THE MOST MYSTERIOUS TREE IN THE WORLD

At a glance you may be confused the above tree with a massive trunk with a 'Baobab' tree (which is renowned to possess the largest tree trunks of the world) but, this is yet another unknown specie which is seen in the close proximity of a hermitage deep in the dense forest in 'Andra Pradesh' in India. And most importantly it is natural not artificial.



























Detailed Analysis
According to this email forward, attached photographs show a massive tree that has a trunk covered with detailed images of many different creatures. The email claims that the tree is an example of an unknown species that grows in a dense forest in Andra Pradesh India. The message would have us believe that the tree is a completely natural living plant and that all of the animal figures on its trunk have mysteriously grown there naturally and without human interference.

Not surprisingly, these claims are utter nonsense. The "tree" in the photographs is completely artificial and, moreover, it is not even located in India. The tree is, in fact, the famous Tree of Life, an icon of Disney's Animal Kingdom, a theme park located in Florida, USA. The artificial tree was assembled out of a range of materials and appears amazingly lifelike. An article about the tree on Disney information website, DIS, notes:

The first challenge was designing a 145 foot tall "tree" that could stand up to hurricane force winds, but still look realistic. A unique system of fabricating and assembling the branches was designed that brought the flexibility that was needed to bring this idea to life. There are 45 secondary branches that lead to 756 tertiary branches. With 7891 end branches, the entire structure is covered with 102,583 manmade leaves, each of which is more than a foot long.

10 Cases of Natural Gender Inequality

A gender gap is a difference between women and men, besides the obvious anatomy, especially as reflected in social, political, intellectual, cultural or economic achievements or attitudes. However this list will focus on some of the biological aspects concerned with both sexes, such as the now well-known fact that men can hold their alcohol better than women, because women have a higher proportion of body fat and less stomach enzymes to metabolize the alcohol, causing 30% more of it to hit her bloodstream than a man who took the same drink.
Firstly, I apologize beforehand if any of my writing style comes off favoring either gender. I will also warn you to act as an adult concerning some of the entries on this list. Secondly, don’t let this list define you, some of these only concern either gender on average, not as an individual.

 

10.Navigation and Awareness

The way we get around is different to each gender, but it has been demonstrated that men are developmentally ahead in spatial awareness. Men are more abstract and Euclidian, using kilometers/miles and cardinal directions, while women often base their directions on landmarks and left-right directions. The lobule, which controls the perception of speed and the mental ability to rotate 3-D objects, is larger in men as well.
This all comes back to the hunter-gatherer days, when men led the hunt for meat and needed to have all of these perceptive tools handy for a successful hunt. On three-dimensional video tests, boys beat girls in spatial ability by a ratio of 4: 1, and the best girls were often outclassed by the lowest scoring boys.
Male brains are also programmed to concentrate efficiently on one thing at a time, while female brains are geared to be able to multitask. The reason behind this could be that neuron fibers that connect the left and right hemispheres are more plentiful in women. However some studies have shown the opposite to be true.

 

9.Intelligence

The male brain is larger than the female’s, having about 4% more cells and weighing 100 grams more than female brains. While this may be, each sex has equal brain weight to body weight ratio. The female brain is also more compact and more densely packed with neurons. In females, the region associated with language and social interaction is significantly larger than males, and located in both cerebral hemispheres, not just the left (as in males). While men exceed women at spatial navigation and geometry, women are exceeding at language even more. A study of 8th grade girls and boys (9th year for UK) showed the girls exceeding the boys 6: 1.
Because language centers are smaller, and only located in one hemisphere, this puts males more at risk for language disorders like dyslexia. Stuttering and speech defects appear almost exclusively in boys. But, even though they are more at risk, they average 3-4 IQ points more than women.
Interestingly enough, Dr. Louann Brizendine claims that every brain begins as a female brain, only becoming male 8 weeks after conception, when there is a surge in testosterone which reduces the language center and grows more cells in the aggression centers.

