Life in a Biologist's View

This is probably one of the deepest questions man can ask and one of the greatest mysteries facing him.
Scientists have discovered that all living things are made of a material called protoplasm. They can make a chemical formula for protoplasm, and they can take molecules of various elements and compounds to put them together and make materials like protoplasm. But the materials they make are not alive!
All man can do is examine the living creatures on earth, in all sizes and shapes and wherever they live, and find what it is they have in common. Then we can say that these common qualities make up life.
Let's see what these qualities are.

Growth

All living things must be able to grow. They grow to a fairly definite size and shape. A kitten becomes a cat; an acorn becomes an oak tree and so on. For some living things, it takes a short time to grow to full size but this is not the case for every living organism; a redwood tree may take thousands of years.

Repairers

All living things, being alive, can repair and replace parts of themselves. A lobster can grow a new claw; human beings can grow new skin or bones; trees grow new leaves and branches.

Reproduction

Another characteristic shared by living things is the ability to reproduce. If this ability didn't exist, living things would have disappeared from the earth as they grew old and died. Animals, fish, birds, insects, plants-all produce offsprings.

Do you know?
     Viruses have all the qualities of non-living things, but they can reproduce. For this reason they are considered to be a link between living and non-living things.

Environmental Behaviour

Living things are capable of adapting the environment they live in. Man can do this better than any other creature because of his brainpower. But plants can do this only to a limited extent.

Response

Living things can also respond to stimuli which means if something outside of them affects them, they react. When we smell food, we respond; flowers grow towards the light.
This doesn't tell you what is life, but it does describe the qualities that things must have to be considered alive.

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Reasons: Why You Should Eat More Fruits

Allah Almighty has created plenty of stuff for the mankind. For our welfare and for our luxury. Fruits are also among this stuff. Fruits being enriched with multi-vitamins and protein are crucial for maintaining our good health. Fruits ensure correct working of our body organs.This post is all about the benefits of eating fruits and you'll find many reasons of eating more and more fruits.

Image Source: stocksnap.io

• Cherries: Cherries help calm your nervous system
• Grapes: Grapes relax your blood vessels
• Peaches: Peaches are rich in potassium, fluoride and iron
• Apples: Having existence in 1,000 types, apples help your body to develop resistance against infections
• Watermelon: Being more than 90% water, helps control your heart rate
• Oranges: Oranges help maintain great skin and vision
• Strawberries: Strawberries can potentially fight against cancer and aging
• Bananas: Bananas are very good for athletes because they are energy carriers
• Pineapples: They help fight against arthritis
• Blueberries: They protect your heart
• Kiwis increases bone mass
• Mangos: Act as a shield from several kinds of cancer

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Hot Water vs Cold Water

Most of us really had a problem taking bath when we used to be kids regardless of whether it is summer or winter. Some were afraid of cold water while others hated hot water. Today I got some interesting facts about water. Water, whether hot or cold, is very beneficial for our health even if used externally.

This little comparison comprises of surprising advantages of using cold and hot water.

Hot Water

You must take hot showers because hot water:-

• Relaxes the body muscles
• Lowers body tension
• Reduces anxiety
• Improves blood circulation
• Alleviates Migrane
• Reduces swelling
• Helps the body in removing toxins from our skin
• Weight Loss
• Helps better food digestion
• Opens pores and cleans the skin
• Acts as a nasal decongestant

Cold Water

You might prefer using cold water because it:-

• Stimulates immune system
• Increases alertness
• Prevents colds
• Stimulates anti-depression hormones
• Burns calories
• Frees up the mind
• Accelerates metabolism
• Tightens the skin
• Prevents hair fall
• Also improves blood circulation
• Gives you a glowing look

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List of Top Educational Websites

It is rightly said, "Technology is a neutral tool between good and evil." If you've decided to use it for good, you're doing absolutely the right thing. Millions of people, especially students, refer to the internet to get any type of help. Most of the people fail to find a website which can provide information only according to their needs. Wikipedia has always been our heart favourite. I've sorted a short list of some educational websites which can serve as the treasure of words just as you want and would let you think out of the box.

Videos

The following list contains the websites that can help you getting educated with infinite amount of videos:-

• TED: Ideas worth spreading**
• Khan Academy*
• AcademicEarth.org
• edX
• The New Boston
• Or you can browse through millions of videos on YouTube

Life Hacks

This is the list of resources which will teach you to do some amazing stuff in your daily life:-

• Zen Habits
• Lifehacker*
• The Art of Manliness
• Lifehack
• Psychology Today*

Mathematics

Maths lovers' paradise list comes here:-

• MathRun - game
• Project Euler
• WolframAlpha
• Mathway
• Desmos Graphing Calculator
• Symbolab

Cooking

Here comes the interesting part for cooking lovers (women perhaps). Let's see:-

• Cooking For Engineers
• how2heroes
• Cooklet
• UrduPoint Cooking (Urdu)

