What is the last common chimp-human ancestor? The last common chimp-human ancestor was probably about seven million years ago, possibly, although there are no remaining fossils of this animal. It is often mistakenly said that humans evolved from chimpanzees, but this is not the case. Both chimpanzees and humans evolved from a common ancestor in […]
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What is sepsis? Sepsis is when the body’s immune system responds to an infection, and by doing so, causes potentially life-threatening damage to the organs. A lot of information about what sepsis does comes from the name of the disease. The word “sepsis” comes from the Greek word “sepsis”, which means putrefaction, which in turn
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What is hemophilia? Hemophilia is a genetic disorder where a person’s blood doesn’t produce enough clotting factors to clot when the person is injured. We have probably heard of hemophilia in relation to the royal families of Europe in the 19th century. Probably, most famously, Prince Alexi of the Romanov family. He was the only
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How do bears get enough food? Bears are able to find enough food because they have an incredible sense of smell, excellent vision, and they can eat almost anything. This is a slightly difficult question because there are lots of different types of bears and they are all different sizes. The polar bear is obviously
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Why are muskox invisible to satellites? Muskoxen are invisible to heat detection cameras on satellites because they are extremely well insulated by their fur. Muskox are called muskox because of the smell the males produce during mating season. They have a gland called the preputial gland which produces a strongly scented fluid. The preputial glands
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What was an auroch? An auroch is a type of wild cattle that went extinct during the Bronze Age. It is probably the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle. There is a lot of talk about trying to bring aurochs back from extinction, but I don’t know if that will happen. The word auroch comes
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What is Agent Orange? Agent Orange is a herbicide that is also a defoliant. That means it makes trees lose their leaves. Agent Orange got its name because the 55 gallon barrel it was stored in had an orange band around it. The US military used several different types of herbicides and they all had
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What is the worst a sunburn can get? A sunburn is usually only a first-degree burn because it only burns the outer layer of skin. However, a third-degree sunburn is technically possible. There are different types of burn. The most common is a thermal burn, caused by heat. This is often from fire, or hot
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How big was the giant sloth? The giant sloth’s scientific name is Megatherium americanum, and they were about the same size as an elephant. We are very used to the two different types of sloth that we have on Earth today. They re divided into two-toed and three-toed sloths depending on … wait for it
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How does anesthesia work? Most anesthetics work by blocking the signals to nerves. There are some aesthetics where scientists don’t know how they work. The word “anesthesia” comes from Greek, through Latin. The Greek word was anaisthesia, and it means “lack of feeling, perception, or sensation”. The route “an” means “without”. The word was only
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