 

8.Health

Women live longer than men in most countries. This could be due to safer life practices, or the fact that the jobs with the highest on-the-job death rate are all, predominantly, male. While both men and women are just as susceptible to mental illness, women are less vulnerable to developmental difficulties and chronic illnesses, with this possibly being due to having two X chromosomes, and therefore becoming a carrier of a disease before showing symptoms, and it could also be due to reduced exposure to testosterone. Remember, males will show symptoms of the disease if their only X chromosome is defective.
For this reason, some conditions are far more common in males than in females. Examples of X-linked recessive diseases are hemophilia and color blindness (see number 4). There is a possibility that Asperger’s Syndrome is a genetic disease as well, as it appears in 4 times as many males as females.

 

7.Aging

Women, unfortunately, do not age the same as men. Men, the same goes for you. Women have particularly denser neurons that deteriorate differently, which can lead to dementia quicker than a man’s brain would, simply because he has more of them. But women generally have faster blood flow to their brains, causing them to lose less brain tissue as they age.
Men’s skin also ages better, getting wrinkles later than women because the collagen levels don’t deteriorate as fast as they do in women. However, baldness is another X-linked recessive trait; you inherit it from your mother. This is because androgen receptors, a key hormone in the process of balding, are on the X chromosome. This means there is some truth that to see how your hair will go in the near future, look to your mother’s father, the person who gave her one of her X chromosomes. Chronic conditions are also showing a trend in being more prevalent in older women than men (conditions such as hypertension and arthritis).

 

6.Smell

Women have a greater ability to detect smells than men, and this may be linked to estrogen hormones. The structure of the nose is the same in women as men, and they don’t have any more receptors in the nose, but studies have shown smells activate a greater region in the brain in women than men. In one study, they were able to do better than men in differentiating between odors and picking up faint and slight odors. The study was repeated with younger participants with similar results.
In another unrelated study, men were given clean cotton t-shirts to sleep in for two nights. The t-shirts were subsequently sealed in plastic bags and then sent to women to smell and rate how attractive they thought the t-shirt wearer was. The most striking find of the study was that the women often picked the men who had the strongest immune systems.

5.Pain Tolerance

Ever thought your girlfriend or wife was overreacting to a crushed finger or stubbed toe? Well, she might not have been overreacting at all, as women have more nerve receptors, which cause them to feel pain more intensely than men. Women average 34 nerve fibers per square centimeter of facial skin, while men only average 17 nerve fibers. You’re not being tougher than her by charismatically surviving a bee sting; you’re just not feeling it at her intensity.
This has far-reaching effects, as in the treatment of chronic pain sufferers may need higher dosages of painkillers. About 70% of chronic pain sufferers are women, as well. Their being sensitive and tolerant to pain is different though. Let me repeat: they are sensitive, yet tolerant to pain. They have more coping mechanisms than men do to deal with pain (i.e. more complex endorphin and oxytocin responses), and can therefore get through much more arduous parts of life, such as childbirth.

 

4.Sight

When it comes to the sense of sight, there are some big differences between men and women. While men can read finer print and are better at night vision and discerning movement, women can sense colors better, have a wider periphery of vision and have more of a chance of being a tetrachromat.
A tetrachromat has another type of cone in between the red and green (somewhere in the orange range) and its 100 shades, theoretically, would allow a woman to see 100 million different colors. Only a woman can be a tetrachromat. This is because the genes for the pigments in green and red cones lie on the X chromosome, and only women have two X chromosomes, creating the opportunity for one type of red cone to be activated on one X chromosome and the other type of red cone on the other one. In a few cases, women may have two distinct green cones on either X chromosome.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work the same for men, as most of the color deficient men inherit two red or two green cones along with the standard blue cone, making it impossible for them to distinguish between red and green. 8 percent of men in the world have a color deficiency as compared to 0.5% of women. 2-3% of women in the world may have a fourth cone and are a tetrachromat.

