Why don’t bats get sick? Because their immune response doesn’t cause much inflammation, because they have proteins that stop the viruses leaving their cells, and because the viruses have evolved to live with them. Bats do get sick and some viruses are lethal to them. They also carry a lot of viruses that can jump […]
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Why do some things smell good and some things smell bad? The reason things smell good or bad is a combination of learned experiences and evolution. We smell in the same way that we taste. Everything around us is made of molecules and some of these molecules are released. If they happen to be released
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Why do we get diarrhea? We get diarrhea because the body is trying to rid itself of some kind of infection, usually bacterial, viral, or parasitic. Diarrhea is a sign that the body is sick and is trying to fix itself. Diarrhea can also be caused by other illnesses or e, but infections are the
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Why are coconut crabs so big? Coconut crabs are big because they need enough power to be able to crack coconuts. Coconut crabs live on islands in the Indian and Pacific Ocean. They are enormous. They weigh about 4 kg and they have a leg span that can be over 1 m. They are not
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Which came first, the chicken or the egg? It depends on how you think about it, but the egg came first evolutionarily. Chickens were domesticated about 10,000 years ago and eggs evolved about 350 million years ago. This is one of those questions where the point is not the answer, but the thought process along
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What is pneumonia? Pneumonia is an infection that causes the air sacs in the lungs to become inflamed and sometimes full of liquid. The word pneumonia was coined in 1603 and it comes from the Greek “pneumon”, which means lung. Pneumonia is caused when viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms infect the lungs. It is a
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What are tails for? Animals have tails for several different reasons. They use them for balance, to grip things, for motion, as weapons, to lose heat, to communicate, and to keep flies off. The majority of mammals, birds, and reptiles have tails, but not all do. Some insects have tails as well. Out of the
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How do painkillers work? By reducing the chemical responsible for pain, by reducing the amount of the chemical responsible for pain in the brain, or by blocking the pain signals to the brain. Painkillers are called analgesics, which comes from the Greek word analgesia, meaning “without pain”. It was first used in reference to painkillers
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Why are flamingos pink? Flamingos are pink because of all the carotenoids that they eat. Flamingos are famous for sleeping on one leg while standing up, for eating upside down, and for being a brilliant shade of pink. However, when they are born, they are a slightly off-white color. They take on their pink color
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What causes an ice cream headache? It is caused when something cold touches the roof of the mouth and makes the blood vessels constrict. It turns out that no one knows for definite what causes an ice cream headache. Many of us have experienced one and it is also called brain freeze. Its official name
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