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Learning Languages

Learning foreign languages has always been my craze. Here are my picks for you:-

• Duolingo**
• Livemocha*
• Verbling
• busuu
• BBC Languages
• Memrise
• Oxford Dictionaries (Vocabulary)

Programming

Learn programming and create something really awesome whether a website or an app from here:-

• Codecademy*
• W3Schools*
• Code.org
• Learn Code The Hard Way
• Mozilla Developer Network**
• CodingBat
• LearnCode.academy**

Don't miss: Top JavaScript Libraries

Books

If you love to read books, you're not alone. Get your favourite books from here:-

• Gutenberg
• LibriVox
• Bookboon
• Google Books
• Bartleby.com

Documentaries

• Top Documentary Films
• DocumentaryHeaven

Random Knowledge

If you are among the most of the people like to just wander through the internet to read whatever they come across just to improve their general knowledge, this is for you:

• Wikipedia**
• Encyclopedia Britannica*
• mental_floss
• Sporcle -  game
• F***ing Homepage
• snopes.com
• Everything Simplified
• The more you Know, the more you Grow (From our team)

DIY & How To's

Geeks' corner:-

• wikiHow**
• Howcast*
• Instructables
• WonderHowTo
• HowStuffWorks

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Courses

Some might like to attend a course to master a specific subject or a section of it. Following sites are for those:-

• Coursera*
• Udactiy
• Udemy
• edX

*: personal picks
**: favorites ♥

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Why Do Plants Need Roots?

Roots are one of the most vital organs in plants. These are the parts where no leaves or nodes are present and are mostly under the soil.
A plant needs roots for two chief reasons: as a mean of anchorage or support, and to absorb water and mineral salts from the soil.

Carrot the a root of its plant.

The root of most plants grow in the soil but they don't just sit there, but seem to reach out in the soil to help the plant grow. By elongating near their tips, roots are always coming in the contact of new portions of the soil.
Thousands of tiny root hairs project from the surface of the young root to absorb several mineral salts and other materials from the soil.That's why when a young root is drawn out of the soil, soil particles often cling to the root hairs.
Some plants have taproots. A taproot is a single root and much larger than any of the branch roots. Other plants have not one large but several small, equal sized roots. These form a fibrous root system.

Orchid & Sweet Potato

Grasses have fibrous root system. Soil in which there are many fibrous roots is protected from erosion. In other plants, most of the roots grow from stems. For example, the geranium.
As roots grow older, some of them store large quantities of sugar and starch. Beet and sweet potatoes are examples of this. A sweet potato is a root, but Irish potato, with its eyes, is a stem.
Not all plants have roots that grow in the soil. Some tropical orchids that grow on trees have spongy roots that grow in the air to absorb moisture. Both the English ivy and poison ivy cling to walls or trees by means of their tiny, little aerial roots. Some plants have special roots that develop from the stem above the ground and grow down into the soil, forming props. A few roots, such as the sweet potato, form buds that grow into leafy branches and can be used to propagate the plant.
Roots, either large or small, are crucial for the survival of any plant or tree.

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Effect of Exercise on Our Body

Ever wanted sound, healthy and well-shaped muscles? Don't lie, you do. Me too. A lot of people go to gyms or do workout daily at home to get that. Different exercises are for building different muscles. Every exercise comprises of stretching and pulling of muscles. As muscles work in pairs, a muscle can only pull in one direction and requires another one to pull in opposite direction. If stretching and pulling of muscles is performed repeatedly, muscles fused into one action and perform it smoothly. Thus, work capability of muscles is increased.

Do you know?
     Our metabolism is the sum of all chemical activity in our cells which use the food we eat. This can be increased with vigorous exercise which means exercise enables us to use energy obtained from food efficiently.

Many people ask, "How much exercise do I need to build strong muscles?". Well, there's no satisfactory answer to this BUT you must not do intense exercises multiple times a day because this can affect your body badly. Lemme explain this little bit. Muscles are made up of long thin cells called Muscle Fibres. Excess of exercise results in damage of muscle fibres which is termed as Microtrauma. It is completely a natural process and essential for muscles to grow BIGGER! After microtrauma when muscle fibres are repaired, they shape the muscles in a new way. If you don't let them repair, the damage might lead to something worse.
The best way to ensure your body muscles are repaired, eat food packed with protein. Some of protein enriched foods are:

• Almonds
• Brocolli
• Cottage Cheese
• Chicken Breast
• Eggs
• Fish
• Milk
• Yogurt
• Oats
• Peanuts
• Shrimps

Moreover, when a muscle contracts, Lactic acid is produced which is like a poison & we feel tired because of production of this acid. Lactic acid cannot be removed while the muscles are active. Your body needs that to give your brains a signal that it wants to rest. During rest, lactic acid along with other wastes is removed, nerve cells become active and joints are refilled with lubricants they have used up.

Conclusion:
          Do not put yourself in trouble by going crazy for building muscles. Despite workout, eat protein enriched food and take rest. 8 hours sleep is proven to be enough for your body to relax and to repairs muscle fibre. As only then, you'd be able to build sound, healthy and well-shaped muscles.

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