 

3.Communication

Everybody knows that women and men communicate differently, and here are some observations from the scientific community that will enlighten you as to how and why.
Women are able to more adequately manipulate their facial expressions than men. However, the results are flipped when it comes to expressing and communicating anger. Women have a tendency to catch others emotions, also known as emotional contagion, although men can inhibit their expressions better than females, when cued to do so.
Women are more inclined to face each other and make eye contact when talking. Men are more likely to look away from each other. Women will tend to communicate more affection and prioritize communication more than the masculine side of the equation. When in a discussion, men are likely to debate and talk about a range of topics while the ladies may talk at length about one topic. There are a lot more tendencies each sex has when it comes to communicating, and it helps to understand this because some phrases mean something different to each gender, phrases such as “Talking about us.”

 

2.Friendships

The way friendships are forged and maintained also differs between male and female. Men expect competition in companionship. They avoid communicating weakness and vulnerability as well as personal and emotional concerns. For women there is little to no problems with communicating weakness and vulnerability, even seeking out friendships during hardships. For this reason one could say that women are emotionally closer to their friends than men are.
Women tend to value and bond with their friends for listening and responding non-critically, showing support and offering comfort. On the other hand, men grow closer to each other by doing activities with each other, or doing each other favors. Young boys at school will play more vigorously, and occupy more space in their play area, than girls. Girls will opt for more sedentary games, and girls are more likely to accept a new classmate to their group, whereas a new boy will have to demonstrate his usefulness to the group.

 

1.Orgasm

During orgasm, both female and male genitals swell with blood, their pulse races and muscles contract involuntarily at intervals of 0.8 seconds (approximately). Some peoples mouths open. Others faces contort. The feet may arch and shake. A warm glow envelopes the body. It is during orgasm in both men and women that oxytocin floods through our bloodstream. Oxytocin, released by female orgasm, helps women lie still for a while afterwards. This further increases the likelihood of conception.
However, the difference here is the time to reach orgasm, and the functionality of each. According to sexologist Alfred Kinsley for 75% of all males, orgasm is possible to be attained within the first four minutes after initiation of sexual intercourse. For women the average time to reach orgasm is between 10 and 20 minutes. The swiftness of the male system virtually guarantees climactic orgasms for males, but is usually too quick for the female. Self stimulation is also quicker for both sexes, significantly for women.
It has also been proposed that due to the physiological similarity of men and womens genitals that the female orgasm is an “echo” of the male orgasm. As better stated by evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould: “The clitoris is the homologue of the penis – it is the same organ, endowed with the same anatomical organization and capacity of response.”
On the plus side though, both sexes may experience a burst of creative thought, since orgasm produces activity in the right, creative-thinking side of the brain.

 

 

 

Bonus

Time

Or more accurately, each gender’s perception of it. This was originally my number 1 spot but as a Google search shows, there hasn’t been much research done on the subject, so I wasn’t sure of the credibility of some of these facts. Commenters, feel free to tear this entry apart. But otherwise go ahead and indulge.
In a 2001 study participants were asked to judge how much time had passed at an interval of 1, 3, 7 or 20 seconds. The results weren’t mind-blowing, but they showed that men regularly overshot the interval while women undershot. It also showed that the difference between sexes does not change with length of interval perceived. This could possibly purport that men feel time go by faster while women feel it goes by slower.
Women perceive time by using landmarks or milestones in time to identify other points in time (i.e. that was shortly after my mother died or that was during lunchtime) while men were more likely to state the year, date, or time something happened. As some of you may have noticed, this is similar to the relationship between men and women on spatial awareness. There is some truth to this also. The lobule that is responsible for the perception of speed and the mental ability to rotate 3-D objects is also responsible for perceiving time.

Top 10 Fascinating Carnivorous Plants

Out of all the strange plants in the world, who would have thought that you even get flesh eating plants? Well, maybe not so much “flesh” eating, as insect eating, but carnivorous none the less. All carnivorous plants can be found in areas where the soil has very little nutrients. These fascinating plants are categorized as carnivorous as they trap insects and arthropods, produce digestive juices, dissolve the prey and derive some, or most, of their nutrients from this process. The first book on these plants was written by Charles Darwin, in 1875, “Insectivorous Plants”. After further discoveries and research, it is believed that these carnivorous properties evolved on six separate occasions, from five different orders of flowering plants. These are now presented in over 630 different species of flowering plant.
There are five basic trapping mechanisms found in all these plants: Pitfall traps, Fly Paper traps, Snap traps, Bladder traps and Lobster pot traps. I would like to show you a couple of plants, using each mechanism, so that you can also see the differences between different genera.

