MAN'S PAL

Dog ,man's best pal for 30000 years: They are not just man's best friend,but dogs are the oldest pals too, says a new study. In their study a team at Arizona University claims that dogs have been man's best friend for at least 30000 years-in fact,the canines were domesticated before any other animal. Researchers have based their findings on an analysis of two skulls unearthed in separate digs-first an ancient dog skull found in Siberia dating back 33000 years and then a similar find in Belgium.

POPCORN

Researchers have found evidence that suggests communities living along the coast of Peru were eating popcorns some 6700 years ago,about 1000 years earlier than previously predicted.They arrived at this conclusion after unearthing corn husks,stalks,cobs and tassels (pollen-producing flowers on corn) dating 6700 to 3000 years ago,at Paredones and Huaca Prieta,two sites on Peru's northern coast.

"The evidence was unearthed during the past three years" study researcher Dolores Piperno told Life science. The characteristics of the corncobs suggest that the sites ancient inhabitants prepared and ate corn in several ways, including making corn flour and pop corn.The researcher also found corn micro-fossils containing starch grains and phytoliths which are microscopic particles formed by plants and mainly composed of silicon dioxide. The Peruvian popcorn is the oldest macro-fossil evidence for popcorn in South America.

Electric Theatre

Mount Road Post Office in Chennai was built in 1900 by Warwick Major as Electric Theatre,the first ever cinema house in South India. This building was bought in by Post and Telegraphs Department. For many years it housed Mount Road Post Office.

Chepauk palace

Muhammad Ali Wallajah (1749-1795),the first soveriegn ruler of the Carnatic,built the Chepauk palace in 1768. The original complex with two blocks was spread across 121 acres extended upto Pycrofts Road,Triplicane,Chennai.