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Holi, a vibrant festival, marks a special time in India. The air fills with excitement as the country prepares for a joyful burst of color.

A key part of Holi is Holika Dahan, a bonfire ritual that happens the night before the main celebrations. People gather around a towering pyre where an effigy of Holika is burned. This act symbolizes the victory of good over evil, a powerful reminder of dharma triumphing over wrongdoing. As the flames consume Holika, the scent of woodsmoke fills the air, bringing with it a sense of renewed hope and a fresh start.

The morning after Holika Dahan awakens to a symphony of laughter and happy shouts. The environment transforms into a lively canvas. Children chase each other with water guns, their faces already streaked with vibrant hues. Elders, with twinkling eyes, playfully smear bright colored powder, known as gulal, on everyone they encounter. Soon, clothes become a mosaic of every imaginable color, each mark representing a moment of shared joy and camaraderie.

Holi is celebrated in diverse ways across India, showcasing the rich cultural tapestry of the nation. In the northern regions, for instance, 'Lathmar Holi' involves women playfully hitting men with sticks, a unique and joyful tradition where laughter echoes through the narrow lanes. In the west, celebrations often include children breaking earthen pots filled with buttermilk, a tribute to the mischievous tales of Lord Krishna. The eastern parts of India embrace Holi as 'Basanta Utsav,' a celebration of spring marked by soulful melodies and graceful dances. While each region has its unique customs, they are all connected by a common thread of joy, unity, and the spirit of celebration.

As the day comes to a close and the bright colors gently fade with the setting sun, communities share meals filled with sweet delicacies. This is a time for connection and warmth. The colors used in Holi are more than just pigments; they are a powerful symbol of unity, encouraging people to set aside differences and embrace the shared human spirit. Holi truly embodies India's cultural diversity, a lively event where the themes of joy and togetherness are celebrated anew each year. It is an experience that captures the very soul of India.

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India's Cultural Tapestry: A Celebration of Diversity

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India is a land of incredible cultural diversity, a vibrant mosaic woven from countless traditions, languages, religions, and customs. This rich tapestry is perhaps best exemplified through its myriad festivals, each a unique expression of regional identity and collective joy.

Ugadi: A New Beginning in the Deccan

Ugadi, the New Year festival celebrated in the Deccan region of India (primarily Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra), is a beautiful illustration of this cultural richness. It marks the arrival of spring and new beginnings, embodying themes of renewal, growth, and prosperity. The preparation of Ugadi Pachadi, a unique blend of six distinct flavors (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, and spicy), symbolizes life's varied experiences – joy, sorrow, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise – to be accepted with equanimity.

Regional Variations and Shared Spirit

While Ugadi holds a special place in the Deccan, it shares a common spirit with other New Year festivals celebrated across India, albeit with different names and local customs:

Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra

Cheti Chand for the Sindhi community

Baisakhi in Punjab

Pohela Boishakh in West Bengal

Vishu in Kerala

Puthandu in Tamil Nadu

Bihu in Assam

These festivals, though distinct in their rituals and specific traditions, all echo the universal theme of new beginnings, the triumph of good over evil, and the celebration of nature's bounty. They underscore the incredible unity in diversity that defines India.

The Significance of Festivals in Indian Culture

Festivals are more than just holidays; they are vital threads in India's cultural tapestry. They serve multiple purposes:

1. Preservation of Traditions: Festivals pass down ancient rituals, stories, and art forms from one generation to the next, ensuring the continuity of cultural heritage.

2. Community Bonding: They bring people together, fostering a sense of belonging, unity, and shared identity. Families reunite, neighbors celebrate, and communities strengthen their bonds.

3. Expression of Devotion: Many festivals are deeply rooted in religious beliefs, providing an opportunity for devotees to express their faith and seek blessings.

4. Economic Vibrancy: Festivals often stimulate local economies through trade in traditional crafts, food, clothing, and other goods.

5. Seasonal Connect: Many festivals are tied to agricultural cycles and seasonal changes, celebrating harvests and the bounty of nature.

Through these vibrant celebrations, India showcases its incredible capacity to embrace and celebrate a multitude of cultures, making its "Cultural Tapestry" truly rich and unique.

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And with this, our crystal growing experiment is officially done! This was a fun ride, and we're looking forward to doing even more cool experiments after this one. Till then, take a few moments to admire these crystals.

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And in just three days, this is the state of our crystal. The images speak for themselves.

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Hello again from the Creative Catalysts!