 

10. Sarracenia

Sarracenia, or the North American Pitcher plant, is a Genus of carnivorous plants indigenous to the eastern seaboard, Texas, the great lakes and south eastern Canada, with most species being found only in the southeast states. It is also the first plant with a pitfall trap that we will look at.
The plant’s leaves have evolved into a funnel, with a hood like structure growing over the opening to prevent rain water from diluting the digestive juices. Insects are attracted by colour, smell and a nectar-like secretion on the lip of the pitcher. Slippery footings, aided in at least one species, by a narcotic drug lacing the nectar, causes insects to fall inside where they die and are digested by proteases and other enzymes

 

9.Nepenthes

Nepenthes, tropical pitcher plants or monkey cups, are another genus of carnivorous plants with pitfall traps. There are about 130 species that are wide spread, and can be found in China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Madagascar, Seychelles, Australia, India, Borneo and Sumatra. The nickname “monkey cups” comes from the fact that monkeys have often been observed drinking rain water from them.
Most species of Nepenthes are tall creepers (10-15m), with a shallow root system. From the stem you will often see sword like leaves growing, with a tendril (often used for climbing) protruding from the tip of the leaf. At the end of the tendril, the pitcher forms first as a small bulb, which then expands and forms the cup. The trap contains fluid, produced by the plant, which may be watery ors syrupy and is used to drown and digest the insects. The lower part of the cup contains glands that absorb and distribute nutrients. Most of these plants are small and tend to trap only insects, but some larger species, such as Nepenthes Rafflesiana and Nepenthes Rajah, have been documented to catch small mammals like rats.

 

8.Genlisea

Genlisea, better known as the corkscrew plant, is made up of 21 species and generally grows in wet terrestrial to semi aquatic environments, and are spread across Africa, central and South America.
Genlisea are small herbs with yellow flowers that make use of lobster pot traps (Traps that are easy to enter but impossible to exit, like by use of small hairs growing towards the entrance or in this case, the ever forward propelling spiral). These plants have two distinct types of leaves – photosynthetic leaves above ground, and specialized underground leaves to attract, trap and digest minute organisms, like protozoans. These underground leaves also perform the duties of roots, like absorbing water and anchorage, as the plant does not have any. These underground leaves form hollow tubes under the ground, these tubes have a forward propelling corkscrew shape, and with the aid of constant water flow, small microbes can make their way into these tubes, but cannot find a way out again. When they reach the correct part of the tubes, they will be digested and absorbed.

 

7.Darlingtonia Californica

Darlingtonia Californica, also called the California Pitcher plant or the Cobra Lilly, is the sole member of the darlingtonia genus, and is native to Northern California and Oregon. They grow in bogs and seeps with cold running water and, due to its rarity in the field, it is designated as uncommon.
The leaves of the Cobra Lily are bulbous and form a hollow cavity, with a opening situated underneath a swollen, balloon like structure and two pointed leaves hanging off the end like fangs. Unlike most pitcher plants, the Cobra Lilly does not make use of a pitfall trap, but rather lobster pot traps. Once inside, insects are confused by the large light speckles allowed to shine through the plant. When they land, there are thousands of fine dense hairs that grow inwards, they can follow the hairs deeper towards the digestive organs, but they cannot turn around or move backwards to escape.

 

6.Utricularia

Utricularia, or collectively known as bladderworts, is a genus of carnivorous plants consisting of about 220 species. They occur in fresh water and wet soil as terrestrial or aquatic species, on every continent accept Antarctica.
They are the only carnivorous plants that make use of bladder traps. Most species have very small traps, in which they can catch only minute prey, like protozoa. Traps can range from 0.2mm – 1.2cm, with larger traps, trapping larger prey like water fleas and even small tadpoles.
The traps have small trigger hairs attached to a trapdoor. The bladder, when set, is under negative pressure in relationship to its surrounding area. When the trigger hairs are tripped, the trap door opens up, sucks in the insect and surrounding water, and closes the door again, all in a matter of 10 thousands of a second.

