What is a karat? It is a way to measure the purity of gold. (In the UK, karat is spelled as carat – more on that later). However, a carat is a unit of mass that is 200 mg. It is used for measuring gemstones and pearls. Both Karats and carats are not used to […]
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What was the Great Stink? It happened in Central London during June and August 1858, when the smell of the River Thames was unbearable. The city of London grew up at the point where the River Thames was narrow enough to bridge. There was a ford across the river before the first bridge was ever
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How does a monorail balance? The single rail of a monorail train is much wider than a rail on a regular railway and there is no worry about balancing. However, they use side wheels for support. There are two types of monorail train. The first type, and probably the most common type, ride on top
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During his career, Maurice Hilleman developed over 40 vaccinations. It is thought that his vaccinations save over 8 million lives every year. However, he was not interested in making a name for himself, only that his vaccines helped people. For this reason, despite having received his vaccines, very few people have ever heard of him.
#861 Maurice Hilleman – microbiologist specializing in vaccinology. Read More »
Is palm oil bad? It depends. It is bad in terms of health and environmental costs, but it is good because it has more oil than other crops and provides an income for people who would otherwise be living in poverty. What is palm oil? It is made from the fruit of the African oil
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What is survivorship bias? It is when researchers focus on the individuals that have passed a selection process, while forgetting those that have not. It is an error in logic. Survivorship bias doesn’t have to be about people who have survived, it can reference people or things that have survived a selection process. There are
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How do deep sea creatures see? They don’t see color, they have very large eyes, they use other senses, or they produce their own light. Light doesn’t penetrate very far into the ocean. It starts to get absorbed about 200 meters down and by about 1,000 m it has pretty much all gone. Because of
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What is asthma? It is a lung disease where the airflow through the throat becomes restricted. It can be fatal if left untreated. To look at this question we need to look at how the lungs work and we need to look at how our body’s immune systems deal with attacks. We have two lungs
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What is VO2 max? The V stands for volume, the O2 for oxygen, and the max for maximum. So, it is the maximum volume of oxygen your body is able to use during exercise. We need oxygen all the time, obviously. If our oxygen supply is cut off, we will develop brain damage after a
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Why are there ten pins in bowling? Because nine pin bowling was outlawed. Bowling is a very old game because it is a very simple concept. As long as people have a ball and something to throw it at, they can bowl. Balls and pins have been found in a children’s tomb from 5,200 years
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