Why are truffles so expensive? They are very rare and very difficult to grow. What is a truffle? The truffle is the fruit part of a fungi, and it is similar to the top part of a mushroom. A truffle is a type of fungus that grows around the roots of some trees. They are […]
#892 Why are truffles so expensive? Read More »
How does the female lac bug make plastic? They scrape bark from trees and mix it with a resin that they produce. The female lac bug produces a resin, which is a plastic. Plastics are made when molecules connect together to make long chains of polymers. These are what give plastics their strength and durability.
#888 How does the female lac bug make plastic? Read More »
Why did Tyrannosaurus rex have short arms? No one really knows. They could have no reason and be left over from longer arms that evolved away. They could have been used for slashing, gripping prey, and longer arms might have been bitten off by other Tyrannosauruses. They may have been used to help the dinosaurs
#885 Why did Tyrannosaurus rex have short arms? Read More »
Norman Ernest Borlaug was known as the father of the Green Revolution because of the new strain of wheat he developed and the millions, possibly billions, of people he saved from starvation. He is said to have saved more lives than any person who has ever lived. There have been numerous agricultural revolutions over human
#882 Norman Ernest Borlaug – father of the Green Revolution Read More »
Where does cork come from? Cork comes from the bark of the cork oak tree. The primary use of cork is to stop up wine bottles. About 20 billion bottles of wine are produced a year and about 80% of those bottles have cork stoppers in them. That is a huge amount of cork and
#876 Where does cork come from? Read More »
Henrietta Lacks developed cervical cancer and the cells taken from a tumor biopsy have formed the HeLa cell line, named after her. Ms. Lacks didn’t know that her cells had been taken and she died in October 1951, before the significance of her cells was known. She was only 31 years old. She did not
#875 Henrietta Lacks – the source of the HeLa cell line Read More »
How do animals find water? They have many methods. Some animals can smell or sense water. Some animals get their water through eating plants. Some animals have evolved to need less water or to store water. Some animals can drink water that we couldn’t. Many animals instinctively know what signs to look for to find
#873 How do animals find water? Read More »
Can you live without a spleen? The spleen serves many functions, but you can live without it. Having it removed will affect your life, though. Your spleen is just inside your left rib cage, above your stomach. It is about 12 cm long and weighs approximately 70 g, about the size of an avocado. So,
#871 Can you live without a spleen? Read More »
Why do some birds have red eyes? Birds with red eyes have a lot of tiny blood vessels in their eyes. Human eyes come in one of six colors. Our Eyes can be amber, blue, brown, gray, green, hazel, or pink. Pink eyes are actually a result of albinism. If someone is born albino, they
#867 Why do some birds have red eyes? Read More »
What causes the bends? It is caused by the rapid release of nitrogen gas from the bloodstream. You don’t have any risk of the bends if you don’t go very deep. The bends becomes a risk if you dive any deeper than about 9 meters. It is caused because of the water pressure and because
#866 What causes the bends? Read More »
