What is a blood diamond? They are diamonds that are mined in a war zone and used to finance the war. They are called “blood diamonds” because of all the blood that is spilled getting them and all the blood that is spilled from the profits of selling them. They are also called conflict diamonds. […]
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When does a seed start growing? The vast majority of seeds start growing when they are exposed to enough water, which activates hormones inside them. Some seeds need sunlight or other things, but water is by far the biggest trigger. Seeds can be a very efficient way for a plant to spread its DNA over
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What are pyramids for? Some pyramids are tombs, some are just monuments, and many are for religious or ceremonial purposes. There are a lot of pyramids, such as the ones in Mexico, that people don’t really know the purpose of. People tend to think that the Great Pyramids in Egypt are the only pyramids that
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Do piranhas eat meat? They do, but not very often and they are not the carnivores that we have been led to believe. Many people fear piranhas and they have been used in movies as a plot device. In the James Bond movie, You Only Live Twice, one of the characters was fed to piranhas,
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Why did the Watergate Hotel cause the downfall of Nixon? It didn’t necessarily cause his downfall, but it was the first domino that fell, and it was his coverup of what happened that sealed his fate. Richard Nixon became president in 1968, beating the Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey, who was the vice president at the
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What is a megalopolis? There is no specific number of people, but it is an extremely large group of cities that are joined together by their transport, economy, resources, and other things. The number of megalopolises is increasing year by year as more and more people move into urban areas. A city that has over
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How do vending machines check money? They check notes with cameras or photocells. They check coins with electromagnets and light sensors. They are much more able to spot fake notes and coins than they used to be. Early vending machines didn’t need to read banknotes because nothing that expensive was sold from them. The very
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What is a rebreather? It is an underwater device that allows divers to reuse the air that they have breathed out, thereby being able to stay underwater much longer. Most people, when at rest, breathe about 12 times a minute and take in about half a liter of air each time. If we are breathing
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How high can birds fly? A Ruppell’s vulture was hit by a plane at 11,300 meters. The bird was identified by the feathers after the plane landed. There may be other birds that have flown higher, but they have not been encountered, so this is probably the record. There are three things that dictate the
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Is cocaine natural? The main ingredient in cocaine comes from a natural plant, but it needs to be processed. Cocaine is a stimulant taken from the leaves of the coca plant. The Coca plant grows in South America, on the lower slopes of the Andes. Because it is such a valuable crop, cultivation has spread
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