Showing results by author "iMinds" in All Categories

Imagine a sea of sparkling, clear blue water speckled with multicoloured coral. Imagine crabs, turtles, dugongs, sea snakes and hundreds of species of fish swimming among this coral. Now imagine this scene stretching out for more than two thousand kilometres, or 1240 miles! This is the Great Barrier Reef, which is so expansive it is said that if you dived along it every day of your life you would not see it all.

Learn about commodities with iMinds Money's insightful fast-knowledge series. A commodity is a tradeable item, which can usually be processed further and sold. This includes industrial goods such as metals; agricultural goods like wheat, wool or sugar; and bulk goods such as iron ore or coal. In their original and simplified sense commodities are uniform in value, meaning it is irrelevant who produces the commodity, as its value will remain the same.

Learn about the development of In Vitro Fertization with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. "In Vitro Fertilisation", also known as IVF, is concerned with enabling infertile couples to have children. As a result of IVF, thousands of couples and individuals have been able to fulfil their dream of procreating. To fully appreciate the complexities of IVF it is important to know the history of experiments in reproduction.

Learn about inflation with iMinds Money's insightful fast knowledge series. Inflation is the increase in the general price of goods and services brought about through either an increase in the amount of money in circulation or by an increase in costs. Historically, inflation often occurred due to the acquisition of new gold deposits. For example, inflation occurred in Europe when Europeans brought back gold from their new American colonies in the Early Modern period.

According to most economics textbooks, human beings are super-rational creatures who know what is in their own best interests and always act accordingly. When making a decision to purchase, the rational consumer would not buy something on the spur of the moment, or on the recommendation of a friend. Sound realistic?

It is increasingly in the media, but what exactly is culture jamming and how does it work? Culture jamming is a form of protest in which advertisements and other media messages are re-arranged or parodied in humorous or disturbing ways. The term covers a range of practices, including sabotaging billboards, spoofing well-known ads, and hoaxing the mainstream media.

Hidden for centuries in the vast Peruvian jungle lies the ancient city of Machu Picchu. It is one of the finest examples of Incan architecture on the continent, preserved and unplundered by the Spanish when they invaded in the sixteenth century. It eluded the Spanish and although it has long been rediscovered, its essence is still shrouded in mystery.

In the lonely expanse of Northern Australia lies the second biggest national park in the world. It is a place where fire transforms landscapes, floods drown flatlands, and ancient writing haunts cliffs. In this tropical wilderness, ancient fish spit water at passing insects, unnamed waterfalls tumble into vast gorges, and giant crocodiles rule the dark rivers. This is Kakadu National Park - Australia’s natural and cultural treasure.

Learn about the history of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London with iMinds Travel's insightful audio knowledge series. The roar of the crowd. The laughter from the stalls. The gentle breeze of a summer's day. All of this and more encompasses you as you watch a performance at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The theatre is situated on the South bank of the Thames River in London. The Globe Theatre that visitors flock to today is actually a replica of the original.

Learn about investment traps with an insight into fraudulent Ponzi Schemes with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. A Ponzi scheme is an illegal business practice. Investors are recruited into a Ponzi scheme and offered excellent returns over time for little or no risk. The operator of a Ponzi scheme relies on further recruitment of investors to accumulate funds. Earlier investors are repaid with later investor's money. They have also been described as Pyramid Schemes.

Learn about the Stockholm Syndrome with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. At first glance, two of the most notorious bank robberies of the 1970s would seem to have nothing in common. They occurred eight months apart, for different motives, on opposite sides of the globe. But these two incidents would prove seminal to the development and understanding of a curious and once controversial psychological condition: the Stockholm Syndrome.

Learn about Foreign Currency Exchange with iMinds Money's insightful fast knowledge series. Foreign currency exchange is the transaction of monetary business between two different countries. When conducting any business, participants must eventually be paid in the currency of their own country, regardless off whether the business is domestic or international.

Learn about Carbon Trading with iMinds Money's insightful fast knowledge series. Carbon trading is a scheme designed to curb the amount of greenhouse gas emissions companies produce. This is due to the widely-held view that such emissions negatively impact the planet. Carbon trading forms part of the carbon market, which can be divided into two main categories. The first of these is project-based transactions.

‘Conflict diamonds’ are precious gems that have been sold on the black market to finance violent rebel groups, terrorists or oppressive governments. They almost always originate from poor, underdeveloped countries located on the African continent. It is estimated that conflict diamonds account for up to 15 percent of the world’s traded diamonds.

Learn about hedge funds with iMinds Money's insightful fast knowledge series. A hedge fund is a type of investment structure for managing a private, unregistered investment pool. Within this investment portfolio the fund manager is permitted to use a number of higher risk investment strategies. Although a wide range of strategies are used the most common is long/short equity. This was the strategy used by the first hedge fund in the United States in 1949 and is still the most popular today.

Andy Warhol came to public attention as one of the leading lights of the Pop Art movement of the 1960s. Since then his art and legacy have polarised art critics and the public alike. This thin, pale, asexual man in a silver wig has been described as both a genius and a charlatan. His art, and maybe more importantly his approach to art, took him out of the galleries and museums into the public arena.

Learn about the story of Merlin the Magician with iMindsJNR audio-learning series for younger minds. As the advisor who helps King Arthur through the early years of his reign, Merlin has become the most famous wizard of all time.The stories of Merlin may have been based on a real person. But the character we know as Merlin today has come down to us through the “History of the Kings of Britain”, a book by the 12th-century English writer Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Learn about the history of Doomsday Cults with iMinds insightful knowledge series. A doomsday cult is a quasi-religious group that believe the end of the world is imminent. Doomsday cults are typically led by charismatic messiah-figures, who teach that their cult holds the secret to surviving the apocalypse. More recently the term has come to include cults who carry out acts of violence or terrorism in an attempt to bring about revolutionary change.

Learn about the life of John F Kennedy with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series.

On November 22, 1963, America was stunned. The events of that day would reverberate around the world and throughout history. The 35th president of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, had been killed. He was the fourth American president to be assassinated in office, but in the 1960s it was different - there was television.

Learn about the process of German Reunification with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. Reunification in Germany was a slow process. The country was divided between the communist East and the capitalist West from the end of World War Two in 1945 until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. To understand how momentous a step reunification in Germany was, it is necessary to go back to the start of the division in 1945.