What is the fastest insect? The fastest flying insect is the dragonfly and the fastest running insect is the Australian tiger beetle. The Australian tiger beetle is the fastest insect on land. It can run at 2.5 m per second, which works out to 9 km/h. That doesn’t sound terribly fast and most of us […]
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Why does the corpse plant smell so bad? They produce the scent of rotting meat to attract insects that feed and lay their eggs on decaying animals as pollinators. “Corpse plant” is just a nickname. The flower’s real name is Amorphophallus titanium, which is made up of the three Greek words “amorphos” (misshapen), “phallos” (phallic),
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Why doesn’t honey spoil? Honey doesn’t spoil because it has almost no water in it, because it is a little acidic, and because it has antimicrobial compounds in it. When food spoils, it is usually because microbes like bacteria or fungi start to feed on it. The only goal bacteria have is to reproduce themselves
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How do snakes use their tongues? They flick them in and out to pick up chemicals off the ground and from the air. Snakes are not the only reptiles that use their tongues to detect things. Lizards have the same kind of tongue that they use to monitor the environment around them. A lot of
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What are gallstones? They are hardened deposits of bile that can form in the gallbladder and cause problems. We need to start by looking at what the gallbladder is and what it does. The gallbladder is quite small and it is located just under the liver, at the bottom of the stomach. It is about
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What happens if you drink too much water? Your brain can swell up and you can have seizures and possibly even die. Overhydration is the opposite of dehydration, and just like dehydration can be fatal, overhydration can be as well. However, it is much harder to be overhydrated than it is to be dehydrated. To
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Why don’t army ants make nests? Army ants can clear an area of insects and food in a few days, so they have to keep on the mood to find more food. Most species of ants build complex nests that have interlocking tunnels and chambers for different purposes. They have places to keep their larvae,
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How quickly does your blood regenerate after you donate it? The blood volume will be back in 48 hours, but it will take four to eight weeks for the red blood cells to regrow. When people donate blood, they usually give about 450 ml, which is about a pint. Depending on your size, that is
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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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