 

5.Pinguicula

Pinguicula, or butterworts, are a group of carnivorous plants that use sticky, glandular leaves to lure, trap and digest insects. The nutrients from the insects supplement the poor mineral content of the soil. There are roughly 80 species that can be found throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia.
The leaves of the butterwort are succulent and usually bright green or pinkish in color. There are two special types of cells found on the top side of the butterwort leaves. One is known as a penduncular gland, and consists of secretory cells on top of a single stalk cell. These cells produce a mucilaginous secretion which forms visible droplets across the leaves surface, and acts like flypaper. The other cells are called sessile glands. They lie flat on the leaves surface and produce enzymes like amylase, esterase and protease, which aid in the digesting process.
Where some butterwort species are carnivorous all year round, many types form a tight winter rosette, which is not carnivorous. When summer comes, it brings with it new blooms and a new set of carnivorous leaves.

 

4.Drosera

Drosera, commonly known as sundews, comprises one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. These can be found widely spread on every continent accept for Antarctica. Sundews, (depending on what species) can form either prostrate or upright rosettes, ranging from 1cm to 1m in height, and can live up to 50 years.
Sundews are characterized by movable glandular tentacles, topped with sweet sticky secretions. When an insect lands on the sticky tentacles, the plant is able to move more tentacles in the direction of the insect to trap it further. Once trapped, small sessile glands will digest the insect and absorb the resulting nutrients, which can then be used to aid growth.

 

3.Byblis

Byblis, or rainbow plant, is a small genus of carnivorous plant native to Australia. The name rainbow plant comes from the attractive appearance of their mucilage covered leaves in the sun. Even though these plants look similar to the Drosera and Drosophllum, they are not related in any way and can be distinguished by zygomorphic flowers with five curved stamens.
The leaves have a round cross section, and they tend to be very elongated and tapered at the end. The surface of the leaves are completely covered in glandular hairs that release a sticky mucilaginous substance, which in turn traps small insects on the leaves or tentacles as a passive flypaper trap.

 

2.Aldrovanda vesiculosa

Aldrovanda vesiculosa, also known as the waterwheel plant, is a fascinating rootless, carnivorous, aquatic plant. It generally feeds on small aquatic vertebrates, using a trap mechanism called a snap trap.
This plant consists mainly of free floating stems, reaching 6 – 11cm in length. The 2-3mm trap leaves grow in whorls of 5-9, in close succession along the plant’s central stem. The traps are attached to petioles, which contain air, and assists in floatation. This is a very fast growing plant and can reach 4-9mm per day, in some instances even producing a new whorl every day. As the plant grows from one end, the other end will continuously die off.
The traps basically consists of two lobes which fold together to make the snap traps. The openings of the trap point outwards, and are covered in a fine coating of trigger hairs, which will cause the trap to snap shut around any prey that comes too close. The trap closes in only 10 milliseconds, making it one of the fastest examples of plant movement in the animal kingdom.

 

1.Dionaea Muscipula

Dionaea Muscipula, more commonly known as a Venus flytrap, is probably the most well-known carnivorous plant and it feeds mainly on insects and arachnids.
The Venus flytrap is a small plant that has 4-7 leaves that grow from a short subterranean stem. The leaf blade is divided into two regions: a flat, long, heart shaped, photosynthesis capable petiole, and a pair of terminal lobes, hinged at the midrib, forming the trap which is actually the true leaf. The inner surfaces of these lobes contain a red pigment and the edges secrete mucilage.
These lobes exhibit rapid plant movement by snapping shut when special sensory hairs are stimulated. The plant is so advanced that it can tell the difference between live stimulus and non-living stimulus. The lobes snap shut in about 0.1 seconds. They are fringed by stiff thorn-like protrusions or cilia, which mesh together and prevent large prey from escaping. Once prey is unable to escape and the inner surfaces of the lobes are continuously being stimulated, the edges of the lobes grow or fuse together, sealing the trap and creating an enclosed “stomach” in which digestion and absorption can take place.