Our crystals are growing even more insane, as you can see in these pictures. The entire string is now completely coated with a massive crystal, some sugar which came off the string coalesced into a gargantuan mass at the bottom, and the surface of the liquid had basically solidified. We're not even going to comment on these images further - just witness chemistry in all its magic.

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Hello again from the Creative Catalysts!

We're proud to say that our sugar crystal growing experiment has proven to be a success! Just take a look at them - a clear depiction that anyone can experience the beauty of science in their own home.

This was also a learning experience for us. Initially, we couldn't see any crystal growth on the string. We were dismayed, but we decided to find out what went wrong and try again. It turned out the sugar solution wasn't saturated enough, so we re-seeded the string and added more sugar to the solution. And now, it's worked.

But this isn't it - we expect the crystals to grow larger in the following days, so stay on the lookout for that!

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How much sugar is actually in foods and drinks you eat or drink?

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We are going to find how much sugar is present in a soft drinks, juices, sodas that we have been drinking. 1. Take the liquid in a test tube or a bowl and heat it over a Bunsen burner.

2. The sugar will start to crystallize while the liquid will evaporate in the form of vapours.

3. After some time we take a stick or a splinter and dip it inside the test tube.

4. We observe that the crystallized sugar will stick to the object dipped in the test tube.

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We then filled the jars with the sugar solution, and carefully immersed the strings into them. You'll notice we had to replace the marble weights with safety pins since the marbles wouldn't stay on. Finally, we taped the skewers to the jars and covered them with a paper towel to prevent debris from getting in.

That right there completes our experimental set-up. Stay tuned for updates on the growing crystals over the next couple of days!

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Next, we preheated the glass jars by adding hot water to them for a few minutes. Otherwise, we'd get crystals on the glass when we pour the solution into a cool glass jar.

Now, we need to prepare the saturated sugar solution. We brought two cups of water to a boil, and added four cups of sugar while stirring (pictured), until no more sugar could dissolve. This right here is what is called a SATURATED SOLUTION.

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Hi there!

It's Day 2 of our deep dive into growing crystals, and things are only getting more exciting!

To start, we attached both strings to skewers such that they dangle about 1 cm above the base of these glass jars. You can see a mark on the skewer where the seeded string is kept. We also attached some weights to the string so that they don't float in the solution.

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We now have two strings - one regular (our control), and one soaked in water and now coated in sugar (which will serve as our seed crystal). We'll now leave them on wax paper overnight.

I hope you're all as excited as we are to see what happens on Day 2!

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Next, we coat the string soaked in water with sugar.

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Hello international friends, once again from the Creative Catalysts! As part of the module 'We Are What We Eat', we've decided to do a cool experiment - growing rock candy as crystals. The neat thing is that it takes only readily available materials, and it's always fun when you realize you don't need fancy equipment to do science.

This is a multi-day experiment, so we'll be posting a lot of images! Stay tuned for that.

Here, we first cut out two strings and soak one in water for five minutes.

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👩‍🔬✨ Meet the “Girls in STEAM” Team from Moldova! ✨👩‍💻

Hello, international friends! 🌍
We are the “Girls in STEAM” team from IPLT Hyperion Lyceum in Chișinău, Republic of Moldova. Our group brings together enthusiastic students from grades 11B and 12B, guided by our amazing teacher, Mrs. Ana Luchian.

👩‍🏫 About our mentor:
Mrs. Luchian is a passionate Informatics and German teacher with over 20 years of experience. She is full of energy, loves working with students, and constantly inspires us to grow both academically and personally. She leads exciting school projects and even runs a coding club called “Fun Java” (JavaDistractivă), where we learn programming in a creative way.

🏫 About our school – IPLT Hyperion Lyceum:

We are proud to study in a school equipped with a modern SmartLab where we experiment with robots, VR glasses, and 3D printers. 🤖🕶️🖨️

Our school is a place where technology meets creativity — and students are encouraged to innovate and think outside the box.

We also shine in sports, with classes that achieve remarkable results on and off the field. ⚽🏆

But we are more than just tech and sports! We care deeply about our community. Through our volunteering program, led by Mrs. Tamara Pasat, students help elderly people by teaching them how to use the Internet and mobile phones. 💌📱 This makes us proud, because it shows how learning can truly change lives at every age.

💡 Why we are special:
IPLT Hyperion is a school where tradition and innovation go hand in hand. From coding clubs to community service, from smart classrooms to sports fields, we are always moving forward — and always learning. You can discover more about our school here: ip-lthyperion.md

✨ Our message to you:
We believe STEAM is not just about science and technology, but also about creativity, teamwork, and making the world a better place. We are so excited to be part of this international project, to share ideas, and to learn from all of you!

