Environment

Few people know why d’Artagnan duelled Athos and Aramis, whilst everyone knows the story of Porthos. The Gascon found himself entangled in Porthos’ cloak and thereby learnt that a sumptuous dressing embroidered with gold was made of buffalo leather. Of course, the term ’ostentation’ does not originate in Alexandre Dumas’ novel, but the baldric of a plump musketeer is often used as a synonym of the word.

Two million years ago, human ancestors hardly had any idea what the term ’evolution’ stands for. Back then, their primary source of help was by appearance grey and a somewhat mediocre stone.

The unresolved mysteries of evolution are still there to solve them. Many evolution stages have not been fully understood yet, and humankind seeks to find answers to what animals that lived on our planet millions of years ago looked like.

The term ’coat of arms’ can be traced back to the 12th century, with the start of heraldic tradition arising from the Crusades. The crusaders were dealing with the self-identification issues at the time - they needed to know who was the one who accomplished the ’feat’ and who was who on a level resembling modern ’friend-or-foe’ systems.

One hundred and seventy-three years ago, in 1848, Nikifor Syutkin, a worker at the state-owned Miass gold mines, was, just as usually he did, digging for gold. Suddenly he heard a tinkling sound from underneath his pickaxe. When he shook the dirt off the find, he barely managed to elevate a 36-kilogram gold nugget up the wooden ladder.

One would ask, what mystery may little cast-iron statuettes, known as ’Capuchin Foxes’, hold?

The correct answers are as follows: on the window glass and in December. If, while the temperature is above zero, and provided the air humidity is high, a water film forms on the glass surface, then, once the temperature drops below freezing, the film may turn into a dendrite-like frost pattern.

This stone was considered sacred by members of the most mysterious medieval order - the Knights Templar. It comes as no surprise since the rock may change its colour in a matter of a few minutes.

The metal - tungsten, or wolfram, - whose melting point is the planet’s highest, was named after this mineral.

Until the early 19th century, this stone was often mistaken for emerald. But when the truth had been revealed, people’s interest in the mineral only started to increase, for the rock turned out to be no less rare and highly-demanded.