the United States and other developed countries should reduce their own emissions before expecting developing nations to follow suit. Environmentalists say that kind of thinking is shortsighted and that India desperately needs strong laws in place at a time when the country is growing so quickly."
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POPSThe Impending Himalayan Outburst
For more than a decade, the fear that the Himalayan glaciers may be melting have attracted the attention of geologists and policymakers. During this time, conferences and papers have been written about the topic and media coverage has also increased on this issue. And finally, here comes the most comprehensive study on the topic-- Impact of Climate Change on Himalayan Glaciers and Glacial Lakes: Case Studies on GLOF and Associated Hazards in Nepal and Bhutan. This 119-page scientific study focuses on the impact of warming temperatures on glaciers and glacial lakes in the Himalayan region. It warns of impending glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) – when rising waters from glacial melt breach dams in glacial lakes – and calls for early warning and mitigation measures to avert disaster. The document, released on June 5 in Kathmandu and Bangkok on the World Environment Day, is jointly produced by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) with the United N
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POPSHimalayas: Two continents collide About 225 million years ago, India was a large island still situated off the Australian coast, and a vast ocean (called Tethys Sea) separated India from the Asian continent. When Pangaea broke apart about 200 million years ago, India began to forge northward. By studying the history -- and ultimately the closing-- of the Tethys, scientists have reconstructed India's northward journey. About 80 million years ago, India was located roughly 6,400 km south of the Asian continent, moving northward at a rate of about 9 m a century. When India rammed into Asia about 40 to 50 million years ago, its northward advance slowed by about half. The collision and associated decrease in the rate of plate movement are interpreted to mark the beginning of the rapid uplift of the Himalayas. Fifty kilometers north of Lhasa (the capital of Tibet), scientists found layers of pink sandstone containing grains of magnetic minerals (magnetite) that have recorded the pattern of the Earth's flip-flopping magnet
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