With greetings from Chișinău,
The Girls in STEAM Team 💻⚙️🎨🔬🎶

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October STEAM fun - Moldovan teams engage in various hands on activities

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October STEAM fun - Moldovan teams engage in various hands on activities

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Daniela Munca-Aftenev contributed to the album: STEAM FUN PROJECTS .

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STEAM Car race challenge, Dubasari, Moldova

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STEAM Car race challenge, Dubasari, Moldova

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How do you like our STEAM car race challenge? Who won in your teams? Check out the video recorded by our students from STEAM Dubăsari team, Republic of Moldova.

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Meet the Creative Catalysts from Hyderabad, INDIA

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Meet the Creative Catalysts from Hyderabad, INDIA

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Dear International Family,

We present to you The Creative Catalysts from The Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet, Hyderabad, INDIA!

We’re a team of curious and determined high schoolers who believe that creativity and science go hand in hand. Our mission is to explore ideas that spark positive change and to find innovative ways to make a difference in the world we share.

Our Mentor:
Dr Neeta Bisht is our Head Senior School and a biology educator. She has a PhD in Botany, has authored biology textbook series, has been part of the UNESCO Greening Curriculum, and is a member of Focus Group 2B of OECD Edu2040. She's deeply passionate about turning students into STEAM lovers and gaining a larger understanding of global issues.

Our School:

The Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet, is one of India’s oldest and most prestigious educational institutions, founded in 1923. HPS Begumpet is known for nurturing excellence not just in academics, but also in leadership, innovation, and community service. Our motto, “Be Vigilant,” inspires us to stay curious, compassionate, and committed to making a difference. With a strong emphasis on holistic education, HPS encourages students to explore every field — from science and technology to arts, sports, and social responsibility.

About Our Team:
We come from diverse backgrounds and bring unique strengths — from design thinking and coding to analytical problem-solving and creative storytelling. What makes us special is our ability to collaborate, challenge each other’s ideas, and keep our curiosity alive no matter how tough the problem gets.

Whether we’re brainstorming solutions in the lab, sketching designs, or debating new possibilities, one thing connects us all — our passion for learning and our dream to make science meaningful beyond the classroom.

Together, we are The Creative Catalysts — igniting ideas, inspiring innovation, and shaping a better tomorrow.

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Our Solar System, with 8 planets revolving around the Sun in elliptical orbits, is a concept all of us know and love, but how did this concept come to be? How was this wonderful family of planets discovered and by whom? The answer lies in the annals of history, all the way back to before the Common Era.

THE BABYLONIANS(2nd and 1st millennium BCE)

The Babylonians were the first civilisation to come with the idea of celestial bodies moving, which they called planets.

THE ANCIENT GREEK THINKERS

Greek philosophers like Aristarchus and Pythagoras concluded that the 'planets' revolved around a center in uniform circular motion.

Later, Aristotle, using his great influence proposed the geocentric theory(Earth at the center of the universe), thinking that Earth does not move. This was due to the lack of parallax when observing the stars far away with the naked eye.

Eratosthenes then calculated the circumference of the Earth by using the angle of the shadow of a stick in the city of Alexandria and measuring the distance between it and Syene, thus calculating a value which is still accepted today.

COPERNICUS AND AFTER(16th Century CE onwards)

Nicholas Copernicus proposed his heliocentric theory, which was proved by Galileo Galilei when he showed the phases of Venus(if 'phases' existed it meant that Earth could not see the whole of Venus all the time, which contradicted the geocentric theory of Aristotle.

Then Kepler came up with his laws of gravitation, which showed the planets revolving around the sun in elliptical orbits. These were the first laws to show the physics point of view, everything till this point had been studied using geometry. Then the Universal Law of Gravitation was put forth by Isaac Newton in 1687, which state that the gravitational force between two bodies was directly proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the distance of separation between them.

The next few centuries used modern technology and satellite images to study the nature and size of the planets of the solar system. These techniques, although not as impressive as the ones used prior, gave crucial information to the scientists, further enhancing their understanding of the solar system.

This story truly shows how fascinating the world of Science is and how intelligent the scientists who came up with these ideas while living on Earth were.

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Hey there, international friends!

Recently we, the Creative Catalysts, have been diving into the wonderful world of AR, and what better subject could we make an AR project on than the final frontier of humanity - space?