10 Places You Don’t Want To Live

The world is a giant jigsaw puzzle, spotted with both exquisitely beautiful and potentially dangerous places. While you may dream of spending a lifetime in some of the true paradises-on-earth, you should be equally wary of stepping up in some real hell spots for your own safety. But not everyone is fortunate enough to get a cozy and safe home and there are places on earth where people are actually living on the edge of peril.

Here are top 10 such nightmarish places on earth where you would never want to live:

Dharavi in Mumbai, India

The slums of Mumbai / Photo from sarahlane

Roughly half the residents of Bombay live in crowded slums such as these.
/ Photo from bwillen

Sprawling over 175 hectares between Mahim and Sion, Dharavi has emerged as the largest slum of Asia inhabiting a population exceeding 600,000. Dharavi has its rival in Orangi Town in Karachi, Pakistan that has a notorious filth and expanse. Dharavi presents a brighter picture as a cheap pocket in the midst of expensive Mumbai where you could stay for as low as 4 US dollars rent per month.

Dharavi, the most biggest slum of the world / Photo from sandrinecohen22

Dharavi is an abode for various small-scale industries like pottery, embroidered garments, leather and plastic goods. Unbelievably the total net income of the residents of Dharavi amounts to almost 650 million US dollars. But Dharavi is no paradise – its inadequate water supply and toilet facilities get worse during the monsoon floods and the unhygienic environment of Dharavi poses serious threats to public health issues.

Rocinha – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil / Photo from Leonardo Martins

Photo from razorbern

The largest favela (basically meaning shanty town) in Rio De Janeiro. / Photo from -bos[s]-’

Situated between the São Conrado and Gávea districts of Rio de Janeiro, Rocinha meaning small ranch in Portuguese is the largest slum or “favela” in South America. Posed on a hillside within one kilometer of the beach, Rocinha originated as a shanty to transform quickly into a modern slum neighborhood. You will find it better off than many shanties because of its brick buildings, sanitation, plumbing and other urban facilities.

Favela, Rio de Janeiro / Photo from dreamindly

What makes Rocinha a potentially dangerous place to live is the prevalence of a violent drug trade. This leads to endless tussles and encounters between the drug peddlers and the police, giving rise to a dangerous ambiance. The population of 100,000 has a poor economic state and high mortality rates. What is more, Rocinha being built on steep mountain slope is susceptible to landslides, rock falls and floods.

Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya

1,000,000 residents live on a mountain of Garbage. / Photo from Chicago Wedding Photographer, Wes Craft

Kibera, meaning ‘forest’ in Nubian is the home for a million people, which earned notoriety for being the biggest slum in the whole of Africa. Most of the population here are tenants with no rights living in mud-walled shacks owned by landlords who have vacated Kibera. Most of the population is African Muslims, who huddle up eight per shack, often sleeping on the floors.

Photo from alongtheway

Just 20% of Kibera has electricity and no regular supply of clean water. The dam water that people use is the root to cholera and typhoid, aggravated by poor sewage condition. There is widespread menace of AIDS and the total absence of government medical facilities. What worsens the general livelihood of Kibera is the availability of a cheap alcoholic drink called ‘Changaa’.

Faced with rampant unemployment, most of the slum-dwellers resort to Changaa early in life and grow into criminals, drunkards and rapists. The problem is aggravated by the availability of cheap drugs and tendencies of glue sniffing. The result is the rising rate of unwanted pregnancy among girls of all ages who invariably turn to abortion. Some charities and churches are working towards the betterment of the condition.

Linfen, China

Pollution / Photo from sheilaz413

Located right at the center of Shanxi Province of China’s coal region, Linfen is one of the most polluted cities in the world. The air is thick with dust and smoke to a degree that hampers visibility. The three million people who live in Linfen take regular doses of arsenic rich water, further polluted with fossil fuels and poisonous gases through the air they breathe. You can actually catch a lasting stink when you step in Linfen with overflowing sewage everywhere.

Young coal worker in Linfen (Shanxi, China) / Photo from andi808

The river flowing by Linfen has its water thickened with oil. No wonder! The inhabitants using this water have high occurrences of cancer. When you look at the trees around the Linfen factories, they present a sad withered picture. It is the last place on earth that you would think of sending someone, even your worst enemy.