We wanted to put in perspective just how vast our solar system is, and how tiny our planet and humanity are in proportion to the rest of the universe. After hours of work, we finally managed to get awe-inspiring pictures of the planets side by side in the comfort of our own home. It's really quite humbling to see the Earth absolutely dwarfed by Jupiter, for instance, and it really makes us appreciate the things we have even more.

Since you'll wanna know more, here are the diameters of all eight planets in our Solar System:

Mercury: 4,880 km

Venus: 12,104 km

Earth: 12,756 km

Mars: 6,792 km

Jupiter: 142,984 km

Saturn: 120,536 km

Uranus: 51,118 km

Neptune: 49,528 km

Other than that, just enjoy the pictures! (the other two pictures are in separate posts)

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Balloon-Powered Toy Block Car: Energy Transformation & Newton’s Third Law

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Balloon-Powered Toy Block Car: Energy Transformation & Newton’s Third Law

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Hello friends,

This working model uses a toy-block car with a balloon attached to show how potential energy changes into kinetic energy, and how Newton’s Third Law of Motion helps the car move.

The car is built using simple toy blocks to form the body and base, along with wheels that allow it to roll smoothly. A balloon is fixed at the back of the car to act as the main energy source.

When the balloon is inflated, air is stored inside it. This stored air represents potential energy.

When the balloon is released, the air rushes out backward. This backward release of air is the action force. According to Newton’s Third Law: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction,” the car moves forward as the reaction force.

As the car rolls forward, the potential energy inside the balloon changes into kinetic energy, which is the energy of motion.

This toy-block balloon car effectively demonstrates:

Potential Energy → Kinetic Energy transformation

Action and Reaction forces (Newton’s Third Law)

How air pressure can power movement

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Why Some People Need Less Sleep — The Genetic Basis of Sleep Duration

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Why Some People Need Less Sleep — The Genetic Basis of Sleep Duration

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🧠 Project by:

Shaheer A. Khan and Daksh M Panjwani

🌟 Introduction:

Have you ever wondered why some people feel energetic after just 5 hours of sleep, while others need a full 8 hours to stay alert?

This project explores how genetic differences may influence sleep duration and energy levels.

Through a simple survey, we aim to understand whether sleep habits run in families, hinting at an underlying genetic basis.

🔍 Aim:

To study how genetic factors influence the amount of sleep people need and to identify patterns linking family sleep duration and daytime energy levels.

🧾 Methodology:

A short Google Form survey has been created to collect anonymous data on sleep duration, quality, and family sleep habits.

Questions included bedtime, average sleep hours, alertness, and similarities in family sleep patterns.

At the moment, 80% of the expected amount or responses have been collected. We await more responses to increase the accuracy of our data and we are expected to complete our sample size soon. This outline will help you to understand our key motives, and subsequent responses will keep you updated on this project of ours.

Data is being analyzed to find whether short sleepers show consistent family trends or distinctive lifestyle patterns.

📊 Expected Observations:

Some individuals remain energetic even with shorter sleep.

These individuals often have parents or relatives with similar patterns, suggesting a genetic link.

The results may reflect genetic variants (like DEC2 or ADRB1) known to reduce the body’s need for sleep.

🌍 Significance:

This project bridges genetics and everyday life by showing how DNA influences something as routine as sleep.

It helps people understand that “needing less sleep” isn’t always unhealthy — it can be part of natural genetic diversity.

Understanding these genes can improve sleep health awareness, support personalized medicine, and deepen our insight into human biology.

💡 Conclusion (In Progress):

By comparing sleep data and family trends, this project hopes to highlight how genetic variation shapes our rest, productivity, and daily rhythms.

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We are Shaheer A. Khan and Daksh M. Panjwani of Class 11A, students conducting a small research project titled "Why Some People Need More Sleep: The Genetic Basis of Sleep Duration."

Our aim is to understand how sleep duration and energy levels might be influenced by genetics - for example, why some people feel perfectly fine after 5 hours of sleep while others need 8 or more.

This short form will help us collect anonymous data on people's sleep habits, energy levels, and family patterns related to sleep.
All responses will remain confidential and used only for educational purposes.
Note: Please answer honestly - there are no right or wrong answers.
Thank you for helping us explore how our genes might shape the way we rest! .

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Sleep & Genetics: Understanding Why Some People Need Less Sleep

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Hello! We are Shaheer A. Khan and Daksh M. Panjwani of Class 11A, students conducting a small research project titled "Why Some People Need More Sleep: The Genetic Basis of Sleep Duration." Our aim is to understand how sleep duration and energy levels might be influenced by genetics - for example, why some people feel perfectly fine after 5 hours of sleep while others need 8 or more.