Kabwe, Zambia

Photograph by Blacksmith Institute / Photo from nationalgeographic.com

The lead and cadmium accumulations in this former British colony have skyrocketed since their discovery in 1902 when Zambia was valued for a rich lead mine. Although the mines have closed and no smelters are operational now, Kabwe residents have faced the threat of lead poisoning through decades. Blood tests in the children have revealed lead concentrations exceeding 5-10 times the normal limit that could turn fatal any day. Only recently, the World Bank has allotted funds for tackling the problem.

Photo from livescience.com

Chernobyl, Ukraine

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant / Photo from Ken and Nyetta

Radiated Apartment Building / Photo from Stuck in Customs

Talking of life-threatening pollution and poisoning, nothing could beat the nuclear reactor accident record set by Chernobyl that has left about 5.5 million people facing the threat of thyroid cancer. The fallout that occurred in April 26, 1986 has led to the leakage of nuclear radiation 100 times more pronounced in volume and effect than that of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki explosions. It is a horror that thousands of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian children living close to the damaged plant still cannot escape the radiation impact.

This used to be the public gym, back in 1986. / Photo from philippe simpson

Dzerzhinsk, Russia

Dzerzhinsk / Photo from Oleg aka Xtraboy

Situated beside the Oka River in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast of Russia, Dzerzhinsk is named after the Russian leader Feliks Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky. Right From its inception, Dzerzhinsk has remained a chemical industry hub and has been producing chemical weapons for Russia. It has been labeled one of the worst polluted cities of the world with a staggering death rate.

Skyline of Dzerzhinsk / Photo from Spendruleziya

In Dzerzhinsk, the average life of men is just 42 years and women 47 years. Environmentalists attribute such high mortality rate to the ceaseless production of organic chemicals like toxic dioxins, hydrogen cyanide, lead and sulfur mustard. The phenol and dioxin contents in the Dzerzhinsk waters surpasses the normal limit by seventeen million times.

Cubatão – São Paulo, Brazil

Cubatão / Photo from Alceu Bap

The city of Cubatão extending over 142 square kilometers is more appropriately known as the ‘Valley of Death’ for its precarious living conditions. It has a high air pollution level that has led to the destruction of forests over the surrounding hills and birth of children with congenital organ defects.

sticker mundo / Photo from caio antunes

The life threatening pollution took a new dimension in 1984 when an event of oil spill burnt down the town, killing almost 200 people. Only recently extensive steps worth $1.2 billion are being taken to improve the damages caused by organic pollutants. Despite such measures, it is quite impossible to clean the soil and underground water from the spreading tentacles of pollution thus making Cubatão unfit for staying.

Bassac Apartments, Cambodia

One of the architectural jewels of Cambodia, the innovative apartment complex designed in the early 1960s by Lu Ban Hap / Photo from Rich Garella

Photo from jinja_cambodia

The 300-metre-long Basaac Apartments were built due to the town planning director Lu Ban Hap’s initiative to put up a low-cost social housing project in the 1960s. However, this government-financed housing project has been the home to 2,500 refugees since 1979, when its legal tenants vacated the property because of the onset of decay. The structure made of concrete and brick has now given way to dangerous gaps in between the reinforced concrete walls marked by the ingrowths of parasitic plants. The building can collapse any time burying alive its 2500 residents.

Mogadishu, Somalia

A rusty and bullet-ridden Coca Cola sign gives a telling welcome for visitors to the volatile city of Mogadishu. / Photo from khairi_us

Pictures from an armed convoy trip in Mogadishu / Photo from ctsnow

Mogadishu, an advanced former port has been witnessing the 17-year tussle between rival military camps since the fall of the government in 1991. It turned into the most chaotic and anarchic city of the world, marked by civil unrest and insurgencies. Such disturbances caused its original inhabitants to flee, leaving Mogadishu to be controlled by military factions. Only recently, a new federal government has taken up the reins of control and is trying to re-establish law and order.

Photo from Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone